Fill a selection EXCEPT where there are pixels?

[bythecshore]

I have some pencil drawings of leaves. I'm trying to fill the leaves with a green color except the areas where there are pencil lines, e.g., the leaf veins. 

Is there a way to do this without deselcting the pencil lines? There are so many of them, and the result looks fake anyway. 

I feel like I've done this before, that is, just filling the entire selected leaf, veins and all, and the color fills the whole leaf except where the pencil lines are. Does anyone know how? 

[Greg_S.]

It would help if you showed us an example of your drawing. But here is one way to do what I think you want, assuming you have the pencil drawing on a white or solid color background.

1. Use the Magic Wand selection tool.
2. Make sure the contiguous box is unchecked.
3. Click anywhere on the white or solid color area.
4. Check the contiguous box for the Magic Wand.
5. Click the Subtract option or use the Alt key.
6. Click on the solid color outside the leaf drawing.  This will leave the white/solid color area of the leaf selected.
7. Choose a green foreground color and use the Paint Bucket tool to click on the selection.  You will end up with something like this:

[bythecshore]

Thanks for the reply. Your idea is basically what I did that I didn't like... see the pixelization near the veins in your drawing? 

I thought there was a Blending Mode, like Multiply, that could add a color without covering up the pixels that were already there?

I've atached a sample of the drawing, per your request. 

[Glenn 8675309]

I would copy that leaf drawing- erase the background... when done coloring it in- just past the pencil drawing layer on top of what you just colored. 

[Greg_S.]

Your drawing is very difficult to use a selection tool because the drawing has a lot of contiguous space in it. So most of the selection tools will not work well with it.  In the following example:

• I have copied the leaf layer and used a Multiply blend mode to darken the line drawing.  (Your image is also very low resolution, so will be pixelated.) 
• I have then added a Solid Color fill layer with the green and used a Darken blend mode.
• Finally, I have removed the outside of the leaf with a layer mask.  Since, I have no artistic ability whatsoever, I have not tried to complete the mask with what you may envision for the color area.

There are probably many other ways to achieve your goals, such as using a lasso selection tool.  But I don't think any will be very easy.