Why do my digital paintings get muddy so fast?

I start with bright colors, but by the time I'm done, everything looks brown. I've tried working on separate layers, but it still happens. Any advice on keeping colors vibrant?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_gibson451mo ago

Yeah that bright-to-brown shift is so familiar. I stopped over-mixing on the canvas so much, using fewer brush strokes and picking cleaner colors from my swatches instead of constantly blending.

ruby5041mo ago

Cleaner colors from swatches really helped me too.

grant521mo ago

Watched a friend fix this by picking new colors for shadows instead of just darkening the base tone. They stopped making mud by grabbing a fresh blue or purple from the wheel.