[Merystic]

Howdy!
I have two quick questions for the vast knowledge of all you sijuners, posting under the blind hope that I won't be maimed for asking something that might already have been discussed. I'll try and keep it brief.

First of all - Does anyone know any good exercises for getting correct value (hope that's the right term)? What I mean is, I find it somewhat difficult to get the color values to look "right on the money", especially in difficult lighting situations (like direct sunlight, sunsets, or harsh colored light, etc). If anyone knows any exercises to improve that would be great. I feel like I'm shooting an arrow in the dark when I'm picking colors.

Second - As part of a recent project, the client requested a snowy mountain landscape. I'm scared. I'm having enough trouble just finding reference pictures, much less getting up the gall to actually start painting it. I really don't do landscapes that much, so I'm not really sure any good techniques. Does anyone have any tips on how to make landscape painting, especially mountains, less painful?

Hope you can make sense of my rambling and my plights. Thanks!

[LoTekK]

i'm no expert, but i'll try to help out with your first issue... first off, do a bunch of pics in just B&W, so you get a proper feel for the values... as for teh pic itself, pick out the darkest dark in the scene, and the lightest light, and then your midtone... work from there... makes life a whole lot easier... i used to have trouble with values myself, but this drawing class i'm taking is helping out a lot (and is also where i'm getting this advice... )...

hope that helps, at least a bit...

[edited for clarity]

[ September 19, 2002: Message edited by: LoTekK ]