5. Painting the Character (1): Skin
I paint the character using similar methods, and check the overall balance as I paint. I’ll start with the skin.
Adjusting the color of the skin
I’ll start with unsaturated, dark colors and add the lighter colors later.
It’s a little too bright at the moment, so I use the [Edit] menu > [Tonal Correction] > [Hue/Saturation/Luminosity] and lower the luminosity by -6.
Adding more color variety
I add a layer called “skin shadows 1” and clip it to the “skin” layer.
With the blending mode set to [Multiply], I use the [Pen] tool > [Marker] > [Milli pen] to roughly place some darker colors.
Then I create another layer above that called “colors 1” and clip it below.
So that the shadows don’t look too dark, I add some blues and purples for reflected light to clarify the shape of the body.
At this stage, the color of the skin is a bit too consistent and it’s hard to draw the attention to the face. I’ll add some red tones to make her look a bit healthier.
I create a new layer called “color adjustments” and clip it below. I set the blending mode to [Overlay] and lower the opacity slightly.
I add some red tones on the cheeks and thighs.
I think this looks good, so I merge all the skin layers together.
This is how it looks when I show only the “skin” layer in the “body” folder.
Adjusting the area of the skin
There’s a little too much of the rough draft of the clothing and armor left on the skin layer, which might cause issues when I firm up the design and shape later. I decide to paint the skin color over a wider area to be safer.
I also adjust the face to make it look softer. I paint over the rough lines from the draft to make it tidier.
I copy the mouth to a different layer and then paint over the mouth on the original “skin” layer.
I change the name of the “eyes” folder to “face”, and move the new “mouth” layer there.
The face is a little bit crooked, but I’ll fix that later.
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