That artist on Twitch said something that clicked for me

I was watching this guy named Rob draw a forest scene on stream last night, and someone asked why he always starts with a dark background. He said something like 'values first, colors second' and I had always done it the other way around. I spent like 3 hours just blocking in shadows and midtones on a piece I was working on, no color at all. It actually made the final painting way more cohesive and the lighting felt real for once. I guess I was so focused on picking pretty colors that I forgot the foundation. Has anyone else found a workflow change that totally flipped how you approach a piece?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas.cameron27d ago

Stumbled into the same thing doing figure drawing. Started doing a 10 minute value block in before I touch anything else. Just pure grey and white shapes getting the lighting right first. Used to jump straight to rendering the face or whatever caught my eye. Now I look at the whole canvas like a big puzzle and it feels way less stressful. The colors almost feel like cheating once the values are already doing the heavy lifting.

linda_murphy26d ago

The 10 minute block in completely changes how you see the whole thing. Once the dark shapes and light shapes are locked in, the details just fall into place without all that panic. It's like building a solid foundation before you start decorating, everything sits right the first time.