We won’t need to do anything to it anymore. Move this layer below the line art layer. Use Edit > Fill (Shift + F5) to fill the entire layer with white. Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + N).

Then press Delete to remove the selected white areas, leaving us with just the line art on this layer. Tip: I encourage you to know and use Photoshop shortcut keys it saves a lot of time. This command places a selection around all the light-colored areas of the layer. Press Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + 2 (for Photoshop CS4 and up) or Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + ~ (for Photoshop CS3 and below). To do this, we want to select the white background and delete it. We want to separate the inks onto their own layers for more control. Now that we have our image scanned, open it in Adobe Photoshop. This is important as we will be isolating the line art onto its own layer - it’s much easier to do this when the line art is clean and solid. This ensures that you have solid black lines with no soft edges. Make sure you are scanning in black and white. Feel free to use your own illustration or use the source file provided at the end of the tutorial to follow along. In this tutorial, I’m going to use my own illustration. Click the image below to see it in full size.

Soft cel shading firealpaca tutorial