Traded my glossy finish for matte and now I actually like my art again

I spent like two years doing digital portraits with a super glossy finish on everything. Skin looked wet all the time and I thought that was just how pro artists did it. Last month I decided to try a full matte textured look on a commission piece and it felt so wrong at first. The blend tool wasn't working the same and the highlights looked dull. But after about 3 days of pushing through the awkwardness I noticed the colors actually popped more without the shine. The client said it looked way more natural and asked for more pieces like that. Now I flip back and forth but I'm sticking with matte for people portraits. Has anyone else made a switch that felt terrible at first but turned out better?

3 comments

3 Comments

young.michael4d ago

Read something similar from a game texture artist who said matte finishes helped reduce visual noise in his environments. He had to completely relearn how he placed ambient light but said the final renders looked way more grounded. Sounds like that same principle applies to portraits where the skin reads as real skin instead of plastic.

the_holly3d ago

Wait, @shanec61 wouldn't matte finishes just need better ambient light placement rather than gloss to fix flatness?

shanec614d ago

Woah, I gotta disagree a bit here. Honestly I went the opposite way and started adding more gloss and shine to my portraits and it felt way more natural for me. The matte look made my skin tones look flat and chalky, like I was painting on cardboard. I think it really depends on the style you're going for and how you handle your light sources, not a one size fits all thing.