Introduction

Hello everyone! Welcome ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡. For this month's Tips, I'm sharing a step-by-step guide on how to paint, highlight, and shade a face, along with some simple steps to apply makeup to our characters and some extra tricks. I hope you find them useful. Without further ado...

 

Let's get started!

0. Video Tutorial

💡 Listen to it in different languages; subtitles and automatic dubbing are available for this video.

1. Volume

Let's start with some quick theory on how to place highlights and shadows on the face. If we master the planes of the face, we will understand how volume is created by adding light and shadow.

 

 

✦ Facial Planes

The face is made up of planes that are illuminated or stay in shadow depending on the direction of the light. The planes of a face work just like the planes of a cube; depending on the direction of light, one face will have a light value, another a mid-tone, and the last a dark value. The planes gradually lose luminosity as they are hidden more or less from the light source.

 

💡 The Asaro head is a model that allows us to see these facial planes and understand how light and shadow behave. Therefore, it is highly recommended to study it. There are 3D models online where you can edit the light direction and head rotation to study different angles.

✦ Eye and Lip Planes

The eyes and mouth also have their own planes that provide volume. Let's look at some points to consider regarding each.

 

● EYES: For the eyes, we have an M-shaped architecture at the top. The eyelids, eyelashes, and skin lines are where shadows are generated. In the tear duct and below it, light bounces off, giving clarity to that area. For greater realism, the channel at the bottom must be considered; that is the width of the eyelid that covers the eyeball, which remains a light tone to mark the volume.

 

● LIPS: As for the mouth, the shadows are those found before and after the lips, providing their volume; the upper lip is usually in shadow. The line formed when joining both lips is a light occlusion (an area where neither direct light nor ambient light reaches); therefore, it is the darkest part of all.

2. Skin Highlights and Shadows

Now let's look at a simple step-by-step example of how to place highlights and shadows on our characters' faces.

 

 

✦ Base Color and Shadows

In this method for painting skin, shadows go hand in hand with the base color.

 

 

- LAYER ORDER

 

To have a better workflow, it is advisable to create a folder for each element. In this case, I will divide the process into three folders: one for the eyes, one for the lips, and one for the skin. You also have to consider the order of these folders, with the skin folder being the one that should be below the other two.

- BASE COLOR

 

The base color can be whatever the artist desires, but it is recommended not to choose colors that are too close to gray, unless specific environments or conceptual expressions require it.

- SHADOWS

 

For the shadows, we will start by creating a new layer, which we will clip to the layer below (base layer) using the "Clip to Layer Below" function found in the "Layer" window settings. This is so we can paint without the fear of going outside the skin's boundaries.

➀ We will change the "Blending Mode" of the newly created layer from "Normal" to "Multiply". The option is located in the "Layer" window menu.

➁ Next, select the base skin color with the eyedropper.

 

💡 TRICK: If you are working on a tablet or smartphone, you can make the eyedropper appear by holding down anywhere on the canvas and dragging the eyedropper to the desired color. On the other hand, if you are working on a computer, holding down the ALT key will make it appear and disappear.

➂ All that's left is to paint the shadow areas depending on the lighting direction with your favorite brush.

💡 If the resulting color when painting on a multiply layer is too intense, you can lower the opacity of that layer until you reach the desired saturation. On the other hand, if the resulting color is less intense than desired, you can duplicate the layer as many times as necessary to darken the color to the required intensity and finally merge all the duplicated layers.

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✦ Subsurface Scattering and Reflections

The next steps consist of adding more realism to the shadows so they don't look flat.

 

- BLUR

 

When it comes to shadows, we must know there are two types: those with hard edges and those with soft edges. And that's exactly what we will do now: blur some of those shadows. The first step is to select the "Blur" brush.

We will blur the edge of some of the drawn shadows. The logic I use to determine which shadows to blur and which not to is as follows: large shadows that cover a lot of area have soft edges, while small shadows have hard edges.

- SUBSURFACE SCATTERING

 

Subsurface scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light passes through a translucent surface, creating a saturated light edge effect in the process. Our skin is essentially a translucent material; therefore, to give a more realistic effect to the skin, it is advisable to apply this effect to our illustrations. Let's see how to do it:

 

➀ Create a new layer above the previous ones. Set this layer to "Clip to Layer Below" and change the "Blending Mode" to "Overlay".

➁ Next, select an orange tone on the color wheel, and with the soft airbrush, paint along the edges of the shadows.

 

💡 If the saturation is too strong, you can reduce it with the "Blur" brush.

- REFLECTIONS

 

Skin also has the characteristic of reflecting the colors around it, so adding these reflections helps a lot in giving it depth. To do this, we will do the following:

 

➀ Select a grayish-blue color from the color wheel.

 

💡 The color of these reflections varies according to the environment the character is in, but as a base, grayish-blue works phenomenally as a reflection tone.

➁ With your favorite brush, paint a section of the shadow; then, with the "Color Mixing" brush, blur the painted area slightly.

➂ Select the resulting color from this mixture with the eyedropper.

➃ With this new color, paint the rest of the shadows.

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✦ Facial Color Zones

Our body, and particularly our face, has color zones due to the nature of blood vessel concentration and skin thickness. These color zones on the face are divided into three sections:

 

1. The forehead has a whitish or golden color.

2. From the forehead to the bottom of the nose, a reddish tone dominates.

3. The area from the nose to the chin tends to have a bluish or greenish color.

These zones are usually more or less noticeable depending on the person, but in men, they are often more noticeable than in women.

