Sims Editing: Skin Smoothing, Hair Drawing, etc. «12...Next Go

JaLiBo

Hey guys!

For you guys that are still into S&M and editing, what are some skin smoothing brushes that you use? Preferably for Photoshop.

MizoreYukii

Nice to see you back!
I sometimes alternate between using a regular brush and a filter, depends on what I am doing usually and my mood. The filter I use is a plugin called Topaz Clean, though depending on the situation some lines can appear around the edges, usually after cutting. A quick swipe with the smudge tool gets rid of them, though majority of the time they aren't very noticeable. I

For the brush, I never bothered to look for anything new or different, I just use a regular soft brush and use low-ish smudge settings to even skin tones and remove blemishes. I would imagine that any brush used for painting skin would be ideal though.

I prefer the filter though with my current settings because it softens the image, blends/removes most blemishes, and softly sharpens at the same time. Not to mention it is quicker than using a regular brush. If there are large blemishes/issues though, I go in with the soft smudge brush to finish clearing them up.

Here is an image I did recently using the filter. Ignoring the extra editing I did on the other body parts/image, including extra sharpening, the filter cleaned her skin right up (and the clothes too). The areas with my sims (not sure about anyone else's) that are always a mess is around the eyes due to the low texture makeup and the skin.

MzDiamond92

I'm the same as @MizoreYukii, I tend to just use the regular brush with a low opacity. Personally, I like to pick out the common shade close to where I want to smooth for nice transitioning, the same goes for fixing any issues such as blemishes or clipping.

Or, I use the selection tool and go around the parts that I'd like to smooth and use a gaussian blur in a low setting until I'm happy with how smooth her skin looks, then if I want to go ahead and add details I just pick out her darkest and lightest shade and do some shadows and highlights where I want more detail.

JaLiBo

That was really informative guys! Thanks so much! @MizoreYukii did you get the plugin off deviantart? Id like to try that!

After leaving s&m, I got rid of everything in my computer that dealt with editing. So I kinda feel like a nood again, entering this worlf again.

Movotti

Personally, I just use my tears...


Mostly, I use the smudge tool, with a boring round brush and it really depends on what I'm doing with it, as to whether I use soft edges or hard edges.

For hair, I like to use a hair brush. Google "brush for drawing hair in photoshop" you'll get a lot of tutorials for making brushes for drawing hair, but I like to use them with the smudge tool too, to edit hair.

JoeJoe11

Yay glad youre back! Missed your beautiful edits. Here's the hair brushes you once recommended:


'In addition with Jake's post for the hair brushes he uses, there is also this brush set and this one that I like using. But I tend to lean more toward the Brush Set:P2 though, as the strokes are softer'

MizoreYukii

@GreenLover331 Sorry for the late reply!
I got the settings off of DeviantArt that was linked to me by another model, but the plugin itself is from one of those mediafire downloads since it's a paid plugin. xD
You can get the action with the settings here (I think, memory is a little fuzzy), https://heypsd.deviantart.com/art/Topaz-Action-348738649

JaLiBo

JoeJoe11 wrote: »

Yay glad youre back! Missed your beautiful edits. Here's the hair brushes you once recommended:

@JoeJoe11 There wasnt anything showing for the brushes I rec'd, but I did find them, thankfully after racking my brain! But im really glad to be back, after finding a stable job, then having a baby, ugh... life just happens. Only have time now cuz I'm recovering from back surgery. But hopefully I can keep it up after returning to work!

Movotti wrote: »

Personally, I just use my tears...

For hair, I like to use a hair brush. Google "brush for drawing hair in photoshop" you'll get a lot of tutorials for making brushes for drawing hair, but I like to use them with the smudge tool too, to edit hair.

@Movotti Lol @ tears, but I may try that method with actual 'hair' brushes, as I just viewed a YouTube tutorial doing that!

MizoreYukii wrote: »

@GreenLover331 Sorry for the late reply!
I got the settings off of DeviantArt that was linked to me by another model, but the plugin itself is from one of those mediafire downloads since it's a paid plugin. xD
You can get the action with the settings here (I think, memory is a little fuzzy), https://heypsd.deviantart.com/art/Topaz-Action-348738649

@MizoreYukii TY!!! You're cool! Im just now seeing these in my notifs! So I apologize as well, guys!

Doctor_Vikter

@GreenLover331 Not sure if I could be of any help as I don't do much smoothing when editing but for when adding in hair strands, etc, I usually set my brush settings on 50% flow.
My actual brush settings in the "Brush Window" are set to this for almost everything but mostly comes in handy with a graphic tablet if you have one.

