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Instagram artist told me to stop using pure black in my shadows
I always put deep black (#000000) in all my shadow areas because I thought it made things pop. Then a digital painter with like 50k followers commented on one of my posts and said pure black kills depth. I tried switching to dark blues and purples instead, just mixing a bit of the local color into the shadow. Now my pieces actually look like they have atmosphere instead of looking flat. Has anyone else gotten advice from a popular artist that totally changed your workflow?
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sagep191mo ago
That bit about "pure black kills depth" really stuck with me too... I used to think #000000 was the shortcut to making things look dramatic. But honestly, once I swapped it for a dark ultramarine or a deep burgundy, my whole color palette woke up. Shadows aren't just darkness, they're full of the world around them reflecting back. It took me like a year to really get why telling the truth about light matters more than just cranking the contrast. That single piece of advice shifted my whole brain around painting.
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black.joel1mo ago
Doesn't that just depend on the mood you're going for though @sagep19?
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