Over all I’m pretty happy with this but I think it might be too dark on the tops of the volumes - ignoring the brightest point highlights
#Should I go brighter overall on the ork skin? I feel like it’s too dark
covert copper
plain chasm
Over all I’m pretty happy with this but I think it might be too dark on the tops...
Your issue is not so much the value range but how you have applied it.
You’re doing a thing we call muscle islands, which is not uncommon, but looks quite unnatural. Each muscle having a dark line between them makes them seem like distinct planes and not part of the same greater surface.
Start with the big shapes, always.
An arm is just two cylinders and a cylinder is highlighted like this. Note the lower light which is cast by the ground and surroundings. It does a lot of heavy lifting.
If we apply this to the arm and ignore all the smaller volumes we instantly get something that looks more natural. The forearm does not have any downward facing volumes. The whole thing is in light and should never go darker than midtone.
Only then do we go in with the final highlights and bring out the smaller shapes. I’ve applied a highlight in the recesses as well. Keep in mind that an upwards facing recess will catch just as much light as a raised area. It’s about the angle of the surface, not how deep it sits.
See how these compare.
Don’t be afraid to let the sculpt do some of the lifting. Even though we paint volumetric light, some areas are still bound to naturally be in shadow. You don’t always have to reenforce that.
plain chasm
Thank you so much
Glad if it’s helpful. Report back if you decide to try it out.
covert copper
not perfect
but it looks much better after trying some of your suggestions
i think, at least
plain chasm
Clear improvement!
I would still get rid of most of those dark lines between the muscles.
Especially where the shoulder muscle meets the upper arm. That muscle transition is smooth, there’s not a deep groove between them.