What if my character could be a pretty boy too?

Jinkei, the master of handsome characters, tells us
How to create delicate and charming illustrations!

The book 『Handsome Character Illustration Course』, in which renowned illustrator Jinkei reveals his unique illustration secrets, has been officially published in Korea.
This guide is designed for everyone from beginners to advanced users, and introduces digital illustration techniques using CLIP STUDIO PAINT step-by-step.
In particular, it details how to maximize the appeal of a character through oil painting-style coloring techniques.
Beyond simple drawing, you can learn the know-how to effectively convey a character's emotions and story. In-depth tutorials and resources are provided for CLIP STUDIO PAINT users, so let's slowly follow the secrets of drawing, coloring, shading, and expressing delicate textures as Jinkei himself demonstrates them.
From every strand of hair to the curves of the skin, the expression of the eyes, and the wrinkles on the jacket… In other words, the day is not far off when you will complete a captivating character that will grab attention from head to toe and upload it to social media!

This guide is for those of you who are wondering, "I want to try oil painting, but I don't know where to start," "How can I draw characters more beautifully?", or "How can I finish my work for a more complete painting?"
We will teach you how to create attractive characters using Jinkei's unique oil painting style.
--- p.3

Clean up the rough lines of the sketch and complete it as a line drawing.
At this time, I do not make all the lines have the same texture.
Sometimes, the strength or weakness of the touch or line created during the sketching stage is intentionally left behind or emphasized.
For example, the dark shaded areas have strong and thick lines, while the bright highlighted areas have weak and thin lines.
The reason I emphasize the strength of the lines is because I am a cartoonist who is used to cartoons with strong lines.
As I will discuss in detail on p.18, my illustration making process involves several repetitions of combining working layers.
In the process, the line drawing also becomes part of the coloring.
The line drawing with strong and weak lines can be said to be the very first step in the coloring process.
--- p.12

When you start drawing in earnest, it is recommended to prepare layers or folders in advance by calculating the entire process backwards.
Preparing the layers first will give you a general understanding of the entire illustration creation process.
Also, if you create layers as you color, layer management becomes complicated.
Neglecting layer management can also lead to more problems that you have to solve to figure out how to fix them when they need to be fixed, so you can prevent that problem as well.
--- p.24

The contrast was slightly weakened during the retouching and processing as a finishing touch.
Finally, draw the highlights again.
Overlay the clipped [Overlay] layer and use the [Airbrush (Soft)] with a gray drawing color to create a large gradient highlight in the center of the head.
Next, use the [Drawing Pencil] to add highlights to the glasses lenses.
At this time, the color used was a light gray color (#d5e3f3) that was almost white.
--- p.43

The procedure for applying base colors is as explained in Chapter 2.
First, create a selection area to use when painting the base color, and then use the [Fill] tool or the [Lasso Color] tool to fill the color in each section.
When drawing an illustration with a lot of detail, rather than coloring the base color with the original color (the object's original color) from the beginning, it is recommended to first color each part with a color that is easily visible.
Any color can be used as long as it stands out.
Just be careful not to paint adjacent parts with similar colors.
This way, you can avoid mistakes like missing details or applying colors incorrectly due to the large number of similar shades.
--- p.65

In the case of illustrations where the face is the main element, such as up shots or bust shots, the facial skin takes up a large portion of the screen, so relatively more detailed elements must be drawn.
Whenever this happens, I work on the items listed below.
--- p.78

If there are too many wrinkles on a shirt, it looks messy.
Draw wrinkles to match the movement of the joints, but omit wrinkles on flat areas like the chest to maintain balance.
The cuffs and collars that have a wick are also not pleated.
--- p.108

Readers, you may be lost as to what you are drawing for in the future.
At times like this, ask yourself who you are drawing for right now.
If this book can be of even a little help to the readers, it will be my greatest joy.

--- p.143