STEP 1
Airbrush, size: 90 Transparency: 0 Soft Edge: 50 Preset: None
Hex #F9C5AB [MODE]
Swish the airbrush, back and forth, along the interior outline of the face. Then do it again along the interior of the area you just painted, but softer (use the tablet's pen to keep it softer, or if working with a mouse, set the transparency to 50). Don't worry about getting some overspray, we will be erasing that in the next step.
With less pressure on the pen (or with a smaller brush size if working with a mouse), work around some of the other features, making it darker and more focused in the areas that will be darker eventually, and staying nearly clear of areas that will have highlights eventually. However, don't worry about keeping the white background completely white. No highlight will be completely white. And we will be painting in hightlights later, anyway. This is just a base, caucasian skin-tone with a little modeling.
Notice the overspray. We will deal with it in the next step.
PAINTING FACES 4 - FACE
This is the fourth in a series of five tutorials about painting the human face.
SOFTWARE
PhotoImpact 10 - Can also be done on other versions.
SKILL LEVEL
Beginner & Intermediate
FEATURED TOOLS
Oil Paintbrush; Charcoal Brush; Airbrush
USEFUL TOOL
Digital tablet and pen. I use the Wacom Intuos3 4x5. This tutorial can be done without it. I have always indicated a range for the brush sizes, and if you are using a mouse, you will have to change the brush size frequently within that range to get the results you want. If you have a tablet, use the largest setting indicated, and set it for size & transparency.
SOME NOTES ON THE FACE:
It won't come as a surprise to you if I tell you that faces come in all shapes and sizes. That means that the face I have demonstrated here is just one, and not some universal face. And your painting will most likely not look like mine, nor should it. But some things can be said about faces in general, which should make it easier for you to draw or paint them.
A- Likeness is first and foremost a matter of proportion. Get the proportions right, and the face will look like your subjects. The second -most important aspect of likeness is form. So you must work on getting the shade and highlights right, too.
B- Skin color is highly complex. Discard the notion of the "Flesh" color crayon of your youth. The more closely you look at skin tones, the more colors you will see.
C- While there is some truth in some standard measurements you have proabably seen in books on portrait painting, don't forget that not every face will fit into these standards. Look carefully at every subject!
D- Faces are neither perfect nor symmetrical.
E- There is usually a bit of red around the tip of the nose, possibly also the nostrils. You may not see it in your photo or live model, but look at famous portrait artist's work, such as that of Sargent, Gainsborough, and Stuart. You will sometimes see just a single stroke of red near the bottom of the nose wing. But just look how much it brings the face to life!
And now, let's get started!
STEP 2
Eraser, size: 20 Transparency: 0 Soft Edge: 50
Zoom into your face's edge where you want to begin cleaning up the overspray, and erase, starting from a distance away from the actual overspray you see, and moving back and forth, get closer and closer to the edge until you see the overspray eliminated right up to the face's outline. Don't forget -- if you don't like the way something came out, you have an UNDO button!
STEP 4
Airbrush, size: 80 Transparency: 90 Soft Edge: 50 Preset: None
Hex #D88D5F [MODE]
We need to warm up some of the reddish tones with this caramel color. Apply as shown, painting it where the lighter and darker (not yet painted) tones will meet.
Now reduce the size of the brush to 30, and fill in the eyebrows, and smaller areas, such as between the left eye and nose, in the creases above the eyes, around the jaw line, the shadow under the nose, etc. Don't forget to erase the overspray.
STEP 5
Airbrush, size: 80 Transparency: 90 Soft Edge: 50 Preset: None
Hex #863E28 [MODE]
Brush the shaded areas on the left side of the face. Add a bit on the left side of the nose, and under, as well as left areas of the left eye, a bit around the eye, the corners of the mouth, and in the ears, to bring the shade to the same level everywhere. As we proceed, we will do things to our already finished features, because we are now relating them to the whole face. Don't forget to erase overspray. Note that I didn't paint this shade color all the way to the bottom of the left jaw. This is because frequently, we see reflected light on an object where it is in shade. In this case, the light may be coming from her blonde hair, which you can't see yet, but which is in my reference photo.
(At this point I should explain that my face does not look like my reference photo. In order to invent a face, I did look at several reference shots, and finally decided on a conflation of a blonde model and the bust of Queen Nefertiti. I'm using the blonde model for the shading of my face.)
STEP 6
Airbrush, size: 50 Transparency: 80 Soft Edge: 50 Preset: None
Hex #CA2200 [MODE]
In a face, the border where shadow meets light is where we perceive the reddest tones, and that is what we are painting here. In addition to those borders (here mostly on the left cheek, forehead, and nose), I also painted in some reds in the left crease of the eye, on the right cheek and forehead, and wherever I think a touch is needed.
©
2007 Gisele Zeitler
Terms of Use: The graphics in this tutorial may be used for private, non-profit use only. Any other use please e-mail: giselezeitler@aol.com
STEP 3
Airbrush, size: 70 Transparency: 50 Soft Edge: 50 Preset: None
Hex #EC8F75 [MODE]
With this darker version of the skin tone, I darken the areas that will be in shadow, while keeping the side the light is coming from paler. If you are painting yourself, look into the mirror and evaluate where the darker, shadowy areas are, and paint them where you see them. If you are following my face, paint the shadowy areas where I show them in GREEN.
Follow this up with the erasing step we did before, beginning outside of the face, and erasing the overspray in the eyes and lips.
Preparation
I have enlarged the base face outline image to 700 W x 900 H pixels. We will probably have to enlarge it even more for our final step, the hair. But don't forget that for posting we will have to resize and optimize according to Board regulations.
The images on the left are thumbnails, which you can click to see the larger image in a new window. For the web, I resized them to 66% of the original 700 x 900.
We began this journey with a quickly drawn sketch of a face. We will now use that sketch as the outside perimeter of our face.
Let's make an important decision here. Where is the light coming from? Well, we can see from the shadow on the left side of the nose, and the highlights in the eyes, that the light is coming from the right (and from somewhere above and behind our right shoulder). So we will keep this in mind as we paint the skin tones, shadows and highlights.
Take this opportunity to also click on the outline of the face in Layer Manager, and clean up any extraneous lines or dots you may have made creating this outline. I sure made quite a few, which I will be eliminating as I go.
[See schematic below for erasing motion]
[In each step, I will show the areas I have painted in green, so that you can see where, how much, and how transparently, I've painted them.]
