PREPARATIONS: This tutorial explains how to create a comic picture with Adobe Photoshop.
PREPARATIONS:
When you want to create a comic picture, you first need an idea that you can visualize black on white. You can draw something and scan the picture or you just take a photo as a base for your work like I did. The example in this tutorial is based upon the photo on the left which shows Raylene. Those photos are normally too small to work with directly. They often also show more than just the person or object you need. So you first mask the area you need and copy it. Then you create a new image (RGB Mode), which should automatically have the correct dimensions, with white background colour. Paste what you copied before. Close the original photo. Change the image dimensions. The example image had a dimension of 2441*4200 pixel. The larger value of hight or width of your image should be between 3000 and 4500 pixel.The best resolution depends on available RAM. Choose zoom factor 100% or whatever you think is best to work with during the follwing steps. You will only see parts of the picture but therefore you can see and draw every detail.
The photo part is now a layer (layer 1) "above" an empty white background but you can only see the photo. Open the window that shows the layers and allows you to modify their options. There you select "layer 1" if it's not already highlighted and change the value "normal" to "multiply". The multiply option has the effect that you will see the black lines you will soon draw on the background while you can also see the photo. You can additionally decrease the percentage value to make the photo more see-throughable. Select the tool in the top right of the tool bar that looks like an arrow. Right-click on the picture and selecet background. This determines on wich layer or level of your image you work with all available tools. Select the pencil tool from the tool bar. Make sure the colour is set to black (R:0 G:0 B:0) and draw with it "around" the woman emphasizing the outlines or shapes. Use the second "brush" for the pencil. The smallest or finest is not good and will create steps that are not recognized belonging together later. It looks like you are drawing on the photo but in reality you are drawing with black colour on the white background while the photo is see-throughable layed above. Of course you should leave out what you don't need. The face of Raylene for example was left out and replaced by Laura's head later. When you are finished with all lines from the photo, you will have to add and change some details. Delete layer 1 with the photo part and start modifications of your black and white picture. In the example I added the belt and shorts of Laura and changed the head and shoes. Save the picture in the psd Photoshop format (e.g. 01blacknwhite.psd) because it supports layers and saves without loss of information. JPG is NOT okay at this time. It's a good idea to save often during the drawing process. Don't change the dimensions of the picture.
Tipp: Advanced creators may want to draw the lines in the base colour of that area instead of black when the neighbour areas have a different colour. That's more complex but has better results.
Make sure all areas are surrounded by black lines without gaps. During the next step you colour all areas with a fitting base colour for that area with the flood tool. The options of the flood tool must be set to 0 tolerance and deactivated anti aliasing. The base colour must be chosen in a way that allows you to darken AND light some parts later. You will find out if there are still gaps and the colour floods into wrong areas. Then take back the last (flood-) action, remove the gap(s) and try again. As you can see, I coloured everything unimportant in the background yellow. I don't leave it white because it's easier this way to see if I forgot to colour some areas. No area should be white that is not really white like the teeth. Save the image under a new name (e.g.01colour.psd) now but again in psd format.
Before you start the next process, save the image under a new name (e.g. 01lightnshading.psd) in psd format and save often during the lighting and shading. The image is alredy coloured but looks "flat". It doesn't look realistic because shadows and light reflections are missing. At first you should mask one area. Let's start with one leg. Use the magic wand tool with wich you can mask an area of the same colour to mask the leg. The options of the wand tool must be set to 0 tolerance and deactivated anti aliasing. Select the airbrush tool and set the option to darken. I usually use 20% pressure. The size of the brush should be adjusted to the current detail level. 100 should work fine with the leg in the example. If you worked with a photo you can imitate the shadows and lights of the original. If not you have to darken and light the areas according to distance and viewing angle. Normally everything close to the beholder is bright while the things get darker with increasing distance. Choose the base colour of the leg as foreground colour and make it slightly darker. Begin to use the airbrush to make the correct parts darker. Do this again with a slightly darker colour. This time you darken a "smaller", "outer" area. Continue this with darker and darker colours until the leg or whatever part you are shading is correctly shaded. Next you have to set the airbrush to light. You choose brighter colours than the base colour and light the areas that should be brighter. Don't forget to save when finished.
Tipp: The image looks better without black lines. Use proper colours instead of the "old" black shape-lines for better results.
With the magic wand tool you can select all areas that should be replaced with a background image. You have to create the background separately. In the example add all yellow areas and then invert the mask. Create a new layer from this mask. Select the background as active layer and paste the background image. The layer with your graphics (Laura in the example) should be on top. You can now add shadows to the background image with the airbrush. Add text bubbles if you like. Save the picture in psd format.
5. DIMENSION AND FORMAT CONVERSION Combine all layers and reduce the image to reasonable dimensions, e.g. 1024 pixel width or 768 pixel height. Save the resulting picture in JPG format with a compression rate that combines good image quality and small file size.
The Scientist
1.
BLACK & WHITE
2.
COLOUR 
3.
LIGHTING AND SHADING
4.
ADD BACKGROUND