cover artist exotique 5 - the world’s most beautiful cg characters! 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 to speak. Her expression, the color of her lips and hair, the styling, there’s even a strange sense of sharpness in her makeup, besides, ‘it’s all in her eyes.’ In the end, it’s just a matter of judgement. How sweet and innocent would anyone want her to be? Does she have a dark past? Portraying a more vivid appearance? It’s all for us to decide. Her name is Mimi ... and everything about her is not what it seems. Neville dSouza - nwiz25.cgsociety.org
concept & referencing Colors, lighting and personality were the main highlights of this artwork. I didn’t even sketch out a concept. Everything took shape as I went forward. Although I did have in mind the kind of look that I wanted the hard part was fitting together the pieces of the puzzle. So, I collected lots and lots of reference images in order to help me out. I feel it’s best to divide or categorize these images according to the elements that are of prime importance, such as the color scheme, eyes, hair, lips, makeup and finally, teeth (never underestimate them! I really had a tough time trying to get them to look right). Anyways, it’s easier to know where you are heading and not to let your mind get lost.
base color palette & hair brush
After a good sorting out, I selected the base colors which I’ll mix later on. I love playing around with them! There’s so much experimentation, one can go gaga over the possibilities. As you can see in the screenshot, I separated the color palette 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 straightforward—nothing 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.
Hair Paint
I start off 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 different sizes and some of them are even blurred and semi transparent.
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.
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.
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, I’ll need to sandwich the head section between these layers and categorize them in layer sets. I’ll admit I’m a layer freak, which is why the file size goes way up! But at least there’s a degree of control.
Hair Paint
Now comes the crazy part. Using the new hair back layer, I copy the left side of the image, paste it onto a new layer, set its blend mode to Multiply and shift its position halfway to the right—this left half was duplicated again.
The same was done for the right half. You’ll now notice how the colors are taking effect.
(I temporarily blacked out the top hair layer just to show you what is what)
Here’s the screenshot of the layer sets. As you can see, I’ve added a gradient mask for the hair back layer set. I had to get rid of a visible line somewhere near the top.
The hair section is complete! Although, toward the end, I’ll be blending in some parts of the hair so that the rings don’t look too visible.
I darkened a few areas with the Burn tool. The Paint mode was set to Midtones with 50% exposure.
Base color block
1 This was a very rough block 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.
2
1. Back to the file and with the help of the Pen tool, I now create the actual shapes of the head and shoulder section. 2. I darkened the neck area and shoulders for little bit of shadowing and light attenuation.
Now for some rim lighting on her jawline toward her chin, but not too strong.
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 bit—more falloff.
I’ve pumped up the yellow lighting on her shoulder tip, but didn’t go all the way to her jawline or even the neck area as it might have looked too distracting! I’ve 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 lip areas have been treated the same way.
lips I really had fun painting her lips! I wanted a nice glossy finish and colors to match. So, here’s the basic block.
A nice pink tone has been added, with a good amount of saturation and subtle shadowing.
I put in a black shape for the mouth opening.
The lower lip is beginning to take shape with a pastel pink highlight. I also darkened it a bit in the center (horizontally).
I’ve tightened 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 reflection 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 off!
I’ve now added a generous amount of my favorite yellow tone, just to show a reasonable amount of bounce and reflection.
Nose I start off with a soft 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 off with the eraser and let it blend in nicely with the underlying color.
And then there’s the red. I’ve also rounded off the nose shape with a pink shadow and faint outlining. The Smudge tool did the trick with a low strength setting—somewhere around 55%.
I’ve 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 the nose and the upper lip area. I’ve even shaped out the nose tip.
I’ve added the yellow tone for bounce. I didn’t go overly detailed with this, because soon when the highlights come in, most of my work will be done in defining her features.
eyes A brief note on this stage: this is the most crucial part of it all. I especially want the screenshots to do most of the explanation. I had to constantly check the reference images for each fold, highlight, shine, reflection, even a wee bit of nerve detail, and lots of color modification in order to get the eye to a certain level. What was even more challenging was to keep the lighting setup in mind and not make it look out of place.
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 tone 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.
eyes 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 reflection for the pupil, followed by my favorite part of the eye—the eyelashes! For this, I used the Pen tool for the basic shape and then used a 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.
eyes Moving closer to the end of her eye to the eyebrows! Using 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).
eyes Next, I paint another eyebrow and follow the same smudge technique, with the addition of darker streaks following the contour of the eyebrow. This layer’s 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 eyelashes and eyebrows. Although I could have still pushed it further in keeping the iris and pupil non-symmetrical, I decided not to, so it looks like her eyes are done!
Makeup & Specular Shading
Her quick makeup session! On a separate layer, I created a shape with a nice orange tone and hints of yellow.
I switched the layer’s blending mode to Overlay. This allows the color to settle down nicely with the facial shading, saving a lot of time.
For the nose tip, I started out with the specular shading, using a soft brush and smudging halfway through. Just to mention, the smudge strength can change from time to time.
I added the highlights on her forehead, chin and upper lip area.
I moved onto the shoulders, collar bone, neck and cleavage.
For a peek-a-boo, I thought I’d show you what the layers look like against a black background. Even though they are pretty much colored, they do have a subtle effect on her skin.
hair curling
I’m back to her hairstyle. Only this time, the brush ‘rings’ have to be fixed.
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 still intact. You’ll notice the color-blended strokes effect on her forehead area. There’s a mixture of red, orange and pink. Most of 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 flow direction, mainly for the curls either ‘S’ shaped, swirled, etc.
This is what the curls look like on a black background with all the color blends. Notice the hair, face and the yellow background area?
After the curls, I did a quick subtle skin blotching on her face, chest and shoulders.
teeth
Teeth can be the trickiest little critters of all! But at the same time, they’re extremely important! If they’re too white, they’ll catch the viewer’s attention in a split second! If they’re too dark (with too much shadow) it’ll look as if they’re 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 didn’t go well at all with Mimi. So, I experimented a lot to get them to look okay.
I created the shapes with the Pen tool and darkened them a little—especially 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 mixture of pale yellow and pink, fading out toward the inside of her mouth.
Next, reflection shapes are painted in, 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 their subtle color allows them to blend in with the rest of the face without drawing too much attention to themselves.
face & body paint 1
2
1. She definitely needed some good color markings on her face and body. Which is why I chose a green hue to go 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.
Once again, layer blending mode set to Linear Burn with Fill 35%.
Lastly, using a hard brush and the same yellow tone, I painted some sharp edges on her shoulder tip and collar bone area.
finishing
This is the final stage which will totally change the entire look of this piece in terms of lighting 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 face and added a new layer of yellow paint on her body. Right now, the yellow does look distracting, but it’ll be reduced later on.
finishing
I wanted to try out something different 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 option twice, followed by a small Levels tweak as shown in the screenshot. We’ll name it ‘A’ and keep it aside for the time being.
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.
By the way, got a radically new color combo!
The most important part of it all— the look factor! Photoshop’s 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, you’ll see the layers as they appear in my actual file, A, B and C along with the adjustment layers and their settings. You’ll also see the different layer masks I’ve used in order to control the adjustment layers and even layer ‘A’. Remember, that I didn’t leave it the way it was. All I wanted was to reveal only some parts of it with the help of a custom mask.
finishing
Before and After.
finishing
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 I’ve 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 it’ll 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...
mimi Here she is folks. Thank you all for reading!
out now
THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL CG CHARACTERS ™
AVAILABLE NOW View every page of EXOTIQUE 5 online at www.ballisticpublishing.com Ballistic books are available worldwide— for store locations see the Ballistic website Image by Neville dSouza