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How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet

In Digital Painting, Retouching, Tablet Users @ 5:57 PM, 02/10/2009
This tutorial demonstrates how to use digital painting with a drawing tablet to create the illusion
of lip gloss on bare lips. I use this technique frequently for retouching, and it’s a great digital
painting exercise too!

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Final Image Preview

Original Image

This photo is from nokomai on stock.xchng. If you’d like to work with the original file, it’s
located here. For this tutorial, I’ll be zooming in on the lips to show you the process.

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Plumping the Lips

The sheen of lip gloss often gives the impression of plumper lips. To support this illusion, we’ll
start by using the Liquify tool (Filter » Liquify). I set my brush size to 195px and select the Bloat
tool from the left-hand menu in the dialog window. Then I single-click appoximately five times
along the horizontal center of her her lower lip:

The result:

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Colorizing the Lips

Colorizing the lips will help them appear moist and as if she is wearing a tinted gloss. I turn on
size jitter (refer to my post on digital painting pressure settings if you’re not sure how), select a
30px brush, and pick a light red color (#c83a3a). I create a new layer and roughly paint over the
lips.

To blend the color in, I set the Blend Mode for that layer to Soft Light. I also set the layer opacity
to 50%.

Finally, I clean up the rough edges with a 100px eraser on 0% hardness. Since the eraser is so
large, the edges are very soft—great for subtle blending. I carefully use the soft edge to erase the
hard edges of the color. Notice the difference on the far left, far right, and bottom areas of the lips.

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Adding Shine

This is the trickiest part!

Before I do anything else, I look at the lips and judge where my light source is. In this case, it
appears to be coming from the top left, so I will paint my shine accordingly. If you’re unsure, it’s
useful to have reference images.

When light hits a thin coat of lip gloss, it will catch all the little lines in the lips. Our first step is to
highlight the more obvious of these lines.

To do so, I set my brush to 5px, white, with size jitter on. I use a series of short, up-and-down
strokes to achieve a ‘tapered’ effect. So, for the below stroke, I brush up and down a few times
until the middle is the desired thickness, then ‘flick’ my stylus upward so that it will taper on top. I
repeat this to taper it on the bottom, too.

With one stroke complete, I proceed to add more strokes. Look for obvious creases in the lips,
then place a stroke on the side of it that’s opposite that of your light source.

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Next, I begin adding blocks of shine. These will be largest where the light is hitting, then become
less obvious as you move away from the light source. I use a consistent up-and-down motion with
a light touch to paint these blocks.

As you move away from the light source, the lighting will be less defined. To create a more
scattered effect, I just began ‘dotting’ the color instead of painting in strokes.

Here I add some additional sheen on the upper lip. Again, the detail comes from simply ‘dotting’
color and using small, up-and-down strokes.

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I reduce the opacity of my shine layer to 80%.

To add an additional reflection from non-direct light, I increase my brush size to 9px and keep the
size jitter on. I create a new layer and reduce the opacity to 40%.

In the above image, you can see the natural grooves of the lips as they meet the area where her lips
part. These will guide the shape you form.

Using small, circular strokes, I create a shape that is much more general than our first shine. The
circular strokes should be most obvious near the grooves in the lips, where small Vs are formed

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atop the grooves and in-between your circle-strokes. (See image below.) The shape should
generally cover any area that you included light, and taper off as it approaches the left and right
sides of the mouth.

I use the same technique to add sheen to the top lip.

I reduce the opacity of the layer to 20%.

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Final Image

Here’s our final image:

I hope you find this tutorial helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the
comments.

Allison House is the founder of Keetee and a web designer and strategist from Florida.
She loves to create digital art and teach. Contact her at allison@keetee.com. Don't forget to
subscribe if you'd like to hear more!

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Comments (Leave comment)

1. Yopladas says :
@10:25 PM, 02/10/2009

Wow! Cool stuff; not that I would need it for myself… ;-D

Wish I had a tablet…

2. adalberto says :
@2:23 PM, 02/11/2009

without offence, but the final result seems a little bit fake to me, the painted stuff does not
blend in well with the photo. Anyway, I’ll try harder to get a good result (my first attempt to
follow this guide was not so good)

keep up the good work

3. Allison says :
@7:50 PM, 02/11/2009

I know what you mean, Adalberto–for retouching purposes, this technique works best when
the lips are more distant. It’s also worth note that people who don’t use Photoshop never see
our work quite so acutely. :) If you come up with some modifications to the tutorial, feel
free to post! Thanks for the feedback!

4. Cómo crear labios brillantes con Photoshop | CofreGrafico: Diseño, tutoriales

Photoshop, iconos, wallpapers y wordpress says :
@1:08 AM, 02/12/2009

[...] al tutorial: Labios brillantes con Photoshop Si eres nuevo por aquí, te recomiendo
suscribirte al canal RSS de mi blog para leerlo a [...]

5. jasmine says :
@4:58 AM, 02/12/2009

wow–, the tutorial is so helpful–,

thank you for sharing your ideas.

