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I was stuck on a sunset's glow for a week, but then I tried a gradient map on a separate layer set to 'color' instead of 'overlay'.
Some artists say this is a cheap trick that kills the natural light, but for me it saved a 12-hour painting and gave the clouds that perfect warm tone I was missing, so what's your take on using gradient maps for lighting?
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piper_bailey957mo ago
Honestly, use whatever tool gets the job done. I get the purist argument, that it can flatten things if you just slap it on, but like you said, it saved your painting. Sometimes you just need that quick color harmony. I've used a gradient map to fix a muddy forest scene by adding a cool blue layer for shadows, and it pulled everything together in two minutes instead of repainting for hours. If it looks good in the end, who cares how you got there.
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emery3087mo ago
Remember when everyone lost their mind over the smudge tool in digital art. Same energy. I used to painstakingly blend colors for hours until I realized the blur tool on a low setting could fix a jagged edge in ten seconds. The final piece looked cleaner, and I got to eat lunch at a normal time. Tools are just tools, and getting upset about how someone holds their hammer seems like a weird hill to die on.
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fionaw546mo ago
Right, but what even is a "real" method anymore?
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