Been wanting to do some Tolkien-type pix for awhile now, but the skin textures I have don't exactly suit age-wise. I've seen overlay kits at RDNA but they seem to be designed for specific texture sets, none of which I have and are a bit out of my price range at the moment. Does anybody know if there's a generic overlay available anywhere that would work with just about any Mike character? Or a way to do it in postwork that won't look too artificial -- despite all the tutorials, my attempts at texture painting so far have been abominable, to put it mildly.

Message edited on: 09/07/2004 19:47

I would concentrate on the base texture initially - try desaturating the colour of an existing texture (use a copy!) to get the base colour paler. Once you are happy with that then start to add detail a bit at a time on a seperate layer and do regular tests of the merged layers to see if you are heading in the right direction. A bit of darkening in the natural folds of the skin wont go amiss - ie: forhead, side of nose, laughter lines. With patience and persaverence you will get there. Following your own ideas instead of tutorials may be the biggest help.

Thanks, must try that. Skin lines & blemishes I can probably do; it's the facial hair that freaks me. No matter what brush set i use (and i've got plenty) I just can't get it to look anything less than ugly smudges. Which would be just dandy if I wanted ugly smudges -- but with my luck then I'd probably get a good-looking dwarf or wizard instead. ::sigh:: Somedays you just can't win ...