✶ Medieval Unicorn ✶

Vogue Russia (1999)

By Arthur Elgort

Tarot Deck (part 2) by Perci Chen

I have a quick question about colouring if you dont mind! 🥺 I notice that whenever I try to render something with lots of shades and colours etc (esp if there’s dramatical lighting) everything ends up looking just,, muddy? I was wondering if that’s something you had to deal with before and if you have any advice on how to fix it? Haha thank you!!!

This definitely happened to me in my earlier years, and it sometimes still happens now if I’m not paying attention.

If something’s turning out to be muddy, I would try more clearly defining your contrasts in the image. Especially with dramatic lighting, it should be relatively simple (though not easy) to portray contrast, as opposed to something like more softer lighting/not as contrasting. Definitely check out your values (just lower saturation of the whole image till it’s in greyscale to check) from time to time while painting if you feel your image is getting muddy. Usually that’s a result of things like overrendering, not enough contrast (and contrast can come from both hue and value, not just value). So keep in mind color theory along with value, since color can definitely be a factor in muddiness. For ex, contrast in terms of color theory can be a complementary color scheme, and contrast in value is light and dark, and the intensity and degree to which you apply those is up to you :)

I also recommend simplifying your lights and darks at first, so you know where those are placed and so you don’t accidentally let them get away from you while painting. And use references too!! See how other artists paint light and dark, for example. Another tip is to paint the planes of an object before softening them, and to see if the contrast is as you wanted it to be. Think low-res polygon going to a more rounded form. Good luck! Happy painting :)

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I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

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