Welcome!

We're going to go over a fun way to get semi-realistic skin toning with this lovely lavender lady below!

Step 1: Colors

We'll use the color wheel in the bottom Left corner to find a color close to the skin tone you're wanting. Play around until you find your flat color (Skin Base)

Then once you have that you'll create a new "Normal" layer and draw a circle of that color using the pen tool. This is your Skin Base so it's very important to have it nearby. If you're fancy you can create a swatch set of your colors (another tutorial, maybe? if y'all like this one).

Then you move to the HSV tab in the Color Section (bottom left) and you create a higher Saturated (S- move arrow to right) and a lower Vibrance (V - move arrow to left). These colors are your main highlights and lowlights. They add depth!

Step 2: Flat Colors

Now you're going to use your Lasso tool to drop in your Skin Base where it belongs. This calls for another layer but this one will be a "Multiply" Layer so you'll still be able to see your ink lines.

It should look something like this!

You may also want to clean up with a hard eraser so the colors stay in the line. Here I erased out the areas covered by hair so I can do my next step.

Step 3: Secret Skin Base

This step goes on another "Multiply" Layer, I know I use a lot of layers, but this one is the skin tone covered by hair. This step adds a level of realism.

You can see a hint of the layer here but I lasso tooled it into place and then did something sneaky.

 

I went back to my first skin layer and selected the majority of the skin, then went back to my new hidden skin layer, and hit Ctrl+X (or Command+X) for Macs and deleted the areas where they overlapped.

 

Once I had my new hidden skin in, I went back and used a soft eraser to help it hide better in the areas closer to the dense hair.

 

There is more of this in my youtube video if you want to see it actually happen. :)

Step 4: Saturation Skin

Now we take our eyedropper tool and grab our S - Saturated Skin tone and use the airbrush tool to softly cover in a new "Multiply" Layer the areas that get a lot of blood but aren't pink in tone - cheek bones, upper eye arch below the brow, clavicle or collarbone.

Then I soft erase out some highlights or the areas where the bones/cartilage poke closer to the surface - cheekbones, clavicle/collarbone, nose bridge- and I also like to get highlighted areas a bit too.

Step 5: Vibrant Skin

I actually lower the vibrancy of my Skin Base to get this color so it works great at adding shadow.

 

Another "Multiply" Layer later!

 

And you're going to use the Opaque Watercolor tool this time after you've eyedropped up your V Color to build in the shading.

I used my colors in the upper right of my image as a reminder to where my light source was so all my shadows are built opposite to my light sourse.

Don't worry about making your shading too thick or dark!

 

In fact, the more shading the better as I actually like to take a lot of it off with a soft eraser tool and sometimes even lower the opacity of my layer so it's not too overwhelming.

Step 6: Blush!

Surprise we're adding a new color! So you'll go back and get your Skin Base color then head to the HSV Color section:

And then you'll move the H (Hue tab) to a red toned area and this will give you your Blush color!

Now, a new "Multiply" Layer later you're ready to add your blush with the Airbrush tool.

You're going to focus on the areas that have blood closer to the surface as well as a red tone - eyelid rims, cheekbones, lips, eyebrow arches!

 

Side Note: If you ever color other areas of the body - fingertips are often a Blush area and you can add a light blush to joints like the knees, ankles, shoulders, and elbows for a cute effect.

I lowered the opacity on my layer because the next step looks similar. :P

Step 6.5: Blush x2!!

In this step you'll go onto a new "Multiply" Layer and add in more blush with the opaque watercolor brush to add depth.

You can see it darkens up the lips and around the eyes. The upper lip tends to be a bit darker than the bottom lip due to shadows. Most upper lips stick out and the bigger they are the bigger the shadow.

Step 7: Whites of your Eyes

In this layer "Multiply", I know, you'll color in the eyes and, if you want, the teeth with a very light blue. This adds a bit of reality to your skin tones in a light touch. The whites of peoples eyes are rarely straight white, so adding a tint helps lend your image some reality without notice.

You can barely see it but I used the pen tool and the light blue you can see above my Skin Tones.

Step 8: You Glow!

In this step you'll actually use the "Add (Glow)" Layer!

You'll select your Skin Base and move the S (Saturation) to the far left on the HSV Color Scale until it becomes almost white. The bit of warmth from the skin colors helps the glow to look more realistic and less like a paper white.

 

I also like to add Glow to the whites of the eyes (light blue of the eyes?) and the teeth (very carefully there cause it can be too much there).

So look for a 3-15% Saturation! Very Light as this is your Glow Up!

Then you go in with the Opaque Watercolor tool and Glow the parts that would be hit by light or have the highest underlying bone - nose bridge, collarbone, jaw bone. and you can add a bit of highlight below the eyes to signify youth and dots on the cheek for a cute effect!

 

In this layer it's ok to go overboard because you're going to actually go back in with the soft eraser tool and dial it back before lowering the layer opacity so she doesn't shine like a beacon.

Step 9: Clean Up and Carry On!

You'll go back in and erase out those pesky bits of skin tone that got away from you on all the layers.

 

You can in fact combine the "Multiply" layers but I always say do that as a last resort! You want to be able to edit until the last second. :)

 

Then you can color in all of the other fun stuff!

I hope y'all enjoyed this tutorial and that it helps some. This process is something I learned using markers and then leveled up digitally with Clip Studio Paint!

I have another process of skin shading I use for my comic art. If ya'll are interested and want to learn that too I may be up for making a tutorial for that as well.

 

Happy Art and Learning to All!

Below is my video showing my entire process and talking through the steps listed above. Feel free to give it a watch if you want. I'm still new to video making so please be kind. :)