this is a try at using Photoshop alone as a character design medium- the process on doing this face was to rough sketch it on one layer- clean up on second layer- erase the initial sketch layer and flat shade colors underneath the cleaned up line sketch- i then merge layers together and start erasing the lines by painting joining flat colors over it ( 100% opacity/100%flow)- I know that lines are really made up of changes in clors or hue or gaps where shadow sinks in- so forming them with color looks natural-- soft transitions are made wiith the healing brush aperpendicular to color lines and smudge parlallel to them- well here it is anyway- forget what i just said....
Your pencil sketches are really amazing. I loved the Cookie Cutter Girl. What does it for me is the fact that you capture the expression in line so well. The challenge will be preserving that when you "finish" the sketch. Your color work is less successful when you render it (ie: give it a smooth gradation of shading or a light source). This might be down to putting contrast in the wrong places. In the guy above you've got a core shadow line in the chin and jaw area. This seems nearly as dark as the lines in the mouth and under the chin which it seems should be darker in color. The line under the chin ought to be darker in order to give depth, the lines in the mouth to give expression. The chin and jaw shadow, being nearly as dark, reads almost as a fold.
ReplyDeleteIn this example I added a Levels adjustment layer to establish a dark level for the fleshtones, then I painted a mask to bring back shadows to the nose, mouth and chin. Doing so gives the tonal latitude to find more expression in the face. Removing the light side of his dreads also allows the hair to read as a simpler mass.
http://www.tomdow.com/media2/face-colora2.jpg