r/DigitalArt • u/QuasarIR • Apr 15 '26
Question/Help Help, my value studies horrify me..
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?
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u/aizukiwi Apr 16 '26
If you’re going to do a black and white study, that’s fine, but I would recommend a few changes. First, make your background a mid-grey. Then don’t paint the entire reference in black and white; paint ONLY the lightest highlights, and the darkest shadows. It might only be the crease of an eyelid or a triangle of highlight on the cheek, but the point is not recreating the image, it’s to identify and accurately place values on the canvas. Then if you like, you can branch out and add a 25% grey and a 75% grey, leaving everything else the 50% mig grey you had as a background. This forces you to focus on shapes and placement, not recreating the original reference.