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aka. How to go from sketch to floating face to Aescia's fully formed profile XD
I'm focusing mainly on her skin and hair in my description...And now with the best sub-headers for each step ever:

1. Be sketchy - You can be rough (lol). But really, all you need is to have a basic idea of where everything approximately should be so that when you actually start adding the details, you won't realize at some point things are out of proportion and you have to go through all sorts of hell to fix it.

2. Colour flesh - This is a tough one because a natural skin tone consists of a blend of colours and in many layers, with the perfect balance of red and yellow (too much yellow tone=jaundice; too much red tone=hypertension--I name diseases because I learn about them, but you get the idea). For this image specifically, I made the base colour a more pink colour so Aescia has a bit of a flush (instead of looking pale and ghostly like usual). Then add in the shade, first with a colour much darker and redder than the base, then select a shade in between to unify the two. You can use Oil Paint + Blend or Transparent Water Colour Paint to do this.
Next, highlight the parts of the face that is under direct sunlight using a white-golden-yellow tint (use Transparent water colour). The areas to highlight is the nose bridge (approximately where it is) and on the cheek bones. I didn't highlight the cheeks as much because she's going to have bangs that shade it off.

3. Carve it up - At this point, Aescia has a blob for a face. So I trimmed it down with the Eraser tool. Again, use your sketch as a rough guide but don't follow it completely--you can make improvements to proportions at this point. I also put more shading (darker darks and lighter lights) to make it look like she's under a harsher light (e.g. the midafternoon sun).

4. Eyeball it - I gave Aescia her eyes, using the sketch as an approximation of where to put it. Make sure the sclera (the white of the eye) is not actually white--it has to have a slight shade of gray-ish purple. To give the eye more dimension, add a darker section on the upper part of the sclera because the eyelashes will cast the shadows there. Then add the tiniest bits of white near the bottom of the sclera to show reflection of light from her surroundings. Finely blend the border between the iris and the sclera so there isn't such a definite boundary between the two. Add eyelashes--I didn't add too much highlights to it because eyelashes are really fine in comparison to hair, and it'll look too bushy if I did highlight it.

5. Hair monster - Go crazy with the hair. I selected a base colour of dark greyish-blue-green. This is NOT going to be the colour of her actual hair. However, it helps set the basis of shading and highlighting her hair.
Here, her hair, like her face, is not a single shade of colour. To make it really textured, I gave near-skin coloured highlights to hair around Aescia's face (e.g. mainly her bangs). Similarly, the hair close to her blue vest has a blue shade on top of the gray. Finally, using the pen, add bright white-blue streaks for the lone hairs that glow in the midday sun.

6. Back to the feature - Fixing up her nose and lips are always the biggest problem for me. I was near ripping my hair off from trying to make her lips look feminine yet clear of any lipstick or cosmetics. For natural lips, pick a shade that is slightly darker and more pink than the skin. Add very light (almost white) pink highlights to make the lips more moist.

7. Lighten up your day - I wanted to make the contrast slightly greater, the brightness slightly higher than I had now, to further emphasize she was under bright sunlight. Just edit and play around with the Brightness and Contrast tool to do this.

Program: Manga Studio 5
Where is this from: Lapis Ch 2 Frag 4 Click to read

Other Progression art (CLICK TO SEE):
- Progression Crimson

- Progression Aqua

Description
Facebook | Support us on Patreon | Tumblr | Line:Webtoons

aka. How to go from sketch to floating face to Aescia's fully formed profile XD
I'm focusing mainly on her skin and hair in my description...And now with the best sub-headers for each step ever:

1. Be sketchy - You can be rough (lol). But really, all you need is to have a basic idea of where everything approximately should be so that when you actually start adding the details, you won't realize at some point things are out of proportion and you have to go through all sorts of hell to fix it.

2. Colour flesh - This is a tough one because a natural skin tone consists of a blend of colours and in many layers, with the perfect balance of red and yellow (too much yellow tone=jaundice; too much red tone=hypertension--I name diseases because I learn about them, but you get the idea). For this image specifically, I made the base colour a more pink colour so Aescia has a bit of a flush (instead of looking pale and ghostly like usual). Then add in the shade, first with a colour much darker and redder than the base, then select a shade in between to unify the two. You can use Oil Paint + Blend or Transparent Water Colour Paint to do this.
Next, highlight the parts of the face that is under direct sunlight using a white-golden-yellow tint (use Transparent water colour). The areas to highlight is the nose bridge (approximately where it is) and on the cheek bones. I didn't highlight the cheeks as much because she's going to have bangs that shade it off.

3. Carve it up - At this point, Aescia has a blob for a face. So I trimmed it down with the Eraser tool. Again, use your sketch as a rough guide but don't follow it completely--you can make improvements to proportions at this point. I also put more shading (darker darks and lighter lights) to make it look like she's under a harsher light (e.g. the midafternoon sun).

4. Eyeball it - I gave Aescia her eyes, using the sketch as an approximation of where to put it. Make sure the sclera (the white of the eye) is not actually white--it has to have a slight shade of gray-ish purple. To give the eye more dimension, add a darker section on the upper part of the sclera because the eyelashes will cast the shadows there. Then add the tiniest bits of white near the bottom of the sclera to show reflection of light from her surroundings. Finely blend the border between the iris and the sclera so there isn't such a definite boundary between the two. Add eyelashes--I didn't add too much highlights to it because eyelashes are really fine in comparison to hair, and it'll look too bushy if I did highlight it.

5. Hair monster - Go crazy with the hair. I selected a base colour of dark greyish-blue-green. This is NOT going to be the colour of her actual hair. However, it helps set the basis of shading and highlighting her hair.
Here, her hair, like her face, is not a single shade of colour. To make it really textured, I gave near-skin coloured highlights to hair around Aescia's face (e.g. mainly her bangs). Similarly, the hair close to her blue vest has a blue shade on top of the gray. Finally, using the pen, add bright white-blue streaks for the lone hairs that glow in the midday sun.

6. Back to the feature - Fixing up her nose and lips are always the biggest problem for me. I was near ripping my hair off from trying to make her lips look feminine yet clear of any lipstick or cosmetics. For natural lips, pick a shade that is slightly darker and more pink than the skin. Add very light (almost white) pink highlights to make the lips more moist.

7. Lighten up your day - I wanted to make the contrast slightly greater, the brightness slightly higher than I had now, to further emphasize she was under bright sunlight. Just edit and play around with the Brightness and Contrast tool to do this.

Program: Manga Studio 5
Where is this from: Lapis Ch 2 Frag 4 Click to read

Other Progression art (CLICK TO SEE):
- Progression Crimson

- Progression Aqua