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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 7th Nov 2019 at 7:01 PM
Default Assistance Needed: Making A "Realistic-Looking" Skin Detail
I've been working on a Grand Admiral Thrawn Sim for a while, based off the Star Wars: Rebels incarnation of him. (Not to knock the Legends/EU!Thrawn, but Rebels!Thrawn has a more interesting face.) While I can get his facial features very close to the original, I'm kind of stumped on how to portray his facial ridges.

Here's an image of what his facial ridges look like, based on Rebels official reference sheets. As you can see, the facial ridges have a 3-D look to them, even in the 2D art. (Both link and image provided.)

https://66.media.tumblr.com/4537156...sycvo3_1280.jpg

I had been basing my approach off a tutorial for stage makeup, where there would be one line of dark makeup for shadows slightly underneath one line of light makeup for highlights, but I'm having trouble with scaling and accounting for the facial features warp that I had to use in order to make my Thrawn sim...well...Thrawn-like. The included picture shows my best attempt so far--which was only the one channel for the lines as a whole, in the blush section, and I know it looks awful. (Or, to riff off Thrawn, "not artistically done.")

Since Thrawn has a non-standard-human skin tone, I'm worried that putting it in the facial details section would add some horrible pink or brown lines to his face, which I really don't need.)

I would like advice on how to turn my current attempts into something that looks reasonably natural (no sharp edges, no obvious "rubber forehead" or artificiality) and isn't overwhelmed by facial sculpts. (I'm willing to just chop off the cheekbone portions and use only the eyebrow portions, if needed.)
Screenshots
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Instructor
#2 Old 8th Nov 2019 at 3:37 PM
So have you deconstructed an existing makeup to see how they work? I don't necessarily mean a CC one, since most of those are photoskinned. If you use TSRW and clone any old overlay (I took the vampire veins as a reference since it's similar) and start picking through it, you will see that there are 2 important files - the "face overlay" and the "mask". The face overlay is going to be a grey-scale (usually, but in CC often it's actually a photograph that has been manipulated - these tend to be less CASt-able) image that also have an alpha channel (*). Ignoring the alpha channel for a minute, the overlay will look something like this:



This is where you would apply your "stage makeup" light/shadow effects - in grey-scale! So no pink or browns or whatever. This will effectively be the texture of your makeup, and where all your details would go.

Remember I mentioned that this image will have an alpha layer (and yes, you need to have an image editor that can handle channels). The alpha channel will also be in grey-scale, but it controls opacity. The closer to white it is, the more opaque it is. Black is completely invisible. You aren't aiming for details of the texture itself here, but rather controlling how much of the underlying skin will show through the makeup overly.



Finally, the mask is in RGB. This is how you control what colors are applied and where on the final product. Again, you aren't necessarily aiming for "texture" here, per se, just plotting out where the preset colors will be applied. Keep in mind as you are painting your mask, how opaque or transparent you paint will also control how heavily that color is applied.



Notice in this example, they just used solid red. Because of the grey-scale of the overlay, you will get some natural shadowing even just using the one color.

Also my best recommendation is if you are so lucky to have access to PhotoshopCC that has the 3d capabilities... this is your best bet for getting things lined up right on the face. Doing it flat is kinda of a crap shoot particularly when you get in proximity to the scalp area.
Screenshots

Duh and/or Hello!
(simblr)
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 8th Nov 2019 at 6:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by k2m1too
So have you deconstructed an existing makeup to see how they work? I don't necessarily mean a CC one, since most of those are photoskinned. If you use TSRW and clone any old overlay (I took the vampire veins as a reference since it's similar) and start picking through it, you will see that there are 2 important files - the "face overlay" and the "mask". The face overlay is going to be a grey-scale (usually, but in CC often it's actually a photograph that has been manipulated - these tend to be less CASt-able) image that also have an alpha channel (*). Ignoring the alpha channel for a minute, the overlay will look something like this:



This is where you would apply your "stage makeup" light/shadow effects - in grey-scale! So no pink or browns or whatever. This will effectively be the texture of your makeup, and where all your details would go.

Remember I mentioned that this image will have an alpha layer (and yes, you need to have an image editor that can handle channels). The alpha channel will also be in grey-scale, but it controls opacity. The closer to white it is, the more opaque it is. Black is completely invisible. You aren't aiming for details of the texture itself here, but rather controlling how much of the underlying skin will show through the makeup overly.



Finally, the mask is in RGB. This is how you control what colors are applied and where on the final product. Again, you aren't necessarily aiming for "texture" here, per se, just plotting out where the preset colors will be applied. Keep in mind as you are painting your mask, how opaque or transparent you paint will also control how heavily that color is applied.



Notice in this example, they just used solid red. Because of the grey-scale of the overlay, you will get some natural shadowing even just using the one color.

Also my best recommendation is if you are so lucky to have access to PhotoshopCC that has the 3d capabilities... this is your best bet for getting things lined up right on the face. Doing it flat is kinda of a crap shoot particularly when you get in proximity to the scalp area.


Ah, unfortunately I don't have Photoshop at all! I was using Paint.Net for tracing the details off his reference art, and then I suppose I was going to futz with the channels in GIMP. I had been following Daluved's blush tutorial, actually--and using the basegame high blush as a base. (Yikes, that sounds really bad now that I said it 'out loud.' I know I should force myself to be more comfortable with GIMP; it just seems much more opaque than my old PDN.)

I suppose I should give it another shot tonight, working with an overlay that's more suitable--I honestly hadn't thought of the vampire veins! And that is so much more nicely situated than that blush I was trying at first.

Thank you!
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