TODAY'S FEATURED POST

Sketch Survivor Island

Allen Williams

I’d like to try something a little different this August on Muddy Colors and engage you in my process in a more direct way. Below, you’ll find a full page of sketches pulled straight from one of my sketchbooks. Each individual sketch is numbered so you can reference it. What I would like you to do is take a moment, look through these eight sketches, and choose the number of the one that speaks to…

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EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

Grace O’Malley, Pirate Queen

YESTERDAY’S POST

Image

Short Take: Foreground Darks

Gregory Manchess

August 6, 2025 - Recently in one of my online classes for SmArt School, a few students were having trouble creating visual interest in their compositions. The pieces lacked depth. The culprit wasn’t the design of the main elements, but the distribution of values. Generally, the students think of the background as dark, but they also wanted to put their main subject in dark clothing, and all the darks in the subject were the same darks as in the background. They initially thought the farther away from the foreground subject, the darker the background becomes. But unless they were depicting someone in a subway, or darkened room, the background can be lighter. What was necessary for them to gain depth and enhance the silhouette of the foreground subject was to slightly lighten the background color value and allow most…

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  • alexistogel on “Crasgar” Painting a Crocodile in a Suit of ArmorYou have outdone yourself this time. It is probably the best, most short step by step guide that I have ever seen.
  • Jonathan on Sketch Survivor Island8 because I love old archways and cemetery design. could be a very interesting outcome
  • James on Sketch Survivor IslandDefinitely #3!!! Love the design work on it so far and I can just see something special waiting to pop out.
  • Erik Davis-Heim on Sketch Survivor IslandCool idea for a series! I'm partial to #4
  • Charlie Franklin on Oath HammerEverybody can earn 500$+ daily... Start now making every month extra $16000-$18000 or more by just doing an easy online job from home.…
  • Charlie Franklin on Short Take: Foreground DarksEverybody can earn 500$+ daily... Start now making every month extra $16000-$18000 or more by just doing an easy online job from home.…
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