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navate β€” SKIN: a tutorial - Part 2

Published: 2009-11-29 15:21:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 482843; Favourites: 17871; Downloads: 17296
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Description Whew… okay. This section is very long, and a little intense. I realize I am simultaneously telling you to choose a unified palette, AND throw color all over the place. It’s definitely the most difficult and advanced section of the entire tutorial.

DOWNLOAD THE SUPPLEMENT CHART HERE
Import it into a program with a color picker, and go nuts. Compare the swatches, look at how the colors, saturation, and values changes. It will help, promise.
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IN THIS SECTION:
Skin tones: how to achieve a range of skin tones (light, medium, dark, and fantasy) using the basic formula laid out in Section I.

This tutorial is very extensive and will be publish in four parts. If you just found it, please be sure to start with Section I!

SECTION I: Skin Basics . Expanding beyond the usual shadow-midtone-highlight formula, and how to use each tonal range most effectively.

COMING SOON:
SECTION III: Background color and ambient light. How surrounding colors affect skin.
SECTION IV: Building a skin tone, blending and texturing. The technical section showing how to paint skin start to finish.
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This tutorial uses mostly digital work as examples, but the theory behind it should apply to ALL mediums. But of course it goes without saying that this is hardly the end-all-be-all of skin painting tutorials. Just my way of thinking about it.

Also-- this should go without saying, but I will say it anyway: the ONLY WAY to learn how to paint/draw anything well, let alone realistically, is to STUDY COLOR THEORY AND FORM. All the stuff I blather on about in this tutorial is meaningless unless you take the initiative to learn the fundamentals of color and figure drawing.

You can find color theory resources here in my journal.

Please, any questions, concerns, criticisms, etc: comment below.

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Comments: 781

Awano [2015-02-18 20:29:57 +0000 UTC]

Love the detail you go into! And the amount of effort put into this, I will definitely be using this for my drawings now seeing as I only used about 4 swatches in my colour palettes Β 

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royalebranding [2015-01-24 18:53:03 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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RileyJCooper [2015-01-24 01:22:49 +0000 UTC]

This is fantastic; thank you!

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dlapastel [2014-12-20 02:49:39 +0000 UTC]

Nice job.Β  I'm always grateful for those who share, so thanks for this.

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Red-WereZ [2014-12-15 22:17:15 +0000 UTC]

Brilliant tutorial! So helpful!!!!

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UltimateChimeraBlood [2014-12-08 21:04:21 +0000 UTC]

Never knew how to color dark skin. This helped a lot!

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ceremono [2014-11-27 16:57:20 +0000 UTC]

thank U so much, I love it

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LunarPrints [2014-11-20 09:14:42 +0000 UTC]

These are amazing tips thank you.

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quietpeople [2014-10-28 08:13:54 +0000 UTC]

This is super helpful! Loved how you showed the information for darker skin tones as well - there's not many tutorials for this. Also loved the corpse skin, but think it looks very hard. Thanks for sharing.

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monarchmobile [2014-10-23 05:00:13 +0000 UTC]

wow, i love this

it's really detailed and it's one of the only skin tutorials where everybody isn't just super pale white, it's lovely

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OrtalShriki [2014-08-31 17:05:36 +0000 UTC]

Wow so talented! Thank you for sharing i love the way you wrote all well and presented with photos. HI5

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VulpineShadows [2014-08-13 06:02:21 +0000 UTC]

Are these done in photoshop or in what program? What version number?Β 

You are very talented, by the way. very good painting and tutorial

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navate In reply to VulpineShadows [2014-08-15 15:47:15 +0000 UTC]

I use Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter 8, but the program edition is irrelevant.Β  You can get the same results in any edition from the last ten years.Β 

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wajdanali In reply to ??? [2014-08-08 20:22:24 +0000 UTC]

nieΒ 

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jezreelian10 [2014-07-23 04:19:48 +0000 UTC]

This tutorial really helps me a lot! thank you so much!!

