Step 1 – Prepare the image

We are going to start with this beautiful sketch from Justin Park. I need a colorful notebook cover and this black & white image is perfect.

The first thing to do is position the sketch and define the layers. I have to leave bleed margins around the image and position the canvas according to the binding method (spiral binding in this case).

Create a layer and fill it with white. Duplicate the sketch layer and put it on top of everything, with Multiply as the blending mode (it’s always good to keep the original sketches safe).

Create  the painting layers between the Sketches and the Background layers.

Step 2 – Paint

This is the fun part. Divide your image in different zones (grass, sky, trees, house, people, etc) and create layers for each one. You can also paint everything on the same layer.

I don’t want to influence your style, but when it comes to painting sketches like this I prefer to keep it simple and smooth. Forget details and boundaries and don’t worry about making it perfect. Start painting from back to front (start with the sky, then grass, plants, trees, house and so on).

If you don’t have a tablet you can select zones with the Lasso tool and paint. It’s actually a very good and fast method.

Here you can see the basic zones colored with the Sketches layer on and off. After some color retouches you could call this a finished work.

Step 3 – Add Effects

Once you have everything colored you can add many different effects to the image. Painting is the longest step, so if you are doing this to a lot of images you should make a simple coloring and focus on the effects.

The first example is Scribble. If you use Adobe Illustrator it’s a good option. Import the layers to Illustrator, trace them and add the Scribble effect. Then export the vectors to Photoshop. Scribbled lines are stylish and have a hand-made look.

Another great effect (and my favorite) is to add a paper texture. This is specially useful if you are an architect and have to make dozens of images like this. All you have to do is paint the buildings and add a good texture and you have a terrific presentation. Remember you can export the sketches directly from Sketch Up.

You can put the textures above or below the other layers, depending on the blending modes you chose.

I didn’t use these textures in my image because the notebook covers will be made with smooth paper with matte finishing. I added some watercolor effects and details. This gives the image a traditional painting look.

And here is the final product! It’s definitely one of the best notebooks I’ve ever designed. I can only imagine the sketches that architects from all around the world are going to create with these notebooks.

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