Poison

thirty-five

CLOSE UP EDIT TIPS

In this chapter I want to share a few tips for people who are just starting complicated edits. For most edits, the first few steps include smudging the faceclaim, so let's talk about that step first! Later I'll make tutorials over other steps (like how I edit hair and eyes).

Also, this is the edit I made that I'm basing the set of tutorials off of

SMUDGING TIPS

1. ALWAYS duplicate your original image. That way you don't have to restart from the complete beginning. Especially if you edited anything on the og image.

2. When you do start smudging, you'll want to do one section at a time, and duplicate the layer before you move onto the next section. For example, on my first layer, I'd smudge the skin on the face only. Then I'd duplicate that layer and move onto smaller details on the face like the ears, eyes, nostrils, lips, etc. Then I'd duplicate that layer and move onto the hair. And just keep this up until I've finished. You'll have many layers by the time you're done, but by doing this, if you mess up you always have the option to go back to a specific layer and edit it and not mess up a different section.

As you can see I ended up with many layers.

3. The brush that I use is

While you can definitely mess around with brushes, this is the brush that I personally use.

4. Now when it's actually time to smudge, you'll want to do one small part at a time. I always start below the eyes for some reason. Not sure why. But anyway, when you decide on a small part to begin, you'll want to do small horizontal strokes. Avoid any harsh lines in the face (like crease in nose, eye lids, etc..).

Next you'll want to smudge vertically on top of the horizontal smudge

So the purple is the original smudging that you did. The green is the second round of smudging.

You'll want to repeat this all over.

This rule applies for everything except hair (and sometimes clothes).

5. When it comes to hair, you want to smudge only in the direction that the hair flows

6. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. I cannot stress this enough. Smudging can take time to learn and do. This is something you have to practice at. It's not something to be rushed. I use to be awful at smudging, but I practiced a lot and now I'm so much better. So it's something you have to practice at.

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Next tutorial will be over how I edit eyes!