Superb Skin Airbrush Technique

Skin Airbrush Photoshop Tutorial Airbrush skin like a pro. In this Photoshop retouching tutorial, you’ll learn how to retouch skin like the professionals. Find out how to make skin look healthy without looking plastic or blurred.

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Airbrushing Skin Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1

Open the photo into Photoshop. For this tutorial, try to use a high resolution image where you can see the skin texture.

1

Step 2

Create a duplicate layer and put it into a group. To do this, press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer then Ctrl+G to place the new layer into a group. Name the group "Airbrush" and the layer "Blur". To retouch the skin, there will be two layers in the Airbrush group. The first layer we’ve created (the Blur layer) will be used to blur the skin. After that, we’ll add another layer to restore the natural skin texture.

2

Step 3

Have the Blur layer selected. To blur this layer, use the Surface Blur filter. This filter blurs like the Gaussian Blur filter except it can retain edge detail. We’ll need to blur the layer so that the skin is smoothed and somewhat blurry without having the edges

3

Here’s what my image looks looks like after the Surface Blur filter. Your image should look similar with details such as the eye intact. If the eye becomes blurry, your settings are too strong. Undo and redo the Surface Blur filter with a lower setting.

4

Step 4

Create a new layer and move it above the Blur layer. Name this layer "Texture" and change the blend mode to Hard Light. This layer, as the name states, will be used to add a slight texture to the skin and also adjust the skin tonality.

5

The texture created in this layer will contribute to the final results very minimally - the difference can only be easily seen zoomed in on high resolution images and varies from image to image. Even though the result is very minimal, it ensures that no area of the skin looks too smooth or plastic.

Below is an example of this. On the left, the image looks like a solid color, also known as plastic skin. The image on the right has a slight noise pattern to make the skin look more realistic.

5a

More pages: 1 2 3 4

Written by admin on February 24th, 2008 with 56 comments.
Read more articles on Photo Retouching and Photoshop Tutorials.

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56 comments

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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Dan (Israel)
#1. February 24th, 2008, at 5:27 PM.

Thank you for taking the time making Photoshop tutorials
Nicely done!
(You might put again the missing pictures though).

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Dan (Israel)
#2. February 24th, 2008, at 5:31 PM.

Sorry. After refreshing the page, nothing is missing…
Thanks again.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Janice
#3. February 25th, 2008, at 12:17 AM.

I think, as a tutorial, you should have made the skin darker instead of brightening it like those makeup ads. Because the purpose for this tutorial is to airbrush skin right? Not to make it brighter. Perhaps offer it as an additional step but don’t actually use it so that we can see the difference without the brightening in the final results.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Rupali Patil
#4. February 25th, 2008, at 6:27 AM.

It’s fine….!i got the best results….

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com TuanAnh
#5. February 25th, 2008, at 9:04 AM.

Thats really a great tutorial.Very useful , thank you!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com carlmaxx
#6. February 26th, 2008, at 2:49 PM.

thank you so much!!! now i learn something new….God bless you

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Jim
#7. February 26th, 2008, at 5:57 PM.

Nice start but the flesh is too “rangy”. She has a big red splotch in her forehead. Examine the alpha channels. Many high end clients don’t want china dolls. Some wrinkles need to be there, but just subdue them. Flesh is very hard to do and takes a great deal of time. There really is no blanket move. I felt the noise layer turned to 50% helped the flesh look better. Dont forget the hair edge as well.

-Jim

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Billy
#8. February 27th, 2008, at 8:20 PM.

This may be useful for people who don’t want it to look that perfect and want it more natural:
I find that in step 13, if you use the green channel instead of the red, it looks more natural and less airbrushed. But you start seeing pimples and some wrinkles.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Heather
#9. February 28th, 2008, at 8:42 AM.

Thank you so much for this tutorial, I’ve tried airbrushing so many times and failed, this is by far the best tutorial I have found online! THANKS!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Suruchi Jain
#10. February 29th, 2008, at 1:14 AM.

Hey!
I don’t have the SMART BLUR OPTION in ma photoshop

:-(
wt shall i do?/
ur tutorial really seems interesting
is dere ne other alternative for SMART BLUR???

i use photoshop7.0…is dere ne other alternative?/ plz tell

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com khaled
#11. February 29th, 2008, at 4:32 AM.

thanks it’s great and cool tutorial
thank you so much

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Syd
#12. March 6th, 2008, at 8:53 AM.

I didnt really like it. The skin still looks very fake in my opinion.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Dan
#13. March 8th, 2008, at 2:36 AM.

Guess what. It still looks plastic and blurred. Sorry, but real skin still looks better and the sooner idiots in the magazine and fashion industry realise this, the sooner insecure women will stop trying to live up to impossible standards.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com knottstone2
#14. March 10th, 2008, at 3:17 PM.

