Remove the White Background From Line Art in Adobe Photoshop

Line art drawings are used as a base for a digital painting or colored drawing. They're built, as the name suggests, from lines, and they should have lines only, without any background. When you draw the line art digitally, you can use a separate layer for this. But what if you used the Undo command one time too many and Photoshop, according to its weird habit, switched you to the background layer, and you didn't notice it until it was too late? Or what if you have drawn your line art traditionally, on a white sheet of paper, and now you need to remove it without redrawing the lines with a tablet? In this very short tutorial I'll show you two methods of getting the lines back-a popular one, and a professional one. If you don't have any line art to use at the moment, feel free to download the attachment and follow me. Or practice this tip using our helpful Drawing Stocks from Envato Market: graphicriver.net/drawing-in-g...
Find the project files here: design.tutsplus.com/tutorials...

[@p_eabean]

The tutorial starts at 2:00

[@finnbaikie7737]

king

[@mcsilustrador]

THANKYOU!

[@haleybarngrover]

I come back to this video every couple weeks when I (inevitably) forget a step or miss something and it doesn't turn out how I expected. Thank you for the amazing resource!

[@davidau2045]

Been using Photoshop for 20 years and now I FINALLY understand hot to do this. Thank you!

[@benjamino5]

This is such a useful video -- thank you. (Also, it's so clear and to the point -- I wish all tutorial videos were like that. ;))

[@cklai350]

I accidentally overwrote a big project with merged layers and I am saved with this method. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

[@devinbrice991]

This is the most helpful thing Ive ever seen for photoshop. Thanks so much

[@keiracopeland4721]

I was an idiot and didn't make my background transparent before saving it as a png file. It was lineart and I planned on doing the coloring later. Before I went to bed, I decided to check on it because something felt wrong, and wrong it was. I couldn't color it anymore because the layers had merged, as I was warned they would be, but I had (wrongfully) assumed it would automatically be transparent. I spent three hours on this lineart and I felt like crying and my entire weekend ruined. Thanks to you, I'm now crying tears of joy, because all of my hard work hasn't gone to waste. Thank you, god, thank you so fucking much, I don't think I can properly convey how happy you've made me and how much time you saved me. I'm crying again while writing this comment. Thank you, thank you so much.

[@-beee-]

Keep coming back to this. Thank you!

[@cherryeyr]

I am eternally grateful for this video! I spent all day looking for this kind of tutorial. Thank you so much, makes my job 1000 times easier now. Much love

[@kit4910]

oh gosh, I didn't realize how big of a difference this would make. thank you so much, you're a lifesaver!

[@woafofbread]

Thanks! This was very helpful! I had no idea that channels could do that

[@mrsnapoly]

OMG THIS JUST SAVED MY WHOLE DRAWING THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 😭😭

[@dkconstant]

I used a variation of these steps to capture a flowchart off of a gradient background that fuzzy select couldn't handle (Gimp 2.10.28). I'm by no means a graphic designer / artist, and your steps have just saved me hours of frustration. Thank you so much!

[@jamesbauer2105]

Incredibly helpful! clear and straightforward... Thank you very much for this!!

[@bonzodog67lizardking15]

James, I have run into a glitch. Despite making notes, and doing the steps carefully, my image is default grey-scale, and I'm not given the "don't flatten" box. Further, unlike her image which had a "background" in addition to the layer she was using, I can generate the stacked channels, but I only wind-up with one layer instead of three. Help??

[@fourquestions5484]

Thank you for your info-VERY helpful!

[@M00nlord]

This was perfect. Thank you so much. Saved me so much time in cleaning up a lineart with solid white background.

[@envatotuts]

Glad it helped!

[@madisonbaker4663]

hands down my favorite method, thank you!!

[@wasist124]

Very easy and to the point, thank you!!!

[@esimamedova5406]

This helped a lot. Thanks for such an useful video!

[@Emeehhh]

very useful and so well explained!!! I was looking for a way to remove the white background from the coloring pages i do when i need to relax and this helped me a lot! now there's no limit on what i want to color!

[@envatotuts]

Wonderful!

[@christopherstefanac8990]

This has been really helpful, thank you :D

[@samzarazararam]

Thank you, so straight forward!!

[@dare964]

This was so helpful! Thanks

[@aaron.hudacky]

Thank you! This was really helpful.... much nicer than the "multiply" method.

[@vazizu]

This is amazing, thanks a lot! :)

[@aceplaybill]

Where were you all these years??? Thank you so much!

[@moriahbbcmusicministry9921]

Thank you so much! It flawlessly worked like magic!!!

[@saintak]

This video saved my life, thank you for making it!

[@envatotuts]

Glad it helped!

