what language you are using

what engine if any
[/quote]No engine, but lwjgl for the OpenGL binding.

but there should be some option to tint a sprite / texture when you draw it (well in DirectX atleast)
[/quote]I tried some glColor calls, but they update all textures, not just the one I'm drawing...

ah, just rememberd, i used to play this on the old TV Game Set.
[/quote]I played this on just about every system possible Since my version is Java it should play on almost anything.

I tried some glColor calls, but they update all textures, not just the one I'm drawing...[/quote]
Assuming you're not using color arrays, a call to glColor() should determine the base color for all fragments rendered subsequently. So, for example, you could just call glColor() before rendering each renderable object (sprite, text, etc.) in order to specify the color, e.g.:

glColor(...);
renderLevel();
glColor(....);
renderPlayer();
// Etc.
Note that calls to glColor() don't affect the textures directly; rather, calling glColor() simply specifies what color will be used when rendering.

I tried some glColor calls, but they update all textures, not just the one I'm drawing...

Assuming you're not using color arrays, a call to glColor() should determine the base color for all fragments rendered subsequently. So, for example, you could just call glColor() before rendering each renderable object (sprite, text, etc.) in order to specify the color, e.g.:

glColor(...);
renderLevel();
glColor(....);
renderPlayer();
// Etc.
Note that calls to glColor() don't affect the textures directly; rather, calling glColor() simply specifies what color will be used when rendering.
[/quote]

To further add to this, what jyk means is that if you call glColorf() and set it to red, every single texture you draw afterward will be red, until you change the color again. If you set it to full white (1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f) then the textures will be drawn normally. Also, you can use glColor() to do alpha blending also. The fourth parameter of glColor is the alpha transparency.

Some examples:
glColor(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.5f) - This is full red, no green, and half blue. Completely not-transparent, unless the image itself has transparency.

glColor(0.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f) - This is no red, half green, and no blue. Completely not-transparent, unless the image itself has transparency.

glColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f) - This is no red, no green, and no blue. Completely not-transparent, unless the image itself has transparency.

glColor(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f) - This is full red, full green, and full blue - which is normal. This is completely not-transparent, unless the image itself has transparency.

glColor(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, [color="#ff0000"]0.5f) - This is full red, full green, and full blue - same as before. Except, this one also is halfway transparent.

Think of it like this: Each pixel of your image is multiplied by the red, green, blue, and alpha of the last glColor() call. glColor() is 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, and 1.0 by default.
A call to glColor is permanent, until the next time you call it (Most of OpenGL functions work this way).
If you call glColor and only give it 3 parameters, the 4th parameter (the alpha) is automatically set to 1.0.

Consider this:
Your image's pixel: Color([color="#a0522d"]123, [color="#a0522d"]75, [color="#a0522d"]30, [color="#a0522d"]200)
The last glColor call: Color([color="#4169e1"]1.0, [color="#4169e1"]0.5, [color="#4169e1"]0.75, [color="#4169e1"]0.5)
Multiply the two together, Color(([color="#a0522d"]123 * [color="#4169e1"]1.0), ([color="#a0522d"]75 * [color="#4169e1"]0.5), ([color="#a0522d"]30 * [color="#4169e1"]0.75), ([color="#a0522d"]200 * [color="#4169e1"]0.5))

The result: Color([color="#9932cc"]123, 37, 22, 100)
(Excluding things like OpenGL fog, lighting, shadowing, anti-aliasing, and everything else)