How Julia Vidanova’s self-portrait was brought to life with brushes and monochrome palettes
First, I filled in the background with a neutral grey colour (#808080). Then, on a new layer, I drew contours with the Hard Detail brush. I then created a new layer under the contour layer the same with volume, using the same brush.
To smooth over the image, I first turned the contour layer to 50% Opacity and then merged this with the volume layer. Next, I created another new layer and then added spots with a round, hard brush, which was 15-30% Opaque.
On the same layer I drew eyes with the Hard Detail brush and added details to sharpen my picture in the key features. I then added more freckles with the texture brush and created gradients to smooth everything over.