Help with adding colour *behind* an old black and white image like this

[Mel-ba]

 

Hi folks

I have quite a basic knowedge of Affinity Designer / Publisher, and would like to achieve a similar affect to this on another old black and white hand drawn print, but can't figure out how to add colour behind the image so that it shows through the image (like in the yellow image) IYSWIM?

I don't want the black and white print sitting on top of a colour

I have tried removing background but that doesn't seem to work, possibly due to the complexity of the print.

Any tips appreciated - guessing it's possible, but beyond my current know-how!

🙂

 

 

[Dan C]

Hi @Mel-ba,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums  

The easiest way to achieve this would be to draw a Rectangle Quick Shape over the Image, then set the fill colour as required and change the Blend Mode to Multiply, as shown below -

You can then further adjust the colour of the Rectangle, or the opacity of the layer until you're happy with the results.

I hope this helps

[thomaso]

14 minutes ago, Mel-ba said:

I don't want the black and white print sitting on top of a colour

In case you want to get rid of the yellowish background colour there are various possible workflows, one would be a Black & White adjustment, – another a HSL adjustment, for instance …

[Komatös]

Or use the Blend Option. You'll find this right hand as coq wheel at the layer panel.

 

[Mel-ba]

 

@Komatös@thomaso @DanC

Sorry, didn't realise I hadn't edited my notification settings to ensure I receive alerts when I get a reply (fixed these now)

Thanks so much for your excellent suggestions and tips - I will set aside some time to have a go, and try them out soon.

Up to now I have just not used pencil drawings like these, as I couldn't figure out how to add colour in the way I wanted, so this will be a super addition to my design options!

 

 

 

[jmwellborn]

@Mel-ba  Here is what I did.  The rectangle is filled with white, although it doesn't show in the screenshot attached below.  Step 1 was the Blend Option suggested by @Komatös, although I altered the slider adjustments in the Source Layer Ranges.  The second was the HSL adjustment suggested by @thomaso.  Then, because the background was still a little bit off-white, I added a Levels Adjustment.   I did a Merge Visible, exported the image as a JPEG, and then opened it in a new document, placed a a rectangle shape with a selected color underneath the image layer, then did some Levels and Curves adjustments, plus changing the opacity of the coloured rectangle.  Voila.  Blue background.

 

 

[Mel-ba]

Thanks @jmwellbornwill give this a go!