1) Preparation.

Now make sure the background layer is selected in the Layers Palette, and hit the 'Create a New Layer' icon as seen in the image below.

Right click on that, and name it 'Flesh' using the Layer Properties option. We are going to begin coloring the flesh first, because.. well.. it's easiest this way, and you're allowed to be sloppy. Why? Because we are going to be coloring OVER the flesh later. See the hair? That gives us a welcome invitation to be sloppy. ;) It's on the later layers that you'll have to be careful in coloring.

Also, since we are using the airbrushing technique to color, you are naturally allowed not to be so painstakingly precise.

2) Color!

Select the color you want. I am using #DDD3BF for the flesh. [a rather nice, muted color] (Click on one of the color icon boxes -- the default is normally black and white -- and plug in the value to the lower input box with a # symbol in front of it) Grab the paintbrush, and begin coloring!

Feel free to use any colors you'd like. :P This is just a practice. You could even give him hot pink hair and bright yellow clothes. Be creative!

Continue coloring until you've gotten all the areas you need in the Flesh Layer. Some find it handy to take the polygon lasso to select the area they want to color, and just fill it in. Whatever's easier for you. ;) If you are not comfortably with the polygon lasso tool, either the paintbrush or airbrush tool with suffice. Remember that you just need to put in the basic color. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FANCY AIRBRUSHING YET. That comes when we shade, LATER! :)

After you've completed Flesh Layer, create new layers as seen in the 'Preparation' step, and color those as well. The hair, eyes and mouth, both parts of the shirt, microphone, guitar and guitar strap, pants, and choker. Create as many as you need, and color away. DON'T WORRY ABOUT SHADING YET! ;) That's in the NEXT step.

Hair = #332F4D	Overshirt = #98A37E eyes and mouth = various	Undershirt = #3B491F
Pants = #333333 accessories = various	Guitar = #724A2C and #722C33	Microphone = various greys

Note: If you are too lazy to color in every little layer yourself, I decided to be a goddess and give you guys a copy of the file so far. ^_~ Wee hee.

Click here if you're just interested in learning to shade airbrush-style quickly.

3) Shading!
This step may take you a little practice! Be patient with yourself!

First, point out your light source. I'm picking the easiest source; a light shining in front of Caine. The picture below illustrates this. You have to keep a light source in mind. If you don't, you'll mess up your shading, and the picture may turn out very odd. O_o

Select the layer you want to shade. Let's begin with the Flesh Layer. Hit the 'Create New Layer' icon, name that layer, and then hit [Control G] on your keyboard. You've grouped the new layer to the hair later. ^_^ Anything you do on this new layer will only affect the flesh layer.

Try it out! Using the color #AA966F, shade your image using the airbrush combined with a soft brush size of your choice. Remember to shade the fingers; they're part of the flesh layer. the Repeat this step with another grouped flesh layer to create the highlights, like on the cheek. The picture below shows this process. Keep in mind that most airbrush artists either lower the opacity of the brush color, then layer on for a more realistic shade, or they merely select a darker color and shade right on top. If you use the second option, feel free to use the smudge tool at 50% to soften things up.

(I simply used white, #FFFFFF, to highlight)

Also remember that you are more than welcome to selectively use the dodge and burn tools to lighten or darken any areas..

Remember that when you shade you have to use a color a little darker compared to the original color. Dark blue to light blue, dark green to light green. NEVER use black to shade, unless you're shading grey. I've seen some people make that mistake before, and it didn't come out very well -_-;;

4) More Shading!

Other areas are honestly more difficult to shade. I'll walk you through them. Let's tackle the hair, now. A LOT of artists have problem with the hair. ^^ I'm here to help you guys out, because trust me, I do WAY too much CG coloring. :P

Create two new grouped layers for the hair.. one for shading, one for highlighting.

Start shading the hair on the first extra layer. Use either a small brush, or the polygon lasso tool combined with the smudge tool. Practice to see what you're comfortable with. I'll show you the polygon lasso tool technique. First, select the areas of the head you want to shade. Remember to hold shift everytime you want to select a separate section, while still holding the first. (hard to explain, try it to see what I mean)

Then fill in the selected areas with the airbrush tool, using the color #120F24. It seems like the cel-shading tutorial, doesn't it? But after you do that, deselect the selected areas, and use the smudge tool with a small brush to stretch and smooth the shading. (if you are really good with the polygon lasso, so might not need to use the smudge tool)

See? looks a lot better, doesn't it? Finally, use the burn tool at 30% on the back of the head until you get a comfortable shadow. Feel free to do the same to the original hair layer, to even things out.

Now for the highlight!

Go to the original hair layer, and dodge the front, the way you burned the back. Then grab a medium sized white airbrush, and draw a quick line over the hair in the highlight layer. Messy looking, isn't it? Use the smudge tool to even that out, so that it zig zags across the hair more naturally.

You also have one of two choices for highlighting technique. Either leave the highlight the way it is, or set the layer to 'Overlay,' which makes a really cool effect. If you do use Overlay, drag the highlighted layer to the 'new layer' icon that you'd normally use to make a new layer. This creates a duplicated Overlayed highlight, letting it stand out a lot more.

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That wasn't so hard, was it? Follow the techniques in steps three and four until you shade the rest of the layers. The shirts and pants are the easiest. See? For the accessories, double click on the layer, and select 'Bevel and Emboss'. It's an easy, lazy trick. ^^;; The rest is fairly simple, too. Remember to highlight the microphone so that it seems extra shiny!

You're almost done! Now all we have left to do is to fix the layer outlines so that the picture seems more realistic, and add a background so the character isn't lonely.

On to Final Touches