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Mane Tutorial Step by Step — Description
MANE TUTORIAL

Requested. Use this if yallz want your mane to be painted the alcinda way.

STEP ONE:

Cut out your horse. The cutting on the mane doesn’t have to be perfect but if you like the way the mane flows on the original stock image then try your best to cut out the shape. The stock image I used does not have a long flowy mane so I will paint one instead.

STEP TWO:

Choose a wind direction and paint your mane. I start with the darkest color of the mane and work my way up. If you are painting a white/light mane, choose a relatively dark shade first. If you feel that the base is too dark you can always change it later by adjusting the layer’s brightness levels. Make sure to create this on a separate layer from the original stock image and try your best to make the mane look as flowy as possible. It takes some practice getting this right.

STEP THREE:

When you finish painting the base of your mane, choose a shade that is a little bit lighter than the base and start drawing strands that flow with the direction of the mane. Don’t completely cover the mane with it - try to leave some dark areas in between the lines. For every new highlight shade I make, I create a new layer. This is not necessary but it is easier to fix your mistake if you do. I use a soft round brush at 6px with pressure sensitivity. If you have a mouse you may want to switch from 1-6px frequently.

STEP FOUR:

When you feel that you have covered the base enough, make another layer and pick a shade a little bit lighter than the first highlight and repeat the process. Use a little less strands than before and try to stick close to the strands that were already made in the third step.

STEP FIVE:

Again, when you are satisfied with the newly added highlight, make another layer and choose a shade even lighter than the last. As you make brighter highlights, use less and less strands so they don’t overpower the rest of the highlights. I usually make about 4-5 layers of highlights, but you can use more or less depending on the lighting of the image or individual taste. When you finish with the highlights, feel free to add additional strands to make the mane look even more flowy or merge the highlight layers and base into one. You can change the color of the mane to make it blend more.

Done.

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Horse: ~BillTokioHotel