One critique about my lighting contrast ruined my whole style

A guy on DeviantArt told me my shadows were too flat and after watching a tutorial on rim lighting I redid an entire 6 character illustration set last week, has anyone else had a single comment completely shift their workflow?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaelcoleman11d ago

Oh man, that hits close to home. I had a buddy who does digital painting, and someone told him his colors were too muddy, just like a simple "try pulling your saturation up a bit in the highlights." He got so in his head about it that he literally spent a whole weekend redoing a commission piece from scratch with this new bright palette. It looked completely different, like a different artist made it. For a while he was super happy, but then he started getting comments from his regular fans asking where his old style went. It's wild how one little critique can just flip a switch like that, even if you're not the one who got it directly.

taylor_barnes5910d ago

Wait, did your buddy ever settle back into his old style or is he still fighting it? I've been there myself. Painted a whole series in grayscale once because someone said my colors were "garish." @michaelcoleman, sometimes the best move is to just nod at the feedback and keep going your own way. Your gut knows your style better than any random commenter. If it ain't broken, don't let one person convince you to tear it all down.