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1 contribution to The Artist's Study Guild
Value study from photo ref, looking for a diagnosis
Study from today. Reference is a still from @jpgcoaching on IG, a fitness creator I've painted before. Rules I set: no color picking, reference on a second screen above my desk so I had to look up instead of glancing side to side. I did use multiply and color dodge to push my darks and lights, because I couldn't judge how dark the darkest darks needed to go by eye. I consider this cheating... So I'll be better.. Where I think I'm stuck: my shadows are coming out as separate shapes per muscle instead of one connected mass, so the torso reads more like an anatomy diagram than a solid form in one light. I also think I never anchored a true dark, which is pinning everything into the midtones, I'm not sure if that's because I left out the background. Is the disconnected shadow mass the main issue, or is something upstream of it causing that? Painted in Rebelle 8, first week with it.
Value study from photo ref, looking for a diagnosis
0 likes • 19d
I hope I did the posting correctly 😅
0 likes • 13d
@Melinda Hamsher Thank you Melinda, this is really helpful. The note about my darks explains something I felt while painting.. I couldn't judge by eye how dark the darkest darks needed to go, which is why I reached for multiply and color dodge. So it's a seeing problem, and the black and white reference goes right at it. My plan for this week will be an apple/orange study first, then back into this piece from a grayscale version of the reference so the values are set before I think about color. I really like the trick of putting a dab right on the print to check it. I paint digitally, so I'll set up the same check on screen. Also appreciate you saying this one isn't a wash. I'll post the result here when it's done ! 🙂
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Nox Colina
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Active 10d ago
Joined Sep 11, 2026