In the digital art universe, lighting is critical to every piece. It’s a complex element that distinguishes glowing successes from dull duds. But many budding artists try to run before they can walk, trying complicated lighting techniques without understanding the basics. Meanwhile, veterans might learn the “wrong” way of lighting using inefficient workflows or imprecise tools.

To get the most consistent results, you should begin by mastering the fundamentals: shadow, highlight, ambience, reflection, color, and contrast. The core skills can teach you to manipulate light and elevate your artwork. 

Whether you’re a beginner or an established artist, a digital art lighting tutorial will support you on the road to mastery. We’ve highlighted eight learning tracks below that can take you from a lighting novice to a seasoned artist in a few easy steps.

ZBrush Image-Based Lighting

This series teaches you how to polish your final 3D renders using ZBrush’s native renderer. You’ll learn to achieve efficient and effective results by grasping render layers, material, and compositing using image-based lighting.

The tutorial set covers topics such as:

• Camera and view
• Shadow and AO settings
• Lights and materials
• Render layers and image size
• Materials and polypaint

Lighting in Photoshop

Perfect for beginners, this kit provides fundamental exercises to help digital artists practice constructing lighting in Photoshop. Starting with a sketch, the artist walks you through essential steps, such as adding local values and using various brushes to achieve a natural finish.

The kit includes the following:

• Brushes used
• Tool presets
• Photoshop file
• 1080p process video with text-based explanation

How to Light Characters

This tutorial teaches you to advance your character by creating drama and mood, leveraging different lighting techniques and tips, and avoiding common pitfalls. You can design pieces that tell a captivating story in a single image by developing lighting arrangements and value schemes within your composition.

The tutorial bundle consists of the following:

• 43-minute HD video tutorial with voiceover
• Photoshop file with 16 lighting examples
• Notes and values schemes
• JPEG composite image
• JPEG desktop wallpaper

Setting up Lights in a Painting

This walkthrough kit will demonstrate ways of streamlining your lighting setup in Photoshop so that you can understand simple approaches to lighting in your digital paintings. The videos cover basic, dramatic, and subtle lighting in addition to sketching and understanding forms.

This tutorial kit includes the following:

• 30-minute video tutorial
• Photoshop file
• Hotkeys
• Brushes used
• Tool presets

Light 'n' Color - Tutorial Pack

In this tutorial, the artist tackles the intersection of lighting and color in digital art. The learning module breaks down four lighting scenarios with the same character to illustrate the varying approaches. Each method demonstrates a new way to bring the character to life through lighting.

In this pack, you’ll receive:

• Video tutorial of the process with voiceover
• Layered Photoshop file
• Brushes used

Note: This tutorial was completed using Photoshop CC 2018 and may not be compatible with over versions.

Form Lighting, PDF Guide

If you’re overwhelmed with perfecting lighting in your digital pieces, this 24-page PDF guide simplifies the process. It covers the fundamental ingredients needed to succeed and helps you internalize the lighting logic, making the process more intuitive. This tutorial focuses on exercises for digital painting and teaches you fundamental skills such as the anatomy of light, carving form with value, qualities of light, ambient occlusion, value compression, and more.

The tutorial bundle includes the following:

• Complete set of form exercises and studies, including Carving Form and Texture Emulation, Subdividing Forms, Wireframe Coloring, and Wireframe Tracing
• Zip folder with reference images

Understanding Mood: Lighting

Setting a specific mood in your digital artwork helps narrate the piece. Whether it’s a bleak landscape or a cute character, learning to invoke different moods through lighting makes your art stand out. This tutorial will help you do just that by exploring the role lighting plays in creating moods and breaking down the multiple types of light that may affect the final piece differently.

This 14-page PDF covers the following:

• Three key lighting principles
• Four before-and-after painting examples
• 12 common mood profiles

Intro to Cinematic Lighting

If you’re a beginner or intermediate environment artist looking to master Unreal Engine 4, this tutorial is for you. This walkthrough will cover the basics of cinematic lighting in UE4, including industry tips and tricks for efficiently developing realistic lighting. In this tutorial set, you’ll learn how to navigate lighting and mobility settings, manipulate Dynamic Lighting, set up Volumetric Fog, and more.

With this tutorial bundle, you’ll receive the following:

• 43-minute video tutorial with voiceover
• 3D assets
• Textures

Illuminate your digital art universe today with Cubebrush!