How to get flesh color with colored pencils. Drawing lessons for beginners
Paint realistic, natural-looking skin from scratch using traditional techniques and only three brushes.
My name is Mayrhosby Yeoshen. I am studying at the Faculty of Computer Science in Venezuela. Digital illustration is my passion and it is more than just a hobby. Mostly I like to depict a human face or original characters which you can see in my gallery. IN Lately I work as a freelance illustrator, trying to breathe realism into what I do. I am mainly inspired by Korean Renaissance and Neoclassical artists such as Boticelli and Bouguereau because of the impeccability of their artwork.
PREFACE
Every CG artist has their own way of drawing skin tones for portraits. However, not everyone is able to achieve its realistic look, since at first glance it seems difficult to avoid artificiality due to natural material skin. Although it is much easier to achieve an organic feel when we paint traditionally. And the reason is not only the use of sprays (Airbrush) and mixing colors. It's a matter of adding your own to the picture. characteristic features and showing careful attention to every single detail: from the color of a teardrop to the crease of a lip. You might think that drawing like this seems like hard work, but in fact, it is not. The result is more important. After all, mastering this lesson will help you create not only beautiful portraits, but will also significantly improve your observation skills.
Of the traditional methods we use in this lesson, only cross-hatching is present. But make no mistake. Unlike simple drawing pencils, this technique will allow us to achieve what we want, namely a realistic looking skin. The fact that we can work on a canvas several thousand pixels high, and can use close-up for maximum detail, will allow us to take control of every separate part paintings. For this technique, only three brushes are used. The first is created from a basic Round Blender brush, the second is downloaded from the Internet, and the third is a Cover Pencil brush.
We apply the main shades with the first two brushes, and we will use the pencil only for shading. This method will also improve your perception of shapes and three-dimensional environments. Once we've chosen the colors for the shades, we'll blend them out, get rid of the linear sketch, and get to the fun part of adding lots of detail. As an attachment to the lesson you will find a layer in .psd format for training and samples of other skin tones. You can use them with this technique shown in this tutorial to create portraits of people of different nationalities.
LET'S START WITH THE BASICS.
The basics are everywhere! Select your main image and main colors.
First we have to make a sketch. You can make it from a favorite photo, scan a completed sketch, or use the included “SkinToneForTutorial.psd” file. In the latter case, we will get a ready-made sketch of the face and ear. And since everything else is done at this stage, we can concentrate on painting and texturing the skin.
2. Pay attention to environment and mood.
What do you want to depict - day, night or twilight? Natural light or artificial light? What mood do you want to convey? All of these things will interact with the skin because they are integral part paintings. In our tutorial we will convey a warm atmosphere with natural light, so skin tones will largely remain the same.
3. Color palette.
Using your reference, determine base colors for dark, medium and light shades. In addition, choose additional colors for the cornea, iris, lips, and subtle shades for the eyelids, blush, or something similar. In the appendix you are given samples of skin tones not only for the white race used in this tutorial, but also for other skin types.
APPLYING SHADES.
We enrich the base with shades.
In the screenshots below you will see the basic settings of the first brush we used. Select the “Round Blender” brush from the “Blenders” category and open the Brush Creator using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B. Go to the Stroke Designer tab and enter the specified settings. We start working with a low brush opacity – “Opacity” of about 7% and a brush size of about 24-30px.
5. Apply shadows
Check the “Preserve Transparency” option on the skin layer. Now select warm light brown color and start applying it to the medium-dark areas, using your reference to define them. In our case, we will shade the skin under the eyebrows, eyelids, chin and the left side of her face.
6. Mix colors
Don't be afraid to use more shades from your palette, such as pinks and oranges that are darker than your base skin tone. Keeping the opacity low, mix colors using only the feature of this brush (its “Bleed” parameter is blurring, the higher its value, the better the blending of nearby colors). Don't forget to also treat other areas of the skin, such as the neck and upper chest.
7. Deepen the shadows
Make the brush size smaller (about 10-15px). Now, using dark brown, deepen the shadows. Don't be afraid to choose different colors, obtained as a result of mixing, with a pipette - this will only enrich the palette of shades. Also try mixing colors using the brush feature.
