Tutorial - Portraiture...blending and general techniques

[erwinsoo]

This is what i have learnt along the way about blending of tonal values and digital painting in general.. btw.. I'm no artist (its a hobby) but I hope the tutorial will be useful. Canvas size (width 2000dpi)

PS: the finished work is right at the bottom.

Start off by getting a few reference photos (good sharp ones) of the subject (different angles and lighting). Either sketch in the outlines (for pros only) or trace accurately the oulines (for the rest of us). Use a new layer and pencil at 20pt (mid grey color.. not black not light grey). This will become your topmost layer.

Paste up all the photo references (resized and zoomed if you need to)

I then open up a new layer (the face layer) and start working as shown below.

[erwinsoo]

step 2 - how to get the right face color? either pick up the color from the photo reference or just invent your own.

this is the flat knife blending stage. It will preceded any soft knife blending work.

[erwinsoo]

step 3 - now blend with the soft knife

[erwinsoo]

step 4

[erwinsoo]

step 5. After blending (soft knife) an area, do not look directly at the blended area but look a bit to the side. Only then can you see the "overall" effect and whether its too dark, graduations are harsh, color is off etc.. Another method i learnt (from art books) is to half close your eyes but its too tiring to squint all the time.

Also clean up the edges of the face with the eraser

At this stage, you should be finetuning the whole section. Blend check blend check etc.

[erwinsoo]

step 6. Happy with your blending?... then work on the parts of the face. the eyes, eyebrows and mouth/lip shapes capture the essence of the subject. If you get this wrong, you could still get a correct general face shape but it WONT look like your subject (who would probably throw the wacom at your face anyway).

Oh yes... you need to ZOOM in to work with this facial parts..

And then compare your drawing frequently to your photo references... paint check paint check ....

PS: There are some notes on painting the eye below... same standard technique for every eye that i paint...

[erwinsoo]

step 7 - if you are quite adverse to mistakes like me, do every part in a different layer

[erwinsoo]

step 8

[erwinsoo]

step 9... blending subtle tonal differences come with practice so its hard to explain how to "see" differences in color tonal values... remember to "look to the side" or squint to check if overall blending is acceptable..

[erwinsoo]

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