EXOTIQUE5 Sweet as Candy

8/12/2019 EXOTIQUE5 Sweet as Candy

1/23
http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/exotique_5/?utm_source=tutorial_pdf&utm_medium=PDF&utm_content=Sweet%2Bas%20Candy&utm_campaign=EXOTIQUE5_tutorial_pdf


2/23

Even though Sweet as Candy could sound like a simple, common title,it was still pretty important for the character and the theme. More so,it did get personal toward the finishing stage. Everything about her had tospeak. Her expression, the color of her lips and hair, the styling, theres evena strange sense of sharpness in her makeup, besides, its all in her eyes.

In the end, its just a matter of judgement. How sweet and innocent wouldanyone want her to be? Does she have a dark past? Portraying a more vividappearance? Its all for us to decide.

Her name is Mimi ... and everything about her is not what it seems.

Neville dSouza - nwiz25.cgsociety.org
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3/23

Colors, lighting and personality were the main highlights of this artwork. I didnt even sketch out concept. Everything took shape as I went forward. Although I did have in mind the kind of look thaI wanted the hard part was fitting together the pieces of the puzzle. So, I collected lots and lots oreference images in order to help me out. I feel its best to divide or categorize these images accordin

to the elements that are of prime importance, such as the color scheme, eyes, hair, lips, makeup anfinally, teeth (never underestimate them! I really had a tough time trying to get them to look right)Anyways, its easier to know where you are heading and not to let your mind get lost.


4/23

After a good sorting out, I selected the base colors

which Ill mix later on. I love playing around with

them! Theres so much experimentation, one can go

gaga over the possibilities.

As you can see in the screenshot, I separated the color

palee for each element. This way, I can just pick a

sample and dabble around with its light and dark values.

Creating this brush was pretty straightforwardnothing extravagant

at all! Have a look at the settings and the hair brush test.

For the hair brush test 6, I reduced the brush opacity level

and painted another cluster for a little volume (still using the

same color palette). The additional colors will be explained later,

when I start with the actual hair process.


5/23

I start o with the background color

that I chose before and then block out

a rough shape of the hairstyle. As you

can see, the rings are in dierent sizes

and some of them are even blurred and

semi transparent.

I duplicated the hair layer and set

its blend mode to Multiply, after

which I added a new layer mask.

We have a nice tone now, but it still

needs some work.

Using the Burn tool with painting

mode set to Midtones, I darken some

areas for a little bit of shadowing.

Exposure was set to 50%.

I added a layer mask. This hair layer

will be used quite a lot.

Once again, I duplicated the first hair

layer and moved it to the top of the

second one (the layer stacking order

will be 3 > 2 > 1). Its blend mode

is set to Normal, and again a new

layer mask is added. This gives it

a soft highlight.

Next, I use the same layer and move it

right under the first three layers, with

blend mode set to Multiply and Fill set

to 82%. This is her hair at the back of

her head. Later on, Ill nee d to sandwich

the head section between these layers

and categorize them in layer sets.

Ill admit Im a layer freak, which is

why the file size goes way up!

But at least theres a degree of control.


6/23

Now comes the crazy part. Using the

new hair back layer, I copy the le side

of the image, paste it onto a new layer,

set its blend mode to Mulply and shi

its posion halfway to the rightthis

le half was duplicated again.

(I temporarily blacked out the top hair

layer just to show you what is what)

Heres the screenshot

of the layer sets. As

you can see, Ive added

a gradient mask for

the hair back layer set.

I had to get rid of a

visible line somewhere

near the top.

The same was done for the right half.

Youll now notice how the colors are

taking effect.

I darkened a few areas with the Burn

tool. The Paint mode was set to

Midtones with 50% exposure.

The hair section is

complete! Although,

toward the end, Ill

be blending in some

parts of the hair so

that the rings dont

look too visible.


7/23

This was a very rough bl ock as to how

the face structure would look like, in

terms of skin tone, light bounce, and

colored shadows.

This looks okay. I mixed in some

of the yellow tone with her skin

(making it more orange), and

reduced it as well on her shoulders.

I also included some slight shading

for the collar bone.

1. Back to the le and with the help of the

Pen tool, I now create the actual shapes

of the head and shoulder secon.

2. I d arkened the neck area and

shoulders for lile bit of shadowing

and light attenuation.

Her face now has some soft pink

outlining followed by the yellow

light bounce on her shoulders.

I think I need to tone them down

a bitmore falloff.

Now for some rim lighting on

her jawline toward her chin, but not

too strong.

