How (in photoshop) can I black-out only a certain layer?

Question

I took a jpg, spent about 3 hours erasing around an object, (which means that the background should be gone), and getting it just right. Now I want to color the object black, to create a silhoette (SP?) but when I try to draw or paint it, the program allows me to color outside the lines. Is there anything I can do, besides carefully coloring the image I have?

Answer 1

In the Layers toolbox, select they layer with the object on it. Then click the Transparency button next to the word "Lock."

Also, you can select the layer you want and then hit the / key on your keyboard, which will do the same thing.

This will "lock" the transparent parts of your layer and make it so you can't color anything except the object.

Answer 2

you can paste the picture into a black background first so its called Layer 1, you can slowly, or you can use the polygonal lasso tool or just the select tool to erase chunks first by selecting the area and pressing delete. then make sure to deselect and use a small soft brush to erase around the image, then flatten and it should be fine.