8. Add light
Now, having chosen lighter colors than the base skin tone, apply them to right side nose, forehead and upper cheekbone. We are still working with large areas, so any detail is out of the question. Look closely at your reference and try to get a feel for the three-dimensional shape of the subject, as well as why the light affects the cheek areas, the center of the nose, etc. For the brightest highlight areas you can use light blue color with low opacity, which will give the skin a more organic appearance.
Fill in the eyes with the base color, taking into account that the whites of the eyes are actually greyish. Apply shadow to the iris and draw the pupil. Keeping the spherical shape of the eye in mind, add shadow under the eyelid and closer to the tear duct. The cornea of the eye usually has a reddish tint due to capillary vessels.
Once you're done with the eyes, start painting your lips. Fill them with a reddish pink tint and apply dark red eyeshadow. You can also draw a line separating the upper and lower lip with a smaller brush size and a higher opacity setting.
11. Subtle skin tones
Next, we select colors for subtle shades in areas such as the ethmoid sinus, located between top part nose and eye. IN in this case, we choose a nice lavender color with a very low opacity, taking advantage of the brush's ability to blend with the underlying colors. The area close to the tear duct is often yellowish, so use a smaller brush to make a small, rounded stroke there.
12. Light blush
For cheeks, use a bright carmine (crimson) color. Brush big size(about 30px) Apply the shade to your cheeks, blending it with the underlying color.
13. Shading
Now that the main colors are applied to the skin, blend them using Rob's Blender Round brush with an Opacity of approximately 25-30% and a size of 35-40px. You can download this brush in the appendix to the lesson using the link provided. As a result, the face will look smoother, especially if we turn off the sketch layer.
14. Getting rid of the sketch
Now that you've finished working on the facial features, let's prepare the skin for texturing. Hiding and turning on the sketch layer (using the eye icon to the left of the layer), draw the contours of the face using the Cover Pencil brush from the Pencils category at 2px and 30% opacity. Always use a darker (or lighter) color than base color filling in the empty spaces with a pencil bigger size, or a previously created brush with a small size and high opacity.
CONTINUE USING CROSS HATCHING.
Draw the areas of the eyes and mouth.
15. Let's start texturing.
What we have done so far is prepare the skin for great job on texturing. We are now ready to begin this process using the macro method. Create a new layer and name it "Texture". Uncheck the "Preserve Transparency" option and check the "Pick Up Underlaying Color" option in the Layers palette. Start cross-hatching with a Cover Pencil brush size from 1 to 6px and Opacity: 20%. You can practice in the Brush Designer window (Ctrl+B).
16. Cross hatching
You can start shading from any point you want. In this tutorial, we start with the right cheek. With quick and confident movements, begin to apply arched strokes, according to the shape of the surface of the face. The main mistake beginners make is that they apply strokes at a completely different angle than the existing face shape. If you are not satisfied with the result, erase everything and start again until you get the hang of it and gain some skill. For convenience, be sure to use the rotation tool (The canvas can be rotated by holding down the key combination “Space + Alt” and setting the direction with a pen or mouse. To return the canvas to its original position, just one click of the mouse while holding the above combination).
17. Please note
The success of this technique lies in the quantity and quality of detail we can control. Using magnification, notice the folds, curves of the skin and the very different shades on it. To define colors, use the Dropper. Now we're only focusing on skin tones and the Colors panel, not the Mixer palette or anything else.
18. Improve your eyes
Eyes are often the first thing we see on someone's face. And that's why we should focus on them more than any other part of the face. Details such as tear ducts, the inner thickness of the eyelids, the lines of the iris and ordinary highlights immediately attract attention, bringing life to the face and giving it a personal personality. Don't forget about the lower eyelid folds as well.
19. Now the mouth.
Mouth is different characteristic feature face that deserves more study and detail. A common mistake when drawing a mouth is the randomness of its outlines, when the drawer does not even bother to study why the lines of the mouth should go this way and not otherwise, and does not take into account its three-dimensional shape at all. Slowly, carefully study all the features of the lips and see where to add light and where to add shadow.
FINISHING THE FACE.
Pay attention to other details.
