ramonn90

Perfect Reference for Practicing Volume - My Process Video and Brushes!

Added 2025-10-17 16:02:14 +0000 UTC

Hello there! Here are some thoughts and practical tips behind my latest practices. Subscribe to unlock process videos, files, and more!

Perfect Reference for Practicing Volume

Every once in a while I draw ears; they are a bit complex to shape and this reference not only had them in different angles but also the lighting helped comprehend its volume. I found this kind of practices very useful if you are trying to build that understanding around volume in the real world, how to build shapes with shadows and how they change depending on the perspective. Check for the reference in the Raindrop folder and give it a try.

The shako's complex little shadows

I liked this shako due to its overall shape silhouette and the amount of reflective information inside. I chose to define with lines the shadow casted by the big shapes and as for the other intricate small shadows from textures, I decided to render them with the shadow I often do, where I could use textured brushes right where the light brights the most within the textures. This way I felt I could keep that complexity without adding too much detail.

Reference looking more like my brushes than my brushes

I've not painted themes underwater, so why not give it a try to this one. I loved how the color of the swan contrasted greatly with the background and how the lake bottom looked exactly like many of my brushes, specifically "Soft Round 394 1". I thought I would have fun painting that background and I was right, even if I wanted to mess it up I think it would look just fine.

What is a kabocha? - smooth shadows = realism

I painted this squash not knowing it was a "kabocha", a Japanese type of winter squash. I struggled a bit because of the lighting in this reference; it looked like it came from two different sides and the shadow silhouette was not that clear. Eventually I chose to make the front light brighter than the one hitting the back of the squash, and added the shadow right in between both of them. I did not make the shape of the shadow sharp because I figured it would be too much information; the texture was complex enough as well as the whole squash shape. This made the render a bit more realistic but with some brush strokes it felt stylized enough.

Dogo eyes - Real challenge

Just a good dogo enjoying the view; those eyes indeed were tough to get, as you might see in the process video but eventually I managed to get them. I think the problem is that I often exaggerate a little bit the size of the eyes and this dog had small ones; this is often a struggle that should be solved in the line art, so if you find yourself not satisfied with how your painting is going, quit rendering and go back to the drawing. Since I felt the dog face was interesting enough along with the texture I chose to make the render of the door simpler, just to balance the composition.

Earth - I don't even know how I paint this

I had no idea on how to approach earth practices; at first it looks very intimidating, for the amount of details, but I really liked the mood in this picture. I chose to define the big shapes first and then move forward with the clouds as the main thing in this whole practice. With so many different variations of blue for the shadows, I chose to make them most of them with the same tone and slowly add the darker or brighter tones. This one was tedious but eventually I felt I captured some of the feeling. I should try more of this though.