This looks like a classic airbrush approach to building up an image. Do you have a background in airbrushing?
The fine work in your portfolio is a testament to your skill and sensibility as an artist, so Im sure this will be another treat to look at when finished.
I cant believe you use a mouse on your PS work. I would find doing that masochistic. :surprised
Looking forward to more updates.
Quadart ~
thank you immensely Bill! that meant a lot to me 
…
i haven’t had any training in airbrushing … i’m not even a fine art student … ( though i wish i attended classes, i would’ve learnt even more … )
it’s all through practice and experimentation …
i do have a wacom bamboo … but i just couldn’t get use to it 
… no matter how much i tried …
so finally … the mouse became extremely important …
i use the pen tool for blocking shapes, then a simple soft brush for shadows / highlights … smudge tool for blending / pulling the shapes and the eraser for a much more softer blend …
i’ve already gone a step further in experimenting with the main elements for the artwork … once i’m through with it … i’ll post updates …
for now … lot of shading work to be done … it’s going to be very tough … but, i assure you …
you won’t be disappointed
cheers dude!
stay tuned for more …
fingers and nails complete … ( final details will be added much later ) …
next … onto the left hand …
hopefully in the next update … i’ll finish off with the other nail …
time for some sleep …zzZ
back with a new update!
some facial shading and yup … the eye brow … for which i’ll be explaining the process later on…
so keep watch! 
back with the eyebrow screen grabs …
but first, brush settings …
using a canvas size of 1000 x 1000 … i painted a single strand ; defined it as a brush preset , played around with the settings and did a little test as well …
please note : somehow images are not displaying properly …
right-click on the image > select view image > then magnify
later i created a second variant and tweaked the settings a bit …
you must tweak the settings to get the desired result, however, even using the brush is a different thing altogether … again as mentioned before … experimentation is the key
the paint process ;
i start off with brush variant 2 ( picky ) as i paint, i resize the brush whenever necessary
then build up with more strands … ( looks quite a lot now )
later, i decided to use a mask, to get rid of some of the extra strands.
started using the other variant with a slightly darker color
building up …
some shadowing …
shading other areas to bring it all in …
i hope that helped …
more details will be added along the way …
Dude, the way you are shading this model is amazing. It’s so clean, almost like vector graphics level of precision but done with raster techniques…I really can’t understand it. I can’t quite figure out what you’re doing that’s so different from me (example). When I do too much smudge blending, the 8-bit colors start to posterize. I wish I could see a video of your work!!! Looking forward to follow this piece.
stuh505 ~
hey dude 
thank you so much for your appreciation! 
really need it as this artwork will get tougher along the way …
that is one sexy piece of work … you can seriously take it to the next level if you refine the areas some more and do a little color filtering with the help of layer adjustments … [ curves … color balance … ] … always keep reference images with you to check out certain parts of the body that have strong skin folds … protrusions … muscle … etc
as for the shading … i use a soft brush for blocking … then for pushing / smudging some parts of the shape … i use a soft smudge brush with a value of 75 …
the smudge tool allows me to work on some areas … as compared to the gaussian blur filter which will blur the image as a whole … ( unless if you use a feather selection ) … but i feel the smudge tool gives me more control … great example as mentioned in my previous posts : area shadows … which has become like a concept for me … from then on … i started to smudge paint in that manner …
i know it sounds weird … but, believe me … it taught me a lot …
check these out …
http://www.foro3d.com/attachments/159401d1329410270-iluminacion-conceptos-generales-areashadowshd7.png
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/008/008kTO-18649784.jpg
http://www.win.tue.nl/~wstahw/2IV05/Area_light_source_soft_shadow.png
notice the dispersion … very simple terms : hard to soft … in to out …
use the smudge brush that way … be gentle with it … using a hard round brush … just paint a blob … use the soft smudge brush … start from the edge … but dont go all the way … then compare with the ref images …
and as for the 8 bit posterizing nightmare 
lolz! oh man … we’re in the same boat for sure … i’ve faced it a lot of times …
but you know what … it’s the smudge brush yet again that will help you out
my latest work “droid red” had insane amount of banding … so i kept it that way for the time being …
after all the mods / tweaks / fix ups were done … i copy merged the entire file … pasted it onto a new layer and then with the smudge brush … i used a strength value of 2 or 3 … smudged out the posterized areas …
i created a test psd file for you and included the brushes as well
here it is : http://www.2shared.com/file/g8LlYSym/blend_test.html
there is a soft blend brush and a hard blend brush … go nuts experimenting … it’ll get rid of the banding … and further more it’ll give a subtle texture / grain … rather than a smooth all plastic feel to the image …
play with the scattering and spacing values for extra dispersion …
but most importantly … it’s the smudge strength value … don’t go beyond 5 … your image will look too patchy …
also, only use this brush for the polishing stage . coz you need to work on a flattened file else there will be lot of layering … more banding as you work … it’ll be crazy trying to fix it up over and over again …
[ hope i didn’t repeat myself … or drive you mad 
]
please experiment … and if you still didn’t get it … do let me know … i’ll be out of station for a few days … so when i get back … i will try and do a video
take care!
enjoy mate!
nwiz,
thanks for your detailed reply! I will test out some of those techniques the next chance I get and let you know how they work out for me. I’m really looking forward to that vid as well :drool:
cheers mate
finally completed the other eyebrow ( following the same technique ) … and added some more minute strands for the previous one … however … i didn’t use the brush this time … i painted each strand and then gave them a masking treatment …
started painting the specular areas …
i’ve also added a new adjustment layer for a hint of yellow in her skin … however … the selected area was just to show you what it looks like, i’ll have to mask certain regions to be filled with the yellow tint … once i’m done, i’ll show you what the mask looks like later on …
rownd ~ thanks a lot Jim!
actually … that’s exactly what i want …however, the headdress elements will only affect the sides of the face …
it will be quiet interesting … the color bleeding will add to the look factor …
more specular shading … though tricky … i’m enjoying it
will post more screenshots of brush settings … which is mainly for painting tiny specs of highlight … but at the same time … i use the eraser tool with variations in strength to strategically break up the highlight even more …
> by the way ; i’m always listening to music at night while i paint … it’s amazing, relaxing … i feel more submersed in my work …
currently these tracks top my list :
TwoThirds - Dreaming Aloud (Feat. Veela)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzY-mDzEmKkBlackmill Feat. Veela - Let It Be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDI6HTR9arA
enjoy!
back with some more brush settings and tests and yup … i gave into temptation and detailed the lips and teeth … fix ups / mods much later
but first, as promised …
the brush settings for the skin highlights …
as you can see … i played around with three types of brush sizes … ( feel free to try your own ) …
experimented with different spacing values … you can even do the same with scattering
more work on the lips and teeth …
– > listening to a new awesome track …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuSZL9uIKTM&feature=related
cheers people!
surely dude 