Drawing a nose can be a lot of fun because of its subtle shades. It can be almost entirely light in color, and at the same time have very dark areas (nostrils). Pay attention to the skin around the nostrils. Typically in Caucasian skin types, this area contains bright orange and crimson undertones.
If you decide to complete the ears, keep in mind that, like the nose, the ears (white skin type) can have many bright reds, pinks and oranges. The ears don't necessarily need to be given this much attention. close attention like the eyes or mouth.
22. Neck and upper chest
After finishing the face, we can concentrate on the rest of the skin. And since these are large areas that don't get much attention, working on them can feel a little boring. The best option will finish work on other parts of the portrait before starting this stage. Notice the very dark shadow under the chin and don't forget the shadow cast by the hair or dress.
Although eyebrows are not skin, they interact with it in some way. On a new layer, start drawing the eyebrow using the same Cover Pencil brush, but with a slightly larger size (2.5-3px) and Opacity: 50%, starting with the most dark shades and ending with the lightest. pay attention to right direction hairs and do not overdo it, otherwise the eyebrows will look fake. To blend better with the skin, make a few light strokes along the contour of the eyebrows in the same color as the skin underneath.
24. Eyelashes
For eyelashes, use the same Cover Pencil brush, but in a very dark color (almost black). To prevent them from looking artificial, draw them different lengths, thickness and in different directions, but do it carefully to avoid dirt. Follow the shape of the eyelid from which they grow. If you draw an eyelash and it looks unnatural, undo it and redraw it again.
25. Completion
Now, the skin has acquired a characteristic texture. All that remains to be done is to take a look at the picture and make sure that everything is in order. Make sure that the shadow of your hair or clothing falls on your skin. If you see that any part of the skin is too textured dark color, select the Eraser (“Eraser”) and setting the opacity to low (5-10%), go over the problem areas. You can also use Blender with low opacity or even adjust the colors a little. All in your hands!
You can see the drawing in the original resolution 2835×3543 px. The shading technique is very clearly visible!
Application:
File.psd for repeating the stages of the lesson:
Color palette for different skin types:
P.S.: I attached a set of Rob’s Brush Library brushes as a file to the lesson
It would seem, why is it so difficult to draw skin? A couple of wrinkles, some shadows, paint - and you're done! Wait, how to color it?!
You need to paint your face with special care, and it’s often the most small detail drawing. But in this article, I'll look at ways to achieve skin color in three of the most widely used techniques.
I'll probably start with the simplest technique - drawing with a pencil.
Hardly anyone has ever seen a skin-colored pencil. If you have, then you are lucky. I will tell you about color combinations to achieve skin color. Usually, for these purposes, I take pink as a base and add yellow, orange or brown on top in the right proportions (most often yellow in a 1:1 ratio). You can also take yellow as a base and add red or brown. Combinations depend on desired result. To express shadows, tan and blush, you can use basic combinations by simply thickening the colors.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that if you have applied too much of one color, you should not “mask” it with a thick layer of another. It’s better to carefully (!) wipe the pencil with an eraser. But, even if a thick, rich color is needed, there is no need to first apply a thick layer of one color, then a thick layer of another. It is better to apply thin layers of each color (it turns out to be something like a layer cake: pink-yellow-red-pink-yellow-red...) until the desired thickness is achieved.
Next I'll look at painting with gouache.
There is nothing complicated here. It is enough to dilute the desired color in the palette and apply it to the drawing.
Typically red, white, yellow and brown colors(2:1:1:1). However, ocher (2:1:2) is often used instead of yellow and brown. For achievement desired color, tanning or blush, parts of a particular color increase or decrease. It should also be noted that it is not advisable to use pink instead of a red-white combination.
To achieve a pale complexion, do not apply a thin layer of paint so that the paper shows through. You just need to add more white or yellow paint.
You can also add blue and green colors in small quantities (both when drawing with gouache and when coloring with pencil), however, this should only be done if you know exactly what you want and what you should get (for example sickly look or shadow).
And finally, watercolor.
Watercolor is the most capricious of paints. Therefore, I would advise you to look for the color you need in the sets. If you combine colors, you will end up with either a daub in the drawing or a daub in the paints. However, if you train enough, take good paper, paints and a brush, you can get the desired color again by applying the base and adding the desired colors.
