Art Kurisu Makise [semi-realism]

Doing some semi-realism studies with a character from Steins Gates. I used some references for lighting the hair and face from an artist named WLOP if you're interested in looking at similar work. Hope you like this piece, it took quite some time!

Spoiler: Process Panels

I actually screwed up really bad with the eyes in the beginning of the sketch. (It was like 1 AM :P) It's actually quite funny how the eyes gradually shift towards the correct position through.

 

WLOP's famous color dodge.

 

You gotta admit, it's insanely useful :)

 

Yes, but only for a very specific type of style. I rarely ever use it, since all it's good at is at mimicking sunlight. So, it only ever works really well when you have a cool scenery covered in shadows, to give all those really beautiful and evoking light streaks, or in direct sunlight. And, WLOP's scenery always get close and personal to convey the beauty light is, which I see you also got close and personal with your subject :p WLOP's sceneries for the most part are very cool toned and shadowy, like being under a tree to cover yourself from the sun. So, the light streaks always add so much life and detail made by the contrast between warm and cool tones they create.

 

First of all, thank you so much for the feedback! I rarely ever receive such helpful constructive criticism.

I'm currently looking through WLOP's gallery to see their use of color dodge, and your point that it's mostly used for sunlight definitely stands. But I also want to point out the Adobe definition for the blending mode.

"Color Dodge Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing contrast between the two. Blending with black produces no change."

The final result produced from a color dodge is highly dependent on the color chosen, base color, and opacity. Although sunlight certainly works best with this blending mode, I feel that it can be used in other instances as well. For example, if you look at art featuring fire or something high tech, color dodge will often be used for lighting. I encourage you to try it out more if you ever do any pieces centered around artificial lighting. WLOP doesn't draw too many nighttime pieces, but color dodge can significantly bring out the contrast between darkness and the light from technology.

Also, I actually didn't use too much color dodge on this piece :p Most of the lighting is simply airbrush, curves, and some overlays. Only the hair and left cheek feature a smidge of yellow color dodge, nearly all of which is blurred.

 

That definition of Adobe is exactly why its not functional in most instances. Most natural colors are earth tones, so using color dodge will naturally blend them all to an orange hue, and the light of the sun gives an orange cast. So, if you do a skin color, and use color dodge, it will always brighten it to an orange hue. Because of that, color dodge only works when you're doing a scenery characterised by the sun.

However, just like you suggested, it works great with techno colors, since techno stuff is generated from its own power-sourced light. And, since color dodge brightens the original color, that this is why it's great at doing that neon light effect.

 

Ok, I did some brief tests in Photoshop and it turns out you were right. The first two tests are both geared towards earth tones as you mentioned, and they work relatively well. With some polish, I'm sure it could turn out great. But the last test unquestionably shows the lack of substance in color dodge shading compared to a more traditional approach. Thanks so much for the feedback and allowing me to understand this blending mode better Fox :)

 

Yes, many people that do a chibi style use color dodge because of how lively the colors look. It could be worked, and it can still look appealing, but keep in mind it will always look like sun is hitting it. So, if you're doing something semi-realistic, it has to be used for very specific type of compositions, like the ones WLOP does, where you do very monumental backgrounds so the shadowy subjects are justified, and then use light to create a unique moment and also add dimension and life to the painting.

like I suggested, a very common composition where this is applied is when doing trees and someone is sitting below it to cover themselves from the sun. So, literally abstract that logic of "covering from the sun, but the sun is still piercing through" and what you get is most of WLOP's pieces.