need some coloring help

So I'm working on a new image, and I'm trying some different things with it. When I started it I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of what I was doing and felt pretty confident with each step. But now I step back and look at it at it's current stage and I'm not so sure. The really annoying thing is I can't really put my finger on what I'm doing wrong. Of course I did just spend 4 days in 100+ degree heat with not AC or power before I spent 4 solid hours working on this image, so maybe my brain is a bit too baked right now to see what the problem is and I'll see it in the morning.

That aside, I would like to ask for other people to check it out and provide feedback and critique on the image. The image I'm linking is a screen cap right out of Photoshop so please excuse the guide lines in there. They will not be in the final image.



Now firstly I'm doing a reverse lighting source on this piece. Unlike my prior images of Positron (which was lit primarily from behind and the sides of the image) and of Manticore (which was lit from the from of the image), this image is being lit from the bottom with the source of the light coming from his right foot. This has proven quit confusing as I'm added high lights and shading.

The second problem I'm having is the skin color. The character is question has very dark, almost black, colored skin and when I say black I don't mean like african american black I mean black as in black ink. I tried adding high lights with grays and those seemed to come out as too harsh in contrast, looking more like shades of white out then light and shadow playing across his face. Then there's the hair. His hair is supposed to white and grey, like advanced age kind of white and grey. I'm thinking if I stick with a real black for the skin color it's just going to contrast too heavily with the hair and look false.

Anyone have any feed back or suggestions?

Personally? I'd pick the colours you want for each area and then take them to the darkest, darkest tone you want. I mean DARK tones. Make that your base layer, and then highlight up from that using the light source. Looking at the previous Positron pic, what really struck me was the lack of contrast; there was lots of light and very little dark/shadow. It made it all look a bit flat.
Don't be afraid of dark and shadow, they help make an image step out of the page/screen.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

If the light source is so strong, why don't you try a more extreme-contrast look. Take the darkest areas and make them black. Like ink. Except on the hair, 'cause that'll look odd.

Be simple with what you choose to highlight. You don't have to render everything, just the areas you want attention drawn to. For example, on the face, just highlight the edge of the cheek or chin to suggest facial features. The focus of your image isn't the face anyway.

Add a secondary light source elsewhere to pop the areas farthest away from the main light source so the body doesn't fad into the background at the top. You don't have to throw detail into that either, just suggest shapes and edges.

I think the above is very good advice. One area I see that needs to be much darker is the right leg. I understand the light source is here so the shadowing should match the depth of the other leg. Even the right thigh. Based on the shadows on the left leg I would put the source under his butt. So perhaps those shadows need to be pulled back a little bit.

Lastly with the light source at the bottom his face which is already very dark is going to be in deep shadow. I think that, unless you want to leave his face in dark shadow, adding a second light source would be your best course of action. Here I would leverage your layers and do the highlight separately on each layer then add them together. To keep your focus.

full disclosure, I am no artist so take my advice with some salt.