Adding this concept to your character's skin is as easy as creating a new layer above the base color, and then using an orange color and the airbrush to blush the cheeks, ears, and shoulders. If the blush is too intense, you can lower the layer's opacity or blur it with the blur brush.

 

You can do the same to add bluish tones to the chin. Personally, I only apply blush and a bit of blue to the chin.

 

This isn't a strictly necessary step, but I like to add it, especially blushing the cheeks.

3. Makeup

Finally, in this section, we will see some simple steps to add color to the eyes and lips to simulate makeup.

 

 

✦ Eyes

Applying makeup to a character is simple, as characters themselves don't have major imperfections as they might in real life.

 

- BASE COLOR/ UPPER AND LOWER EYELID

 

➀ Position yourself on a new layer below the eyes and line art.

➁ Choose the color you want to apply to simulate eyeshadow on the eyelids.

➂ Use a hard brush to apply the color to the upper eyelid. If desired, you can use the airbrush to apply a bit outside the eyelid to simulate a soft edge.

 

💡 You can create many designs with makeup; to get a better idea of the infinite styles you can design, I recommend looking for makeup references online.

➂ As seen in the following image, I recommend making sure that the tip of the upper eyelid shadow blends into the skin tone.

We can also apply a blurred shadow effect at the corners of the eyes.

- HIGHLIGHTS

 

To add highlights to the makeup, we will do it in two simple steps, let's see:

 

➀ First, select the eyeshadow color and then find a lighter tone on the color wheel, toward white tones. Apply this color to the center of the upper eyelid.

➁ Create a new layer on top. This layer must be exclusive to the following highlights because when we use a little trick to change the makeup color, this layer must not be affected.

 

First, select the skin color near the tear duct with the eyedropper. Once that's done, go to the color wheel and select a color lighter than that. Finally, paint the start of the upper eyelid.

And the same for the lower eyelid.

 

The intensity of this lighting may vary depending on the makeup style.

- GLITTER

 

Finally, some makeup uses glitter to highlight the eye's shimmer. In Clip Studio Assets, you'll find some brushes with this glitter effect.

 

💡 To find brushes with this effect, you can use the keywords: Glitter, Shimmer, or Makeup.

To add this effect to our illustration, we need to create a new layer and change its "Blending Mode" to "Add (Glow)". If the glitter is too intense, you can lower the layer's opacity.

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✦ Lips

Start by choosing the lipstick color. Once chosen, apply it with your trusted brush following the shape of the lips. From here, we can take one of two paths:

 

1— This first path consists of blurring the bottom edge of the lower lip, just as shown in the following GIF.

2— The second path consists of blurring the edge of the corners of both the upper and lower lips, but leaving a hard edge in the center, as well as marking the central contour of the lower lip with a shadow as shown in the following image.

- SHINE

 

For the lip shine, create a new layer on top and, selecting the skin color or a light color in general, draw small parallel lines and dots in the form of spots on the lower lip.

If we want a Gloss effect, what we have to do is place the highlights with pure white or very close to it, and slightly blur the edges of the highlights.

- SHADOW

 

Regarding the shadows:

➀ First, create a new layer below the highlights but above the base color.

➁ Change this layer's "Blending Mode" to "Multiply".

➂ Select the base color and, with the airbrush, paint between the junction of both lips along with the upper lip without going outside its shape.

As an extra, there's an optional step to add shine to the corners of the lower lip and a bit in the center of the upper lip. To do this, pick the skin color and find a lighter color on the color wheel, then paint with your favorite brush.

4. Changing Makeup Color

With the "Tonal Correction" tools, we can change color values to improve the saturation and luminosity of the image. This is precisely the tool we'll use to change the makeup color. Let's see how:

 

➀ Start by holding down the makeup layer or folder you want to change the color of. A menu will appear where you'll find the "New Correction Layer" option; clicking it will open a sub-menu with all the tonal correction tools. Now it's just a matter of choosing your preference; there are several, but in general, they all serve to change hue, luminosity, and saturation. Personally, I recommend two: "Color Balance" and "Tone Curve".

No matter which tonal correction tool you chose, the operation is similar. You'll have a series of graphs or sliders that you can move until you find a color you like. At this point, it's just a matter of experimenting.

 

The advantage of using these tools when changing tones is that you can access the layer's color settings as many times as you want even after applying them; to do this, double-click the small white icon in the right corner of the layer thumbnail. The next advantage is that you won't lose the original settings; if you don't want the tonal correction, you can simply delete the layer without losing anything from the base drawing.

 

You can also apply several of these layers to the same object using the "Clip to Layer Below" function.

The color correction of this layer will affect all layers below it; to avoid this, place it above the layer you want to correct and activate the "Clip to Layer Below" option found in the "Layer" palette.

These adjustments will also help us a lot when improving color intensity.

5. Makeup Styles

As a final tip, I recommend looking for makeup references of all kinds. You'll find there are some truly incredible designs that can inspire us.

 

Among the different makeup styles, we can find two main categories: Everyday makeup.

And artistic makeup. The latter is characterized in a way by its extravagance and artistic designs.

Conclusion

Throughout this tutorial, we saw how easy it is to paint skin as long as we understand the facial planes, and we also delved into the world of character makeup. We discovered that depending on the makeup style, we can create a completely different aura for the same character, so don't hesitate to experiment with colors and shapes—you'll see it's a lot of fun!

 

Thanks for making it this far! It would be a great help if you gave me a like. See you next time! ≽^•⩊•^≼

 

Bye bye ₊˚⊹♡

 

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