CGAN April 2015 Challenge - Me, Myself, and I

Susie: If I could give extra points for the pun then I would!
The eyes are really well done and capture your attention, even with all those snakes trying to distract.
Are the bright highlights on the skin added digitally or is it all traditional shading? Either way it's working.

Thanks Valence, everybody loves a good pun now and again!
Most of it is traditional shading but some digital highlights, especially on the nose, I struggled with the shape a bit.

Ok so got cracking and added some colour - not completely there but pleased so far. Historically I have had problems with skin, any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated

Looking pretty good there.
As for tips: you may want to push the dark areas a bit further and perhaps add a little more red. Also varying the hue a little across the areas of the face, like more pinkish tones to the cheeks and the tip of the nose.
Assuming you're colouring digitally (and in PS) you can get a quick idea of what this would do by doing levels (ctrl-L) then dragging the left input arrow to the right a little (to boost the darks.) Then select the Red channel and move the middle arrow about to see how the overall hue changers.
Also don't neglect the background and the snakes. Getting good skin tones is all about balancing and comparing them to the surrounding colours. So even if you feel a bit stuck or intimidated by skin continue to develop the picture as a whole and solutions may then seem easier to understand. (And I do wish I could follow my own advice! It sounds so easy!)

But as I said in the first line: Looking pretty good as it is.

Micro: Love the new expression. I'm interested to see where this new idea takes you.

LRaphaelC: Great start, love the pose.

Cherry: Thanks Cherry, I plan to be apart of all of them from now on. Your piece is coming along nicely too!

SchizophreniaWolf: Could your name be any longer? I'm dig'n the upper right photo. I can see that image creating an awesome fantasy piece.

aonodori: Love the idea! And who knows...maybe that extra finger makes her a better painter.

hobbyhorse: Sick animals are never any fun.

Valence: Thanks. Yes they are. I create the shapes or "objects" and then add color later.
For example:


The image on the left is the same as the image on the right only I remove the texture and color from all the shapes. I would call them the "bones" of the piece.

Susie: I'm a fan of "Me-Dusa"! Great idea.

Banj:

As for my update. I have none.

Playing darts tonight but managed to do a bit - hope you like.

Ok had a bit of time to get started.

One of several sketches...this one I liked the best

Since I have a cast of cats I needed to make a maquette for positions and lighting

Oh and a so so picture of me so you guys can see if I can get the likeness.

First pass at getting a line drawing

Susie- great idea and start..I see I'm not alone in casting a cast of many
Banj- I just knew there was another punster out there.

And the clean...or at least cleaner line work