HOW DO I COLOR

[orchid beacon]

i dont know how do i get better at coloring, i did value studies bweteen black and dark but that dosent help me at all, maybe the lighting i chose is too hard??? any help

[orchid beacon]

boost

[bright swift]

This is so funny I have this guy saved on one of my Pinterest boards

Ok but

I see you starting with a base color, which is good. I think what is making you feel bad has a lot to with the colors you chose to highlight and shade with. (should almost never be pure white on human skin). I would also choose a darker color for your shadows.

Besides that, the crux of color in this situation is entirely how you are communicating form. What I mean is that in this instance I think you mean less color and more how to shade an highlight?

In that case, my best piece of advice is a bit of a general nugget of wisdom. Stop thinking of coloring as adding color to your drawing. Use color to communicate where light is coming from instead. You aren't just adding color to look good, you are adding color to make something look CORRECT. Make sense? It's a lot about mentality.

...You can also try doing everything in really rough black and white to find out where your colors should go. Like a sketch layer, but for color!

[orchid beacon]

that actually makes a lot of sense

ty

[acoustic walrus]

One thing that stood out to me immediately is make your background color the same as the reference.

Background colors matters. I think it's great that you started out with a grey background but you have to slowly add in that BG color or add it immediately at the start. BG colors will affect how 'bright' or 'dark' the colors on the subject will be, it matters alot especially in a study like this, because without it the colors won't 'look right'.

From there it's only a matter of getting the value close to the reference, you do this by simply observing and making changes.

Values matters most. You can make color changes, you can even make the skin blue but as long as the values match up you'll be fine. Most of coloring is just value.

So don't even think about colors, it doesn't matter that much, just think about whether or not an area should be 'darker' or 'lighter'

Other than that I think this is a very good attempt so far. You matched up the sketch to the reference almost perfectly.

Now it's just a matter of not being afraid of adding shadows and such like in the reference and making mistakes. Let go of being afraid, this study is not your magnum opus, don't put too much pressure on yourself, that's genuinely the key.

[crude fern]

With lighter skin tones highlights are brighter and have a bright blue tint. as you go deeper in shadow don't forget to saturate with deep reds and greens. Lighter skin tones reveal blue veins easier on the surface of the skin as well

[orchid beacon]

thannks for your advice, ill try and you said cause most of the time i am hesistant to makemistakes s