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How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet | Keetee Page 11 of 16

6. Austin C says :
@11:16 AM, 02/12/2009

This tutorial was very well writen and a definate eye opener to all skill levels. Thank you
very much for your unique approach!

7. Maloix says :
@12:26 AM, 02/16/2009

Wow! Great Tutorial, congratulations. But i have a question: What kind of wacom table do
you use?

8. Allison House says :

@5:53 PM, 02/17/2009

I actually use the Graphire, which is an older model that’s been discontinued. It’s just a
simple, small 4 x5 surface that does everything I need. :)

9. Five Things I Learned in My First Month of Tutorial Blogging | Keetee says :

@8:36 PM, 02/26/2009

[...] top three most popular tutorials are on digitally painting lip gloss, retouching eyes
‘naturally’ with digital make-up, and advanced facial manipulation. [...]

10. stadtplan berlin says :

@5:01 PM, 02/28/2009

Gut!

11. Hardeep Dhiman says :

@1:20 AM, 03/5/2009

Good Work

12. Bella says :

@9:55 PM, 03/14/2009

Following some of these tutorials is difficult for me because I’m using Photoshop Elements
6 instead. =( By the way that was a very good tutorial, it explained everything well.

http://www.keetee.com/how-to-digitally-paint-lip-gloss/ 01/08/2009
How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet | Keetee Page 12 of 16

13. gabriel fayola says :

@11:22 PM, 03/20/2009

los diseños son lo maximo por favor megustaria a prender un poco mas.,., la practica es muy
buena

14. Amazing Retouching Tutorials In Photoshop | 1stwebdesigner - Love In Design says :

@1:27 PM, 03/31/2009

[...] Lips Gloss [...]

15. Amazing Retouching And Photo Enhancing Tutorials In Photoshop | guidesigner.com

says :
@5:14 AM, 04/1/2009

[...] Lips Gloss [...]

16. Brochure Printing says :

@12:46 AM, 04/2/2009

Wow, the effect looks amazing. I don’t use a tablet, I prefer my trusty mouse. But great
tutorial anyway. Thanks for sharing this!

17. Sketches « Skarh says :

@9:24 AM, 04/3/2009

[...] Retouching photo (Added more focus to lipstick, gloss and shine. Here’s the tutorial)
[...]

18. Amazing Retouching And Photo Enhancing Tutorials In Photoshop « Dylan Bishop
Media says :
@11:29 PM, 04/5/2009

[...] Lips Gloss [...]

19. Brit Brit says :

@11:58 PM, 04/10/2009

hi i was wondering if this effect can be achieved with someone who doesn’t have a tablet??

20. Ashikin Abdullah says :

@3:26 AM, 04/13/2009

http://www.keetee.com/how-to-digitally-paint-lip-gloss/ 01/08/2009
How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet | Keetee Page 13 of 16

wow. this tutorial is really helpfull

i ve been looking for this trick for long time
thanks keetee

21. Anonymous says :

@2:13 PM, 04/15/2009

[...] non-destructive way so You can later go back and play with settings and compare
results. 5. Lips Lips Gloss This tutorial demonstrates how to use digital painting with a
drawing tablet to create the [...]

22. 50+ Truly Useful Photoshop Tutorials For Amazing Photo Effects @ SmashingApps
says :
@11:46 AM, 05/5/2009

[...] How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

23. De Web Times - Share Your Resources » Blog Archive » 50+ Useful Photoshop
Tutorials & Photo Effects says :
@12:18 AM, 05/6/2009

[...] How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

24. FreeDownloadSecrets.com » Blog Archive » 50+ Truly Useful Photoshop Tutorials For
Amazing Photo Effects says :
@8:06 PM, 05/6/2009

[...] How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

25. photo retouching says :

@5:44 AM, 05/11/2009

Great photo retouching work , my only comment is maybe a bit to much gloss?

26. 50+ Truly Useful Photoshop Tutorials For Amazing Photo Effects « N3T.ir - Web
Resources, Web Design News & Tips, Open Source says :
@6:41 AM, 05/13/2009

[...] How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

27. beauty retouching says :

@6:52 AM, 05/23/2009

Great Tutorial. Thank you for sharing…

28. Yoyi says :

@11:50 AM, 06/3/2009

http://www.keetee.com/how-to-digitally-paint-lip-gloss/ 01/08/2009
How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet | Keetee Page 14 of 16

Hola muy original este maquillaje esta estelar

29. retoucher77 says :

@6:38 AM, 06/4/2009

that’ just exactly what i was looking for! great tutorial, thank you :)

30. 26 Professional Photoshop Retouching Tutorials says :

@3:47 AM, 07/16/2009

[...] 21. How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

31. Collection of Best Professional Photo Retouching Tutorials | guidesigner.net says :

@1:29 AM, 07/17/2009

[...] 21. How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

32. Dzinepress says :

@12:35 PM, 07/17/2009

cool effects there, nice!

33. 26 Professional Photoshop Retouching Tutorials | Desinine says :

@5:01 PM, 07/18/2009

[...] 21. How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet [...]

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Allison House is your very own web and graphic design teacher. She co-created Muzakbox.

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