Need to Improve

[mister3d]

Looking at your work I wouldn't say the time invested did nothing, your works have many good things, and i would say they are not bad at all.
Look at lighting and shaders section, there's a free tutorial in stickies there. There are some good books on the topic also, but they are not free. Some really good are "matters of light and depth" and "light:science and magic".Also search any books on photographic lighting you can find, they have pretty similar point about lighting, so many can be good.

[kakatekoyi]

Looking at your work I wouldn't say the time invested did nothing, your works have many good things, and i would say they are not bad at all.
Look at lighting and shaders section, there's a free tutorial in stickies there. There are some good books on the topic also, but they are not free. Some really good are "matters of light and depth" and "light:science and magic".Also search any books on photographic lighting you can find, they have pretty similar point about lighting, so many can be good.

i was really not seeing any progress from the first image i put on my portfolio till my latest....kind of stuck on the same place, feel lost n going no where......if i am not mistaken, the lighting and shaders section was created for 3d user, i know those will help in some way, but i want traditional 2d tutorial about lighting and shading...

[mister3d]

if i am not mistaken, the lighting and shaders section was created for 3d user, i know those will help in some way, but i want traditional 2d tutorial about lighting and shading...

You are. Almost all principles apply to 2d. http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/indoor-light.htm
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm

Lighting a character is not much different from lighting an orange. Almost all light positions are possible, but frontal lighting (flat lighting) usually is not used for dramatic subjects.

First you need to understand that there is a contrast ratio, called key-to-fill in lighting. This determines how bright the key light in relation to the fill light. Usually they are no equal, and key light is brighter one.

Here's an example how you could vary the lighting in your pictures if you learn some simple principles. Though the subject of lighting is vast, it doesn't mean it's complex. There is a limited number of tools lighters use, and you could as well. I think you could learn from it, but if you make some simpe exercises, if you want.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9206/variant.th.jpg (http://img15.imageshack.us/my.php?image=variant.jpg)

[Lunatique]

Have you looked at the sticky threads in this forum? There are lots of tutorials linked in the sticky threads.

I'm also in the middle of finishing up the course material for a workshop I'll be teaching here at cgtalk, and it's targeted especially to people like you--artists who feel stuck and want to move up to the next level, but don't know how. I posted about the details towards the end of this thread: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=166&t=740960

[kakatekoyi]

thx, u guys been really helpful, the lighting tutorial is going to let me understand more about light, as i always think theories is the back bone of everything!!

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