[J. Der]

Word,


I've been working on digital black and white portraits as of late, at least during the free time I do have, I'm planning to make a bunch and give them out as Christmas presents to go along with gifts. Anyways, I'm very new at portraiture (if that's even a word), and while I don't seem to be having any problems with anatomical detail or anything really basic, I would like to know some suggestions for skin-like texturing.

For example, I'm almost entirely finished one piece, the portrait is of a friend of mine, a pretty young girl (thus, no aging signs). But, as you all may know, just flat greyscale just doesn't look as natural as it could (hey, we have pores y'know).

It's not an extreme close up, so I'm not about to put massive pores. The distance of the figure is the same as it would be in a standard school or graduation photo. I've been fooling around with adding noise, and it looks absolutely great and I see nothing but benefits in implementing that filter, BUT, I figure some of the more expert posters may have an even better alternative.

So, anyone know which filters in Photoshop 6.0 are the best as creating a relatively realistic skin texture? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks very much in advance.

-JD

[Jezebel]

Filters?

Why not just paint the skin texture yourself? I use textured brushes quite a bit, and although the texture is not entirely realistic - it does look a bit more lifelike if you ask me. The slight imperfections add something to the personality of the piece (and even some realism I guess).

Here's one of the pieces I did with custom brushes:
http://div.dyndns.org/art/stitch.jpg

And this one of a girl (which is monotone like the one you're working on)
http://div.dyndns.org/art/sultry.jpg

The realism is more likely to come from where you place your shadows/higlights. Tiny bit of puffiness under the eyes maybe? Creases in the eyelids, indentation where the cheek meets the nose? The corners of the mouth... stuff like that.

It will be a lot easier to help if you can post the picture though.

Good luck.

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: Jezebel ]

[J. Der]

Those are great, I really like the texture you achieved on the second piece. Here's the link to the portrait I was talking about, this a previous version that I've touched up ever so slighty, but I'm far too lazy to upload it in it's current state :P.
http://www.geocities.com/parabola13/JB2.html


Thanks very much for all the help.

-JD