*I am having a hard time getting a decent bump map.
The one you did for V4 Living doll  is great and I hope I can do one as good as that. :)

I recommend the use of special grayscale filters and/or this video/tutorials for the basics:
http://video.about.com/graphicssoft/black-and-white-photo-making.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Grayscale-a-Picture-in-Adobe-Photoshop-Cs3
http://www.ehow.com/how_4495714_make-striking-grayscale-images-photoshop.html

Once you are done with this you have to go through the whole texture and find everything that is "wrong" - what means: Find dark spots that should be bright (moles, scars) and vice versa (shine) - or even like freckles. Meanwhile I found so many high-end products that have lots dark spots in the bump that are just freckles  - and freckles are just darker colored parts, you can't feel them.* It's not that problematic if some freckles stay where they are, but most of them should be evened out. The easiest way to brighten/darken parts is by using the dodge or burn tool, evening out is easy by using the healing brush or stamp tool.*

The lips are giving me fits too...sigh.
*I know what you mean. Create a duplicate of you bump and delete everything beside the lips. Now comes the tricky part: revert the layer and use brightness/contrast several times and in tiny steps until most of the lips have the same gray-tone as the surrounding skin. What should be left darker are the little creases. Use the dodge tool to emphasize the creases against the surrounding lip skin. Eyebrows are made in a likewise way. If you leave some surrounding skin with the eyebrows it makes adjusting brightness and contrast easier. *

I do not claim this to be the only method and yes, it takes a while - I spend as much time with the bump maps as I spend with the whole face. Most of all wading through every map to find the imperfections is time-consuming. But once you get a feeling for it you will get faster.

I'm not always right, but my mistakes are more interesting!

And I am not strange, I am Limited Edition!

Are you ready for Antonia? Get her textures here:



The Home Of The Living Dolls