Recoloring Tutorial
Like most (or all) of my graphics stuff, this is for GIMP. It will give you an idea of how do to do it in MS Paint or whatever too though. Just do what I'll teach you in a different way...
When people say make a Pokémon recolor, they are talking about taking two sprites (in this case Pokémon ones), and recoloring one to have to colors of the second. There are basic and advanced ways to do this. The basic way is where you just swap the colors. Like, taking the red of a Pokémon and changing it to blue. The advanced way is to add patterns and stuff to make it resemble the other one more.
As you could have guessed, I'm going to teach you how to do the basic way... I might write an advanced one some other time.
Basic Recoloring Tutorial
Okay, first off, find two Pokémon sprites... I'm going to use the D/P sprite of Shellos (pink version) and Skitty. Open up GIMP and start a new image. Make it big enough to work with, so I'd say about 200x200. Paste the two Pokémon sprites onto you're new image.
The first thing that I always do is get a color template for the two sprites. I take the lightest shade of one of the Pokémon's colors, and put it at the left. Then I take the second lightest shade, and put it on the right of the lightest one. Continue doing this until you have something like this. Also, do it will all the colors from both Pokémon.
Click here to view what it should look like at this point.
Add More Shades to get Equal Amounts
As you can see (if you clicked on the link above, which you should have...), there aren't exactly the same number of shades on one sprite and the other. There are two more shades of pink than green. To fix this, I will add two another shades to the green. Again, click the link below. The shades that were added are indicated.
Click here to view what it should look like at this point.
What Will Eventually Happen
I know you're saying, "'When are we getting into to actual recoloring?!?", I'll get there. Soon. Now, I'm just going to show you what exactly we're going to do... I indicated with numbers which shade of pink will be replaced with which shade of green, and the same with the other colors. So, the two shades that have a zero on them are paired up. The pink shade with the zero will be replaced with the green shade that has the zero on the sprite. Please click the link below. Note: You'll know which shades to replace with what when you do it... You don't have to mark up like I do (I only am now because I'm trying to show you...).
Click here to view what it should look like at this point.
How to Make the Recolor Happen
K... So now, we'll be starting the 'meat' of the recolor. Select the tool to the right of the wand. It should look like a hand with colors behind it. Anyway, once you select that tool, click on the '0' shade on your base Pokémon's template. In my case, it's the pink '0'. By clicking it, it will select all the image area that is of that color.
Once all that area is selected, select the pencil tool. Change the pencil size to something high like 'Circle (19)' or something. Hold down 'ctrl', and click on the '0' of the other color. So I'd hold 'ctrl' and click on the green '0'. This will set the foreground color to whatever you clicked on. It's just a shortcut, you could take the long way with the eye drop tool, but whatever. Then, go back to the pencil tool with the size 'Circle (19)' or something like that. Click and hold down on the image, and go over all the selected area on the image. It should make all the area that you go over to the color of the color Pokémon's '0'. But, it will only make the area that's selected change color. After you go over all the base Pokémon's sprite, release the click.
Repeat this over an over again with all the shades of colors. So, I'd go on to the '1', and then '2', and so on. Here is what it looks like when I finished shades '0', '1', and '2'. Click the link below...
Click here to view what it should look like at this point.
Finishing
Not too pretty looking huh? That's just because I'm aren't finished. The middle stage will obviously look ugly... Duh. Anyways, finish up all all of the shades. One common mistake people make, is that they always forget to recolor the outline too. Or the very dark shades. "They're dark, they won't make a difference!". That person is wrong... They do make a difference.
Anyway, here is what it should look like at the end. Click the link below... Again.
Click here to view what it should look like at this point.
You like it? After doing recolors for a while, you get the hang of it and it goes by faster. You probably won't even need to make the template colors anymore. I just do it to keep organized.
Note: I know the template is all over the place on the images above... I had some, 'technical difficulties', as you might say it.
Here is what the final result looks like:
