In this Tutorial I will go over the basic steps I use to color my artwork. I am using Photoshop CS here, however the same results can be achieved using PaintShop Pro as well.

This method is best suited for drawings with a strong, dark outline. I recommend using black ink pens to build up your outline before you scan it in to the computer.

The first thing you need is a clean image with a strong outline. You might want to adjust your brightness and contrast until you get a clean outline. For this tutorial I am going to use my drawing of Raenien.

In your layer's pallete, double click on the name of the layer with your outline on it. Rename it appropriately. Now make sure "Multiply" is selected from the options listed.

Now choose the Magic Wand from your Tool Tray.

In the options at the top of your screen, set your tolerance to 50. This may need to be adjusted according to whatever project you are working on. You will learn what works best for you with practice.

Now choose an area that you want to color. For this tutorial I am just going to color Raenien's left leg. Make sure the layer with your outline is selected, and then click in the middle of the area you want to color. This should select the area within your outline only. Don't worry if there are a few stray pixels that didn't get selected. We'll get to those in a moment.

Now choose the Expand command, as shown here.

In the window that comes up, type the number of pixels you want to expand your selection by. For the size I work with I always use 2 pixels. Here is another area which you will get to know as you practice for what works best for you.

Click OK and your selection area should expand so that it overlaps your outline. (It's very hard to see in this screen capture, I apologize.)

Now zoom in close and look for areas that need to be added to your selection. Pay particular attention to tight corners and narrow spaces. Use the Lasso Tool and hold down the Shift key to select these areas and add them to your selection.

Now choose the Paint Bucket from your Tools.

Next, click the square to choose your Foreground color.

In this window, move the slider up and down the rainbow bar in the middle to find the general hue you want. Then in the main box on the left move the cursor around until the color you want appears in the upper half of the box on the right.

With your color selection made, left click in the area of your selection and the area will be filled with that base color.

With the base color down, we will now decide where we are going to put our highlights. Decide on one particular direction that your light source will be coming from, and add your highlights and shadows accordingly.

Next, click on the foreground color to bring up your color pallete again. Choose a color that is just a tad bit lighter and warmer then your base color. I usually move my color on the rainbow slider just a tiny bit towards a warmer color when doing this. You don't need to choose a color significantly brighter then your base color yet.

Now you want to choose the Brush tool.

Open the Brush tool pallete by clicking the small arrow to the right side of the brush shape preview at the top of the work area. Choose a brush shape and size that you wish to work with. I would suggest 0% hardness, this will make it extremely smooth and without any hard edges when painting in your color. For the Diameter, choose whatever is appropriate for your work size.

With the paintbrush, now lay down a large area defining where the highlight is. You should still have your selection on. This will keep you from painting "outside the lines". Remember this is only the first step to making your highlight, and you are defining the entire highlight area, not just where the brightest highlight will be.

Now you want to open the Foreground color selection tool again, and take your color up another step, making it a little bit brighter and warmer again. Then return to your drawing and lay down a bit more highlight. Do not completely cover up your base highlight color. We're building up the highlight here, and eventually we will have a range of colors building up to our brightest highlight.

Continue this process of making your Foreground color brighter and warmer until you have achieved the brightest highlight you desire. You will probably need to adjust the size of your brush as you get towards the center of your highlight.

Now it is time to begin working on our shadows. Choose the Eyedropper tool, or press I, and select your base color. Then open the Foreground color selection window. This time we are going to choose a color just a little bit darker and cooler then our base color. As with the highlight, I like to move my color selection on the rainbow just a tiny bit towards a cool color.

Next we choose the Paintbrush again, adjust it to the diameter we want to work with, and lay down a large area to define our shadow.

As with the highlight, continue developing your shadow by choosing darker and cooler colors.

Lay down darker and darker colors, without completely painting over your previous layers, until you get the full shadow you desire.

Voila! We now have an area with defined shadows and highlights, giving it a more three dimensional field. Repeat this process with each area of your drawing, and you will have a bright and vibrant image when you are finished!