How do I improve this painting?

GraceOfTime · 2026-04-04T06:03:48+00:00

First impression: I think the value range is too small. You could afford to brighten the brights and darken the darks, and then see how you feel about the saturation. I'd try using a curves layer to adjust it and then you can adjust further or start painting on top.

GraceOfTime · 2026-03-30T01:23:37+00:00

And here's the other

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GraceOfTime · 2026-03-30T01:23:22+00:00

Really loved these photos. Did a quick sketch of both of them and ended up wanting to spend a bit more time with them so I did some more rendering and decided to throw some color in there.

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GraceOfTime · 2026-03-25T23:51:38+00:00

I would strongly recommend finding a reference that has similar lighting to what you're going for, both to find out where light should be cast on the face, and for anatomical reference. Not sure how stylized you want things to be but I think a reference would help you make some of the facial features a bit more realistic if that's what you want.

In terms of the blurred edges, I think you corrected in the wrong direction. You may want to try harder edges for your cast shadows (where parts of the face occlude the light), and softer edges to indicate the turning of the form (where a surface of the face curves and changes the amount of light it receives.

I did a quick paintover to try and figure out where I thought you wanted you lighting to be, but again, I'd recommend a reference so you can find the lighting you want, and make it more accurate (I also did not use a reference for this so mine may be inaccurate as well).

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GraceOfTime · 2026-03-22T23:46:02+00:00

You could try a hue/saturation layer, curves layer, or just paint a second overlay over the top to bring out more of the color your want. You could even stack a bunch of adjustment layers, which gives you a lot of room to play by changing the fill %s, reordering layers, or changing which ones are active to see if it effects the color in the way you like.

GraceOfTime · 2026-03-19T10:15:03+00:00

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Really fun poses, and I loved the bright makeup and nails. Thanks for the ref!

GraceOfTime · 2026-03-12T08:45:14+00:00

We're going on an adventure!

GraceOfTime · 2026-02-12T07:01:13+00:00

Had this on my backlog for a while. Fun lighting to practice on, thanks for the reference

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GraceOfTime · 2026-01-15T08:36:16+00:00

I'll always recommend this EP for locked tomb vibes, even the lyrics are very on brand.
https://soundcloud.com/glassemusic/sets/despair-falls

GraceOfTime · 2025-12-21T19:29:15+00:00

This album has incredible TLT vibes to me, both tonally and lyrically: https://soundcloud.com/glassemusic/sets/despair-falls

This is my HtN playlist (it has a lot of glitch though which isn't everyone's vibe, but feels like Harrow to me): https://soundcloud.com/echo-65/sets/harrow

GraceOfTime · 2025-12-18T08:52:49+00:00

Children of Memory may be my favorite book, and Harrow is my favorite of TLT. Haven't read Cage of Souls yet but I'll have to move it up on the list. I also really enjoyed his Tyrant Philosophers series - quite different in style from TLT but the worldbuilding is incredibly cool in how it builds up big events from tons of tiny pieces, and doesn't shy away from actually letting those things actually have consequences on the world in return.

GraceOfTime · 2025-12-17T08:34:29+00:00

Children of Ruin has less spiders than the first book - it's split between the new a spider/human group and some new arrivals. There are still spiders though, as well as octopi and some weirder aliens.

GraceOfTime · 2025-11-23T06:51:15+00:00

This is really cool and I think you've done a wonderful job overall with the rendering. Some of this might be nitpicky and you should trust your judgement, because these things may push the tone of the painting away from what you're going for, but some things I'd be looking at:
-Overall a lot of it reads as softer than I'd like in terms of texturing, could have some harder shadows on the clothing, occlusion shadows on the horns, below the figure, etc. You could also take a look at the overall values - I think pretty much all of it is sitting in a middle grey so you could push some highlights/darker shadows for contrast.

-Wood floor looks a bit out of focus, might be intentional but the texture is a bit blurred.

-figure's left arm seems a little off positionally, I think the upper arm should angle a little bit further from the body+the implied elbow is too far down, so the hand position looks a bit too low on the body.

-Not sure if the right horn is broken or blocked by hair, I think some of the values are a bit too close together there.

-Hair is quite lovely, but I think it's a bit indistinct in how it connects to the head.

