Step by step

Page 5

Applying it to the picture

Now that you have mentally identified the dark , the bright, the not-so-dark and the not-so-bright regions, all that is left is to apply it to the picture. Since a darker shade of red is maroon and black remains black anyway, just apply the colors to the apple and you have a near-to-real image already!

Blending the dark and the bright

Now this is the tricky part... how to blend smoothly. There are different methods for different tools that you use....

- For pencil shading: Dry you index finger and rub it on the areas where you want it to blend... if you don't fancy getting your finger dirtied you can always use a piece of rough paper to do the job. All you gotta do is to rub it smoothly on the 'to-be-blended' regions and leave the rest to friction!

- For water colors or paints: Suppose the one on the left is black and the one on the right is red....you want to blend the two right? Take your brush, and remove most traces of water from it. But nevertheless, it has to be a bit moist. Then slowly reach the intersection point of the black and red and start brushing the colors...remember that your brush should never contain too much water or else this won't work. And one more important thing is that there should be a reasonbly thick layer of paint at the intersection, or else, the colorless brush will just wipe it clean!

- For people who use Adobe-Photoshop: Use the tool called the 'Smudge' tool to do the job. It's too simple in this software.

The result? Well here's mine:

Finishing touches

Finishing touches are what make a painting complete. In the case of the apple, you can take the glossy surface of the apple as the finishing touch to your painting. Notice the two white patches on the apple below... they do make it all the more realistic, don't they? For this, a speck of white paint and a bit of blending shoud do the trick.

Also notice the placement of the shadow. Since I wanted my source to be near your left ear, then the shadow should be where it is right now, shouldn't it?

Conclusion

Voila! Ze apple is ready, monseiur!

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