By the way, if you have at your disposal watercolor pencils, the task is noticeably simplified. In this case, you need to color the drawing as regular pencils(in no case less carefully) and run a damp brush over the design.
Well, that's basically it.
Drawing skin- this is one of the most the most complex tasks, facing every photorealist artist. To achieve truly realistic effect, a combination of many factors is important - color choice, mixing methods, specially tuned brushes and created textures. It is also important to remember that each skin type needs a different approach. The delicate porcelain skin requires a similar technique to the clear skin found on children, but it is quite different from the techniques used to paint dark skin.
In this lesson, I will tell you the main differences in drawing the main types of skin, and draw your attention to important anatomical features. I will reveal the secrets and subtleties of using customized brushes to achieve the desired effect. I'll also talk about certain skin tones and share a color palette so you can learn how to use it in your own work. This lesson does not contain the basics of drawing a face, it is intended for those who already have basic knowledge and skills in drawing faces, and also know general rules in the application of color and its mixing. However, where possible, I will remind you of the most important issues at this stage of drawing.
To get the most out of the lesson, you must have any version of Photoshop or Painter at least version 6, as well as a tablet.
Author's secret: Rich colors
When you create a palette for painting a face, choose really saturated colors, excluding the midtones (mildtones). This is important because colors are always applied with reduced opacity and therefore lose some of their vibrancy. Desaturated colors will look gray and uninteresting from the start. Also, do not forget that if you are unhappy with the color you have chosen, you can always change it using the settings Color Balance(Color balance). Usually the colors look more brown, to correct this move the red slider Highlights(Light) to the left and the blue slider Shadows(Shadows) to the right.
Porcelain
1. Color is very important
Porcelain- this is a special and specific type of skin, where the main role is played by the choice of color. It's a well-known fact that the highlights, shadows, and mildtones of skin should all be different colors, no matter what type of skin you're painting. This rule is the most important in painting porcelain type. Typically this effect is achieved by choosing slightly saturated midtones (mildtones) and bluish shadows (shadows).
However, I think the key here is the highlights. There are many options, but a slightly turquoise/green highlight immediately creates the effect of porcelain skin - fragile with a fresh glow.
Choose a palette and sketch out the main facial features. It doesn't really matter what tools you use, just try to avoid the Airbrush for now.
2. Smooth skin!
Smoothness- this is the second important point in drawing the effect of porcelain skin. Usually for good result It is enough to use rough transitions in combination with additional textures, but now we need an ideal smooth surface. In order to get this effect, first we draw rough transitions (Hard Round Brush in Photoshop or Blender in Painter), having defined the basic shapes, then we move on to working on soft transitions (Add Water only in Painter or any brush with airbrush option with no great value opacity in Photoshop) to soften the transitions.
3. Forget about textures
I always emphasize the need to use textures to achieve realism, porcelain skin is the exception to the rule. Although I usually recommend drawing tiny pores for skin texture, in this case it's best to skip this step. Instead, choose a color for the highlights and airbrush the most prominent parts of the face, such as the forehead, chin, cheekbones and the tip of the nose. Make the highlights really pop and use a high opacity to create that glowing skin effect we talked about earlier.
4. Final retouching
Once you're mostly done, you can try some additional tricks to further highlight the softness of the leather. The first is to choose a medium shade (mildtones) and use an Airbrush to soften the outer edge of the lower lip, creating a soft transition from the lips to the face. After, without changing the brush, select the highlight shade (highlights) and draw a small bulge above upper lip, and also emphasize the lower lip, as in the picture below. At the end, slightly soften the contour of the face using a tool (Blur Tool) or an airbrush (Airbrush).
Transparent
1. Children and vampires
Transparent The skin type, at first glance, is very similar to porcelain. However, there are some differences that are worth considering in more detail. In combination with existing rules in selection color transitions From shadows to midtones, there is no single correct color to choose from, as it is highly dependent on the character being drawn. The palette for children should look more natural, it can be described as "typical" shades, but the skin of vampires is paler and sickly, based on existing legends. When creating a transparent skin type, the most important thing is to understand its structure and create appropriate textures.