If you're using a mouse I'd say fiddle with the opacity/flow settings and constantly adjust brush size while working. Sometimes I switch between mouse and tablet and this has helped me a lot when adding hair detail using a mouse.
I also use the burn/dodge tool to bring out some areas of the hair more such as shadows and highlights (burn/dodge set on 50% opacity). I also use this when editing in some parts of the skin or other things.
Like mentioned by others, too, finding nice pre-made hair brushes can take a lot of the pain of drawing the strands in away

Did this edit a bit ago with these brush settings posted above when adding in the extra hair strands and other minor details.
Really ugly looking boy so just a forewarning

JaLiBo

Doctor_Vikter wrote: »

@GreenLover331 Not sure if I could be of any help as I don't do much smoothing when editing but for when adding in hair strands, etc, I usually set my brush settings on 50% flow.
My actual brush settings in the "Brush Window" are set to this for almost everything but mostly comes in handy with a graphic tablet if you have one.

If you're using a mouse I'd say fiddle with the opacity/flow settings and constantly adjust brush size while working. Sometimes I switch between mouse and tablet and this has helped me a lot when adding hair detail using a mouse.
I also use the burn/dodge tool to bring out some areas of the hair more such as shadows and highlights (burn/dodge set on 50% opacity). I also use this when editing in some parts of the skin or other things.
Like mentioned by others, too, finding nice pre-made hair brushes can take a lot of the pain of drawing the strands in away

Did this edit a bit ago with these brush settings posted above when adding in the extra hair strands and other minor details.
Really ugly looking boy so just a forewarning

First off! Wow @ that edit; ah-maze-balls! Do you have any tut's?!

Second, I use my Intuos (I feel I spelled that so wrong) tab when editing 98% of the time... and I could not do one strand methods, as my hand cramps easily, plus I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome in my dominant hand/wrist (righty).

Doctor_Vikter

GreenLover331 wrote: »

First off! Wow @ that edit; ah-maze-balls! Do you have any tut's?!

Second, I use my Intuos (I feel I spelled that so wrong) tab when editing 98% of the time... and I could not do one strand methods, as my hand cramps easily, plus I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome in my dominant hand/wrist (righty).

Aa thank you! I love editing, keeps the creative juices flowing!
I'm really bad but I actually don't have any in depth for tutorials (yet), ugh. I have a few .gifs I put together during a few of the other edits I've done for a kind of break down but I do need to put some tutorials together, though, maybe this week I can get to creating a thread with some!

And that's spelled right haha! Wacom has some odd tablet names. I have the same problem at times, though, especially when I had my Bamboo tablet. I did grab a wrist brace for times it gets super nasty and it did help but it was hard as anything to try and work with it on so it's 100 percent understandable about drawing in the strands. I usually take a lot of breaks when doing edits because of that so it makes completion time super, super slow

There's also this brush set I've used a few times from DeviantART that has a kind of hairy pattern brush to it that you might be able to manipulate to your liking but downloading an actual hair brush and blending that in might be the best and easiest option You can still get pretty wild editing results with those

MizoreYukii

Doctor_Vikter wrote: »

GreenLover331 wrote: »

First off! Wow @ that edit; ah-maze-balls! Do you have any tut's?!

Second, I use my Intuos (I feel I spelled that so wrong) tab when editing 98% of the time... and I could not do one strand methods, as my hand cramps easily, plus I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome in my dominant hand/wrist (righty).

Aa thank you! I love editing, keeps the creative juices flowing!
I'm really bad but I actually don't have any in depth for tutorials (yet), ugh. I have a few .gifs I put together during a few of the other edits I've done for a kind of break down but I do need to put some tutorials together, though, maybe this week I can get to creating a thread with some!

And that's spelled right haha! Wacom has some odd tablet names. I have the same problem at times, though, especially when I had my Bamboo tablet. I did grab a wrist brace for times it gets super nasty and it did help but it was hard as anything to try and work with it on so it's 100 percent understandable about drawing in the strands. I usually take a lot of breaks when doing edits because of that so it makes completion time super, super slow

There's also this brush set I've used a few times from DeviantART that has a kind of hairy pattern brush to it that you might be able to manipulate to your liking but downloading an actual hair brush and blending that in might be the best and easiest option You can still get pretty wild editing results with those

I was looking at your thread earlier in the artist section! You are super crazy talented! I would love tutorials from you.
Also, I swear everyone on the planet (er, sims planet at least) uses that brush set! xDD I use it for drawing and so do several others, lol.

JaLiBo

Doctor_Vikter wrote: »

GreenLover331 wrote: »

First off! Wow @ that edit; ah-maze-balls! Do you have any tut's?!

