How I create edits...

People often compliment me on my work and ask me how do I do it. So here is my explanation. :)

First to cover some basics.
I use Photoshop CS4. Although I used and CS3 and CS2 previously and this tutorials will work with them too. As for other programs, I don't know if they have all these options. :|

Ok, so the most important thing is to have a good idea. The technique and rest can be learned and with a little patience you can edit like a pro. ;)


First step is to open a bimbo base in Photoshop. Than, I create a new layer and on him with a 1px brush I make a drawing of how it would look in the end. It is just a rough sketch and I will delete it later.



Then we need to create lines of outfit on new layer based on this sketch.
I don't know about you, but I suck at drawing straight, fine lines and most of the time when drawing I use pen tool. I make paths with pen and then stroke them.
You can read how it is done here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-comicbook.html
(part 3 'Creating the paths where is explained how she creates lips)

I didn't do lines for her hair, because I more like how hair looks without borders...


When we have all the lines, we need to colour the outfit.
Because I can't never decide which colour to choose, I use Fill layers for colouring. This way it is very easy to change colours and find that perfect combination. :)
You can read how to create and use fill layers here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart3.html



Ok, now we have basic colours of our outfit finished. Now we need to add shadows and highlights to make our outfits more realistic. I add them using hue/saturation layers.
Maybe this sounds complicated, but it is very rewarding in the end, trust me.
You can read how to create and use hue/saturation layers here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart4.html
First I add shadows:

And then add highlights:



And one last final step. When I am satisfied with chosen colour and shadows, I colour the lines for the outfit. Makes outfit look better in my opinion. :)
You can read how to do this quickly in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart5.html

For the colour of lines, I usually choose the colour of darkest shadow for that outfit part.

And that's it. ^_^
Now you can play with different brushes and decorate your edit. I added flowers to bottom of her skirt and some spots to her underskirt. I created every of this add-ons on separate layer and placed that layer between color layer and shadow layer.



I know that this is not a real tutorial, but I am too lazy to describe all this tools, when there are already good tutorials on web.