Ive pumped up the yellow lighng on

her shoulder p, but didnt go all the way

to her jawline or even the neck area as

it might have looked too distracng! Ive

also darkened the area toward her ears

(which obviously cannot be seen), mainly

for the subtle hair shadow and some

depth. The eye socket and lower l ip areas

have been treated the same way.

1 2


8/23

I really had fun painng her lips! I wanted a nice

glossy nish and colors to match. So, heres the

basic block.

A nice pink tone has been added, with a good

amount of saturaon and subtle shadowing.

I put in a black shape for the mouth opening.

The lower lip is beginning to take shape with apastel pink highlight. I also darkened it a bit in

the center (horizontally).

Ive ghtened the highlights much more for

the lower lip. Also, I put in a few shapes for the

upper lip as well.

It was quite a challenge to get in the teeny weeny

bits of reecon and shine. I used a plain white

tone and a small hard brush with some amount

of opacity. I had to play around a lot and not let

the shapes look like cutouts. Observing those

reference images really paid o!

Ive now added a generous amount of my

favorite yellow tone, just to show a reasonable

amount of bounce and reecon.


9/23

I start o with a so peach tone for the nose opening.

The reason for this is, once I add a dark red tone over it,

I can easily fade it o with the eraser and let it blend innicely with the underlying color.

And then theres the red. Ive also rounded off

the nose shape with a pink shadow and faint

outlining. The Smudge tool did the trick with a low

strength settingsomewhere around 55%.

Ive now defined the nose area with more sharp

lines, more smudging and orange shadows.

Believe me, experimenting with colored shadows

works wonders!

Some more shadows have been added between thenose and the upper lip area. Ive even shaped out the

nose p.

Ive added the yellow tone for bounce. I didnt go

overly detailed with this, because soon when the

highlights come in, most of my work will be done in

defining her features.


10/23

I start out with a few pastel shades, although the colors will get darker and highlights will take shape as I move forward, working

around with the skin folds and the lower and upper eyelid section.

Still working around the upper eye lid and with the inner eye section, I gradually introduce a good amount of purple blue and a navy blue ton

over the upper eyelid and the corner of the lower eyelid. Impatient, I quickly got in a few highlight streaks to define the shape even more.

A brief note on this stage: this is the most crucial part of it all. I especiallywant the screenshots to do most of the explanaon. I had to constantly

check the reference images for each fold, highlight, shine, reecon,

even a wee bit of nerve detail, and lots of color modicaon in order to

get the eye to a certain level. What was even more challenging was to

keep the lighng setup in mind and not make it look out of place.


11/23

My main focus is on the iris, getting in the different shades of green, brown and muddy yellow, and a hint of dark blue. The fleshy

section was defined with blobs of white and pink. For this process, I used a hard brush and kept changing its hardness value back

and forth for soft edges, whenever it was called for.

Light reecon for the pupil, followed by my favorite part of the eyethe eyelashes! For this, I used the Pen tool for the basic shape and then used

hard brush for the inner line work and some highlights. Once complete, I added shadows and a dark purple lining for the upper and lower eyelids


12/23

Moving closer to the e nd of her eye to the eyebrows! Usi ng

the Pen tool once again, I create a basic shape and then,using the Smudge tool with strength set to around 70%

and later climbing to 90% (for long streaks), I use a hard

brush and work my way in and out of the eyebrow shape.

Defining thin and tiny streaks of hair.

I then set the layer blend mode to Overlay with Fill 50%

followed by a layer mask as shown in the screenshot.

The layer is then duplicated (blending mode,

Fill percentage and mask remains the same).


13/23

Next, I paint another eyebrow and follow the same smudge technique, with the addition of darker streaks following the contour

of the eyebrow. This layers blending mode is then set to Linear Burn with Fill 25%.

Again, the layer is duplicated, with blend mode set to

Linear Dodge and Fill 100%.

A few minor adjustments were made to her right eye, in terms

of eyelashe s and eyebrows. Althoug h I could have sll pushed it

further in keeping the iris and pupil non-symmetrical, I decided not

to, so it looks like her eyes are done!


14/23

Her quick makeup session! On

a separate layer, I created a shape

with a nice orange tone and hintsof yellow.

I switched the layers blending mode

to Overlay. This allows the color to

settle down nicely with the facialshading, saving a lot of time.

For the nose p, I started out with

the specular shading, using a so

brush and smudging halfway through.Just to menon, the smudge strength

can change from time to time.

For a peek-a-boo, I thought Id show you

what the layers look like against a black

background. Even though they are prey

much colored, they do have a subtle

eect on her skin.

I moved onto the shoulders, collar

bone, neck and cleavage.

