lighting effects help

[vernal hill]

heyyy I’ve been trying to go for a more sparkly/reflective look on the piece, but I’ve been struggling. I also want to emphasize the eyes by creating some sort of reflection and light effects around. They seem lonely and i don’t know what to do, or how to create a different kind of light effect/particles. pls send help

if you need to draw over the piece feel free to do so :D

[crystal pebble]

Do you understand how shadows bounce off 3d objects

[vernal hill]

i think? i just kind of go with the flow but i don’t have formal knowledge

[crystal pebble]

Idek how to explain this

[placid sinew]

his arm looks way too small, either redraw it completely or remove the elbow from sight and make the hand bigger

[crystal pebble]

But to make your drawing reflective lighting is a big aspect

[vernal hill]

It’s okay me neither lol

[crystal pebble]

Okay so when an object is reflecting light a darker surface comes off of it

So if you want lighting to be a big aspect of your drawing

[vernal hill]

hmmmm if it’s difficult to put into words you could totally draw it out ?

[vernal hill]

then should i have more shadows?

[crystal pebble]

The for example could be heavily highlighted

But because these are now highlighted

Other places get darker

Which you already did a pretty good job on

[vernal hill]

I think i got it now yaya

[crystal pebble]

Ok so I zoomed and I’m pissed but

Those are some places the could be darkened

Because of the lighting you chose it would create a darkening of around the eyes

Which is perfect since you said you wanted to enhance the eyes so keeping a dark sharpie around them is perfect and makes them pop

Also I would cast a big shadow around here

[vernal hill]

wait omg imma try this out

tysm sorry if you got upset over this 😭

ur advice rlly helped

[crystal pebble]

I didn’t Dw

[vernal hill]

how should i fix the arm? can i elongate it? The original goal was to try a bit of foreshortening 💀

[crystal pebble]

Sorry one more thing

[vernal hill]

ya go ahead

ur good dw

[placid sinew]

it's too short, so either add perspective (the elbow should be tiny) or bend the shoulder lower

[crystal pebble]

Because your piece is all shiny now it should reflect a lot more onto the clothes

So you can add some color of the skin onto the points I outlined

For a reflection

Also tbh I’m pretty sure I placed them wrong

Wait

[vernal hill]

oh it’s fine lol i did get a geenral idea

[crystal pebble]

Maybe some tbh more like this

Make this part thinner it’s a bit too thick

[vernal hill]

I see tysm for all your help! wherever you are (at least for me it’s 1:30) thanks so much for your time and advice

@placid sinew same goes for you, btw welcome here!

[crystal pebble]

No problem and I’m also in North America I just have a bad sleep schedule

👍

[vernal hill]

this rlly helps, so in other words i should lower the shoulder and make the elbow more bent? i also wanted to keep the wrist bent so would it be fine if i let the hand be? (Besides resizing it)

[vernal hill]

Mood

[azure quest]

Hi, Heres a quick drawover, although the lighting still doesn't make much sense, I simplified things and made it more anatomically accurate. Hope that helps somehow!

[crystal pebble]

I was deleting the screenshots I took and while I was look I saw the face proportions were a little off

LEMME FIX YO

So you have it too curved on the left end

But personally

I would just ignore my advice because there’s no one in this world who would redo a face jus cuz of that so

No shit I didn’t save my screenshot

One min

HOLY FUCK ITS BOT SAVING

[placid sinew]

yeah, ik it's not perfect, to provide a better reference i need, well, a reference, and finding the exact same pose would take ages

[placid sinew]

yep!

also you're always welcome

[crystal pebble]

I know I just said it so it doesn’t get drawn the same way

[vernal hill]

Wait just the cheekbone?

[vernal hill]

@placid sinew i can’t tell if I made the arm better or worse, but i changed it (i didn’t fix the hand yet)

for comparison it got slimmed down, a bit more curved, and positioned below the collar (before —> after)

[reef inlet]

You should try a different rendering style

For example cell shading

This is similar to cell shading

Where you reduce the information like cloth folds and stuff and bring the main point into the focus

Typically the face

[vernal hill]

So in other words the clothes kind of take away from the face?

[reef inlet]

It’s just adding unnecessary information again you can go with that if it’s your style

There are couple of ways you can emphasise focus to his eyes

You can use layer styles like linear color dodge for a flash effect

And make his eyes a light source

The rest of the body is in shadows

[vernal hill]

I’ll work on creating more darker shadows

[vernal hill]

oh 😭

I was hoping to keep it bc I’ve never drawn folds that detailed like a demon possessed me

I was rlly proud of them so i was wondering if there was some way to add more “information” elsewhere?

[reef inlet]

Using shadows and a light source focusing on the eyes will probably emphasise the face more

Because right now the character is in ambience environment so the light is spread out to entire character

That’s why we have the entire body into focus if you bring the light like spot light into just his face and the rest is shadows you can understand where the viewer will focus

[vernal hill]

I see nowww so i should tone down the highlights as parts get further from the eyes?

