Quake Skins Tutorial

Carl Kidwell
Chapter 11:
High Color Mode
Page 4

Before we get started here I think I should mention/recommend that all colors you choose should be done from the Quake palette. Never choose a color while you are in highcolor mode and you will save yourself some time. Using the actual Quake colors will keep your image truer to the Quake palette even in highcolor mode.

First step is to convert your PCX file to HIGHCOLOR mode. In PaintShop Pro this is done by choosing the "color" menu, and then selecting "increase color depth" and then choose "16 million colors"
Save your file with a NEW NAME. Like blank2.pcx
Next I am going to create highlights for his muscles (picuted below)

So we see that I have added additional highlights to show where his abs and clavicle as well as neck area will be. The point is before getting into detail we need to lay out the general shape of what we are painting.

Above I have added lighter highlights to his muscle areas that would be higher in life. For instance the chest pectoral muscles would protrude a bit. Natural shading would say that the areas jutting out the farthers would appear to be 'lighter' areas directly beneath a point jutting out wil be 'darker' as they are shaded from light.

In this next image I have continued that process, but smoothed out the transitional areas to make it appear a bit more natural. You can use this technique best with the airbrush tool set to a very light opacity level. Usually a setting between 1-3% opacity allows me to gradually create natural looking highlights.
We see in the above image that I've done some nice shading to his upper body area. It is not even halfway done, but is looking much better than the initial highligting we started with.