Step 1 - Body Massage Machine. . .Go!
Many colorists use their tablet pens as magic wands to do their digital wizardry. But for those without that particular gear the tools are right in Photoshop to allow you clean color separations you can do with your mouse.



If you've ever tried drawing a selection with the Lasso Selection tool with only your mouse, it can be a severe pain. A shaky, tremorous polygraph line that should be a smooth curve. But with just a few clicks you can draw that selection to fill or paint in perfectly.



Here I've drawn the first shape, or path, with a single click to start, and then added multiple anchor points to complete the shape. With each anchor addition you can kind of click and drag to manipulate the anchor's influence on the curve. Think of it as two ends of thin metal wire. The way it bends depending on the amount or pressure and rotation on both ends. The ends being the anchor points. But to avoid confusion, the shape is made of multiple anchors.

This may be old news for Photoshop vets, but it's a technique that I had to get used to after some practice, pulling and pushing the little handle bars on the anchors.



But here are the multiple shapes I've drawn around Cobra Commander's jacket.



In the Layers window (Top Menu>Window>Layers) open the Paths tab. Here you can see all the shapes that you've drawn. Click the button with the perforated circle that says "Load Path as a Selection".



Now you've got smooth selection shapes you can paint in! This technique can be applied to achieve all the color separations in this picture. Have fun!




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