Sketchbook

[MrFrenik]

I think the lack of contrast tends to stem from using black in a painting being taboo, much like the smudge brush or burn/dodge tools. The reason you don't see jet black in any master paintings is because there is no pigment of paint that can actually reach that value level, so they had to go as dark as they could. In digital, of course, we can achieve much broader ranges of value. Black does exist in nature, since it's simply the absence of light (ambient occlusion is a prime example of this). If you're wanting to paint in a compressed value scale, I think that's a valid approach. It's the way a lot of artists do paint, in fact, and it's what you've been using for these. They all fall mainly in the middle ranges of values and work well because you're still accurately describing the form. If you'd like to push your value ranges, you'll simply need to start employing darker darks and lighter lights. :) Or something like that. I dunno, I've been up all night and am kinda just talking outta my ass. Keep it up.