FireEffect
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FireEffects Beginer Skinning Tutorial
I will be using simple skinning stratigies on this skin.
HAIR
Select a skin to edit. I chose the Blademaster
First select a base color. I am choosing a yellowish brown.
R - 131
G - 120
B - 49
Fill in an area that you want to color
Get a color a little darker than the first color.
R - 124
G - 114
B - 48
Brush size 1 px lines down the hair.
As you see there is not much different. That is a good thing.
Select a lighter color and do the same thing.
R - 137
G - 126
B - 53
Use the burn tool with a 1 px down the beard
Hardness - 0
Exposure - 33%
Use the dodge tool with a 1 px down the beard
Hardness - 0
Exposure - 15%
Take the smudge tool with 1 px size and brush up and down on the edges of the beard that touch the skin.
Strength - 75%
Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen
Shade and highlight with a big brush with burn and dodge. Use same exposure as before.
Use the same dodge and burn settings as before with 2 px and go over the beard again. You do not need to use so many
strokes just go over the shading.
Make a new layer and set blending mode to color. Get your starting color and brush over your hair.
R - 131
G - 120
B - 49
Here is our finished product.
TEAM COLOR
Lets make a new flag and design. We could just draw it but the team color will still be there. So we have to edit the ALPHA
CHANNEL. Access the channels by going to Window > Channels. Select the alpha layer and color it all white around the area
you want to team color.
I am making a simple image to use to make a new team color area. Fill in everything you want team colored black on the
alpha channel.
Use the dodge and burn tool to shade the alpha layer. Burn makes it more team colored, dodge makes it darker.
Your done! Easy huh?
OLD METAL
I will be making a metal face plate for the blade master. It will be old and rusty metal. First i select a color and color
it over everything i need to be metal.
R - 184
G - 184
B - 184
Shade the edges with the burn tool with a big brush. About 25 px.
Dodge around the places. Follow the original shading of the model ignoring small details and wrinkles.
Use a yellowish color to color it yellowish.
Then merge it to the metal layer. Ctrl ER - 255
G - 253
B - 242
Grab the eraser tool with brush mode and a 1 px brush and brush small triangles and cracks along the bottom.
Go to filter > artistic > dry brush
Brush Size - 1
Brush Detail - 10
Texture - 2
Then filter > blur > blur
Duplicate your metal layer. Go to filter > sketch > waterpaper. Set the blending mode of this layer to linear burn. Set the
opacity to 50%. Merge the two layers.
Mess with the brightness and contrast in image > adjustments > brightness and contrast. I used +10 for both. It may be
different for you. You just want it to be more noticible. You always want to add contrast so details stick out.
Filter > Noise > add noise
Amount - 2%
Distribution - Uniform
Monochromatic - No
You are done and you have a slightly worn out metal texture.
Read second post for another tutorial and FAQ in Part I
NOTE - Sorry for the format errors I pasted this from Notepad.
FACES
Pick a base color. I am making a night elf so i will use a purplish color. Color over the areas you want to be their face.
Make sure to make it a layer under the mask and beard.
Make an outline of the facial features. Like the nose, mouth, lips, eyes, wrinkles. I just made a very simple example
because of the mask.
Color in areas such as the mouth, eyes, and nostrils. I also tested and fixed the wrap of the nose and mouth. You might
want to do this also to prevent stretching and distorting.
Start shading around edges. Under facial features and in places that are shaded around the default skin.
Add highlights on the cheeks and nose and other big non shaded areas.
You can use these strategies for many things. Have fun!
FAQ
Q - Eww that night elf looks horrible it doesnt match.A - Yes it is for tutorial purposes.
Q - This is too hard!
A - You have to work for a wanted result.
Q - Can't I just recolor the beard?
A - If you dont want respect for being a worthy skinner, go ahead.
Q - Why is the tutorial about alpha layers red. What about other colors?
A - That is how the alpha channel shows for photoshop. It works for all colors.
Q - OMG CAN YOU SKIN FOR ME?
A - Maybe...
Q - Will you add more questions to this FAQ?
A - Yeah, once you ask more.