[@MrDylanButton]

wow, this is amazing, thank you :D

[@joaopedromirandaart4494]

This saved my work, thank you so much! ❤️

[@HellsDonutHouse]

A big help - thanks!

[@uttiyamodi2420]

Thank you so much for your guidance.

[@swasticreates]

Great tutorial! Thanks!

[@user-cn5ul7ri4f]

so sick. this helps me so much!

[@darrellthompson4206]

I needed to remove the black background from a cloud of white smoke, I just inverted the image first, then followed your tut and it worked great. I exported it as a png so I can use it in another application 🎉

[@mari43862]

Thank you for this tutorial 🤩❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@OscarGtheGreat]

THANK YOU!!!! This has been the only useful video I've found.

[@MattMaGunDee]

Should memorize this process but I prefer coming back to this vid always. Thank you 🙏🏿

[@kristenmerola6846]

exactly what I needed thank you SO much

[@chokeromance]

Thank you for this, I've been searching for a way to get rid of the white and the tricky little bits it leaves behind for ages!

[@envatotuts]

You are so welcome!

[@anjali_zombie]

This worked so good! thank you so much and i love your voice!

[@LearningSimplified]

great technique!! It is indeed useful...

[@Alejandrodhz]

Amazing, Thank you.

[@ImNotGenerous]

This is like my 7th time coming back to this video. I wish I could like it twice. Thank you very much!

[@envatotuts]

Glad you liked it!

[@alexchrist1020]

Helped a lot thanks

[@kimberlyheath1855]

This saved me HOURS!!! Thank you!!!!

[@overlordmega]

So amazing! Thank you!!!!!!

[@conniehipshire7928]

Perfection! Thank you! This video was just what I was looking for!

[@envatotuts]

Glad it helped!

[@williamstone1536]

God Bless you! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@pblazevic7638]

THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THIS😭😭!!!💕💕💕 I HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY!!

[@Gubleti]

helped me so much ♥

[@mikeydeee]

Very helpful! thank you

[@lazychief69]

you saved my work omg THANK YOU SO MUCH 😩👌

[@BlayekStar]

Thank you so much! It has made my edits so much faster!

[@Mierontie]

Thank you so much!

[@S-ivanov]

Amazing! Thank you :)

[@PATRICKCOSTA25122000]

Helped me a lot with a college project.

[@jmdza]

thank you so much!

[@preetikhurana7619]

Thnkuuuuu so so much ...u really helped me out w it..I was really tensed but now there's a relief after watching this tutorial

[@unfriendlykarma]

thank you so freaking much, this was perfect, i struggled bc my "line art" is stippled and omg i was struggglinggggg

[@lachlanstacey6300]

saved my uni score for this semester. Cheers!

[@ybb220]

Thank you thank you thank you very very much!

[@rafaelcoelho3063]

thanks, great video

[@rukhsar9858]

Oh thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️

[@malithanuradha3333]

Thank you very much.. 😀😀 It's very helpful to me..

[@joelhageman1903]

Great stuff. I just want to say, you guys are saving me with this stuff. I can leave a comment and a like. Thanks much.

[@envatotuts]

Great to hear!

[@SS-qm4up]

THANK YOU! i was looking for a way to get a PNG out of a drawing. T_T and i would like to suggest darkening the artwork and expanding inverted selection in about 2-3 pixels using select ---> modify--> expand before copying the alpha channel, to get the most of the drawing.

[@sapianolessons]

Perfect explanation! Is there a way to colorize the sketch though, as well as removing the background as you've done? So lets say, you want the line drawing of the pegasus to be red instead of black. I'm just getting back into photoshop, and a lot has changed. Hopefully this is something simple.

[@raajabalaajeps]

Thank you so much

[@bobbyhenshall7464]

You Absolute star thankyou!

[@adi_tal]

Amazingggg thanks

[@yyg4632]

thank you worked welllll

[@Tao_of_sifu]

Greet video, thx a lot. u r the best.

[@TheArtofKAS]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

[@user-et2nx7ou7o]

WOW finally I can do this Thank you

[@envatotuts]

Have fun

[@nternetrat]

YASSS amazing tutorial thank youu

[@envatotuts]

Glad you liked it!!

[@superwalnuts2855]

thanks!

[@otakubeast-bx8tu]

Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver!

[@juliedh97]

Wow just spend 2 hours just to figure out I only had to click Multiply... XD Thanks for the tutorial!!

[@conradruizph]

really helpful, thank you! you have my subscribe and like😁

[@envatotuts]

Glad it helped!

[@jpbrindamour5467]

Your voice is amazing!!!

[@aceplaybill]

Ah! you noticed :D

[@1amb_t33th]

thank you so much ypu saved my life thank you very very much i love you be happy

[@onemanstudio5643]

NICE VIDEO

[@mayursatardekar6974]

Thanks

[@denislavpetrov7723]

Thanks!

