In case if people were wondering about my self-lit texturing workflow in Substance Painter, here’s a walkthrough for the skin tones. Check the final result if you missed it!
1 I start with a darker warmer skintone than what I am actually aiming for.
2 I add a base of lighter half-tones to place roughly the lit zones of the face.
3 I add redder tones mostly into shadowed areas.
At this point I’d probably block in the eyes and the line of the lips as well, layers 6 to 9. At least the contour of the shapes, to have something to work with.
4 That’s where the real light comes in and the volume of the face starts to pop.
5 A touch of colder darker color right under the brows I kept as a separate layer to be able to tweak it.
6 That’s where I draw the eyes and lashes, the lip line and nostrils. Also there is some of this brown color it in the shadow under the eyebrows and under the eye, on the lower lid.
7 & 8 are the two tones of green I used mainly to draw the lashes, but also a dash of that on the lips, on cheeck bones and under the cheeck bones to bring down the level of red and generally tone down the warmth of the colors.
9 There’s another layer of browns under the eyebrows, that I wanted to be of a slightly different tint. It’s more of a tweak layer added much later on in the process, but plaved in the middle of this stack.
10 Now we’re finally getting into the reds and the blushing (layers 10, 11, 12 & 14) I start with adding some soft natural redness into the otherwise more yellow skin tones.
11 This is a pinker, darker and colder color I used to contour the face and fake more of its volume, kinda like makeup.
12 Some actual nice deep red for the cheeks, nose, ears - and on the neck where the oclusion from the chin would be. Also, a lot of it goes into the inside of the eyes.
13 Now this is the first layer of secondary light coming from the bottom, it helps bring the volume of the shapes out and also sooth bit that burning red color I’ve added so eagerly in layer 12.
14 I still want some darker reds for the cavities (lips, nostril, under the brows again) adding volume where it might still be lacking.
15 The brightest highlights are on top of all this stack, they look very subtle on my main screen, so that I can barely see them, but they felt much more contrasted on my other screens. I would usually add a colder highlights pass, but I decided to stop here for this face.Â
Add some cast shadows from the other elements of the composition, like I did for the hairstyle, and all done!
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