How I paint faces. Part 1 - sculpting the face

[Erisian]

Thought this might be useful for some.



Part 2 is now available for download http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7066

[SilverLining]

that is freaking awesome!

[Erisian]

Thank you.

[molly]

Very good Eris, It will be helpful indeed. Thank you for the pdf

[Erisian]

You're welcome Molly.

[Mokonafan]

A very nice reference, I'll probably be referring to it in the future!
Thanks for the time you put in to these, they are very useful.

[ek22]

This looks amazing, I'll have to give this a try, though it'll be in gimp since mypaint scares me.

[Erisian]

Thank you all. ek - this was done in Gimp. I can't get the hang of MyPaint.

[Mokonafan]

Erisian uses GIMP, so it's fine.

[Jas45]

I'm in awe of all the really good artists on Gimp Chat. So when a tutorial came up, I just had to try.

Of course, it's nowhere as good as the one Erisian did, but this is the first thing I've ever drawn (not counting whatever I did as a kid many, many years ago).

It gave me an idea on workflow, and color blending that I hope I can build on later. I am still not sure which brushes are best for particular purposes... I did most of this with a .75 hardness fuzzy brush, but I know that is probably not the best way.

Thanks for a great tutorial, Erisian.

[molly]

That is a really nice job Jas45.

[Erisian]

Nice work jas. You're choice of brush was fine and you've got the idea of the blending. You might find it useful to work from photos initially until you build up a mental library of shapes to work from. For a first drawing I'm really impressed.

[Jas45]

Molly: Thanks, I've got a long way to go to catch up with you.

Erisian: Thanks. I will definitely have to use pictures for a while. The face I did would have been much worse if I did not have your pdf to show me where to "put marks". Thanks again for the tutorial.

[Erisian]

You are welcome. You might find this useful. viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4308

[Jas45]

Erisian: Thanks for the link.

I think I will try to put hair on the face I did earlier. Which brush or brushes do you use for that purpose, and if you have any other advice on hair I would very much appreciate it.

[Erisian]

I'm still learning about hair myself. I usually use a fuzzy brush for all my painting - it's not the most important issue; technique is. The only thing I can say is start off with general shapes, bearing in mind how the 3D shape and light angle will affect it, and think of hair as being in clumps. As usual, start with a mid value then add darks and lights on new layers then once you have the general shapes down you can gradually add as much detail as you dare. Look at photos from a distance to see the kind of general shapes produced.

[AnMal]

hmm... i downloaded the tutorial, but i don't know if i dare to try it. i'm just not very good at painting, i don't think the results would be even half as good as what jas45 got - and jas45 claims to be a beginner.

[Jas45]

Erisian: Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try while looking at a picture, and hope for the best.


AnMal: By all means give it a try... you are much more artistic than I am.

I realized right away that it is much easier for a beginner to follow an example by someone else than to do it on his/her own. It's amazing how we see people every day but usually don't really pay attention to the details of a face. I assume that part of becoming a good painter is becoming more and more familiar with details over years of practice.

[Erisian]

I assume that part of becoming a good painter is becoming more and more familiar with details over years of practice.

Spot on, and any artist will tell you that the best teacher is drawing from life as much as possible.

[Gisso_09]

That's really so cool. I'm in profession of body paint and making more of these experiences every day, and I hope that I continue to have the same passion for my art, and so to share it with the world. Keep up the great work yourself!!