Profile in Stars
I’ve been looking at a lot of Art Deco paintings lately for inspiration. This digital painting was inspired by a painting by Slava Fokk. I created this almost entirely in SketchClub, with just a few tweaks at the end in Elasticam and iColorama.
I opened a blank canvas in SketchClub. On the bottom-most layer, I used Color-Fill to fill the layer with black. Then on a new layer above the background layer, I used the Vector tool to create a shape of a face in profile. I also used the Vector tool in erase mode to edit the shape. It took me some time, moving back and forth from erase mode to “over” mode (the normal mode) until I got a shape I was happy with. I varied the Simplify slider in the Vector tool settings frequently to get the characteristics I wanted, and I made frequent use of undo. I will do a similar process for the other layers: I usually work and rework until I get a shape I’m happy with.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I used the Vector tool to create a shape for the eyebrow. Again, it took several tries to get a result I liked.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I used the Vector tool to create a shape for the eyelid crease.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I used the Vector tool to create a shape for the eyelid. Then, on a new layer below the eyelid layer, I used the Vector tool to create a black shape slightly larger than the eyelid shape directly underneath the eyelid shape; this has the effect of making a smooth black line along the lower edge of the eyelid shape. In SketchClub, while you can control the smoothness of vector shapes, you can’t control the smoothness of the pens or brushes, so often I will use a technique like this to get a smooth line, where otherwise I might use a pen.
On a new layer below the previous layer, I used the Vector tool to create a round blue shape for the iris.
On a new layer below the iris layer, I used the Vector tool to create a larger round black shape which, since it's under the iris, forms a black edge to the iris. Then on another new layer just above the iris layer, I used the Vector tool to create a small round black shape for the pupil.
On a new layer above the pupil layer, I used a small soft round brush to paint a small catchlight on the eye.
On another new layer just above the iris layer and below the pupil layer, I used a soft round brush to paint a soft light blue reflection on the iris, and then with a smaller soft round brush I painted a smaller white area in the reflection. I adjusted the layer opacity, which I frequently do when brushing.
On a new layer below all the other eye layers, I used the Vector tool to create a pale gray shape for the white of the eye. Then on another new layer just above that layer, I used the Vector tool to create a brown shape for the shadow under the eye. I used the Blur tool to blur the lower edge of that brown shape. Then on the same layer, I used a pen to draw a white line along the edge of the lower lid.
On a new layer below the eye layers, I used a soft round brush to paint a soft gray-brown shadow above the upper eyelid. Then on another new layer above the layer with the white of the eye but below all the other eye layers, I used a small dark gray soft round brush to paint shadows around the edges of the lids, falling on the white of the eye.
On another new layer above all the eye layers, I used a smaller soft round brush to paint a darker shadow in the eyelid crease. Then on a new layer above that layer, I used a soft round brush to paint a white highlight on the eyelid.
On several new layers just above the face shape layer, I made the mouth. First, I used a layer to create the red shapes with the Vector tool. Then on a layer above that, I used a soft round brush to paint highlights on the lips. Then on a layer above that, I used a soft round brush to paint shadows on the lips, as well as a shadow in the corner of the lips. When I was happy with the mouth, I used the Merge Down button for each of the top mouth layers (but not the lowest mouth layer), to merge them all into a single mouth layer. That’s so I could move and adjust the size and aspect ratio of the mouth. I did that using the layer transform tool, which is the tool that looks like a cross on the toolbar at the top of the screen.
On a new layer below the mouth layer, I used a soft round brush to paint a shadow below the lower lip.
On another new layer above the previous layer, I used a soft round brush to paint shadows on her neck, her chin, her nose, and the area between her lips and nose. On the same layer, I used a soft round brush to paint white highlights on the lower edge of the lower lip, on the ridges above the upper lip, along the bridge of her nose, on the forehead, and on her cheek. Normally I would put some of these things on separate layers, but sometimes I forget when I’m so involved in the painting.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I used the pen tool to draw a line along the edge of her jaw.
On a layer above the face shape layer, I used a very large soft round brush to paint pink onto her cheek. I then had to erase where pink was also painted to the right of her cheek, because the brush was so large. I wanted to use such a large brush because I wanted a very soft edge to the pink color.
On a new layer above all the other layers, I used the fuzz brush with a large brush size to paint stars ontomthe background. I erased any stars that fell where I didn’t want them. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in Elasticam, and I altered the shape of her mouth a bit. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used Effect/Raise at low opacity for emphasis.
