Painting trouble (lighting placement.)

[grovylegirl]

So for the past couple of weeks I've been drawing this one piece and I've been having trouble with light placement on the hair
here is what i had before

and after i played around with lighting

Not much light is suspose to be in the picture and the only light is coming from the water but not much of it.
Please know that this piece is now where near done so I still have things I need to work out. My shadow placement isn't bad but it does need some improvement. I juse need some help with where the light would go and i'm not find that good of refs.

Thanks for your help!.

[Down_the_Rabbithole]

If you want less light in the picture, I'd darken the values and up the contrast. If the light is coming from below, it would emphasize the fleshier parts of the face like the nose and cheeks. it would also do something to the tips of the hair. Think of what happens when you put a flashlight under your face. It doesn't have to be that intense, but you get the idea.

[MidZM]

If lighting is only coming from the water then the shadows could be more dramatic on the face depending on the amount of light produced, and highlight should be placed around the edges of the hair and the hair would be shaded from bottom to top, if the light is coming from a hole in the ceiling (Cave? Moonlight?) then lighting could still be dramatic on the face and the hair would be quite brighter on top.

But that's just my opinion

[JessJackdaw]

Hey Grovylegirl. Here's just a quick paintover to show maybe what you might want to do.

Firstly, gather a lot of reference! Don't be shy about it! If you're stuck, there are tons of stock photos just waiting to help you out. I just googled "woman face submerged in water" and got some fairly good refs. For most paintings I do, I litter my canvas with all sorts of refs.

Also, for underlighting like you want... It's a bit hard because it really often doesn't look flattering on a face because it emphasizes the eyelids and nose with heavy shadows. Hair usually gets left in the dark, but I would opt for some rim lights just to make things pop.

Lighting/Value is seriously one of the hardest things to learn next to anatomy and perspective. It'll take a good bit of practice to get more comfortable with it, and I would always suggest trying to do black and white sketches/paintings to practice lighting because it really lets you focus on the value changes.

Hope this helps!

[hades]

awww @JessJackdaw beat me to the paintover.
Great crit

[grovylegirl]

thanks so much for this! this definitely helps!

[grovylegirl]

I actually finished the piece thanks for the advice!