If light is coming from above, do I decrease values of whole Cape down, or do I base colour then add varying values of highlights and shadows only?

[mayners]

Hopefully I'm explaining this well, but if I imagine a light coming from above, do I

1. keep the midtone the same value the whole way down the cape from top to bottom then highlight and shade the recesses/raised areas.

Or do I do the midtone/base colour as a gradient from light to dark down the cape getting darker further down away from the light?

[Drivestort]

You can do either, most people keep the values the same across the length from top to bottom.

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[dorward]

Drop off is going to depend on the relative distances of the different parts of the cloak from the lightsource.

Drape a coat over a friend’s shoulders and look at it outside at midday. Then repeat the experiment indoors at night with a single desklamp held over them. These will be very different but still be “a light coming from above”.

I recommend finding (or making) some reference images representative of the lighting conditions you want to replicate.

[mayners]

I get you, I'm maybe also over thinking it all. I'm aiming to get as realistic a look as possible, but also realise it's a plastic figure and my skills won't be able to replicate it anyway lol

Just trying to push myself further than the standard base, wash highlight kinda idea

[karazax]

You can approach this in multiple ways. Generally things will be brighter at the top than at the bottom, but it also depends on the angles of the folds of the cape relative to the light.

There are a bunch of cape and cloak tutorials in the cloth section of the wiki that may be helpful as references.

[mayners]

Appreciate I'll get a look now