Pass 12+, Final Adjustments
The differences start getting pretty subtle at this point, so I'll include the last image as reference.
The differences start getting pretty subtle at this point, so I'll include the last image as reference.
You may be thinking 'if the differences are so subtle, why do they matter?' Unfortunately it's these extra little touches that help turn an image from 'okay' to 'wow'. They are about as important as all the previous steps combined.
Anyway, I really liked the way the vignette emphasized the shine of the breasts and drew attention to the now lighter face. So I pushed this further, adding ANOTHER black overlay to the chest and ANOTHER white overlay to the face.
Anyway, I really liked the way the vignette emphasized the shine of the breasts and drew attention to the now lighter face. So I pushed this further, adding ANOTHER black overlay to the chest and ANOTHER white overlay to the face.
Again this is subtle - look at the darker blues of the chest and the slightly lighter blues of the face. The greater contrast helps separate these two parts, drawing more attention to her face and making her skin look paler and softer. The only problem is that her face became a bit too washed out, her lips too flat and her eyes looking a bit pasted on. So it was time for some makeup.
'Eye shadow' was applied by adding a black-blurre 'Overlay' around the eyes (bringing out the darker blue more), as well as a narrower, blurred black area to help blend the outline of the eyes into the face. Both of these effects helped make the eyes look like less pasted on, more a proper part of her head, shadowed by where her eyebrows would be. This also emphasised the bright colors of her eyes, just like real-life eye-shadow would. It's sometimes useful to ask why particular makeup is used - what purpose does it serve, what is it emphasizing and why. Then you can use these techniques in your work.
Again the edge of this blurred effect was cut off sharply where it extended over the tentacle beside her face (as the tentacle wouldn't be affected by the shadows of her face), using an 'Erase' layer exactly as before.
The lips were also adjusted by adding a dark-red overlay in the middle, underneath the other shading, and only in the middle of the lips. This resulted in a slightly reddish, noticably darker area in the middle of the lips. This was a very common feature of the lip tutorials I referenced earlier, and by having a darker shape in the middle of the lips, the lips look more 3 dimensional (i.e. fuller, softer, more kissable). The darker color also helps make the inside of the lips look wetter as they lead into the mouth, making the line of the mouth look more real.
Next I decided to remove the interior lines of the tendrils (separating pinks from blues), and blur the edge of the color slightly.
Again the edge of this blurred effect was cut off sharply where it extended over the tentacle beside her face (as the tentacle wouldn't be affected by the shadows of her face), using an 'Erase' layer exactly as before.
The lips were also adjusted by adding a dark-red overlay in the middle, underneath the other shading, and only in the middle of the lips. This resulted in a slightly reddish, noticably darker area in the middle of the lips. This was a very common feature of the lip tutorials I referenced earlier, and by having a darker shape in the middle of the lips, the lips look more 3 dimensional (i.e. fuller, softer, more kissable). The darker color also helps make the inside of the lips look wetter as they lead into the mouth, making the line of the mouth look more real.
Next I decided to remove the interior lines of the tendrils (separating pinks from blues), and blur the edge of the color slightly.
I felt this made the tentacles look softer and more organic, more like they were each one, round, smooth shape. This was also quick to do as I'd grouped all the pink parts into one group, so I could change their color all at once and, here, turn off their outlines all at once.
When you're building images that will have many layers and parts, taking the time to name and group them as you go will save you LOTS of time and sanity in the end.
Last but not least, some adjustments. This is an important final part of any image, and will usually involve three specific Adjustment layers to boost the colors and contrast just a little bit more.
When you're building images that will have many layers and parts, taking the time to name and group them as you go will save you LOTS of time and sanity in the end.
Last but not least, some adjustments. This is an important final part of any image, and will usually involve three specific Adjustment layers to boost the colors and contrast just a little bit more.
The first adjustment layer is called 'Levels' (the same name is used in Affinity, Photoshop, and every other program I've used). There are plenty of tutorials on how to use this adjustment, and I'd recommend spending a few minutes checking one out, because what it does is very useful. A short summary is that, if your image isn't spanning all the available shades (from black to white), then you can stretch its colors out, making them use all available shades, and making your image more vibrant in the process.
The second adjustment is called 'Brightness / Contrast' (again same name across all programs). As the name implies, this controls brightness (how light your image is) and contrast (how visible the difference between shades is). Normally I will use 'Levels' first, then do some small adjustments with 'Brightness / Contrast' to see if can make things pop any more.
And finally there's 'HSL' or 'Hue Saturation Lightness'. This involves three sliders. 'Hue' allows you to make subtle adjustments to all the colors of your image at once (emphasis on subtle - moving the slider more than a few points will turn red to green and make a techno-colored explosion). Then there's 'Saturation', or how vivid the colors are. And finally there's 'Lightness' a duplication of 'Brightness' from 'Brightness / Contrast'.
Usually the final adjustment I'll make here is just playing with 'Saturation' a bit, to see if making the image a little more or a little less saturated makes it look better. Here it didn't, so this step was left out.
Next is... well, the end.
The second adjustment is called 'Brightness / Contrast' (again same name across all programs). As the name implies, this controls brightness (how light your image is) and contrast (how visible the difference between shades is). Normally I will use 'Levels' first, then do some small adjustments with 'Brightness / Contrast' to see if can make things pop any more.
And finally there's 'HSL' or 'Hue Saturation Lightness'. This involves three sliders. 'Hue' allows you to make subtle adjustments to all the colors of your image at once (emphasis on subtle - moving the slider more than a few points will turn red to green and make a techno-colored explosion). Then there's 'Saturation', or how vivid the colors are. And finally there's 'Lightness' a duplication of 'Brightness' from 'Brightness / Contrast'.
Usually the final adjustment I'll make here is just playing with 'Saturation' a bit, to see if making the image a little more or a little less saturated makes it look better. Here it didn't, so this step was left out.
Next is... well, the end.
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