-By Serge Birault

Here’s the first part of my next personal work.

Here’s my photo reference. Once again, my wife and my muse, Chloé, is gonna be my model.

The sketch is quite simple. I’m not sure for the design of the little Cthulhu …

The sketch is on a Multiply layer (about 20% opacity) . I’m painting under the sketch.

I’m starting to work on the volumes and the contrast. The black parts are another layer. As usual, I’m working only with the soft round brush and very low opacity.

Finding the good contrast is the most important part when you try to achieve realistic rendering. I’m adding a little bit of red in the darkest parts and and a little bit of cyan on the brightest ones.

I’m creating a lot of layers, at least one for each part (eyes, mouth, …).

The eyes are finished.

First step for the lips.

I’m adding the glasses.

I’m painting a flat black area on another layer for the hair.

I’m fixing all the little details : the freckles, the skin texture (with the “dry brush”), the reflection on the hair, the edges of the face, … For the colors adjustments, I’m creating four different layers on the top.

Next part in 15 days 🙂