[snaplekap]

I was just curious as to how all of you shade your pictures, I'm a complete newbie so currently i usually only use dodge and burn tool, unfortunately they don't give me enough control so I have started trying to select darker or lighter colors and shading that way. I just wanted to know how talented people shade their pictures...

[Flinthawk]

You're on the right track, seems you've learned that Dodge/Burn isn't the best way earlier than I did. Most of the best will do just what you're doing which is picking the lighter and darker colors and painting them in. You'll learn more that way and your stuff will better because of it.

[opticillusion]

After that you can start thinking about radiosity, how light bounces around onto other objects and so on. So start to think about light sources and what color they're casting, and how materials react to light. A red apple on a wooden table for example. You can do the lights and darks of the apple, and the shadow the apple casts on the table. But the brownish hue of the table will bounce a bit of light onto the bottom of the apple, as will the apple shine a bit of reflected red on the table.

[nova]

i start with a midtone.. for shading go to the color picker and go diagonally right-down from that shade. makes it darker and more saturated. for highlights, i set the color to the original midtone and change the paint mode to 'screen', painting on a midtone. later on, i go to a normal mode and sample color from a highlighted color spot derived from the screen mode, vice versa with shadow.

hm. i probably didn't help much being so confusing



------------------
-nova

[Anthony]

Well, sometimes I work dark to light. Sometimes I work light to dark. And sometimes I work from the middle out. Whatever tickles my fancy at the time.

------------------
-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

[Danny]

Snaplekap, you should think of Dodge/Burn as an addition to your tool set. Not as the primary tool, nor as a non-consideration. Don't cut it out of the loop entirely. Set up your shading by using more traditional tools such as paintbrush or even airbrush if you prefer.
I find that dodge/burn are excellent tools for making adjustments after I've done the shading.


------------------
[email protected]

Trust in Trance

[Goddess Dezi]

geez I feel dumb. I always thought dodge/burn worked the best there must be somthing I am missing.....hmmm....

[IntenZ]

Hey all!
I new here, if you didn't notice

I found that the doge burn tool usually screws up the color, especially with skin or more yellowish colors. it doesn't make them shaded, it makes them orange

[Danny]

Intenz, it depends on the colour you're trying to manipulate, but play around with the settings both dodge and burn offers. You can let it work in shadows, midtones and highlights mode. Each will affect the colour diffirently. For dodge, highlight mode will lighten your colours with a very high amount of saturation, while shadow mode will lighten your colours with a very dull desaturated hue. Midtones mode will be somewhere in between. For the Burn tool this is exactly the other way around. Highlight mode causes desaturated darkening, while shadows mode create very saturated darkening.
Use these diffirent settings to get the effect you're after. Also adjust your Exposure % accordingly. Higher amounts if you're trying to manipulate a brightcolour in shadow mode and lower % for medium in medium for instance.
Hope this makes some sense. But keep in mind to not become too dependant on these tools. They can become a crutch and it'll show in your work.

------------------
[email protected]

Trust in Trance

[LordArioch]

I agree, especially with metallic surfaces, a little judicious use of dodge and burn can add a nice final touch. But I certainly wouldn't use it as a main shading tool; the brush and airbrush are better suited for that.

[topeira]

i almost do not use dodge and burn anymore. it's less proffesional and less effective. i still use these tools to create other effects usually after i finish shading. i usually use the airbrush set to darker colors to shade certain colors and set it to "multiply" and to lighten stuff i also use the airbrush but set on "screen". the "screen" option let's u peek the color of the lightning and use it over areas that are already lit but only in plane white color.