Today we're going into another aspect of creating artwork for webcomics! This time it's painting skin, a topic that Tantz suggested. How do you render skin? It's a super common thing in comics and there are many, many ways to do it! We're not experts on all the methods so we just cover what WE do. We all have different approaches and you'll have to listen to the cast to see what Tantz and Banes say.
I'll chat quickly about how I do it here. I have 3 main methods but first up it's important to know some things: There are NO such things as different skin colours, that's a dumb socially constructed myth, skin is all shades of brown from very dark to very light, this is because ALL skin is made up of just four main pigments mixed in different amounts, which you can use to mix any skin tone. There are black, Yellow, red, and white. Melanin is the black tone but can be yellowy and reddish, yellow carotenoids from diet, red from blood, and white from the colour of the skin alone. Mix those colours in varying proportions and you'll get exactly the right brown pigment you need for any skin tone.
My first main way of painting skin is the simplest. I just do cell-shading in two colours. I pick a colour for the person which will be the main tone, then I select a slightly darker version of that same colour, dark enough that you can see the difference but not that it's too different. Then I do their whole bod in the main tone and use the second tone for shadows with a hard edge between them, no fading. It works super well!
The next type is the fake painterly approach. I pick three tones. There's a light tone, a darker tone that is reddish or orangish in colour, and a third tone that is muted purple or blue- this is because it's a generic contrasting colour to the yellow and orange tones in skin. The lighter parts of the skin are all painted in the light colour, the reddish tone fills the shadow and the purple tone is just used as a line between the two tones; a penumbra, which is the separation between light and dark, that can often help shadows look darker and more striking than they are. Fade them a bit at the edges so the separation isn't so harsh. This method can work just as well for much darker skin tones too.
My last method is the real painterly approach where colours on the skin are influenced by environmental colours and coloured light sources. You can use a 3 colour approach like the last method but take the colours from the environment. It could be blue, greens, reds etc. This is great for making your figures a part of the image instead of sanding out unnaturally from it.
Some special notes:
Not everyone has the same skin tone even if they're the same ethnicity, there's a large amount or variation between people even if they're related, although then there will be less. I like to vary my skin tones as much as the hair colours. People also don't have an even skin tone across their whole body, there are lighter patches and darker parts all over the place, whether the person is dark or light, unless they're artificially coloured like models in a magazine or people using filters on social media. commercial comics have their own weird way of colouring skin involving gradients, white highlights and black shadows. its a very standardised method and widely used but I find it a bit dull.
How do you do skin? One single tone, shadows, gradients or something more complex?
Gunwallace was kind enough to give us a theme inspired The Inheritors - An interesting mix! It starts off with a slow, stepped drumbeat, that sounds a bit like the intro to “slave” by the Rolling Stones, then crashes to a dubstep and rayguns and scifi blasters, before moving into a classical music inspired race of synth violins, flutes, cellos and other sneaky instruments, ten arrives at its destination: an electrified barrier where yellow and black diagonal lines bar the way!
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
History - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/feb/18/featured-comic-history/
Featured music:
The Inheritors - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Inheritors/ - by RymanNoodles, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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