■ Painting a Creature Skin 177The mottling pass is an overall coverage of tiny,
broken-up squiggly lines. These will look strange now,
but when the next step covers the entire head with a
light version of the flesh tone, it will break up the satu-
ration of different areas of the face and help create a
sense of depth and translucency to the skin.
Begin by selecting a freehand stroke and alpha
- Lower your draw size and select white as your
color. Begin to make small, tight figure-8 patterns on
the skin. Try to be as random as possible, keeping the
patterns tight (Figure 5.27). You can vary the pat-
terning around the eyes and lips, making those areas
tighter, and make the patterning wider on the head
and temples. Experience will dictate how different
patterns appear once the painting is completed.
Be aware that these early stages of the paint scheme will look overstated and odd. This is
intentional; the next passes of color will partially obscure these layers. The more overstated
the under-painting is, the better it will show through the subsequent layers. For example,
some classical painters even started portraits with a green under-painting. This green tone
would be visible in the shadows after all the skin tones were applied, thus creating a lush
shadow and a sense of temperature contrast between the light and dark areas.I recommend doing as much of this as possible freehand, but you may choose the vein
Alpha 22 and a DragRect stroke to fill in large areas like the neck and back of the head
(Figure 5.28).
Once this mottling pass is completed, your character should look like Figure 5.29.
Figure 5.26 Yellow regions. Note the yellow on the chin
going green.Figure 5.27 Squiggles Figure 5.28 Vein Alpha