trying to avoid the muddy "amateur" look

[LRomel]

I'm afraid this piece is at risk of getting that overly blended look that I see in a lot of art from people that are new to digital painting and whatnot. Shoud I push the saturation/contrast. I feel like everything is starting to fall in a mid-value range. something about the shading is making it look less believable. outlines/shadows in the wrong places maybe? help before it's too late!!

excuse all the arbitrary marks, I'm kind of a messy painter.

btw. im going to have reflected light, on the left, i just forget to turn the layer back on that showed reflected lighting hitting the armor

[Jaytea]

it might help to shade with a color other than black and keep your lighting consistent. He's silhouetted from the back on the left, but lit from the side on the right: I'm sure whatever's lighting him from the right will hit his shoulder/other arm too






~edit~

another thing to look out for is bold strokes--I think yours look a little on the hesitant side. Maybe try a polygonal lasso for the armor.

[LRomel]

thanks, I didn't use true black but I will see what I can do to lighten it up on the shadow side.

[Truepinkas]

Well it doesn't look 'muddy' to me, but the color range is awefully limited, like i'm looking through organge glasses or something. That grey/blue you have near one of the legs there would do wonders if used in parts of the light to dark transitions.

Also, something about the way you've set up the lighting isn't reading as a rounded form, instead it feels like an embossing or a shallow relief sculpture. don't think of him in sections, think of him in planes, then apply the lighting form those planes to all the details on them.

[CircusRobot]

Yeah, it kinda looks like you're shading every piece of armor the same regardless of where it is on the body and what light would hit it. Also, When blocking in shapes in the background try not to use the soft brush, that's what might be making it 'muddy.'

[LRomel]

yeah I need help with that! how do I get his armor to look like armor without going into too much detail too soon? I'm having a hard time showing texture and lighting at the same time without overworking it.
I'm ok with the background being that way for now, I'm using a hard round brush at 70+% on the character so I think that is helping a little bit.

[LRomel]

Originally Posted by Truepinkas

Well it doesn't look 'muddy' to me, but the color range is awefully limited, like i'm looking through organge glasses or something. That grey/blue you have near one of the legs there would do wonders if used in parts of the light to dark transitions.

Read my first post again, the layer with the reflected blue light is turned off. I don't know if two colors is enough though

[Kitpup]

Originally Posted by LRomel

Read my first post again, the layer with the reflected blue light is turned off. I don't know if two colors is enough though

Then maybe post again with the layer turned on so people can more accurately judge such a thing? It's hard to give you a complete critique without complete information. Even telling that the layer exists isn't enough because no one here knows what it looks like and thus cannot tell you if it will BE enough.

[mad_painter]

do not blend your colors keep the brush strokes it's a kind of texture and also i recomand you to paint texture or add some texture photos to your work it will pimp it

[LRomel]

Originally Posted by Kitpup

Then maybe post again with the layer turned on so people can more accurately judge such a thing? It's hard to give you a complete critique without complete information. Even telling that the layer exists isn't enough because no one here knows what it looks like and thus cannot tell you if it will BE enough.

good point. I'll work on the painting some more and update this post soon