[@envatotuts]

Welcome!

[@bonzodog67lizardking15]

This is easily the best approach I've seen yet, but I'm confused. When I open my image, it's already a default greyscale and I'm not given the "Don't flatten option." The other confusing bit (which may be related) is My image is all by itself. I have no (apparently) default "background" that goes with it. So as I follow the steps, the channels stack up nicely, but the layer stubbornly remains a single item. Help please!! :)

[@LaurieRussellDesign]

If you set up a new file with the dimensions of your image, then add a new layer on top of the background, you can add your line art image on that new layer and follow along this tutorial from there. As for the "don't flatten option" that's an Adobe CC update I believe. My current Photoshop settings when I go through this now show 3 dialogue boxes: I chose "don't merge," "don't rasterize" and then "discard" colors. Everything else in the video above worked the same. Hope this helps!

[@yashar-el]

What about removing background from illustrations with color?

[@itskindofemily]

I reckon you shoudl try adding a mask to "remove the background". You'd have to look up a tut about selecting the subject and then placing a layer mask. This also means that the background is still there, just hidden, so in case you want to undo that, you can! :)

[@carters7171]

ohmygod you just saved me like 3 hrs worth of work, I was trying to make manga pages into .png and this totally helped

[@hyperdimension587]

My end result looks like its transparent but when I drag it over to another file or export it it has a very light grey background instead of being fully transparent

[@joycecotton1041]

I can get it all the way to line art with transparent background, The Control + shift+ I hint worked great. However when I place it on another page with colored background, I can see the square box around my line art and it's slightly gray, i would like to just have the line art with no bounding box. Am I doing something wrong?

[@i.c.m.m6969]

Hi , Thank you for your great video, really helpful, I have a question,I have a line art but the background is not white , and although the result is transparent but there is like a shadow at the background, is there any way to get rid of it?

[@feeddannyo2061]

I'm getting the exact same thing! Did you figure it out?

[@jakestuck8903]

Same issue...

[@OmnipotentSaiyan]

I make character animations and when I draw lines and export the image when it's colored its a few pixels of white behind my line art is there a way to prevent that?

[@zaklay9399]

The line art layer still has grey around it. What if I want specifically the line art with 100% transparency around it. Like If I had started in photoshop with a backround layer and line art layer.

[@effervescence5]

This used to work perfectly for me, but recently even when I fill my lines in with black they come out gray. Is anyone else having this problem?

[@downtowntrain2319]

This is a great tutorial! But I have noticed then when going back to RGB Mode the the separated line art layer becomes darker/thicker, so it's not quite the same as the original. I am doing it right? Is there a way to avoid this?

[@elizcringle6505]

This is the super simple way to turn a hand drawing into png line drawing. I learned it from another video, unfortunately I don't remember which one. 0- make sure your background colors are ready - black should be at the bottom (or whatever color you want the lines to be) of the Default Foreground and Background icon 1- select image in LAYERS tab (Ctrl + A) (make sure it's unlock) 2- Go to CHANNELS tab > hold Ctrl & click RGB (will see "ants" outline) 3- Go back to LAYERS tab > (image still has "ants") - Tool Bar / Select / Inverse (don't "deselect or anything yet).... 4- Create a "new layer" > hold Ctrl & press "backspace" to fill color to lines. And Viola! It's done. You now have a png line image. Let me know how you did. Cheers!

[@downtowntrain2319]

@@elizcringle6505 oh that's a handy way to do it without going into greyscale! However it still ends with the same issue for me; the line art is very very slightly darker/thicker. Not a big deal, but it's kind of odd.

[@downtowntrain2319]

Ok I figured out how fix it so the line art does not come out slightly thicker edges: Follow all the step in the video so you have the line art selection ready to fill, but before you fill, go to "Layer" > "Select and Mask" and reduce "Shift Edge" by -10%, then hit OK and now fill your selection. Your line art should be more accurate. Note: I think older versions of Photoshop "Select and Mask" is also called "Refine Selection".

[@thairinkhudr4259]

2:37 "Click load channel as selection, aa selection should appear on the picture" This doesn't happen. What do I do? Edit: Ok, I contrasted the original layer so that my line art was darker (it was light gray) and this selection step showed some of the lines were selected (not all) but when I used the paint bucket tool, all the lines were saved regardless. So, thank you o much, your tutorial worked for me too!

[@TheSerek1]

Dzieki

[@Rocarisleep]

Спасибо

[@ezradamie2836]

Tnx

[@amogusballs]

it fixed it, but now i can only draw in grayscale colors pls help cause i needed to do this for painting