[reef inlet]

If I was on pc I would’ve shown by drawing

Let me find an example

This is an old draft drawing of mine which is scrapped so it’s not perfect but you can see I have divided her body by bottom in shadows and upper body receiving light through those glowing swords

This way your first focus falls on the head and wings rather than her legs

Also for the glowing sword effect I used a linear dodge layer and added the outer glow effect to it and just draw a silhouette of a sword

You can experiment and try stuff out

[vernal hill]

I see now thanks so much! This is actually a really nice drawing

oh one more thing @reef inlet is the goal to create more contrast and define the light source more?

[reef inlet]

Hmmm

I think you could understand more

If you experiment

I’ll suggest to make copy of that illustration into a a single layer

Then make a clipping mask layer on it with a multiply layer for shadows and screen or even normal layer for lights

Try stuff out as a rough painting to understand where you’re going with the lighting

[vernal hill]

got it thanks so much!

[reef inlet]

💖

[vernal hill]

@reef inlet sorry for ping but would you be okay with receiving updates? I’d end up pinging you for these but I’d still love your input so i know i get these concepts down

[vernal hill]

@reef inlet @crystal pebble what I have so far, still working :p

I feel like something can be improved upon or added into the environment

sorry for ping btw

the particles I’m just kinda crying over and redoing lol

[vale cliff]

If you want a direct glow, just use an “add effect” layer and detail with an airbrush i can give u an example if u want

[vernal hill]

oh that’s what i did lolol

I was just hoping the shadows were dark enough to place emphasis on the eyes

[vale cliff]

Use more white with the glow, and make sure to use more values!!!

Always remember, things look brighter when the surroundings are dark

I’ve noticed that your shadows are a little muddy, make them more apparent, maybe even make the shadows warmer, that way the glow stands out

[vernal hill]

@vale cliff i only made a few changes (changed the hues of the shadows) and i also added a touch of lighter blue to the glow. it’s not very noticeable (the glow changes) but this is how it’s going

[vale cliff]

Its not great sorry i did it really quickly but this is what i added to your original post

The glow of the eyes really affects everything, even shading the rest of the face

Heres a piece i drew a while ago, the flame lights up one side of the face making the rest really dark, WARM LIGHT = COLD SHADOW, COLD LIGHT = WARM SHADOW

Btw i added highlights to the hand, hair, and clothes, that way the shadows can stand out more

[vernal hill]

this ded gives me a better idea about the shadows, but i intended on having some ambient light, like something not too bright though

in that case would the glow be a bit softer since there won’t be as much light hitting it?

[vernal hill]

Nono it’s completely fine and all haha

[vale cliff]

Then I’d recommend adding a secondary lightsource, like a warm rim light on the right side, and keeping the glow of the eyes generally soft

[vernal hill]

Almost like an underglow?

also the pose in mind was for his back to the shadows, i can try finding the screenshot of the 3D model i took

okay never mind my artwork strays from it lol

[vale cliff]

In my critique of your drawing I tried doing #3 but really anything that portrays your vision works

[vernal hill]

ohhh i seee

[vernal hill]

I’m not opposed to that idea but would that make the drawing too complicated? I know i have a lot of detail with the rendering but I already have ambient light and a primary-ish light source

[vernal hill]

My goal was to have him like fall/float toward the darkest part of the background, back first, I’m not sure how to better execute such a position

I can send the sketch

@vale cliff also sorry for the late response i have family over

[brave rune]

geto approves

[vernal hill]

he’s my fav

[vale cliff]

Not at all, a simple bounce light/rim light is just a highlight thats placed on the edges of the shaded areas to contrast the main light source

[vernal hill]

I see okay I’ll do that when i get the chance :D

[vale cliff]

If i were you, I’d just focus less on the details and just the values, other than that make the arm longer

[vernal hill]

i have a sketch of what someone else made, i can show you

I tried some foreshortening but it kinda didn’t work lol

also can u explain what you mean by making it longer? Like should I change where the elbow is too?

Oh wait you drew over this lol

I’ll look more into that

[vernal hill]

does the image I sent also work? I kind of edited the arm since i received this image btw

[crystal pebble]

Sorry I was at a movie but I would definitely make the shadows you added darker 🍿

[vernal hill]

This one? This is a bit outdated but i didn’t make many more edits bc of family

[vernal hill]

Oh ur good dwdw

[crystal pebble]

Yeah and I feel like you could change the hue of the shadows to blue

And your face proportions are off if you wanna fix that

Like a purplish blue

[vale cliff]

The arm you draw in relation to the body is just far too small, so just make it larger

[vernal hill]

wait I literally adjusted it from correct to incorrect ✋💀

[vale cliff]

Only foreshorten a limb when its directly pointing at the camera

[vernal hill]

ohh got it

[vale cliff]

Ye

[vernal hill]

wait but that pic someone else sent for corrections, could that work too?

[vale cliff]

Also by the way, the skin is pinkish and red naturally, so it absorbs any warm light, and reflects cold light, if that makes any sense, i might be wrong but thats what works for me

Meaning the highlights will be mostly warm and shadows will be cold

[vernal hill]

got it some parts seem more bluish-white bc of the eyes but i could add some warm rim light right? Like around the nose?