Thank you for the tutorial!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com LAXMAN
#15. March 11th, 2008, at 10:17 PM.

NICE EFFECT

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com chuchu
#16. March 12th, 2008, at 7:59 AM.

i Did not get it
~ i can’t make a layer in groups~
i also don’t have the right brush~
i don’t have also surface blur~

i use photoshop 7.0

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Arild
#17. March 15th, 2008, at 7:29 AM.

I personally think the end result in this tutorial really looks fake and not good at all. But if you do some small changes along the way, and take down the opacity in the end result, I got a totaly different look. So I’m super happy with this guide. Saves me hours with the clone stamp and patch tool.

Thanks!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com daveyphotodude
#18. March 16th, 2008, at 7:53 PM.

Nice tutorial !!! best one I have found on the subject of airbrushing !!! Thank You !!!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Giuseppe
#19. March 18th, 2008, at 3:46 AM.

Very nice tutorial, never done photoshop before and I managed to improve the skin quality on two drunk bastards. (don’t ask me who they are) the change isn’t dramatic but more suddle, making it look even more realistic. I might not have used exact tutorial settings, but it is definently a good starting point as a beginner to the program.
Very nice 5 stars or whatever they are called here ;)

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Hasmukhray
#20. March 19th, 2008, at 7:13 AM.

What I have noticed, is that it will work deferentially on deferent skin tone. However, if you do bit of a change according to what your image needs while you are working on it, then you will get almost 100% result of the effort has been made. I personally appreciate & liked it. Many thanks for your time.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Aviv
#21. March 21st, 2008, at 2:21 PM.

When i’m doing step 11, when i start painting nothing is hapenning, the skin doesn’t change? can you help me ASAP?

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com bhatti
#22. March 22nd, 2008, at 8:42 PM.

this dont look so realistic but i was searching tutorial like this.
this can be more reallistic. now it looks like as a model’s photo. looks pretty.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Becki
#23. March 27th, 2008, at 4:34 PM.

Hey I dont have the surface blur tool either? Do you have to download it as an add on or something :S HELPP!!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com sarah
#24. April 2nd, 2008, at 1:24 PM.

i really don’t get the persons who say they can’t put layers in to groups, they don’t have smart blur or something else because they use ps 7.0, i use it, and i can do all that och i have all the tools o;
the result was really nice(!), even if i had some trouble understanding all the tools from the eginning because i use photoshop with another language (swedish)
thx for a great tutorial

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Vici
#25. April 7th, 2008, at 1:54 PM.

Its all worked fine until it gets to the 50% grey scale + then later when i turn it back to a skin tone - i cant see the image at all, and when i try to apply image all i get is a screen of blockcolour because of the greyscale, and iv followed your instructions through thoroughly. so why hasnt it worked?!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com ashwin chande
#26. April 19th, 2008, at 6:42 AM.

there are lots of other simple steps to do this work

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com avenkatesh
#27. April 28th, 2008, at 6:02 AM.

your tutorial are very nice to under standing and ur explaining through is very nice , giving the nice opportunuty to learn photo shop effects , thank you tutorial out post

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Jody
#28. April 30th, 2008, at 2:32 PM.

Vici - #25 - Make sure you adjust to ‘Hard Light’ next to the Opacity level on the top. This will solve your problem.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Cindy
#29. May 3rd, 2008, at 6:45 PM.

Awesome tutorial! Worked perfectly…thanks!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com deepak
#30. May 9th, 2008, at 1:54 PM.

its very interesting tutorial

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com John
#31. May 13th, 2008, at 11:47 AM.

Horrible tutorial. Several step left out…
1)How was the skin lightened?
2)Where did the mask from the group come from?
…. just to name a few!!!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Cass
#32. May 13th, 2008, at 3:31 PM.

I hate to say it, but parts of it still look far too smooth for being natural. This tutorial is slightly similar to one on Photoshop Tutorial’s website, but their’s is more realistic. If anyone wants that tutorial, look it up there.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Dennis
#33. May 17th, 2008, at 6:52 AM.

Thanks You Very Much I learn a lot to this tutorial but i make a little change to what you have done.. i apply the apply image to the texture layer rander than to the Group it self hehehehe.. then I find it more realistic.. but i think i always defend on the person editing the image..
Thank YOu Again.. Nice tutorial

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com ali
#34. May 27th, 2008, at 5:01 PM.

hi there, i have long been wanting to achieve this strategy you have changed my life!!!!

thank you

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com sLick-E
#35. June 16th, 2008, at 8:18 AM.

