My friend told me to stop using pure black for shadows in my digital paintings, and after ignoring it for months, I finally tried it.

3 comments

3 Comments

That old rule comes from traditional oil painting where true black is rarely used. Try mixing a dark purple or a deep burnt umber for your shadows instead. It gives the color more life and depth because it still has a hue. Pure black just kills the light and makes things look flat.

anna_fox79d ago

Yeah I saw a video that said pure black doesn't exist in nature, it's always got some color to it. Makes a huge difference when you try it.

milesj703d ago

Totally agree with what perry.phoenix said about mixing colors. I tried using just black for shadows in a painting once and it looked so dead and muddy. Switched to a really dark blue mixed with a bit of brown and it was like night and day. The shadows had some depth to them instead of just looking like holes. It's one of those things you have to try to really get it. Makes you look at dark colors in a whole new way.