Fig.11 is the combination of both “colour” layers. The first layer’s opacity is 100% but the second layer was set to 30% because the colours were too unnatural. Both layers were painted using a soft-edge brush with the same setting as the previous brush.
Fig.11
(Fig.12) I added to the shoulder and the hair around the ears so that it filled the left side of the canvas more, then added more strokes around the right corner of the canvas - so now there are no more empty spaces. (Fig.13).
Fig.12
Fig.13
I added more red and purple colours to the lips on the “Colour” layer and I also added highlight to her iris/eyes. And now, it’s texturing time! I add another new layer, and using a texture photo I got from the 3DTotal textures (Fig.14).
Fig.14
I found that using textures on digital painted pieces can add extra strength to the works. Usually, I used this texturing technique for photo manipulation but, doing a lot of experiments with textures and painted works, I think it suits this piece well also. After blending the texture image, I set the blending option to soft light. Now everything looks richer with textures and grain (Fig.15).
Fig.15
By the way, the texture image was re-sized to the size of the canvas and I also fixed up a few cracked spots with the Clone Stamp tool and also erased the details of the texture a bit with a soft-edge eraser, with the same settings as the airbrush. Then I added another new layer for the second texture, also from 3DTotal (Fig.16).
Fig.16
3DTotal
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I re-sized it to the canvas size and set the blending option to soft light. The process of texturing is still the same; fixing the cracks and erasing some details from the textures - all because I don’t want the textures to stand out too much. After all these hours of work, “The Beautiful” is finally complete. The greyscale colourization techniques are quite new to me, and this is the first piece that I have painted using this technique. I was initially inspired by Steven Stahlberg’s technique, who happens to be one of the greatest digital artists in the world!
For a final touch, I added another layer for my signature.
