How to Prep Line Art for Coloring in Pixelmator

April 1, 2011

This is mostly here for my own future reference, because I keep forgetting how to take some scanned line art and make all the white pixels transparent.

1. Adjust the line art using curves, brightness/contrast, etc. until it looks exactly how you want it. You might also want to create a duplicate of the layer the line art is on so you have an original to fall back to.
2. In the Image menu choose Desaturate.
3. Go back to the Image menu again and choose Invert.
4. Click on the Filter menu, go into Color, and select Mask to Alpha.
5. Once again, go to the Image menu and choose Invert.
6. Enjoy your fancy transparent line art!