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Experimenting with photoshop shading

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 2:56 pm
by Chimaera

Image

Practicing shading and different poses, Malygos is supposed to look like he was falling, but the pose didn't turn out quite how I wanted it to.
I'm pretty satisfied with the shading and background, though, especially the wings. =D It looks kind of messy in places, though.

What do you guys think?

Re: Experimenting with photoshop shading

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:48 pm
by Nubhorns
Very, very nice for experimenting! :) I love the hints of texture - are you using different colors on low opacity, or dodge and burn? I think this would look really nice with some purples thrown in too, just to pick up the background a bit.

All I can say is that if you want to skip the 'messy'-type texture on say, the body, don't be afraid to beef up your brush size - a bigger brush can often lead to a softer, cleaner look. And don't be afraid to get dark shadows and light highlights - a softer look is definitely appropriate for some pictures, but I think this one would benefit from some dark darks and light lights so to speak, especially considering it's nighttime in this one.

All in all a very nice job. Looks lovely. :)

Re: Experimenting with photoshop shading

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:46 pm
by Chimaera
It's actually in the Eye of Eternity, so the sky always looks like that, but I know what you mean. :)
And I was using mostly small brushes on 100% opacity, but only with darker or lighter shades of the base colours. I rarely use dodge and burn, unless I'm trying to make something really shiny-looking.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely try some of it for the next thing I do. =D

Re: Experimenting with photoshop shading

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 7:24 pm
by Sarayana
Very nice! It definitely looks like he's falling, and it brought me right back. ;)