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alcinda — Mane Tutorial Step by Step

Published: 2011-05-21 21:40:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 24289; Favourites: 598; Downloads: 175
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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
Related content
Comments: 74

FranArtes [2015-04-08 18:43:40 +0000 UTC]

beautiful tutorial

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Sapphires-Graphics [2014-03-04 23:27:57 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for this! It really helped me a lot. 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Sapphires-Graphics [2014-03-17 02:29:54 +0000 UTC]

Glad I could help.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

WatarimonoNoToukon [2013-03-31 02:40:47 +0000 UTC]

This is nice and simple, and really helped. Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to WatarimonoNoToukon [2013-07-13 21:34:51 +0000 UTC]

Awesome, glad it helped!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

AriaHunter [2013-01-13 21:09:09 +0000 UTC]

Used here, doesn't really look like yours but I tried! Lol. I'm quite happy with it. [link]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to AriaHunter [2013-07-13 21:34:01 +0000 UTC]

Glad you found it useful. ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Tumbling-Star [2012-11-07 20:45:14 +0000 UTC]

How long does this take?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Tumbling-Star [2012-11-14 05:56:07 +0000 UTC]

Depends really, I'm used to the process so it generally doesn't take too long for me.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Tumbling-Star In reply to alcinda [2012-12-21 21:28:17 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I'm gonna work on it

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Sparriz [2012-08-15 19:22:15 +0000 UTC]

Awesome tutorial!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Sparriz [2012-08-27 20:13:06 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

transmutedrose [2012-08-14 22:01:37 +0000 UTC]

Text was hard to read.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to transmutedrose [2012-08-15 04:51:05 +0000 UTC]

Good thing I have the steps in the artist's comments, too.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

pandoraxgraphics [2012-07-28 18:40:28 +0000 UTC]

Really helped!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to pandoraxgraphics [2012-07-31 23:09:11 +0000 UTC]

Glad this could help you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Dillie18 [2012-07-18 15:55:55 +0000 UTC]

Great tutorial, thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Dillie18 [2012-07-31 23:07:10 +0000 UTC]

Welcome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

dustofhooves [2012-07-08 07:23:41 +0000 UTC]

Mehh, i need a tablet right now xD
Still gonna try without c:

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to dustofhooves [2012-07-31 23:05:13 +0000 UTC]

Good! There's lots of successful mane/tail painters who use a mouse. c:

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

dustofhooves In reply to alcinda [2012-08-01 15:35:08 +0000 UTC]

i have a tabbie now, and it really helps me! c:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

luminaret [2012-05-18 07:12:51 +0000 UTC]

AMAZING!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to luminaret [2012-07-31 22:39:04 +0000 UTC]

thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

luminaret In reply to alcinda [2012-08-01 05:56:08 +0000 UTC]

no worries

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

horselover110 [2012-04-28 17:50:40 +0000 UTC]

Amazing thanks! Does this work in GIMP too?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to horselover110 [2012-07-31 22:34:01 +0000 UTC]

I think it should.. o:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Rag-Doll-13 [2011-11-30 19:56:13 +0000 UTC]

That helped soo much!
Thank You!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Rag-Doll-13 [2012-03-24 01:21:50 +0000 UTC]

Welcome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

bedfordblack [2011-11-02 23:41:41 +0000 UTC]

this tut helped!!! ;D thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

SilverNight1079 [2011-10-02 16:29:09 +0000 UTC]

How do you get those smooth ends? I get you can do this with pressure sensitivity but my program doesn't have that! The auto-size is thicker at the end of the strand, so the mane looks upside down! What can I do? D:

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to SilverNight1079 [2011-10-06 01:00:03 +0000 UTC]

If your program doesn't have pressure sensitivity then you may have to erase the side of the strands (towards the end). Let me know if you don't understand it, I'm pretty bad at explaining sometimes.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

jumpyhorse [2011-08-18 21:50:52 +0000 UTC]

okay. thank you soo much. when i use i will definetaly tell you. thank you for creating it. :]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

jumpyhorse [2011-08-18 20:56:28 +0000 UTC]

very helpful, but heres the thing. how do you add the 'shine' thing to the mane? im fairly new to gimp at 2 years, but im still very inexpierienced, and haven't done anything with layers. i haven't tried this yet, but i will. please can you answer that question about the shine? thank you very muuch. :]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to jumpyhorse [2011-08-18 21:17:16 +0000 UTC]

The shine was just something I lightly airbrushed on, so if you take a really soft brush with a light color you can lightly go over whichever part you want a shine on. You may have to play with the opacity.. or you can just put the mane layers all in one and then take the "dodge" tool and make a shine that way. Hope I didn't sound confusing!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

kawaii-japan-fan [2011-07-30 11:28:24 +0000 UTC]

mine didn't turn out as good as yours! I need a tablet

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to kawaii-japan-fan [2011-08-03 01:44:38 +0000 UTC]

Just need practice! Though tablets are helpful.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

robert333 [2011-07-27 04:54:45 +0000 UTC]

what brush size do you use?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to robert333 [2011-07-27 05:00:31 +0000 UTC]

It kinda depends because I use pressure sensitivity so even if the brush is big, depending how I press it can be as small as I want it to. xD But I guess I'd say 2-3px for this.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Kimuntran [2011-07-11 22:03:09 +0000 UTC]

this helped me ALOT on t h i s

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to Kimuntran [2011-07-11 22:12:27 +0000 UTC]

That looks awesome! I'm glad you found my tutorial useful!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Kimuntran In reply to alcinda [2011-07-11 22:13:03 +0000 UTC]

thank you =3 and thank you for making the tutorial

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

VannaZX [2011-06-22 14:53:41 +0000 UTC]

Do you use Gimp?

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

GeeWhizx3 In reply to VannaZX [2011-07-07 01:40:55 +0000 UTC]

Although the program she uses is photoshop, I use basically the same method and it works the same! (:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

alcinda In reply to VannaZX [2011-06-23 03:34:42 +0000 UTC]

Nope, sorry. I use photoshop.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

ShilahGraphics [2011-06-13 01:17:39 +0000 UTC]

Wow, you know I've tried different techniques but I just tried this one, step by step on a head shot of a horse and I feel that this helped me sooooo much! THANK YOU !

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to ShilahGraphics [2011-06-14 23:22:12 +0000 UTC]

Glad this was of some use to you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

HorsesRule8 [2011-06-11 19:41:18 +0000 UTC]

I am gonna to try, but will fail again, but I am gonna try.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to HorsesRule8 [2011-06-14 23:21:52 +0000 UTC]

Yes, keep trying. <3

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

rainy0112 [2011-06-09 15:30:15 +0000 UTC]

faved

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alcinda In reply to rainy0112 [2011-06-14 23:21:35 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0


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