Second, I use my Intuos (I feel I spelled that so wrong) tab when editing 98% of the time... and I could not do one strand methods, as my hand cramps easily, plus I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome in my dominant hand/wrist (righty).

Aa thank you! I love editing, keeps the creative juices flowing!
I'm really bad but I actually don't have any in depth for tutorials (yet), ugh. I have a few .gifs I put together during a few of the other edits I've done for a kind of break down but I do need to put some tutorials together, though, maybe this week I can get to creating a thread with some!

And that's spelled right haha! Wacom has some odd tablet names. I have the same problem at times, though, especially when I had my Bamboo tablet. I did grab a wrist brace for times it gets super nasty and it did help but it was hard as anything to try and work with it on so it's 100 percent understandable about drawing in the strands. I usually take a lot of breaks when doing edits because of that so it makes completion time super, super slow

There's also this brush set I've used a few times from DeviantART that has a kind of hairy pattern brush to it that you might be able to manipulate to your liking but downloading an actual hair brush and blending that in might be the best and easiest option You can still get pretty wild editing results with those

Please do a tutorial! I'd be very interested in your editing process.

Yeah, I love Wacom products! I'd die without a tablet. I used to have the Bamboo tablet too and cried when she died. But she was well used, so...

I have and love that brush pack! I practically went on a witch hunt when I got back editing, recently. I also use this set. There is also a Part 1, as well that I have, but I like P2 best.

Doctor_Vikter

MizoreYukii wrote: »

I was looking at your thread earlier in the artist section! You are super crazy talented! I would love tutorials from you.
Also, I swear everyone on the planet (er, sims planet at least) uses that brush set! xDD I use it for drawing and so do several others, lol.

Wow thanks so much ! I appreciate you taking the time to look at the thread and some of my stuff, too!
I'll start on making some tuts today . Might just take me a bit but I'll get em' done

Omg they're fantastic brushes, though. I honestly had no idea that brush pack is super widely used especially for editing. They're great though, I love using them for drawing and coloring too! Super versatile and awesome for adding details with

MizoreYukii wrote: »

Please do a tutorial! I'd be very interested in your editing process.

Yeah, I love Wacom products! I'd die without a tablet. I used to have the Bamboo tablet too and cried when she died. But she was well used, so...

I have and love that brush pack! I practically went on a witch hunt when I got back editing, recently. I also use this set. There is also a Part 1, as well that I have, but I like P2 best.

I will! Like said, too, I'll try and start some today once this quick storm passes over I think this section would be the best place to post the tutorial thread? (correct me if I'm wrong on that haha!)

It's a great pack! I love going on hunts for new brushes for both drawing and editing, there's some wild stuff out there that helps out a boat load. I'm going to grab that hair pack for myself, too! Would be super useful and maybe help cut the editing time down a bit

jilliebee22

Well ~ This thread is surely going to come in handy for me, once I get my new computer and get settled in.

Hi! *waves*

Edit: That is the brush set of win! I recommended it to basically everyone who asked me what I use. Lol

MizoreYukii

@jilliebee22 Jillie! Omg, hiiii! How are you? O_O I was so worried about you when you went poof. You probably don't remember me though. xD
We got two amazing artists back within a week of each other though!

Doctor_Vikter wrote: »

MizoreYukii wrote: »

I was looking at your thread earlier in the artist section! You are super crazy talented! I would love tutorials from you.
Also, I swear everyone on the planet (er, sims planet at least) uses that brush set! xDD I use it for drawing and so do several others, lol.

Wow thanks so much ! I appreciate you taking the time to look at the thread and some of my stuff, too!
I'll start on making some tuts today . Might just take me a bit but I'll get em' done

Omg they're fantastic brushes, though. I honestly had no idea that brush pack is super widely used especially for editing. They're great though, I love using them for drawing and coloring too! Super versatile and awesome for adding details with

You're welcome!
Looking forward to it! And yeah, this is probably the best place to put it. xD

They are! It's kinda funny though that so many of us use it. Lol. I need to use more of them though, I primarily just use it for skin detailing and hair. v.v I need to learn more drawing in general, so can't wait for your tutorials! ^-^

MzDiamond92

jilliebee22 wrote: »

Well ~ This thread is surely going to come in handy for me, once I get my new computer and get settled in.

Hi! *waves*

Edit: That is the brush set of win! I recommended it to basically everyone who asked me what I use. Lol

:O welcome back!!

jilliebee22

@MizoreYukii Hi!! I totally do remember you! I'm actually amazed that I recognize people, but I guess it's only been a few years. I'm doing pretty great! Had a few bumps in the road, but I'm here! Lol How have you been?

