[Help] Subtle Outline Effect?

[tonytony]

I've been spending the past few hours either trying to find out how to do this effect or finding a ja_JP (Japanese) language pack.

I've seen a particular artist use this effect, which he explained how to do in a tutorial of his, but in Japanese.

So I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

The effect is this:
(attachment)

It looks like when two colors meet, one side gives a darker outline (as seen inside the yellow squares).
It's not just the outside contours of her either - it happens inside the drawing too.

Any ideas?

Thank you very much.

 

[cringer8]

Err, I'm not sure if this will be of much help, but it seems to me that the outlines (if they exist on a separate layer) have the "Multiply" blending mode enabled. Near the top of your Layers palette, there is a drop down menu which is set to "Normal" by default. Change that to "Multiply" and paint with the color you want your outline (something not too dark). As you pass over a different colors, you should see the difference.

 

[ibclare]

Good suggestion cringer.

Tony, if you want, post the Japanese tutorial, and those of us who have experience in PS can probably follow what is being done, so we know how to explain it to you. There are probably numerous ways of course, the way of PS. I would have thought this was done purely with drawing techniques and some color and shadow added. Of course, if there are a lot of layers for different parts, a layer fx stroke can be variable for each portion.

 

[Tom Mann]

The following method won't be as good as outlining it manually with the pen tool, but at least it's automatic ;-) :

1. Use "find edges" to generate a mask that's around 3 pixels wide around every important edge.

2. Duplicate the original. Change the layer with the copy into "darken" mode. Apply the layer mask you just constructed.

3. Run the copy through USM with a strong percentage (ie, at least 70%, a radius of 2 or 3 pixels, and zero threshold).

4. Flatten

Done.

Note: To make the effect easy to see, I intentionally over-did it. This led to the stair-step artifacts that can be seen on the new dark outline. Just reduce the % in the USM step or play with the blendIF sliders, and this problem can be easily reduced.

T

 

[tonytony]

Oh! You guys solved it.

Tom mentioning 'Find Edges' made me see that those words are actually mentioned in the tutorial! (I can read Japanese with hints).

What the tutorial instructed was for the duplicate layer to have the 'Find Edges' applied, then have that layer be on 'Soft Light' at around 30%~50% transparency.

And it looks like some of the inner 'outlines' are actually done by hand, so I'll do what cringer suggested with the multiply.

Thank you cringer, clare and Tom!