Dude, max respect! I really nailed it this time. hahaha! :D More power to your team. ^_^V

Trackback Mention from Graphictutorials.net
#36. June 18th, 2008, at 4:33 PM.

Skin airbrush retouching technique in photoshop tutorial | GraphicTutorials.net: continue « High Pass Sharpening with Photoshop tutorial.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com melody
#37. June 19th, 2008, at 10:38 AM.

wow! thanks! it was really easy following the instructions, hot keys helped as well!! great job!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Andrea
#38. June 19th, 2008, at 3:16 PM.

Here’s a hot tip for everyone saying it’s too fake….noone said you had to do it by the book! Learning the concepts and then playing around with the settings gave me a great natural finish, thanks so much, this is just what i was looking for.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com YASIR R
#39. July 12th, 2008, at 1:57 AM.

IT IS SUPPERB…..

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Craig
#40. July 16th, 2008, at 2:59 AM.

Nice tutorial. I work with photoshop everyday and have learnt something new from this. Ignore the comments above that say it doesn’t work or there are steps missing…..it does and there aren’t. These people do not understand photoshop and are using it incorrectly.

Trackback Mention from Ldea.info
#41. July 26th, 2008, at 12:13 AM.

back pimples: back pimples... if you'd like to ask some one else how much they like this post i think the answer is ...

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com kristina
#42. July 31st, 2008, at 11:29 PM.

i can’t do step 11, it keeps on saying thAT i could not use the history brush because the history state does noty contain a corresponding layer. did i missed a step or that i did something wrong?

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Manolo
#43. August 6th, 2008, at 1:23 PM.

Very very nice.Thank you.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com TRP
#44. August 7th, 2008, at 12:16 AM.

Who is girl?

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com R3spira
#45. August 16th, 2008, at 8:41 PM.

Nice Tutorial, Bueno tutorial compadre… internet es la futura escuela, y para nada de mala calidad.

Saludos…

Gracias por el aporte man.
Visitme :)

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com CJN
#46. September 12th, 2008, at 3:11 AM.

EXCELLENT tutorial!!! thank you… and for the people who says that it looks plastic! that because you did not do it correctly! Mine looks like real (and somewhat perfect) skin… there are some flaws that I leave in, but minor to make it look believable..

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Geschenkidee
#47. September 22nd, 2008, at 7:57 AM.

We work much with Photoshop, this tutorial I searched.
Thanks to the Author.
Sorry for my Bad English

P.S is a nice Girl ;-)

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com ibel
#48. September 26th, 2008, at 9:45 PM.

incridible, i like that.. thanks for tutorial

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Ranard
#49. September 27th, 2008, at 7:19 AM.

I thank you for taking the time to do a such a detailed posting. I’ve been looking for this exact tutorial for over 6 months. Finally, I know how to get clear skin w/o the plastic look.

I hope you disregard the smart “I would have done this or you should do that” comments. I don’t see any posts by them. Only you! Thank you.

Ranard

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Daniel
#50. October 5th, 2008, at 5:37 PM.

Targeted smoothing is rarely the best way to do this kind of thing, as you lose a LOT of detail in the face. This isn’t a bad technique, but I would lower the opacity of the blur layer a bit and then use another layer of painted lights and darks to keep the pores on a person’s face intact (without just added a noise layer).

It’s fine for a magazine cover, but people don’t look like this is real life :).

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Mike9
#51. October 6th, 2008, at 7:21 AM.

If you just maintain the original background layer and keep it as the baseline topped by your finished one then fade back a fair bit (Opacity) this would tend to bring back more realistic look of the facial skin. Elsewhere use layer mask to conceal or reveal the parts.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com iloveshyxx
#52. October 7th, 2008, at 12:37 AM.

its a great tutorial but am not quite getting it…i think am missing a step when airbrushing..but ill keep trying

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com adolfiux
#53. October 8th, 2008, at 3:42 PM.

in the step 9, i don’t see what the settings for brightness should be. any idea?

thanks.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Chase
#54. October 9th, 2008, at 6:20 PM.

Pretty nice job.
Except the last layer doesn’t actually do anything. And I mean nothing. A layer has to be filled with something, anything, to make any kind of manipulation to it. otherwise its just a completely transparent “tarp” over the image that cannot interact in any way with it, or any other layers, in any way.

I like the idea though.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com CubanPrincess
#55. October 23rd, 2008, at 11:29 PM.

thnx tonz!
ive been looking 4 lessons lyk these
n dis 1 is d best so far!
all h8rz above
stop h8in!
effects were awsum!
love it
2 thumbs up!=)

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Bob
#56. October 26th, 2008, at 11:44 AM.

Hey, great tutorial.
What camera did you use if you youself took the picture?
Thanks. =]

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