I used it here
jezreelian10.deviantart.com/ar…

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differnt [2014-07-19 19:41:21 +0000 UTC]

i dont know how to thank you for ur work , i think this is the best skin tut i found!Β 
but im still cant do it pfff sad thing Β 
the skins i made either muddy or artificial! mayb i do something wrong in blending or placing the colors! Β can u explain please a lil more about where to place exactly colors?Β 

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navate In reply to differnt [2014-07-23 02:02:48 +0000 UTC]

It's going to take a lot of practice.Β  Just keep trying.Β  There is no formula for where to place the colors.

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be0711 [2014-07-15 00:56:31 +0000 UTC]

^^

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Zardi [2014-07-09 00:45:13 +0000 UTC]

This reference is awesome, well-organized, and you clearly know what you are talking about!

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Bronzewinged [2014-06-17 18:31:22 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for actually showing different types instead of just the common light skin.
I'll need some time to digest this and later make use of it (I'm quite sure that I already use some of it).

When I do simpler "skin detailing" I usually use only a single shadow and highlight colour. Often blending heavily to create new tones. The reason for it is that I then can add to it even more if I later feel like it. It would propably be hard to go backwards an simplify a multi colour thing (unless drawn again).Β 

How many different faces did you draw in total for this (even if they might have doubled as another project)? I can see several different ones in the "showing the base colour" where you show a small sliver of the artwork.Β 

Is it a good idea to keep a characters basetone and perhaps a few shadow and hightlight colours in a sheet of some sort? Since this makes you able to make a palette that can be varied depending on light and what ever other things you want to change/draw. A certain good basecolour or sometimes colour in general can be hard to find sometimes. Atleast if you ask me.Β 

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navate In reply to Bronzewinged [2014-06-18 16:04:35 +0000 UTC]

Everyone's coloring style is different and that is ok.Β  But if you stick to only one highlight and shadow color, you will get flatter color.Β  I find it much easier to blob in the color variation before I start to blend.Β  It's actually easy to tone it down if you feel it got too crazy--either over-blend or use low opacity of a neutral color on top to tone it down.

I forget how many faces, sorry.Β  It was a really long time ago and I'm still working on repainting the existing + some new skin tones for the updated version of this tutorial.

I do not keep reference sheets but if it helps, go for it!

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triangulor [2014-06-16 06:58:04 +0000 UTC]

WOW this is really great! You certainly know your stuff. One issue I always have with using advice like this is its often really hard to know where to put the variation in value on a face. I end up putting it in randomly just trying to get the skin tone to look varied and interesting but it usually ends up looking strange and as I work on balancing out the skin colour, blending things that look wrong, I find myself completely erasing all the colour variation completely and ending up with something flat and single valued. You have obviously worked really hard on this and I doubt there is one simple answer but do you have any advice on how I can start? Or an exercise that will help me improve? I have tried just looking at references but often it is really hard to see this effect in real photos or perhaps I am not used to seeing it.

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navate In reply to triangulor [2014-06-18 16:01:56 +0000 UTC]

Hmm, there isn't a formula but try to think of plane changes in terms of hue instead of value.Β  Does that make sense at all?Β  I mean planes as in, the way the surface of the skin curves away from the viewer.Β  Try to throw in color variation in these areas instead of thinking you need to make it darker.Β  This will help you get much more structural definition without making the skin look unevenly lit or over rendered.Β 

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triangulor In reply to navate [2014-06-18 17:13:24 +0000 UTC]

Yeah that makes sense, I will give it a try! At least it will be a start for me. Thanks so much

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triangulor In reply to triangulor [2014-06-16 07:15:45 +0000 UTC]

URGH I am an idiot I meant to say hue wherever I say value replace with hue. Yeah I can paint with a variation in value but what I can't seem to get is all the other variations.

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Albinowolf54 [2014-05-22 19:37:13 +0000 UTC]

why is the white skintone considered neutral??