2. Anatomy. Be careful!
Please note that anatomical convexities baby face slightly different from an adult. This is especially noticeable on the cheeks. As you can see in the image below, I marked the bump area with a red line and along this path I marked the shadows and white highlights with blue shading.
Also, if you haven't done this yet, you need to decorate the nose and cheek areas with slightly pink shades.
3. Texture time
It's time to create the illusion of transparent skin - let's draw the veins. Since the skin is very thin, veins are more visible on the child's forehead and above the eyes. And you should also remember that the older the children, the less noticeable the veins will be.
If you draw a vampire, do as your heart tells you. I use a combination of expressive, almost black, veins around the eyes and lips, gradually disappearing, it looks interesting and gives a convincing look to the vampire.
Select a purple or blue brush color (Hard Round or Airbrush) and create a thin web of lines that should look like veins (1 in the image below). Smooth the layer slightly and experiment with blending modes until we get the result we are interested in. Now let's emphasize the thickness of the veins using a dark red airbrush, paying special attention to the junction of the veins (2), add some dark strokes (3). If necessary, to enhance the effect, lightly darken the area with mid-tones with an airbrush.
4. No pores
At the final texturing stage, I will again refrain from drawing in the pores. If you are drawing a newborn, you can try adding small rashes, which are common in small children. We do this, place dots of different sizes of a reddish color on top of each other - start with large spots that are highly transparent, gradually moving to small ones with a little transparency. Particular concentration on the cheeks and chin areas. You can also add tiny highlights to your nose and lips - these little touches add extra cuteness!
If you're drawing a vampire, use a huge Airbrush to follow the contours of the face. This will add a mysterious glow to painful skin.
Dark skin
1. Anatomical features
First, choosing a color for of this type skin may seem very difficult task, but you can create a palette by choosing the mid-tones of European skin type as a basis and then darken using the tool Brightness/Contrast(Brightness/Contrast). However, the key to creating truly realistic dark skin is knowing the anatomy and textures. A bit general, the nose is usually steep and wide, and the lips are full. We emphasize the volume, add a glow to the upper contour of the lip (1) and a small shadow cast by the voluminous lips on the face (2).
2. Mixing rules
The mixing rules are the same as for light skin. We start by selecting and applying medium and dark tones from the palette with any tool except an airbrush. We should avoid the finger and blur tools; we don't need the same neat transitions as when drawing porcelain skin. To smooth out rough transitions, use the Blender tool in painter or the Hard Round brush in Photoshop.
3. Draw pores!
After drawing the base of the face, we move on to texturing. There will be a lot of textures to add the oily pores characteristic of this skin type. Start by choosing a very light nude color and using a hard round brush, paint in the pores, overlapping each other. Add the greatest concentration of pores in the area of the nose and cheeks. Pores are also important for diagonal areas and light-colored areas (1). Do not forget about the constant change in transparency, increase it in the most glare places.
After the basic texturing, Photoshop users can add a little trick: create a new layer and paint the desired areas with small diagonal strokes of almost white color. Then right-click on the current layer and select from the drop-down menu (Blending Options) - (Inner Shadow). Adjust the distance and size, and take the shadow color from the midtones (2). If everything worked out correctly, then when reduced, the skin will look incredibly realistic.
4. Perfect lips
And now a few words about drawing lips. Main color already drawn, now let's add small light dots with the Airbrush tool and blend them later with a large brush. To emphasize the size and volume of the lips, add large vertical lines of light color, connecting them with separate dots.
Author's secret
Switch between programs!
Many artists have difficulty learning Photoshop or painter and therefore limit themselves to one thing. Figuring out how to draw something you can already draw perfectly well in another program seems like a waste of time. But both programs have a number of unique characteristics. Photoshop is amazing at adjusting colors and creating your own fantastic brushes. While Painter has fabulous blends that speed up the painting process and many brushes that faithfully simulate living materials.
Pale redheads
1. Free technique
I find this skin type one of the most interesting, but it is very rarely seen in digital painting. First, we choose the colors we like, the main thing is that they remain pale. I prefer orange shades, they go well with my hair. Apply colors and select brushes as usual. What makes this skin type so special? These are small, individually insignificant details that together give a stunning effect. Let's start by drawing the base of the face with the tools you're most comfortable working with.
