Hello all,

This is a very quick post regarding painting skin and blending skin tones in photoshop.

I am, by kind permission of the original artist (JackSprat), using one of Jack's recent uploads to help explain a quick process to get those skin tones working a little better.

The original image (left hand side***)*** is a bit too posterized. The colours and tones do not blend as seamlessly as perhaps they should.

Starting with the arm I took  the colour picker and picked a colour from the image which was between the lightest and darkest parts of the upper arm.

I then took a smooth brush and with the brushes opacity set to around 25% and its spacing set to around 3 I started to lightly apply the colour in small amounts. I then flattened the layers and smothed this area out with a gentle smooth set to around 20%.

I repeated this step as I went. I also did this with some lighter tones to add the highlights helping me to add muscle/fleshy tone and definition. This also helps to keep an eye on where your light sources are too.

 I should also point out that the whole time I was doing this I always had a layer filled with pure black and set to 100% color on top of everything which I could turn on and off to see a black and white version of the image which helped to make sure my values were looking okay.

Once I was happy with the overall feel of the image, I then started to add different hues and colours (purples, blues, greens, etc) to the skin tones in different layers set to 'color', 'softlight' and sometimes 'overlay'. All at different strengths and levels.

Once happy with these I then flattened the image, added a few more colour adjustment layers and then added some more highlights to the left side of the arm, breast and stomach.

The right hand side if my version of the image. just a very quick and messy sketch, but hopefully it may be of use to you.

Cheers.