If you use posterization when shading the skin do not follow the posterization perfectly because then it looks like you just posterized it. Use them as a guide. Sometimes posterizations don't catch all the shadows or highlights so be sure afterwards to go to the original and change or add anything that you might see. Just vexel what you see and you should be ok.

Tip by TooDarnCool

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Many people use the Posterize effect as guides for their shading. However, sometimes just a regular Posterize effect is still hard to refer to in some images, especially when it is set to a high number for max details. (in Photoshop) So, duplicate your original and go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. You can play around with the settings. However, I mostly keep the following settings: Radius: 3.0 Threshold: 25.0 Quality: Low Mode: Normal Click "OK" and now you have your image with this nice, soft blur. Then, you can go back and add you Posterize effect by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Posterize > click OK > enter a level value. (I use a Layer Adjustment instead of a Image Adjustment because I can alter the layer at any time for any different part of my image. I find that by adding this additional effect makes a great pair with the Posterize effect when trying to find guides for your shading. :)

Tip by Stella

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for beginning vexelers like me.. i duplicate the image several times around 4 and put different effect to them i.e one posterize in color, one black and white one posterized at a smaller setting and one with poster edges... because one usually show a better way on how to shade something then the other one do

Tip by staraliciouz

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When working on skin, its usually a god idea to never work in 100% opacity... semi transparency is your friend, it makes all the different shadows and skin tones work together much better.

Tip by artisticdork

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Sometimes too much saturation is a bad thing!! The skin on the left is too saturated! too much saturation can leave you with an unnatural orangey skin tone >_< if you start off with a skin tone and after shading you see it's too saturated, simply press CTRL+U and lessen the saturation (in adobe ps)

Tip by Manda

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when making your own pallette for your skin shades, start out by making a rectangular or radial gradient. for the darkest color, start out with black continue with the gradient using the darkest and lightest shade of the palette you'd like to make. after this is done, click filter>>artistic>>poster edges and increase the posterization until you are happy with the amount of defined shades it generates in the preview.

Tip by [DeletedUser]

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Posterizing an image can help finding the right places to shade. However - do not follow the lines too exect, as they are usually rather rough, and vexels usually look better smooth. If you have troubles with this - try using the median effect (in PS - filters -> noice -> median (I think :P)) after posterizing for smoother lines. Also, if you posterize do not use those colours. If you really can't come up with your own you can add a new layer with the original image over the layer with the posterized one and set the blending option to color. You will get a slightly more natural look than say bright pink or green.

Tip by ninjahobbit

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If you use posterization guides and Paint Shop Pro 9 use the digital cam noise removal to smooth the image. The posterization is smoother which makes it eaiser to guide since there aren't colors all over. - Similar to Stealla's tip.

Tip by Waiting

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Make a new shape in between each of your shapes. Fill it with the lighter shade you made in between of. Lower the transparency. Do that in between each layer to get a softer & blended look.

Tip by Vicky

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Remember that the skin isn't just one colour - some parts like have more red in them, for instance. Compare your vexel with the original image and see where there are different variations. This doesn't mean that you should put a bright red blotch somewhere, make sure that it blends with the rest of the image.

Tip by ninjahobbit

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If you find it difficult to tell the difference between a lighter and darker shade on skin (since skin does have different hues here and there), create a black and white (grayscale) copy of the original. This makes it easier to see where the darker and lighter shades should be since the picture is all one color.

Tip by Annette07

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Here's a short tutorial for creating your own skin palette. Create a new 500x30 graphic, press D to reset your colours to black & white. Now draw a straight line with the gradient tool so that the gradient is straight. Then use the mosaic tool with cell size 15. Create a new layer and select a nice skin tone. Set blend mode to color and merge the layers together. Now you have your own skin palette.

Tip by Plucko

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Don't ever be afraid to try and put a lot of contrast into the skin; a lot of vexelers always make the skin tones too washed out, which results in a vexel with no depth. Contrast = Your friend!

Tip by shelley

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Whenever doing the skin or something involving a lot of work (like flower petal or something), I always have an un-posterized copy of the original. This way, when picking colors, I can roughly eyeball the place I'm vexelling, then on the untouched copy and select a color for the one I am vexelling.

Tip by seizuresonfloors

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Sometimes it's nice to add a few extra colours to the skin that weren't there on the original. Very low opacity tones that add just a little bit of colour will sometimes give the facial features more depth, or help it to blend better into whatever background colour you decide to use.

Tip by Turp

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Posterizing the photo will leave you with a lot of different/inaccurate colors, which can be misleading when judging the depth. One way to correct this is to duplicate the photo twice, and then desaturate the first new layer (the one under the last duplicate you made). After this is done, posterize it the desaturated layer (make sure you make the top layer invisible so you can see what you're doing.). Then toggle the visibility on the top layer, and change its blending mode to 'Color.' Basically you should have three layers. The bottom layer is the original photo (for future reference, and if you need it for later.) The middle layer is the posterized and desaturated photo. The top layer is the photo with 'Color' as its blending mode. This will give you a posterized photo with shades that accurately reflect the original photo, making it easier to choose shades. You may merge the top two layers for organization.

Tip by [DeletedUser]

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When drawing out your skin base layers (face, neck etc...), regardless of the shadow on the skin, keep these base layers the same colour. This is especially helpful if you are using opacities.

Tip by Shaz

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After i'm finishing vectoring the skin, i select all the shapes, and copy them, create a new layer, paste them and put that layer under the original skin layer. then i group the copied shapes and set them all to one fleshy colour. then i lock that layer.. forever maybe =) but still keep it visible. then i use the original layer, select all the shapes, and set the blending mode to luminosity. it really helps in giving the shapes a similar colour scheme. although the shades are still dominant. this takes away all the rapid colours in the skin.

Tip by Silph

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