This tutorial will teach how develop a normal image to an animated image, by animated I mean it with transform a image drawn with pencil or pen into animated with full of colors as shown in the above image. Also, it can test your drawing skills. Though you need lot of concentration and patience while developing this effect. Also, this tutorial will teach you the uses of many tools of photo shop which probably you might have not used it till now make you more familiar with photoshop. Also, this tutorial works fine with adobe photo shop CS4 and newer version which are released by adobe. :)

Develop animated image via photoshop

  1. As I said it can test your drawing skills, just draw a image with pencil manually or draw it in photo shop or in paint, or any tool which you are familiar with. If you draw the image with pencil then scan it with the scanner and open it with adobe photo shop. I chose the below image (after scanning) to start with,

  2. Now, open the image with photo shop if you have scanned the image or drawn it with different tool, that is other than photo shop. Now go to menu bar and then click on images then select adjustment option and in that choose Levels option, to make your image more bright and distinguishable. You can adjust the level by moving the slider, and make sure that back ground is almost white and outlines are almost black. Technically this is the first step, as you are starting editing and adding effects in image via photo shop from now.

  3. Now, unlock the background layer, you can do it by creating a new layer from the palette.

  4. Now multiply the blending option,that is choose the multiply option from the palette. The above three steps are shown in one image as shown in the below image. And the image also shows how the image looks after these steps,

  5. Now we have make two layers, one for the background and one layer only for the outline of the image. For doing it you have to select Load Selection from the channel palette, and after making two layers select blending option as multiply the option for the new layer you have developed, just now.

  6. Now, we have add colors to the image. For doing this create a new layer below the white layer, that is background layer and then select Magic Wand tool and then set tolerance to any value which suits your requirement, I chose Tolerance value as 50. Also, check or tick the check boxes beside the tolerance, that is Contiguous and Sample All Layers options.

  7. Now, you have to multiply the pixels by some amount, that is we have zoom in the image, you can do it by selecting the expand option from the menu bar. You can see the expand option at menu bar when you choose select then modify and then by selecting Expand option.

  8. Now, Use Paint Bucket tool for coloring the background. You can choose any color, which you like or which suits to your image. And use the above mentioned image for all the parts of the image, then after this step the image looks as shown in the below image, also, image shows the step involved from the last image,

  9. Now we have to add shadow, so that image looks more realistic and it will be useful in further steps. And then chose the shadow color intelligently, depending upon your requirement and which fits best in the image. For doing it, create a new layer between white layer and the base color layer.

  10. Now, you have to select the magic wand tool and adjust the tolerance value, which ever suits your image. And un-check/ un-tick the check boxes Contiguous and Sample All Layers.

  11. Now, choose the brush and make its hardness level to 100 so that we can draw sharp edges in the image without any problem. Do it carefully, as it require patience. After this, using the color tool select the foreground color to paint the shadow and you can use hue option, if you want. The image after the above mentioned steps looks as shown in the below image,

  12. Select the Dodge and Burn tool to make the image more colorful and solid. Duplicate the layer which has the base color and then apply other dynamics in the options of the tool, that is by ticking the option ‘other dynamics’ then set the range option to Midtones or whatever suits to your image by making the hardness to zero.

  13. Now we will be adding light effect to the image, you can do it by choosing the settings as shown in the previous step and then I made some adjustments, you can do it as you like.

  14. Now we have to color the outlines of the image, to do it turn on the preset of the brush and then lock the transparent pixels, you can do it from the palette option, just below the layers. Color the outline carefully, as doing it incorrectly can make your work more tedious. The image after this steps looks as shown in the below image,

    The numbering in the image is just the sub parts of the single step, you have to perform. You need lot of patience to do this step, as the outlines are very thin.

  15. Now to make the image more realistic I added the smoke and the clouds in the image by using Smudge tool, Dodge and Burn tools & selection tool, though it is optional.

  16. Now create the new layer by naming it as light, as we have to add the lights to the image and move it to the top in the palette of the layers. Select the white foreground where you want to add the light effect, you can understand the steps I used to embed the light effect after seeing the below image. And the image looks as shown in the below image after successful completion of above mentioned steps,

  17. Now if you want you can use the gradient tools, change the opacity, modify the blending options, depending upon your taste and requirement. I made the opacity to 15% and choose yellow to blue gradient. Again, it is optional and purely depends on your taste for colors.

And then you can see the final image which looks like a Animated image as shown in the cartoons or movies where characters have some super natural powers and fight against the evil, as shown in the below image,

This concludes the short tutorial on how to develop animated image from the normal image and make it look more realistic, such that characters are coming from a war where you see smoke and cloudy sky, and atlast characters has some powers. To get the expected results just play around with the tools, which fits your requirement correctly and by doing that you will learn more about photo shop software, brushes used in various images and tools, and at last you have fun & satisfaction, and can go forward in your designing career. :)