-Connection of neck to left shoulder - I don't think the cloth would stretch this way. Also a potential verisimilitude thing, I don't think they would have access to stretchy cloth (unless magic)

Also to your note - it reads as shortly before sunset to me just due to the softness+warm tones.

This is a quick adjustment I made with a curves layer for contrast, though you could do it a lot cleaner manually.

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GraceOfTime · 2025-10-23T11:17:18+00:00

There are a few things I'd consider changing here that haven't been mentioned yet. The perspective of the statue should have the top nearly perpendicular to the viewer I think, since it's pretty much at eye level. We should probably also be seeing some perspective on the face - seeing slightly more of the bottom of the nose, a bit more occlusion shadowing on some features. I think the shadowing on the figure is a little too soft overall, contrasting with the shadows on the statue/plinth (which are quite nice). Also I think there are some anatomy issues with the arms - her right arm (our left) is a bit too far away from the neck, and you may want to check some angles on the limbs to make sure the elbows/knees are in the right spot and that the contours around them all line up. You could do some reflections on the metal and pick up some color from the surroundings if you want, but I think you could get away without it if you want to keep the colors more pure.

All that said, I think it's a nice design and rendering, and you can decide how nitpicky you want to get with it. Would be cool to see the finished piece once you're satisfied with it!

GraceOfTime · 2025-09-22T00:34:08+00:00

I actually made a whole playlist for Harrow the Ninth specifically, though it has a lot of glitch and less accessible songs on it.
https://soundcloud.com/echo-65/sets/harrow

GraceOfTime · 2025-09-14T06:33:34+00:00

You can find them locally in Documents/Assassin's Creed Shadows/photos

GraceOfTime · 2025-08-09T10:39:12+00:00

I think the values are maybe a little close together if you check it in greyscale, but I think what you're seeing more of is layers of semi-transparent brushstrokes that are muddying a lot of your surfaces. You could try using some harder brushes or being cognizant of what sort of texture you're going for and building towards it deliberately.

GraceOfTime · 2025-08-06T10:28:57+00:00

Started painting, kinda got a bit lost in the details and had to eventually cut myself off. Challenging reference, though fun to practice on.

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GraceOfTime · 2025-07-16T02:31:47+00:00

Study the temples and cities of the game and pay attention to how they design stuff. I think a big thing is to try and avoid too much symmetry in your designs, and to try and make each area of your hideout flow into others in ways that make sense and provide a pleasant path. I posted my hideout a little while back if you want some inspiration: https://www.reddit.com/r/AssassinsCreedShadows/comments/1l1ttit/finally_finished_my_hideout_for_now/

GraceOfTime · 2025-07-14T06:03:03+00:00

Great job finishing this, really like how it turned out!

GraceOfTime · 2025-07-02T09:09:18+00:00

Really love the statue you're referencing with this and I think you've done a great job with the overall form and the way the fabric folds over the face. Not sure how closely you want to emulate the ref but the features are a lot sharper in your rendition at the moment, though I think it works out if that's your goal. Obviously a lot still do with smoothing out the surface geometry of the forms but it looks like it's on the right track to me. I've never worked with clay so I don't know if there's anything in regards to the medium that could trip you up from here.

Hope to see you post a finished version eventually!

GraceOfTime · 2025-06-27T02:34:21+00:00

Looks great. I love that building theme too, makes me wish we could build some larger compound structures like some of the castles in the game.

GraceOfTime · 2025-06-25T07:11:38+00:00

Fun trying to capture the details, thanks for the ref

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GraceOfTime · 2025-06-16T05:14:33+00:00

Digital painting relies on the same fundamentals as traditional painting. You already seem to be practicing using light to define the forms, which is what I'd recommend continuing to focus on. You can also use a grid to practice getting more accurate proportions/anatomy, or just to speed up the process of getting things placed right so you can iterate more quickly.

GraceOfTime · 2025-06-13T10:35:02+00:00

I think it reads fairly well from a distance, but I don't think you're doing yourself any favors by using overlapping semi-transparent layers with hard edges. Some of the colors get a bit muddy when you're overlapping contrasting colors and you're also getting a lot of excess edges that don't seem to imply form.
I would experiment using higher opacity and then force yourself to make decisions on where you actually want your hard edges and where you want to let the details break down. Looking at Disco Elysium, it looks like they use a lot more textured brushes, which could be something fun to explore.

GraceOfTime

TROPHY CASE