Drawing highlights in digital art can be a daunting task for beginners, but with some practice and knowledge, it can be a rewarding experience. When done correctly, highlights can add depth and realism to your artwork.
The most important thing to understand when it comes to adding highlights is the concept of light and dark. In traditional art, highlights are often used to suggest bright areas that are illuminated by light.
This is also true in digital art. When creating a highlight, you will want to make sure that the area you’re highlighting is lighter than the surrounding areas. This will create an illusion of light and make your artwork appear more realistic or stylized as desired.
The next step is to decide how you want to add your highlight. The two most common methods are using either an airbrush tool or a dodge and burn tool.
An airbrush tool works by spraying dots of color onto the canvas, which creates a softer gradient of color that looks more natural than a hard edge line would look. A dodge and burn tool works by darkening certain areas on the canvas while lightening other areas using different brush sizes and opacities.
Once you have chosen the method for creating your highlight, you will need to choose colors that reflect the light source you want in your artwork. Generally speaking, colors such as white, yellow, blue, pink or purple are good choices for highlights as these colors tend to reflect light more than darker colors do. It’s important to note that these colors should be subtly used so they don’t become overwhelming in your piece.
Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that highlights should look natural when applied correctly; they should not be too harsh or intense looking when compared with the rest of the artwork. Experimenting with different techniques and colors is key when learning how to draw realistic highlights in digital art!
Conclusion: Drawing highlights in digital art takes practice but can be a rewarding experience once mastered! Understanding how light works is key when adding highlights – making sure that highlighted areas are lighter than surrounding areas – as well as choosing subtle colors that reflect light properly such as white, yellow, blue or pink/purple tones will help create believable results. Experimenting with different techniques and colors is essential when learning how to draw realistic highlights!