Painting Vivid Glow Effects (Patreon)

So you've already figured out the basics of painting a glowing object, but how can we boost your workflow?

Here are 3 simple methods:

1. Add some simple VFX around the object. I like to take a soft brush or a brush with one hard side + one soft side to add a subtle burst from the center of the mushroom. Don't be afraid of using the hell out of blending modes like Color Dodge in this step!

2. Hue variation breathes life into... well... pretty much anything. If you're lacking this, don't feel like you have to repaint an aspect of your painting. I recommend relying on Gradient Map layers to really easily mix up the colors in your work. You can use Clipping Masks to make the Gradient Map only apply to certain layers!

3. Subtle details in the object's surface provide some extra information to make it feel more specific and interesting. They don't have to be super complex in order to add some visual interest!