Lighting Help?

[ryturien]

I'm just starting this piece, but... overall, it just doesn't seem very real. What can I do to make the colors and the light more convincing?

Thanks!

[LaCan]

Photograph someone sitting in front of a window, just like in the image you posted. Then try to draw or paint several studies of that photo to get the feeling for this particular lighting situation. There will be color shifts and light-dark arrangements that are hard to predict without observation.

Follow the simple logic: if you want realism, refer to the real thing.

[Stoat]

What LaCan suggests is the best advice: get reference. If possible, make it yourself.

The image on the left is yours, desaturated. Without the color, really, there's no indication of light at all. So I crudely scrubbed over it on the right. You need to be using bigger brushes at this stage; those little scribbly lines are making distracting and inappropriate textures. Generally, start with big, opaque brushes and work to smaller. If you're scared of losing your composition, put a sketch on a separate layer so you can rein it in if you get lost. This is digital, so there's no excuse to be tight and fussy. Hope that helps.

[ryturien]

What LaCan suggests is the best advice: get reference. If possible, make it yourself.

The image on the left is yours, desaturated. Without the color, really, there's no indication of light at all. So I crudely scrubbed over it on the right. You need to be using bigger brushes at this stage; those little scribbly lines are making distracting and inappropriate textures. Generally, start with big, opaque brushes and work to smaller. If you're scared of losing your composition, put a sketch on a separate layer so you can rein it in if you get lost. This is digital, so there's no excuse to be tight and fussy. Hope that helps.

Ah, I see. Thanks! Do you suggest painting in black and white first, and overlaying color?

[Stoat]

It's one way to do it, but I'm not suggesting that, necessarily. Sometimes it's just helpful to desaturate and see how it's looking purely as values, but you don't need to work like that unless you like to.

[Psychotime]

I know this has nothing to do with lighting, but you should do something about the arms of the girl on the left, because right now they look like a child's arms on a teenage body. Unless this is an intentional thing, she looks like she has a deformity.

[ryturien]

I know this has nothing to do with lighting, but you should do something about the arms of the girl on the left, because right now they look like a child's arms on a teenage body. Unless this is an intentional thing, she looks like she has a deformity.

Ah, quite true. Thank you