06-30-2016, 12:16 PM
Struggling with light and shadow aswell, trying to work it out. You probably know the theory but don't know how to apply it. I figured that I lack knowledge of form. So when I shade I try to think of basis forms like spheres, cylinders etc. Then all becomes a lot more manageable. Not sure if this is the way but I shade my forms now imagining it with ambient light. After that you can add in a spotlight that lights up certain parts that you want. Check out some standard lighting schemes and apply them to you own work. When you get familiar with it you can play with it and tweak it to your liking.
As for values, I like to start in color and check values on the go with a b/w layer. Look up on some basic color theory (tigercolor.com has some nice explanations). I tried to read several books on color but I find experimenting with basic theory in mind more fulfilling. Check other artists aswell how they mix colors.
Painting textures can be hard, try to study that from ref. I see lots of artists painting these study texture spheres and save them so they can use them as ref whenever they need it.
As for values, I like to start in color and check values on the go with a b/w layer. Look up on some basic color theory (tigercolor.com has some nice explanations). I tried to read several books on color but I find experimenting with basic theory in mind more fulfilling. Check other artists aswell how they mix colors.
Painting textures can be hard, try to study that from ref. I see lots of artists painting these study texture spheres and save them so they can use them as ref whenever they need it.