I added the highlights on her forehead,

chin and upper lip area.


15/23

Im back to her hairstyle. Only this me, the brush rings

have to be xed.

Aer the curls, I did a quick

subtle skin blotching on her

face, chest and shoulders.

This is what the curls look like

on a black background with

all the color blends. Noce

the hair, face and the yellow

background area?

Using the Smudge tool > Hard Brush > Strength set to 96% and

Sample All Layers switched on, I worked on a single layer, leaving the

others sll intact. Youll noce the color-blended strokes eect on

her forehead area. Theres a mixture of red, orange and pink. Mostof the paint work is passing over her eyebrows, other hair curls, even

her cheeks, but keeping away from her eyes. Have a look at the ow

direcon, mainly for the curls either S shaped, swirled, etc.


16/23

I created the shapes with the Pen tool and

darkened them a lileespecially near the

gaps. For the color, I decided to use a dark

pink tone. Later on, I can build up with

slightly brighter shapes.

On a new layer, I carefully fill in a m ixture

of pale yellow and pink, fading out toward

the inside of her mouth.

Next, reflection shapes are painted

but not too strong.

Now come tiny bits of bright light

reflection. These were done using a

hard brush with just a small amount

of smudging.

The same technique was applied for the

lower teeth.

The finished teeth. Notice how th

subtle color allows them to blend in w

the rest of the face without drawing t

much attention to themselves.

Teeth can be the trickiest lile criers of all! But at the same me, theyre extremely important!

If theyre too white, theyll catch the viewers aenon in a split second! If theyre too dark

(with too much shadow) itll look as if theyre missing. These are the problems I faced especially

with this artwork. Though the reference images bared nice sets of white teeth, that kind of look

didnt go well at all with Mimi. So, I experimented a lot to get them to look okay.


17/23

Once again, layer blending mode set to

Linear Burn with Fill 35%.

1. She definitely needed some good color markings on he

face and body. Which is why I chose a green hue to g

with her candy look.

I roughly painted the shape across her cheek.

2. Layer blending mode is set to Linear Burn with Fill 50%.

Next, a soft creamy yellow across her chest

and shoulders.

Lastly, using a hard brush and the same

yellow tone, I painted some sharp edges on

her shoulder tip and collar bone area.

1 2


18/23

This is the nal stage which will totally change the enre look

of this piece in terms of lighng and mood.

As you can see in the screenshot, I still felt the need to increase

the shine some more, but only for specific areas.

I got picky and doubled the intensity of paint work on her fa

and added a new layer of yellow paint on her body. Right now

the yellow does look distracting, but itll be reduced later on.


19/23

I wanted to try out something dierent to

change the overall toning of the artwork.

Going a few steps back (without the newest

color markings), I copy/merged the artwork,

pasted it onto a new layer and used the Auto

Color opon twice, followed by a small Levels

tweak as shown in the screenshot. Well name

it A and keep it aside for the me being.

By the way, got a radically new color combo!

Using the same image (remember the

copy/merge?), I apply a Gaussian Blur

filter with radius 45 pixels. This will be

image B.

A third image, this time, using a Shape

Blur filter with radius 20 pixels and a

circle frame shape for the blur.

The most important part of it all

the look factor! Photoshops most

powerful feature Adjustment Layers

is really something out of the ordinary!

You can keep experimenting for hours

and still get awesome results no

matter what.

In this screenshot, youll see thelayers as they appear in my actual file,

A, B and C along with the adjustment

layers and their settings.

Youll also see the different layer

masks Ive used in order to control the

adjustment layers and even layer A.

Remember, that I didnt leave it the

way it was. All I wanted was to reveal

only some parts of it with the help of

a custom mask.


20/23

Before and After.


21/23

For the final color tone adjustment, I Gaussian

blurred the image and changed its tone more

towards green, darkened it and Color Dodged

the cheek area, nose, forehead and cleavage.

This layer was placed on top of the layer set

named balance and then layer masked.

There is a compare image just to show where

Ive painted the black blobs.

Finally, I added some film grain and some glitter as well! You can check out the

glitter brush settings and the brush test. Only thing is, the particles will look

different for any type of artwork. It will also depend on the Color Dodge intensity

the more you duplicate the layer, the more bright itll become. But for Mimi,

I had to use the Dodge tool to brighten only those areas necessary, not all over.

You can see the effect in the closeup. It looks way different compared to the test.

Both techniques will yield good results if experimented with well!

Closeup...


22/23

Here she is folks. Thank you all for reading!


23/23

Image by Neville dSouza

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EXOTIQUE5 Sweet as Candy

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