THE TOOLBOX
Some of us know our tools, although, I learn more everyday, even after 25 years. I still use Paintshop 11, although I have the new version. Old habits...:) I was asked to do a tutorial showing the different tools and where they are, so let's start with the warp brush, which I use a lot when tubing my AI images.
WARP TOOL
Invaluable to me as an AI creator. It fixes little imperfections, allows you to fill in when you cut images for animation, etc. You can find the warp tool here:
When using the warp tool, go up to file, down to the bottom left toolbar, next to last and click on warp brush. The size you use will depend on the size of the image, the size of the area you want to work on. I find that 8-10 usually works well for smaller areas like hair, corners, etc. I will enlarge it to 20 plus if I need to cover a large area. You simply place the tip of the brush in the area you want to fix and use it like a paint brush, in very small strokes, and always try to go along with the grain, or the curves of the hair, etc. It's just like painting. Do not try to do LARGE areas on things like plaid,because it will just distort the plaid image. For instance in this one above you would want to do each individual square of plaid, black or red, not both, painting and fixing.
Below he has snow on his shoes, maybe you don't want that. Use the warp brush to paint that out like this:
Again, use small strokes, do not try to paint in one stroke, but paint, click on the green check on top toolbar, then paint again. A bit at a time.
Another helpful tool for this very thing is the clone tool. A bit more difficult to use in that you will want your settings to fit the particular item you are fixing.
File/Down to clone brush as shown. Set your size, I usually am still in the 10 ballpark, sometimes smaller depending on size of area. Thickness is important because if too thick and heavy it will show as a circle on your image and NOT blend. Same with density. It's a matter of practice. When you activate the clone tool, set your size, set your other things on top toolbar as shown in image below. Go to area, for this purpose his hat, right click what you want to clone, then move to area you want that clone to be placed:
I am cloning out the washed out gray along edge of hat (warp brush also works). Right click on the dark color, then move clone tool to edge of hat and left click (apply.) Do not worry that you are going over the edge, you will use your freehand tool to cut that away for a clean perfect edge:
See the hat has a clean edge and you cannot tell the difference, as you could in original image!
Practice makes perfect ladies!