help with skin tones ;/

[W.Rowland]

almost finished but i cant get over the face.. something doesnt look right. crits would be great. thanks.

[SoufMeng]

Something that really bugs me is the background. You should have just gone for a plain colour bg (or a softer gradient) and something lighter than the brown you have at the top so his clothes dont merge into it. Right now the downward gradient brings too much focus on his boring boots.

Except for that im not bothered by his skin tones, a bit muddy but the dim lighting kinda gives an excuse for that.
From skimming your sketchbook i would say you often use this kind of lighting lest you would have to deal with cast shadows, bounce light, etc. If so maybe practice just that on your next character or make studies of things in sunlight.

[dpaint]

When painting flesh there are temperature and hue changes that occur. There are zones of hue changes for the face and body based on blood flow and where bones or fat are closer to the surface of the skin. You can see these shifts and they lend a sense of realism to any figure study. I didn't have a head in exactly the same pose or lighting but here is an example of what I mean. THe head tends to be greener in the forehead, redder around the cheeks and nose, more gray blue in the chin and yellower in the neck.

[Di$array]

looking good m8. cannot say anything about the skin myself. the background needs changing as pointed out above. How about adding a few throwing knives on his chest?

[W.Rowland]

3 reasons i love this community, you guys! hehe.. thanks for the pointers. i had the lighting layer hidden, though its probably off anyway.. but i did work on the face a bit. he looks less dead now. and the bg i really dont know what color to use to make him stand out a bit more.. maybe my eyes are fried cause it all looks bland. anyway. gotta run but heres a small update, i could probably push the values more but i think it looks better. and yeah, he will have some daggers.

[Di$array]

Oh yeah i also forgot. how about adding a few personal items, such as ring, bracelets, badges.

[mythril_golem]

hey w.rowland
something that looks pretty off to me is the characters left eye (our right)
it seems to not follow the form of a head instead carves right through it making his head look a little caved in on that side, it should stay at the front of the face and line up with his other eye, just use a couple of guide lines and you'll be fine

[freiheit]

the deepest shadows can blend into the green of the hood, the rest is how you though up your volumes. Quick paint over to give you a few cues:


I don't know if it'll work for ya, but try painting his face with the less stroke possible, almost cubic like and THEN add details, blushing and smoother gradients.

[W.Rowland]

well thanks to you all for the guidance. i think im moving on from this one for now. its depressing how much time i spent on it, haha. i credit people like you for my recent ability with photoshop. thanks again, and heres the final for now. its a definite improvement from the first post.

[Fuzziest Johnson]

The position of his left eye is a bit off... its angled up too much and it should be a little foreshortened. Move the eye so its a bit more horizontal and there should be a little less of the "white of the eye" on our left side of the iris when its foreshortened. I think that will help.
And remember, warm highlights with cool shadows, or cool highlights with warm shadows. there's a good tutorial on CA about color. If you just use a darker version of a color for the shadows (just adding black) it tends to flatten the surface, or look "amateur".
...That said, not bad : )