[vale cliff]

Just the parts away from the light source

That way it contrasts, and looks less muddy

[vernal hill]

got it tysm!

also @vale cliff so sorry to repeat the question but i rlly wanna know; could i follow the guidelines in green? I’m just really scared of stretching the arm so it ends up kind of pixelated, and i don’t want it to get cut off either (i put way too much work into that 💀)

[latent elbow]

if you're scared it won't work i usually just duplicate all the layers, place all of the original layers in a folder and just do the adjustments on the duplicated layers so just in case you dont like it you can delete all the dupes and come back to the untouched and original layers

[vale cliff]

I’d recommend widening the ribcage instead, then lengthening the arm, you could also enlarge the hand

[vernal hill]

oh i did that ahaha but tysm!

[vernal hill]

oh ya I’ll def work on the hand but I’ll try elongating the arm first like you mentioned

@vale cliff is this any better?

I changed the arm, before to after

[vernal hill]

@vale cliff sorry for ping again but i made changes, still working on the hand though

[vernal hill]

@odd quail idk if i made it worse…

[odd quail]

Hm..

Maybe I can try to paint over it, to show my perspective on it? That's if I'm allowed to

[vernal hill]

Oh ya totally! I’d really appreciate that

[odd quail]

Kk

[vernal hill]

sorry a police officer just knocked bc of a wandering elderly lady

[odd quail]

I have to do it on ibs paint tho. And on my phone. Bc I don't have my iPad w me currently lol

[odd quail]

Eh? XD what

[vernal hill]

yaaaa 😭😭

i got jumpscared fr

someone called the cops bc of soem lost (actually) elderly lady cause she tried getting into a house

[odd quail]

Tf wow ok

I'm mainly using liquify because there's not much I need to draw over XD

[vernal hill]

yay! i srsly wanna finish this i keep on liquifying and i even compressed some folds :(

[odd quail]

Here's what I did (tried my best)

And here's the original

Nothing a little liquify can't fix!

[vernal hill]

got it for the shoulder tysm!!

[odd quail]

Yww

:3

I tried to make it a bit more proportional XD

[vernal hill]

yayyyy!!

also for the face, is it alr in terms of proportions? I can shift the face

*eye

Oopsies

[vernal hill]

oop in case you kinda miss the notif should the eye on the right side be shifted?

[odd quail]

Oh! Normally you can fit up two heads in the torso area (?) so I made it smaller to fit the arm and the chest lol

And the eye could be brought in a little

[vernal hill]

ohhh the head could be resized but I tried a close up (I rlly don’t wanna resize the head after allat rendering sorrysorry) could I change the upper chest instead? Like warp it to the right?

[odd quail]

Just do I what I did and liquify the head to be smaller, and being in the face proportions a bit! But otherwise, your drawing is really good (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

[vernal hill]

tysmm!!

[odd quail]

But do what you wanna do :3 I gave you some tips. So I'll be happy to see thy finished piece : D

[odd quail]

Yw :33

[vernal hill]

YES I LOVED YOUR TIPS

[odd quail]

Ywww

If you don't already, samdoesart and Ethan Becker make great art tutorials! I recommend watching them

You can find them on YouTube

[vernal hill]

I follow samdoesart on ig, but i don’t rlly watch yt, but I’ll give it a shot :D

[odd quail]

Kk :33

[odd quail]

Idk if yoi still need more help

Values can be simplified

Just make sure you values
Shadows are darker and highligjt makes it lighter how?
Just turn it grayscale

[burnt forum]

Ethan Becker mentioned 🔥🔥

[odd quail]

YEAHHHH

[vernal hill]

wait how can they be simplified? I’ll use grayscale tho

[willow quiver]

It's beautiful to see people working hard to help someone

I'm waiting for the finished drawing

[vernal hill]

I’M ALMOST DONEEEE

[vernal hill]

honestly im rlly grateful for all the advice I’ve received it’s taught me a lot

[vernal hill]

wata or no wata

[vernal hill]

should i go no water or water?

[crystal pebble]

It’s too many effects

[blazing robin]

i dont rhink that should be ur main concern

[vernal hill]

ik the composition’s kinda weird but what else could I work on?

[blazing robin]

the body itself the head is huge with the neck but the shoulders and torso are basically non existent especially for someone with gojos build he would have wider shoulders

but thats an easy mistake to make when drawing cropped drawings maybe u should first draw more of the body like uncroped u can live without drawing the legs but torso and shoulders everythinf in view and after that just change the size of the sketch

[vernal hill]

My initial goal was to keep it like portrait style (chest up) and for a more sideways view of him ahaha hang on lemme text more in a bit

[blazing robin]

i get what u mean but especially for portraits where the arms are doing something its super helpful to have more of it drawn so the shoulders are in rhe right spot

also the length of the arm is off too it feels like u were trying to squish every detail into the canvas when ur so zoomed in

[vernal hill]

THATS EXACTKY WHAT I TRIED DOING LMAOOOO

sorry had to dip I had to practice putting in contacts :(

[vernal hill]

I see, I did make changes to try and make the shoulders more visible, could you try drawing over?