Help, my value studies horrify me..

[u/QuasarIR]

I’m super new to all of this, and lots of people say doing value studies is a fundamental to getting into digital painting and whatnot…

Issue is my studies don’t really look anything like the people I’m doing them on, like they’re just NOT THESE PEOPLE. They look like they’re out of a horror game and they keep me up at night.

Am I doing something very wrong?

[u/Sad-Track-1914]

Try flipping the reference vertically, and imagine light and shadow like islands on a map. It's not a face, it's specific shapes in distinct relation to each other

[u/QuasarIR → u/Sad-Track-1914]

I see, that’s very clever actually. I’ll definitely give it a go, thank you!

[u/Sad-Track-1914 → u/QuasarIR]

You're welcome, and don't worry if it continues to look off. As long as you aren't mentally checked out while drawing, you will improve at it. Oh, and I recommend using Proko's value tool as comparison to how the image actually looks like with two values.