Peter Mohrbacher

Israfel, Shadow of Perfect Bliss - (Value Phase)

Added 2019-03-14 20:08:38 +0000 UTC

Throwing a little sepia on top of the piece at this point always seems to make it a little extra.

When things are going smoothly, the difference between steps in my paintings feel like nothing much is changing. It's still the same drawing, it's still the same background. What's the big deal?

Where the value work pays off most for me is in the next step when I apply color (each phase of the painting for me should ideally be doing this). The sculpting and definition that gets provided at this point creates a surface for the color to wrap around. Something about defining the volumes of the figure make the color "stick" to the painting in a way that's hard to describe unless you are doing it yourself. In traditional painting, you really need to worry about whether or not your surface is prepped properly. That's less of a concern with digital painting. Unless you work with a crazy method like me, in which case you actually have problems where the colors seem to slide off the surface of the screen and pool into a muddy mess. It took me years to realize that the difference between my color process working or failing had less to do with the colors and more to do with the values.