2. Contrast
The face should be almost colorless. Therefore, we choose non-contrasting shades for drawing the face, as well as unsaturated yellow and light orange colors for drawing eyebrows and eyelashes. The eyebrows should be barely visible; use a transparent airbrush to apply the bulk of the hair. Eyelashes, first draw thin brown strokes, and then light ones with high transparency. If your eyes lack definition due to a lack of dark lashes, you can try adding sheer dark flecks at the base of your lashes.
2. The charm of freckles
There are several types of freckles, depending on the skin type: temporary, which depend on exposure to the sun, characteristic of Europeans, and permanent, characteristic of people with very pale skin types.
The first ones are easier to draw; you just need to add a small number of dots to the usual skin type. And the latter is a more complex process. Their shape looks like a patch and covers a large area of the surface of the face.
Let's start applying the texture of realistic freckles, create a dot brush (Sparkled). If you are working in painter, use jittered Airbrush.
Now choose a color a little darker than the midtones and work with low opacity most faces. We gradually move from matte to dark orange shades. And at the very end we draw freckles one above the other to give natural look. If they don't go well with your face, try changing them.
4. Additional colors
After you're done with everyone previous stages, there will be very little left. If you feel that your face is too colorless, which happens very often, try adding reddish shades or additional derivative colors.
Translator's note: unfortunately, I did not find the original palette from Marta Dahlig. Therefore, I will attach a color chart to the lesson. I hope you find it useful.
When drawing a portrait, it is very important to accurately convey the expression of the eyes. It’s not enough to build the eyeball, eyelids and eyelashes correctly, you also need to decorate them correctly.
Since we have already touched on the topic of creating a portrait more than once before, today we will tell and show you a few simple tips, which will help not only draw, but also decorate the human eye.
Let's start with a sketch. It is important to emphasize the line of the eye from the very beginning. The iris should be based on a circle. Due to lack of experience, many people draw an eye in the shape of an ellipse - an “egg”, and this is a fundamental mistake of novice artists. Likewise, people often get the angle of the eye wrong, which should also be part of the entire drawing. Don't draw it too narrow or wider than the eyeball.
The eyeball is never perfectly white! In all people it has a slight grayish tint. And in the corners the shadow from the upper eyelid is often clearly visible.
It is better to emphasize the corner and inner lines with a pink pencil (you can replace it with red) and a skin-colored pencil.
Draw the pupil. First, set the first layer of iris color. The more shades of the same color we have, the better. Let's start, of course, with bright colors, making gradual transitions to denser and darker places. In the place where we draw the reflected light - the highlight, the eyelashes are also reflected. We show them too.
Use dark black to correct and emphasize the lines along the iris, except for those places where the reflection of light is visible; they should remain slightly blue. Draw a brown circle around the pupil.
Add the remaining shades of blue. It is best to paint with short strokes on top of the previous layer that we added earlier. In general (except for light reflection) the eye should be painted over bright color. Draw the pupil in black, and lightly press the area around the eyes with a skin-colored pencil.
We work out the shades of the lower eyelids in more detail with flesh, pink and brown pencils. It must be remembered that the line of contact between the eyelid and the eye should be different in color from the rest of the skin. You can give it a slightly pink tint here. In dark areas we use bronze. It is better to use coloring in several words: first dark and dark and at the end cover it with a layer of cream.
The upper eyelid never gathers into just one fold. It has many curves. We outline the folds with dark brown, lightly rub a bright brown pencil and cover it with flesh color. If we draw an eye that has makeup applied, we must also highlight the eyeliner that is applied to the upper eyelid. For this, I suggest you use black and dark brown.
We draw eyelashes with a carefully sharpened pencil and constantly check whether it is too dull. Eyelashes should be beautiful: bright, long and lush. They should not be drawn with too simple lines, we should curve them a little. Slightly crossed and sticky eyelashes will look more realistic. The lower eyelashes are thinner and much shorter than those at the top.
Final touches (eg. add White color to illuminate the corner of the eye, glare) and you're done!
It is worth remembering that the eyes are individual for each person. . And like fingerprints, you will never find two people with the same eyes. Moreover, the left and right eyes of one person are also strikingly different from each other. There are times when the difference is not only in the pattern of the iris, but also in its color! Therefore, it is very important to correctly convey the expression of the eyes, their color and size.
