#mavsart

[maverickstudio]

Don't forget to check what flavour nail polish you got. :)

(Inspiration)

[maverickstudio]

Oh maybe some klapollo for sketch requests?

Man, you really struck my inspiration well, Anon. Thank you so much for this request. I hope you're able to see this and like how it turned out!

[maverickstudio]

Whatcha think they're talkin' about? *twirls hair* Boy band stuff?

[maverickstudio]

..Sounds dumb. I'm game. (Inspiration)

[maverickstudio]

i’m unreasonably attached to them so maybe mikeko being a little shit? i know they’ve gotta constantly attack apollo’s hair horns

AITC for attacking my human? Dear Tumblr, I am called Mikeko (young, cat, male) and my girlfriend* (young, human, male) recently locked me out of OUR room after I tried to destroy his.. what I like to call "hunting whiskers." You see, he constructs them every morning before roaring into a mirror and leaving for a hunt. He then usually deconstructs them once he returns, where he will then proceed to shower me with affection and eventually prepare my dinner! Sometimes he brings his hunting responsibilities back home though and has the audacity to ignore me for stacks of what he calls "papers." On these days he typically forgets to deconstruct his whiskers so I figure maybe that's the problem! I try to be helpful and dismantle them myself with a precision strike from behind -- their blind spot! -- but I think their control over him is too strong some days and he gets angry instead of appreciating my gesture to free him of these responsibilities (and pet me more.) I feel like he's being unreasonable for not devoting his full attention to me after being out all day. AITC?

*This is a title he has given me, and the dog that has been visiting on occasion with one of my human's friends tells me that for humans these affectionate titles go both ways. She offered me alternative titles her previous human would call their close human when he wasn't around, but they didn't seem as endearing... So I too shall call my human "girlfriend" as that is the title he has blessed me with. I hope I am honouring this tradition correctly.

[So, I liked this idea. Not sure if that's obvious or not haha. I have no idea where the 'AITA/AITC' idea came from but it just sorta happened when I went to post this. Thank you for the request! I hope you like it.🐾 ETA: Since it's being asked, AITC(loaca) is an AITA for pets over on reddit haha. Sorry for any confusion.]

[maverickstudio]

Testing the pastel tools in Rebelle 5 with my favourite rebel. ♠

[maverickstudio]

Pursuit music plays in the distance. Somewhere a carrot sweats profusely.

[maverickstudio]

May I ask how you shade skin? No worries if not!! Im obsessed w the way you render

Well thank you very much, I'm flattered. Sure, I'd be happy to try and share my skin routine with you!

I think one of the main things I began doing a while back with painting skin that's really helped it look more lively is diversifying the colours you can see on it. Adding various warm and cool tones can really help emphasize any shading! I'll use my Klavier and Daryan illustration to show what I mean as I still have a layered version.

Above are the boys with a 50% grey base layer. Notice the hints of blue, red, and yellow about the skin that can't be seen on Daryan's jacket, for example? That is what I'll be referring to!

I'll typically start with basic skin tones for the character (above) and on two separate layers begin to paint on some variations of red, orange and/or yellow (layer 1) and blue, teal, and/or purple (layer 2). I typically already have the opacity on these layers down, but just to kinda show you the types of colours I may use and where I place them, this is the kind of monstrosity I create:

In my experience, Yellow is a good neutral zone addition, Red is great for places with a lot of blood flow like cheeks or fingers, and Blue is good for areas that may not get full exposer to the light source(s). I was first taught a real simple gradient down the face of yellow (brows), red (cheeks/nose), and blue (chin, jawline) for faces. Then as you get more comfortable with slapping them on the canvas, go a little wild with it and start intermingling the colours like adding blue on the eye lids or red on the lips, for example.

For Layer 1, or our warm red/orange/yellow colours, I typically set the layer style to something like a Multiply and lower the opacity to 15-30% depending on the skin tones and image's lighting.

For Layer 2, or our cool blue/teal/purple colours, I do a highlight layer style with Overlay typically being a nice safe pick. For this layer I generally stay around 20-45% opacity. After you have that all set, you'll get something like this:

Which is thankfully not quite as jarring as the other version haha. From here, I start shading normally! I typically use 2-5 shading and highlight layers, depending completely on the lighting of the piece. For skin specifically, I try to keep a smooth gradient or matte look to these areas with a soft brush and blending. Back lighting and colours from the surroundings generally seem to bounce off skin well so I tend to utilise a lot of that too.

In the end I wind up with the top(which I now realise was a pretty bad example image to use as they are in a SPOT LIGHT I'm so sorry) and also added the version without the extra colours for comparison(bottom):

I know it's nothing SUPER noticeable in this piece if you're not looking for it, but that's also the point! It's a little bit of flavour without being a distraction. I've personally really enjoyed the overall look of the skin I've painted since incorporating this.

On the other hand, when it comes my single layer paintings (using my recent painting of Beanix as an example,) I couldn't really tell you my process besides throwing colours at the canvas and seeing what sticks. I still try to incorporate the "sway my colour towards yellow here, change the hue to a bit more blue there," but there isn't much method to my madness outside of that. Just have fun with it!

I hope all this gave you some insight or helps in the slightest! If I didn't answer the right thing, you have any other or more specific questions regarding how I paint skin, feel free to ask them at any time. I'm happy to help where I can.