My gray canvas test made my color grading look totally different

I always checked my digital paintings on a white background until last week when I switched to a 50% gray canvas in Procreate to test values. The moody palette I thought was balanced turned out way too dark in the midtones, and the highlights popped in a way I never noticed before. Has anyone else tried checking their work on a neutral gray backdrop instead of white, or am I late to this trick?

1 comments

1 Comment

val_wilson23d ago

Swapped to a 50% gray canvas about a month ago for the same reason, and yeah, it totally flipped how I see my own stuff. I had this dark forest scene that I thought was pretty balanced, but on gray the whole thing just sank into mud and I had to push the shadows way brighter than felt natural. The weird part is that white was hiding all that, like it was making everything look lighter than it actually was. Now I flip between gray and white every few minutes just to make sure I'm not fooling myself.