Hi, I would like to know techniques to blend colours in Photoshop, specially for skin tones.
I will be posting my first attempt using a tablet to finalize a draw. (It’s frustating by the way, hopefuly I will get better with time)
At the moment I’m using the “Blur” and “Smudge” tool for it, but the results are a shit.
Cheers,
Diego
Painter has an actual palette, where you can smudge colors together just like an actual palette - one of the nice things about it. I saw a good tutorial about color, though, and in general terms what he did in photoshop is this: He picked up a variety of colors and made rectangles filled with them on a document - you could just brush them on, too. Pink, purple, blue, red, orange, different tints and tones. Then he made a new layer and used any of various adjustment layers - levels, color, all give different results. What it does, though, is to give a commonality to the colors - adds a little yellow, makes them pastel or bright. He knew what he was doing, and I’m not describing it as well at all, but in the end those random colors became a palette. Then just use the eyedropper…Something to play around with, anyway.
I know the lighting is awnful, I will try to fix it. Sadly I got excited with the tablet and start with no planning.
The draw doesn’t look 3Dimensional, the colours are very flat and not very well blended.
How can I achieve a good result blending colours? Something strong but polished?! (Newbie here!)
This is the WIP:
Humn, the Smudge looks a hell lot better.
What this V2 all about? Are you paiting white over merged layers? Is that what you mean?
Nope, you take an interesting brush, like chalk and set the brush presents to what I mentioned, then pick (like with the eyedropper tool: press ALT is the shortcut) one of the color you want to blend and start painting over the other, then pick the second color and do the same. Doing so with different brushes will give you interesting result, more textured or so. You should play around with those to find one that suits the best for you 
Good luck
Ver 2 contains two samples, one is where I blended colors that existed, and below that are just messed around with the blending brush with both colors I used earlyer.
Cheers SpetsK. I will try after work.
Listen, other thing that I don’t have sure is the workflow the Illustrators use to clean-up they draw.
Right now I take pictures of my draws, importing and working the levels in photoshop. (which honesty doesn’t work in the way that I want to as well) Anyway, you for example, after your sketch be ready to go in photoshop what do you do?
Do you start from dark to light, light to dark? Any special brush setup for the first steps?!
I really decided to invest some energy on my drawing skills, but is frustrating. 
I just start a new draw and would like to know how should I do now.
Started with a sketch and now I’m paiting in grayscale.
What should I do next? Start to polishing? How?
When I use blend mode I always lose the accuracy in the tones and if I don’t use I cannot follow the reference. How do you do?
I’m still having some trouble to blend the colours properly. If look at the jaw you’ll understand me.
WIP:
Hi Diegooriani
well its looking good to me, it doesn’t always have to look perfectly smooth though I prefer it likre that myself.
I don’t know if this’ll help because I think the chin looks fine but one thing I do when I’m blending and trying to achieve a perfect smoothing is - working with say 30% opacity overlap each brushtroke, where the overlap occurs you can select the new tone in the middle which a smaller step from the last…if you get me. Then when you use this new tone again it overlaps and the steps between the tones are becoming smaller.
The smudge tool can then just help to finally get rid of the tiniest steps.
I think this might have already been said (and probably clearer!)but I thought I’d chuck it into the pot.
Cheers mate.
I couldn’t perfectly understand what you said, but I will try and see the results.
It’s really dificult to achieve what I want. I normally check the work of the members and I just get very frustrated.
It’s getting better now, but the cheeks are a bit strange. I will try your technique. What do you think so far?
WIP:
Heh yes sorry it wan’t the most articulate of answers but looking at the latest image I think you don’t need it anyway, its looking brilliant already!
I’ll give it another bash at explaining my technique for what its worth:
Lay down a brush stroke, say a dark tone.
Lay down another stroke that is lighter thant the first and overlaps that one but the paint is set to 30-50% opacity or flow.
You should have three bands of colour now. Your original and the new one but in the middle will be a tone that is in between the two.
Alt click with your stylus (if you’re using an Intuos/Wacom/whatever) the tone you created in the middle.
Now lay down another stoke with this new mid tone again overlapping the last stroke…or part of it or the last two (heres where its up to you!)
You can get quick results doing this and end up with lots of little steps of shades this way.
…that was just as rubbish wan’t it? heheh You can’t say I didn’t try.
As for the cheeks, their contours don’t match in the way you have shaded them, its only minor but I would go for getting rid of that band of shade across the middle of the right (from the viewers POV) cheek or tone it down a bit. imho.
Really like it though, its looking great!
Ahh, now I understood! Will try.
I will follow your advice and make some tweaks in the cheek! You’re right it’s a bit strange!
The WIP will be here soon.
Cheers mate!
You may want to take a look into Jose Oli’s technique. Here is the address to his website:
He has a very nice finished look to his work. His technique has something to do with using the smudge tool while using a brush similar in tecture to the chalk brush. If you write him he usually writes back.
I found this tut on his website. It shows how to make the type of brush he uses with the smudge tool and how he mixes his colors.
http://www.nibbledpencil.com/image.php?image=FINGERSPAINT3.jpg
The only setting I don’t see shown is the brush “Other Dynamics” setting. However, it looks like all he has set in the Other Dynamics setting is Flow Jitter set to pen pressure.
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