@Doctor_Vikter you know, the more I think about it.. I am pretty sure I linked that brush set in one of my hair tutorials.

JaLiBo

jilliebee22 wrote: »

Well ~ This thread is surely going to come in handy for me, once I get my new computer and get settled in.

Hi! *waves*

Edit: That is the brush set of win! I recommended it to basically everyone who asked me what I use. Lol

jilliebee22 wrote: »

@MizoreYukii Hi!! I totally do remember you! I'm actually amazed that I recognize people, but I guess it's only been a few years. I'm doing pretty great! Had a few bumps in the road, but I'm here! Lol How have you been?

@Doctor_Vikter you know, the more I think about it.. I am pretty sure I linked that brush set in one of my hair tutorials.

Ik I sure do remember you recommending them to me and mentoring me! There is a piece of you in every one of my edits!! We miss you so much! I'm an really overwhelmed right now, seeing you back here ! I just came back myself last week and now you're back! UGHHHH! ♥♥♥♥♥

jilliebee22

@MzDiamond92 MMMMZZZ! ❤️ So nice to see you! How have you been?

@GreenLover331 Bahah I know! I should be sleeping so bad but I'm pretty excited seeing everyone here! I was going to message you on skype (since I use it for work now) but I didn't know if you went on it anymore.

MzDiamond92

@jilliebee22, I've been good!! You? It's crazy, in the space of like two weeks so many people are returning haha, i love it!

MizoreYukii

@jilliebee22 I'm glad you recognize me, and that's great! I've been doing well, not the best, but well. xD Just thankful I'm almost done with school finally. Lol
And you did link that brush set for your hair tutorial! I actually have a question about the beginning step of your process, but I can just ask later once you've settled in and gotten to poke at PS again (and if you remember and have time). xD

And hopefully you'll get sleep soon, don't wanna wear yourself out on your first day back. :P

Doctor_Vikter

Sorry for popping in really late to the thread >.<

MizoreYukii wrote: »

You're welcome!
Looking forward to it! And yeah, this is probably the best place to put it. xD

They are! It's kinda funny though that so many of us use it. Lol. I need to use more of them though, I primarily just use it for skin detailing and hair. v.v I need to learn more drawing in general, so can't wait for your tutorials! ^-^

@MizoreYukii I did finally finish a kind of break down tutorial! Just not sure how great it'll be but if you do want to check it out, still, I added a link in my signature for easy finding! I might do a drawing video or something at some point though. I struggle so bad with explaining drawing and stuff in text, ugh. Had to go digging for a lot of the .PSDs, too, actually haven't done an edit in ages so let me know if it's confusing

MizoreYukii wrote: »

@Doctor_Vikter you know, the more I think about it.. I am pretty sure I linked that brush set in one of my hair tutorials.

@MizoreYukii Great brushes to put in a tutorial, though! Been using them since 2009 or so and just fell in love with them. So many awesome presets in there for hair, effects, everything

jilliebee22

@MzDiamond92 - Hah! Apparently! It's like the Bat signal has been put out, eh? I've been wanting to get back into this the moment I started my new job! I work from home now for an advertising company! So I just got my new tablet for my Bday, and my work is providing me a new computer which will arrive next week!

@MizoreYukii - Ha! Ohh it's no problem at all! I'm super excited to be back, and lurk around, and hopefully get back into it really soon! I get a new computer, and the newest version of PS for work... sooo pretty happy about that Ha!

And for sure! Go ahead and shoot me a message!

@Doctor_Vikter - That was me for the brush set in tutorial! lol but yes, I fell in love the moment I got my hands on it. And don't you worry. I am the exact same when it comes to tutorials, I am THE worst. Just ask @GreenLover331 on how great I am at explaining bahaha!

EDIT:

Here's a link to some facial hair brushes!
https://rachaelraie.deviantart.com/art/FREE-HIGH-RES-Hair-Vol-1-FACE-Brushes-343915544
https://castrochew.deviantart.com/art/Skin-and-Hair-Texture-Brushes-256198997

They are not stamps, but they're really good for drawing eyeslashes, and them stubble, and eyebrows!

JoeJoe11

jilliebee22 wrote: »

Well ~ This thread is surely going to come in handy for me, once I get my new computer and get settled in.

Hi! *waves*

Edit: That is the brush set of win! I recommended it to basically everyone who asked me what I use. Lol

Omg hello!!!

jilliebee22

@JoeJoe11 Hello! *waves* Hows it going?