Below is a practical, step-by-step tutorial to create a caricatured airbrush-style illustration of two female characters on a sunny beach (portrait / 9:16). It covers composition, proportions, painting workflow, brushes, color, lighting, and finishing touches. Use Photoshop, Procreate, Clip Studio, or Krita — steps are adaptable.
Canvas & Setup
Canvas: 1080 x 1920 px (mobile) or 2160 x 3840 px for higher detail; 300 DPI if you plan to print.
Use layers, group them (Sketch, Line, Base Colors, Shading, Highlights, Background, Effects).
Set an overall warm color temperature for the piece (sunlight key).
Composition & Pose (9:16 Portrait)
Place the pair in three-quarter poses, slightly offset to create depth; one slightly forward, one back.
Use S-curves and silhouette-first thinking: read silhouette at thumbnail scale.
Keep heads slightly larger than normal (stylized): aim for head-to-body ~1:5.5–1:6 for cartoony look (vs 1:7–8 realistic).
Emphasize a fun silhouette: slim waists, rounded hips, exaggerated chest volumes — focus on balance and readability.
Sketching
Start loose with gesture lines; define weight, tilt, hip/shoulder lines.
Refine proportions, faces (big eyes, small noses), and hair shapes (voluminous buns).
Keep lines light and simple; you may skip hard line-art for a soft airbrushed look.
Block-in Base Colors
Create flat color layers for skin, hair, swimwear, shorts, and background. Use clipping masks for clean edges.
Palette: navy blues and denim for bikinis, warm golden-blondes for hair, warm skin tones (peach/amber), turquoise sea, pale blue sky.
Establish midtones first.
Airbrush Shading (main technique)
Use a soft airbrush for smooth gradients. Recommended brush settings:
Photoshop Soft Round: Opacity 20–40%, Flow 15–30%, Hardness 0–10%, Pressure sensitive for opacity & size.
Procreate Soft Airbrush: Size 10–40%, Opacity 30–60%, streamline off.
Clip Studio/Krita soft airbrush with low opacity and pressure control.
Build up shadows gradually on a Multiply or Normal layer. For skin, block shadows (Multiply 30–50%) then soften with low-opacity airbrush.
Use separate layers per major form (torso, arms, legs) clipped to color layer.
Creamy Gradients & Subtle Subsurface
For skin, emulate sheer subsurface scattering: use a warm, low-opacity brush with peach/pale red on edges where light passes through (shoulders, cheeks).
Use softer midtone-to-highlight transitions for the “airbrush” feel — no harsh polygonal shading.
Specular Highlights & Point Lights
Add small, bright highlights with a harder brush on shoulders, collarbones, chest, and thighs — use Screen or Add (Linear Dodge) at low opacity for realistic glow.
Consider rim light from sun: thin bright edge on side facing the light (slightly warm).
For wet/glossy bikini fabric, place crisp highlights following curvature; add tiny spark points for extra pop.
Clothing & Fabric Details
For bikinis and denim shorts: use slightly harder brush strokes for fold lines and stitching. Add subtle fabric texture using low-opacity noise or textured brush.
For denim, paint small seams and metal buttons with tiny specular dots; for bikinis, emphasize reflective highlights and smooth gradients.
Hair (voluminous buns)
Block base hair color (golden). Layer warm highlights (gold → peach) with the airbrush, then add a few hard curved strokes for hair strands and edges to retain cartoon clarity.
Use clipping mask for individual highlights and low-opacity strokes to suggest volume.
Faces & Expressions
Eyes: large, glossy, with a bright iris highlight and soft shadow under the lid.
Cheeks: soft blush using warm color, lightly airbrushed.
Keep facial features simplified and readable; outlines can be slightly darker but soft.
Background: Sea, Sky & Sand
Sky: smooth vertical gradient (pale cyan near horizon → deeper blue above). Paint soft clouds with a round soft brush and blend.
Sea: horizontal bands of turquoise and deeper blue; use a soft brush for gentle waves, add thin bright reflections near the shoreline.
Sand: warm beige with subtle grain texture (noise layer at low opacity or textured brush).
Keep background less detailed so characters remain focal.
Lighting Cohesion & Color Harmony
Decide a single key light direction (e.g., top-right). Ensure highlights and shadows on all elements follow this.
Use a cool ambient fill (light blue) in shadows to balance warm sunlight — this adds depth and realism.
Harmonize colors with a final color lookup or gentle photo filter: slight warm tint to highlights and cool shadows.
Final Polish & Effects
Add soft rim glow or bloom (Gaussian blur on a bright layer) around sunlit edges.
Subtle vignette to frame composition.
Add specular micro-highlights on sea and a few subtle lenses flares if desired.
Check readability at small sizes; refine silhouette or contrast if needed.
Final Adjustments & Export
Merge and group layers carefully; apply a final Curves or Levels adjustment for contrast.
Sharpen selectively (High Pass overlay at low opacity) to crisp the eyes and fabric details.
Export PNG for web, TIFF or high-quality PNG for print. For social, export at 1080x1920 px, sRGB.
Quick tips & pitfalls
Keep gradients smooth; don’t overwork skin details — the airbrush look is about soft transitions.
Use masks not erasing: non-destructive workflow via layer masks and clipping masks.
Maintain strong silhouettes; even with soft airbrush, clear edges read better in a cartoon style.
Avoid over-glossing — one or two focused speculars per form read better than many scattered highlights.
Brush presets summary (starting point)
Soft Airbrush: Opacity 25%, Flow 20%, Size pressure-sensitive.
Hard Small Round for highlights: Opacity 60–100%, Size small, Flow high.
Texture Brush (denim/sand): Opacity 10–25%, low flow, stamped texture.
Follow these steps and iterate with thumbnails and color studies until the composition reads well. If you want, tell me which program you use and I’ll provide exact brush presets and layer templates for that app.