INTRODUCTION
There are tons of skin drawing tutorials online, so I did my best to make my contribution a little different from the rest of the tutorials. First, we're talking about multiple skin tones. Most existing tutorials teach how to draw light or dark skin, and only a few teach variations in shades. In this tutorial I will be talking about several shades of light, natural and dark skin and how to give it a fantasy or horror look.
I'll also talk about how color combinations and the position of light will affect the colors you choose, how to mix paints, and what painting techniques I use when working.
For digital processing I use programs Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Theoretically, all programs are equal in their capabilities and functions.
Ready? Go.
I:: SKIN DRAWING BASICS
Many drawing tutorials highlight several shades of skin: midtones, shadows, highlights, and sometimes “warm” colors. This is, of course, the right approach, but it is far from simple. Skin is not a flat, monochromatic surface; Its complexity lies in the fact that it contains several shades. I'll expand on the concepts of skin tones by adding a few notes of my own. Trust me, everything is not as difficult as it seems.
The colors and shades will vary depending on the skin type you choose. I will say more about this in the second part. this lesson. But all skin tones boil down to one general scheme:
(1) MIDDLE TONE: This includes the colors that make up the actual color of the skin. There should be several of them, with the same saturation, but in different tones. The saturation of tones should be low in relation to skin tone.
(2) BASE TONE: We can say that this is the average value of the main (middle) tone. The main tone is notable in that it is pale and does not stand out much. All other shades will be built on its basis.
(3) SHADOWS: The darkest areas of an object that are shaded by the angle of light. There are two things to remember here: firstly, that they are usually very rich, and secondly, that they are not thick. And the colors and depth of shadows should vary across the surface of the entire body.
(4) LIGHT SPOTS: The lightest areas of an object that receive light. This includes any areas of the body that are lighter than the average tone. Like shadows, highlights should vary in color and brightness throughout the body.
(5) GLARE: Highlights appear where light reflects most intensely off the surface of the skin, usually in oily areas. They are most often found on the nose and lips. The highlights should be brighter than the highlights, but don't overdo them.
(6) WARM COLORS: Warm colors include those that give the skin a vibrant, healthy look - blush on the cheeks, redness on the knees and legs. They have increased saturation and shades of pink, orange and red. Do not apply them over the entire surface of the skin and do not create bright spots.
Mid-tone, base tone and shadows are applied evenly with high color saturation. Highlights and warm colors, on the other hand, are applied with low color saturation on top of the base. This helps to achieve the effect of transparency and naturalness of the skin. Warm colors themselves are very bright, but when used correctly they only decorate the picture and enliven the skin color.
When applying highlights, use several shades with low color saturation. Cool shades (light turquoise, blue or lavender) are great for giving your skin a natural tone, but don't forget shades of pink and yellow; A combination of cool and warm shades will give the skin a natural look.
The background will also greatly affect the color of the skin, but I will talk more about this later. Suffice it to say that the color you choose from the background can add flavor to your drawing.
If this all sounds too complicated for you, relax. Let's visualize all this on a black and white sphere, and then see how this sphere will be played up with color... on the sphere on the right, a “warm” color has been added. I simply applied a bright spot to an area of the sphere, and look how it changed, it became more animated, radiating freshness and beauty.
+ Use of a limited number of colors. This is perhaps the most serious mistake. Some take one color as a base, and use dark and light variations of the same color to apply shadows and highlights. NEVER DO THIS! You will end up with lifeless, flat skin. The secret is to use different shades. Be bolder, mix colors, change saturation, experiment.
+Use of shadows with low contrast. This robs the skin of its vitality. This approach also leaves the skin flat and lifeless. One of the secrets to beautiful eyeshadow is using rich shades. The shadows are neither gray nor black; they are colored, and the more colors you use, the more realistic they will look.
Take a look at this portrait I painted a few years ago. Notice how flat and lifeless the skin looks on the original - the error is not only in the low saturation of the shadows, but also the colors themselves are too pale - the skin is almost gray. In the second picture, the skin takes on vital shine and shape. Here, not only the colors became better, but with the change in these colors, the shape also changed, the body gained volume.