/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>6932847
I recommend using a toned canvas as it makes seeing the values in your reference a lot easier – you can do it manually by making a mask around this particular reference, but because that's a pain in the ass, it's better to spend at least some time trying to find quality reference that has only one light source and a very clear delineation between light and shadow - so you can get more information out of the study.

I also used a levels layer to increase the contrast between the light and shadow in the reference to make it not only easier to paint, but that gives you more information to work with and thus more bang for your buck out of the study since the point is trying to study how the movement of light causes a form to change as it goes into the shadow (in other words, when you have reference that has very flat lighting, you get less information out of the study, unless if you're already a pro of course then you can just light the entire thing yourself from pure imagination, regardless of however flat the reference might be).

This is a paintover I did using only the hard round brush (with pen pressure opacity on) with no airbrush, no smudging, and no blending of any sort, also all on one layer only. It can also help to plot out the topology of the reference first so you can see the planes more distinctly which makes it easier to paint, as it is a beginner tendency to go straight into the gradients first.

Still life is quite difficult to get into, keep at it.