Looking back at my first digital portrait from 2018, the feedback was brutal but right

I posted a character piece here and someone said my shading looked like 'muddy plastic.' They pointed out I was using only black to darken skin tones. I switched to using darker, saturated colors from the same hue for shadows, like a deep red instead of gray. It took a few tries, but my next piece looked way more alive. Anyone else have a piece of advice that totally flipped your art around?

4 comments

4 Comments

terryk1013d ago

Wait, you were using only black for skin shadows in 2018? That's wild to me. I figured that was one of those things everyone learned to avoid way earlier. Like a total beginner trap. It's crazy how one blunt comment can finally make it click though. That "muddy plastic" line would have stung but man, it got the job done. Switching to saturated darks is such a night and day difference.

rowanharris13d ago

Oh man, @terryk10, that reminds me of when I learned not to outline everything in pure black. My stuff looked like a coloring book. Someone told me to try a dark brown or blue for line art instead. Total game changer.

jamesm387d ago

Remember my phase of using pure black for watercolor line work? Yeah, my paintings looked like they were outlined with a permanent marker. Took a brutal critique about my trees looking like "burnt licorice fences" to finally try a dark green.

the_paul7d ago

Honestly I used to defend pure black for years, said it gave things a solid graphic look. Then I tried a painting using a dark purple for the line work instead and it just looked... alive, like the lines were part of the painting and not just a border. Completely changed how I see it now.