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Check out and Download the Step by Step and Original Practice Sheet .PSD HERE.
Artist: Tim Von Rueden (vonn)
Blood can be a simple material to execute as long as your mindful of the colors you are using, the thickness of the blood, and where you place the highlights.
For the exercise let’s break down each step and see how to apply blood in different circumstances.
- Refined Outline – Start with a clean outline and visualize how the blood will interact with the subject matter, whether it’s dripping or pooling.
- Dark Base Color – To recreate a more natural looking blood color that’s closer to an actual representation, try working with a darker, richer red to act as your foundation color.
- Add Neutral Red – On top of that base color, lay down this lighter red where the blood thins out and ignore the thicker areas.
- Light Red – You can add further emphasis where the blood is thinning out by placing this much lighter red.
- Remove Outlines/Refine – Once you remove the outline, clean up the edge and refine the details further. You want to make sure it “reads” without the lineart.
- Highlights – This step is what will really make your material “shine”. Blood can go from looking flat to having dimension with just a subtle addition of highlights. So be mindful of where you want the light source to be coming from and stay consistent. Remember that for blood highlights, you can create a great effect with adding very little!
This is a great material exercise as it can be rather simple! Just remember when working with blood, keep three things in mind:
- Work with a darker red base, a lighter red can look silly and give off the wrong material impression.
- Is the blood thinner or thicker? Thinner blood will appear lighter and thicker blood will appear darker.
- Your highlights should be minimal as they will act more effectively when they are isolated and subtle.
When you finish the exercise, remember to submit the result to the “Submissions” tab near the top of this exercise. You can see other submissions alongside your own!
