christopherw34•1mo agoMost Upvoted

Gallery feedback changed my color palette completely

Someone at the local digital art meetup told me my shadows were all the same temperature. Took their advice and started using cool blues instead of warm blacks for shadow layers and my portraits actually look dimensional now. Has anyone else had a single critique completely shift their workflow?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey1mo ago

Started messing with cool blues in my shadows after a similar tip and it's wild how much depth it adds... like suddenly the whole face has this soft glow instead of looking flat and muddy. Now I keep a tiny swatch of cerulean right next to my black on the palette just to remind myself to mix it in.

kim.nina1mo ago

The whole face has this soft glow instead of looking flat and muddy" YES exactly! I've noticed this pattern everywhere now that I'm paying attention. Like how the shadows under trees on a sunny day are actually kind of blue, not just darker green or brown. And that gray winter light where everything has a cool tint makes people's skin look totally different than warm golden hour light. It's the same principle with makeup, our brains just read depth better when there's a real color shift instead of just going darker. My whole palette setup shifted once I realized this, I keep a little cool lavender mix for contour now and it never goes ashy or dirty looking. Makes me wonder how many other basic rules we follow without realizing they're missing a whole dimension of color science.

ward.kim1mo ago

@west.casey that cerulean tip is solid. Switched my shadows to a muted indigo mix a few months back and it fixed that dead look around the jawline. Warm blacks just turn everything into a brown smear, especially in skin tones. The cool undertones let the highlights actually breathe. Made my noses pop in profile shots for the first time.