Vector 101 - Nose by Antoinette

To vector a nose, you will need to know the basics of vectoring, please see Vector 101 Eyes to learn the very basics, I will not be going over those steps again.

I'm using THIS photo from sweetandtalented.com

1. With your photo open, zoom to find where the nose is located and with enough room that you can see the eyes and the top part of the lip.

2. Either creating them on a single layer, or muliple layers, choose a darker color (using the eye dropper) and outline the shadows of the nose AND the nostrills.

The red arrow is pointing to one of the nose's outlines, there are two, and the notrills.

The red box shows the vectored effect of the nose.

3. Take the layers you have just created and place them on an opacity that fits the your image. You do not want these lines very dark or they will stand out, and not in a good way.

Vectored nose on original background. It blends nicely and doesn't scream "Look at me!"

4. Create a new layer BELOW the vectored nose parts and select a fuzzy brush. (fuzzy means with no hard edge). Use the eyedropper to select a color from the left side of the nose. Following the shadows of the nose, "brush" the nose untill you have filled in the shadows.

Repeat on either the same layer, or a different one, the light parts of the nose. Notice the highlight at the end of the nose, and down the middle.

Change the layer's opacity to 50% (change that number if its still too harsh, it depends on the color you are using).

Nose w/ brush effect 100% & 50% on ORIGINAL BACKGROUND

Nose w/ brush effect 100% & 50% on VECTOR BACKGROUND

Once you have sucesfully completed the nose, vector the other parts of the face.

*special tip* Do not forget the dip under the noose and between the upperlip! That requires attention too!

If you would like to see the 100% completed vector, you can find it here.