03-09-2013, 01:13 PM
Ok, I'm going to say just one thing but you have to pay attention because it won't be easy to fix.
When you shade something, you don't just add black on top for shadows. You already use colored lights, but it's the same for shadows. It has to be way darker than that before skin starts to appear grey. I'm going to write something unpopular because a lot of people invent rules about how to do art and how to learn, but you should take a neutral grey image (128/128/128) and a few good color pictures of people in a similar environment (think fire dancers, or around a bonfire on a beach or something) and pick the colors from the pics, and dab the colors on the grey bg. Then pick the colors on your image and dab them next to the other colors on the grey bg. Compare their shadow colors to your shadow colors. You will be surprised how saturated theirs are.
Shadows often take characteristics of the ambient light. Here the ambient would probably be a desaturated blue from the sky, it doesn't mean that the shadows are blue, it means that they are bluER. If your local color is orange, the shadow would be more desaturated, but if the local color is yellow, the shadow would be slightly greener.
Also, often skin has a very saturated red part before the shadows start to take the color of the ambient light. I hope this helps.
When you shade something, you don't just add black on top for shadows. You already use colored lights, but it's the same for shadows. It has to be way darker than that before skin starts to appear grey. I'm going to write something unpopular because a lot of people invent rules about how to do art and how to learn, but you should take a neutral grey image (128/128/128) and a few good color pictures of people in a similar environment (think fire dancers, or around a bonfire on a beach or something) and pick the colors from the pics, and dab the colors on the grey bg. Then pick the colors on your image and dab them next to the other colors on the grey bg. Compare their shadow colors to your shadow colors. You will be surprised how saturated theirs are.
Shadows often take characteristics of the ambient light. Here the ambient would probably be a desaturated blue from the sky, it doesn't mean that the shadows are blue, it means that they are bluER. If your local color is orange, the shadow would be more desaturated, but if the local color is yellow, the shadow would be slightly greener.
Also, often skin has a very saturated red part before the shadows start to take the color of the ambient light. I hope this helps.
Fine art www.qitsune.com
Illustration www.chantalfournier.com
Blog qitsune.wordpress.com
Illustration www.chantalfournier.com
Blog qitsune.wordpress.com