Just posted my first digital piece to ArtStation and a guy told me my lighting was 'too flat'

I spent like 6 hours on this fantasy landscape last night and thought the sunset glow looked great, but he pointed out I had no rim light on the foreground rocks. He was right though, it looked like a cardboard cutout. Anyone else get feedback that stung for a second but actually helped you see your work different?

2 comments

2 Comments

park.adam22d ago

Yeah it looked like a cardboard cutout" is a perfect way to put it. I think you're onto something real here because rim light is one of those things nobody tells you about when you're starting digital painting. I actually had a similar thing happen to me with a character portrait where someone pointed out the eyes were too symmetrical and it looked dead. At first I was annoyed but then I saw exactly what they meant and it fixed the whole piece. That kind of feedback is annoying but if you can get past the sting it usually makes you a better artist. The trick is learning to tell the difference between someone trying to help and someone just being negative. Sounds like you got the helpful kind.

anna_hill21d ago

Hang on @park.adam, I think there's another layer to this nobody's mentioning. That "cardboard cutout" look also happens when you don't push your darkest darks far enough. A lot of beginners try to keep their shadows too subtle and everything ends up looking flat. You gotta really commit to those black spots in the crevices, even if it feels wrong at first. Did you try that when you fixed your portrait or was it all about the symmetry?