Hi, I need some help with a technical problem using photoshop CS. I have never used it do any work before, but now I need to use it to color an artwork. I am finally somewhat proficient with layers in Lascaux, but Photoshop is prohibiting me from adding new layers. It is probably something very simple, but I even checked Adobe's help site, and nothing jumped out at me. Here is the problem and specifications:

I scanned an image and saved it as a *.TIF file. I can open it in Photoshop and see the image. It has made the image (which is lineart) one layer called "index." Thats cool, but now I want to add one behind it that will allow me to do color. Every option for adding layers (both on the toolbar at the top of the screen and the little box) is greyed out and unselectable.

So, please help me if anyone knows what the problem is!

The problem is you saved it as a TIF file. You need to save it as a PSD file, or you might have a layer that is locked.

The problem is not that you saved it as a tif. Just goto Image->Mode->RGB Color. Indexed Color images will not allow you to have separate layers among other things. Hint, the layer called "index" kinda lets you know that the image is in indexed color mode. Good luck.

Thank you for your help. that did allow me to add more layers. But now I am having even worse trouble, and this may be something Photoshop cannot even do.

In lascaux, the white is not really there, it's blank space. So I can do the lineart on one layer and color underneath it. However, for this piece I'm doing on Photoshop, I drew the picture on white paper. I did not realize that when I scanned it, the white part of the paper would be actual white image! I cannot color underneath the lines becasue they wont show up; the white paper covers it up. So, I guess my question now is, what do I do? Is drawing lineart on traditional media and then scanning it into your computer to color a possible task? Is there something special I had to have done, or still can do?

One solution that I can think of ( though I am COMPLETELY new to photoshop) is to make some command that says all of the color (white) is to be considered negative space, but I do not know if this an option in photoshop. I do not see it, at least!

There are a couple methods. The ideal is generally to trace your scan digitally, because it will be a cleaner image than the scan ever will be (unless you're a skilled inker), obviously that takes longer. The other approach is to set the layer's blending mode to Multiply. That will make black opaque and white transparent, and all the shades in between of varying opacity, as you probably want.

Thanks a lot for your help, both of you. Photoshop is now working as intended, though I am sure I will have more questions soon.