Some classic still life paintings have involved fruit, flowers, vases, etc. But one of the things to think through is how to arrange these items to look the best! First think through where the light will be. Then look for opportunities to overlap some items, and show shadows extending onto other objects. For more tips check out this video on still life composition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgUkdK7CZiQ
(by the way, many of his videos are helpful!)

You can use multiple light sources to get more interesting still life paintings. A strong main light can give highlights, while a secondary light from a different angle can show subtle shapes.
Difused llght can give softer shadows. You can shine a light through a sheet, or reflect it off of a survace, etc. to diffuse the light.

Since textures are so important to still life paintings you may want to try the bristle brush at times.
The bristle brush pattern works best with the brush at larger sizes.
You can drag the bristle patterns directionally to make line-like patterns. I like to use this at times for metalic textures.
You dont need texture in every area. Sometimes you can suggest texture in part of the object and the mind fills in the rest. This is especially true on edges of areas or plane changes. Shadows in particular may not reveal much texture, as not enough light gets into the area to show it.

A cast shadow is strongest right next to the object, and fades as it extends out from the object.
Shadows are also stronger in areas of occlusion, which is just a fancy way of saying an area blocked off from reflected light.

Plan the background as part of the painting. Does the object sit flush on a plane? Then be sure to make that plane make sense in perspective.
It helps to lay in a drawing or flat areas of tone to start with to get this general idea before you start getting into details and texture and find the painting doesn't work.

One of the ways I like to make my still lifes more enjoyable to do is to see what kinds micro-stories I can tell with a few simple props and the implications of their juxtaposition.
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For instance, a table with dice, a deck of cards, unpaid bills, and a pistol may tell the story of someone drowning in debt from a gambling addition and contemplating suicide, while adding a couple of printed maps to a bank could change the context to mean they're planning a robbery to pay for it.

@Lydi072 Exactly! I have multiple knives for various tasks. But I actually have this one with me so it is the one I wind up using. It fits in with all my other keys, In fact, I inadvertently took it through a security check once when I forgot to take it off the ring, and they didn't notice. Or if they did, they didn't think it was threatening enough to worry about.

@Lydi072 Is that a Ka-Bar UMC with bayonet rigging by chance? They are pretty popular.

@Smallpoly Interesting idea! (let's hope no officers are monitoring colorslive or they may wonder what items you have arranged at home!).

@tall73 They'll never take me alive!

cool! i think ill try out a still life painting sometime. Also thats a sweet little pocket knife there :p unfortunately i left mine in my pants pocket and put it into the washing machine :( now its all rusty.. (im thinking i can sand it off or something lol, fingers crossed)

@Hailsss what kind do you use? That is one reason I like having it on the key ring. I am less likely to put it in the washing machine when I have a bunch of keys.

nice!

I completely agree with everything you said, life paintings probably gave me the most skills out of anything, as you said the lighting and the shading tips you learn are huge. I highly recommend all take @tall73 advice on the matter as I have. (Recommendation) Try painting a tv while the screen is off and black with other lights in the room on, now that is fun stuff

This is incredible by the way.

my tip for anybody to start is also look at youtube find good examples, find the greatest teachings and study it :)

@madwrums Good tip! Of course, they may not know who the best are!
Do you have some suggestions?
One that I recommend, even though he does mostly traditional mediums, is Gurney: A lot of the information still carries over.
https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesGurney
https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/

And Proko has many professional artists on his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ProkoTV/videos

I reply too slow but on this topic indeed look for a style that fit your taste and also dive into that style origin, so who is the favorite artist of your favorite artist.
for example I really like Andrew Loomis books, it reminds me of Gil Elvgren style.

@Pastrys_N_Milk the dot com is alright this is my other account

man it looks so good :D

cool!

y'know, great tips and all, but where can I buy that knife :thought_balloon:

@razrdraws

https://sogknives.com/key-knife-black/

Here you go

:eyes:

i dont get why this is on featured tutorials?