Finding your mid-tone
Using the Eyedropper tool
While the Eyedropper tool (Keyboard shortcut – i) can select a number of properties from a shape including its gradient, fill and stroke it works just like the eyedropper tool you know an love in Photoshop when used on a raster based image. So you can import a picture and make a selection from yours or someone else's skin tone. Just be aware that the eyedropper will select a single pixel of the image. A good option is to hold down your mouse button to scan over the photo until you find a color that will looks like it will work. You can then open it up by double clicking on the tool pallet and further adjust it to your liking.
Using Illustrator's pre-made swatches
If you:
- Click one the swatches panel to activate it,
- click on the four-lined icon in the upper right of the swatches panel (called the hamburger),
- select Open Swatch Library from the menu,
- and choose Skin Tones
You will get a number of pre-made swatches which can serve as a great reference to start with.
Eyeballing it
None of the above options will give you the perfect tone you will probably have to adjust and readjust the colors once you add your shadows, highlights etc. Don't be afraid to take a second look and adjust things further to make all the colors blend.
Finding your shadows and highlights
A good starting point is to:
- take the color you've chosen for your mid-tone and,
- drag it over to your swatches pallet.
- Now select all of your highlights or shadows by clicking the small circle (called the target circle) next the layer's name and,
- click on the your mid-tone value in the swatches panel,
- double click on the color in your tool bar.
- move the color picker up or down to create your highlights / shadow color.
You can further fine-tune these choices by adding gradients or adjusting the opacity of the color in the menubar.
Don't forget
- You will probably need to adjust these colors as you go along (this is why I asked you to create a new layer for each color).
- Radial gradients work really nicely for the iris and whites of your eyes.