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Before and after on a piece I worked for 6 months
I had this landscape piece sitting half finished since last December. The colors felt flat and the lighting was off, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. At some point in March I decided to just try flipping the canvas horizontally. It felt like a cheap trick, but the composition problems jumped out immediately. The tree line was leaning right and the shadows were all pointing the wrong way. I fixed those in about two hours and the whole thing came together. Then I spent another 3 months tweaking the sky gradient. Has anyone else had one small change that just unlocked everything for them?
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finley_walker574mo ago
Flipping the canvas is no cheap trick, it's a cheat code honestly. That whole "lean right" thing is so real, once you notice it you can't unsee it. The sky gradient taking 3 months is brutal but that's just how it goes with landscapes. Colors and lighting are always the last puzzle pieces to fall into place. Sometimes you gotta walk away for months just to come back and see it fresh.
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lucaslane4mo ago
Man, the "lean right" thing is brutal. I remember I spent like two weeks on a portrait once and something felt off but I could not figure out what. Flipped the canvas and the dude looked like he was about to tip over into a pothole. Felt like an idiot. The whole walking away for months thing too, I did that with a painting of my buddy's dog and when I came back I realized I had the eyes like three inches too far apart. It's wild how your brain just lies to you after staring at something too long.
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