Bring your portraits to life with these 2 features
Hint: what are the window to the soul?
Dear artists,
No prizes for guessing the above question ~
I absolutely love painting eyes, but it gets so frustrating when my painted eyes just feel .. soulless at times, and the portrait just loses its magic.
And if you feel that your portrait also feels plasticky and ‘dead’, it’s highly likely that your painted skin lacks color variation & texture.
Hence in this email, I’ll be sharing my summarized learnings for painting Skin & Eyes, from week 3 of CGMA Digital Portrait Painting by Mélanie Delon.
SKIN
Painting the Skin Base - first phase
Often, we get stuck on choosing the colors to start painting, so I find the below steps a good start to painting the skin base.
Use a big, soft, and slightly textured brush for better blending & color variation. I often use a skin pore brush for this effect.
Pick a mid-tone first - tend to be darker & desaturated.
Use the Color Picker Method (explained in post #1 too) to eyedrop the background & adjust the sliders - eg. reduce Cyan, add Magenta & Yellow. More explanation is in the screenshot below.
Recommended not to start with grayscale but directly in color, as it feels more natural & resembles traditional painting, but feel free to try this anyway
Add light to facial bones - forehead, cheekbone, nose bridge, chin. This forms a rough triangle
Add big shadows (darker, more red & saturated) to eye sockets, nose ball, lips, under cheekbones, under chin, inner ear
Add stronger light to the bones again, as well as on the philtrum
Keep in mind the light direction, and add more light on the areas that are facing the light, subtly. You will build up more later
Skin is never the same color - have Color & Brushstrokes variation to look realistic & full of life
Ethereal skin comes from playing with skin translucency & color variation
How to BLEND: Using a soft texture brush is key as it will create new middle colors that help in blending. Eyedrop the middle colors, brush on the separation line and repeat. Avoid perfect brush strokes.
Demonstration by Mélanie Delon to blend 2 colors Add even more saturation & color variation on thinner skin like inner eyes, under nose, outer ears and lips
Brush some background color onto the character's edges to make him/her belong in the background
EYES
Are the KEY focal point, be patient in building up the volume & details
Take note of the light source - If light is coming from the top right, the highlight dot in the eyeball will be on the top right, and reflected light in the iris will be on the bottom left (opposite)
The eyeball is always ROUND, and the top & bottom eyelid follows the shape of the eyeball, curving around it
Demonstration by Mélanie Delon: round eyeballs Have a lot of subtle color variation within & around eyes
Eyeball: slightly cooler, as the white reflects ambient light from the sky
Tearduct & bottom eyelids: more saturated red as the skin there is very thin
Skin at the tearduct is often light, and brush light down to the cheek, like a comma shape
Under eyes: add hints of green, violet & blue due to the veins underneath
Around eyes: add little brushstrokes with a small texture brush. This increases realism as it mimics the little wrinkles and blends the colors
Key Feedback from Mélanie:
Overall
Be patient to define the eyes - eyes are KEY in all portraits
Know the light source - add more light to the side facing it, and the shadows there will be lighter and less intense, aka no dark deep shadows
Brush light from the skin at the tearduct to connect to the cheek
^ Robot: Eyes need more definition
Iris is round, not squished
Eyeball is a sphere - add soft light gradation near the bottom as light is hitting there
More reds in the tearduct and bottom eyelid
Brush light from the skin at the tearduct to the cheek
^ Butterfly Archer:
The eyeball corner is too pointy, needs a rounder curve as eyeball is round
As light is hitting on the left, her left eye (facing us) should be much brighter and does not have intense shadows
Reduce the size of iris
^ Sunset Lady: Structure & Lighting
On the side facing the light
Remove any dark deep shadows on the eyes since light is very strong
Have the same intensity of light on the browbone, and below the browbone to look connected
Revive the young, fresh & feminine look
Reduce the strong browbone light as it makes her browbone very big
Soften any sharp shadows and wrinkles
Reduce the cast shadow under her lips, as it makes her lips look big
Missing the ear & jaw
Understand there’s perspective from a 3/4 view, but the other eye is only a few cm away and wouldn’t be much smaller. Hence, reduce the size of the eye closer to us
SUMMARY
Main takeaway: Define Face Structure by adding light to facial bones, ensure Color & Brushstrokes variation on the skin, and define the Eyes.
👉You can download my summary sheet of the key learnings & process steps for my CGMA portraits for free here
👉You can read the past notes of my CGMA journey here.
End of Week Reflections
Texture Studies
I’ve finally completed 4/5 texture studies for Tonkohouse assignments (not paid critiques)! Once I’m done, I will be summarizing my insights in an email :)
My productivity hasn’t been the best this week. Maybe it’s work stress, but I find myself sleeping at 2.30 am consecutively this week, and I can feel it affecting my focus. So I’m going to shut down today at 12am tonight, and set a positive tone for the next week.
Last note, I’m glad I pushed myself to be consistent on social media & posted a reel! Social media content creation is still pretty daunting, but I’m glad I have found a new community (RegardNoir’s) :3
What did you think of this Diary?
Is it useful? Too long? Easy to digest?
Feel free to reply to this email if you have any feedback or any questions!
I’ll be dropping the next letter on the coming Wednesday, sharing week 4 of my CGMA journey, so stay tuned.
Have a lovely week everyone!🖤
So valuable!
Love it.