Coloring Line Work in Sketches

[Frank Nitkiewicz]

So I am working in Affinity Photo, and I have this pen sketch of a clown that i really dig. I would like to recolor/paint ONLY the lines in the work. Not the background. I would also like to vary the coloring (i.e. hair green, nose and lips red, teeth yellow, etc.). As you can see the lines are rather intricate so it's very difficult to "select" them and when "filling" the lines it loses the sketch quality. I've tried locking the layer and using a transparent background. But when I paint them, it doesn't isolate the coloring to only the lines in either method.

How would I go about recoloring/painting just the specific lines in the sketch various colors and keep the sketch effect?

Please advise.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Frank Nitkiewicz
I’ve attached a short video showing one quick (and fairly crude) way to do what I think you want to do.
To get a much better result you will need to do the ‘unmasking of the adjustments’ (with the Paint Brush) much more finely than I have done.
There may be other (better) workflows so keep checking back.

[dominik]

5 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I’ve attached a short video showing one quick (and fairly crude) way to do what I think you want to do.

If I may add to @GarryP's very good suggestion: you don't need to add a mask to an adjustment layer. The layer itself is a mask. This means you simply invert the adjustment layer by hitting CTRL+i. This turns the layer black. Then paint in with a white brush just as Garry shows in the video.

Cheers,
d.

[GarryP]

Thanks for pointing that out dominik. I keep forgetting about that. It’s a much quicker method.
I’ve attached a new video showing how to do it the way you suggest.

[dominik]

1 minute ago, GarryP said:

I keep forgetting about that. It’s a much quicker method.

Never mind, I kept forgetting about this in the beginning, too. But after a while I started to get used to it and think this is really one of the strong features of the Affinities.

My compliment for the quick video tutorial update!

d.

[Murfee]

There is a quicker way to do this, add a new pixel layer above the sketch, change the blend mode to colour and use the brush to paint different colours where needed on the pixel layer

 

[Frank Nitkiewicz]

Thank you all for helping me find the solution!

GarryP and dominik... I really appreciate the effort in finding a solution and creating the video. Well Done! ...and thank you too Murfee. I do believe your method is much quicker and what I was hoping to find with the app.

Thank you all again so much!