Creating realistic fur digitally has always been a tricky feat to accomplish, but we artists are getting better all the time at recreating something nature does without any trouble at all. You can achieve fairly decent-looking fur using Adobe Photoshop alone, but you can really boost the quality by using a great plusing known as Alien Skin's "Eye Candy 4000". I will be covering both methods in this tutorial.

TUTORIALS RECOMMENDED BEFORE STARTING

How to Color Your Art in Photoshop
Fur Direction

First things first, open up your fully-colored picture. What you are going to do is make a new layer above the layer you want the fur to appear, and then rename the layer to "Fur", as shown in the picture to the right.

Switch to the layer that contains your original line art. In the How to Color Your Art in Photoshop tutorial, this layer was named "Ink". On this layer, select the Magic Wand Tool from the toolbox (keyboard shortcut "W") and click anywhere outside of your drawing. Hopefully, you've closed off any gaps that were in the drawing. Otherwise, the Magic Wand Tool will select parts inside of your drawing as well. If so, skip the next section.

With the outer perimeter of your image selected, go to SELECT - MODIFY - EXPAND, and enter 2 for the pixel amount. This will expand the selection border 2 pixels inside your drawing. Now, press Shift + Ctrl + I, or go to SELECT - INVERSE to invert the selection. This will change the selection from outside of your drawing, to inside of it. Now, switch back to the "Fur" layer. On the "Fur" layer, select the Paint Bucket Tool and choose 50% gray from the Color Picker. If you are unsure of how to do this, check the image below. You"ll see the highlighted circle. Click with your mouse onto that field, and type "50". You"ll now have a neutral gray selected.

With your 50% gray, click anywhere onto the "Fur" layer. You"ll now have gray in the shape of your drawing.

Next, go to FILTER - NOISE - ADD NOISE. This will bring up a dialogue like the one to the right. Set the Amount to 100%, and make sure to check Monochromatic.

 With the noise now filling up the layer, you won"t be able to really see your image, so make sure to set the layer's blending mode to "Soft Light".

Now for some fun. Select the Smudge Tool by either pressing "R" on the keyboard, or selecting it from the toolbox. Hopefully, you"ve examined the Fur Direction tutorial before trying this one. It will help with the next process.

Make sure the strength of the Smudge Tool is set to a low percentage like 30% or so. You can set this from the top toolbar. Before you start smudging, it might also be a good idea to lock the transparent pixels of the "Fur" layer. This will prevent you from smudging out onto the background.

Now, begin smudging the noise in the direction that the fur would naturally grow. Make sure to smudge only in one direction, and do not smudge back over the areas you already have. Smudging blurs the pixels, so smudging over areas you"ve already touched will make it even more blurry. When you are done, your fur will look pretty darn good.

Of course, those of you who visit my site often know that I do not use this technique, because the fur I do looks a lot more realistic. How do I do it? With help from a filter known as Alien Skin's "Eye Candy 4000". Click the button below to find out how I do it.