Monday, October 9, 2017

Integrating a Figure into the Background

BadCoyote asks: "Do you have any advice for artists struggling to match foreground characters and background elements into a seamless pic?"

Vibert
1. Overlap an element in front of the main figure. 

Sorolla
2. Be sure lighting is consistent on the figure and the background. 

Sorolla
3. Cast a shadow on the figure from some other element in the scene. 

Siemiradzki
4. Match color balance between figure and ground and vary the lighting in your scene. 

Signorini
5. Selectively soften some edges, and link some tones with the background.
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Read more on GurneyJourney:
Five Ways to Extend a Story
Repoussoir figures
Topic: Composition

2 comments:

Michael Pianta said...

Great advice! I've just recently started dealing with this problem myself, so this is a nicely timed post for me.

Luca said...

More or less in the same meaning of color balance and linking tones (points #4 and 5) , i read in Boris Vallejo's books on art techniques that he always use some color of the background in the characters too for reflected lights. When i remember to do it, i find the image seems more harmonious!