I decided to work on the background shelving today, I’m still a bit sick so I chose an easy section. The square directly to the right of Pattie’s head.
I want to create an sense of distance and the one way to do that is with color and value. For landscapes things in the distance get lighter and a bit more blue but for much smaller distances there is only so much you can do with color and value before it begins to look unreal.
To solve the issue I use edges. I try to keep the edges of items in the background fairly soft. There is a figurine directly over her shoulder that is very soft and best illustrates this but I still need to find a good way to soften the edges of the bookshelf while at the same time keep the lines straight and have a feeling of structure.
On a side note I do try and introduce some blues and greens into the background items a bit more than the photo shows just to push them back a bit more.