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navate In reply to Albinowolf54 [2014-05-22 21:50:16 +0000 UTC]

Because of the under-tone.Β  All tonal ranges have a neutral tone.Β  "Medium deep" is the neutral undertone for medium skin, and "neutral dark" is the neutral undertone for dark skin.Β  As for why we start with neutral light skin, I explain it in the tutorial:Β  it's what most other skin tutorials cover, so it is best jumping off point for me to introduce my approach for applying that formula to all the other skin tones.

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0Fenika In reply to ??? [2014-05-07 17:28:52 +0000 UTC]

thank you very much for this tutorial

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amaoto9345 [2014-04-15 12:45:35 +0000 UTC]

wooow~Β 
thank you thank you~ ><

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HeavenlyOdyssey [2014-04-11 16:43:51 +0000 UTC]

Incredibly handy, thank you for sharing

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cedreek14 [2014-04-03 05:31:58 +0000 UTC]

thanks, this is very helpful.

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Kinglucifer [2014-03-27 04:15:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks you so much for sharing this awesome tut

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Feralkyn [2014-03-05 04:17:09 +0000 UTC]

These are GREAT, thank you!

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obiobi8 [2014-03-01 14:13:12 +0000 UTC]

HEY, thanks for the useful tutorials, they re really helpful......
I think you should upload this section 2 also on your website.....some people might not know it exists.....

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jeasterl In reply to ??? [2014-02-27 00:51:42 +0000 UTC]

thank you, this seems easy to understand, it will help me with the arguments i have with my colored pencils (i know there is more colors needed and they will not tell me what they are)Β 

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steph0804 [2014-02-23 05:56:16 +0000 UTC]

I cannot thank you enough for these tutorials!!

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AnnaRIART [2014-02-15 15:04:00 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for this amazing tutorial! Β I am new to digital realistic drawing and Β relied intensively on this and am close to finishing an artwork. I learnt about undertones (did not know existed) and have a good starting point for all races now! I was wondering if I could link your tutorial to the work once it's done? Thank you very much It's great you want to help others too, I really admire your spirit.

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SashaLynch [2014-02-14 03:12:33 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for sharing and for all your hard work!

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GildedFrame [2014-01-22 00:05:00 +0000 UTC]

These color swatches will be so helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to make these tutorials!!Β 

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sabroder In reply to ??? [2014-01-08 01:06:59 +0000 UTC]

This is unbelievably helpful. Thank-you so much, what a gem!Β 

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Kenseiden In reply to ??? [2013-12-31 13:09:29 +0000 UTC]

exactly what Β I need.

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lammerj [2013-12-30 01:48:42 +0000 UTC]

This is so helpful! Thank you!!

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AniDragon [2013-12-26 06:33:49 +0000 UTC]

These tutorials are great in that they're a good guide on WHICH colours to choose, but are you going to have a guide on which colours go where? That's always been the trickiest part for me whenever people tell me I need to use more than just the dark/medium/highlight formula. I just don't know where to add the variety, and any time I've tried it it just looks chaotic.

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navate In reply to AniDragon [2013-12-30 19:25:03 +0000 UTC]

Sorry, there isn't any kind of formula for that.Β  It depends on both the area of the skin, the lighting, and the overall palette of each image.Β  It's something you'll have to study on your own.

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UntoldPromises In reply to ??? [2013-12-18 18:42:25 +0000 UTC]

WOW! This is INCREDIBLE!
You're so talented!
Thank you so much for sharing!
I hope I can be as good as you one day

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MintFlavoured [2013-12-16 22:10:22 +0000 UTC]

Incredibly helpful, thank you.

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Scorched-FoxFire [2013-11-26 19:05:28 +0000 UTC]

Oh this is an AMAZING tutorial!!!! I can't thank you enough!!

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00bsdude [2013-10-09 17:16:54 +0000 UTC]

Fantastic, will definitely put this to good use!

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stomachlinedinlace [2013-10-02 21:47:58 +0000 UTC]

i have been looking for this for the longest time after i originally saw it because i have difficulty with dark skin tones and need to work on them a lot

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ryukyus1 [2013-10-02 03:52:03 +0000 UTC]

You are very knowledgeable, ThxΒ  a lot for this

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