Why Your Composites Look Fake (And It's Not the Lighting)

The Problem That Lives in the Background I sketched out a composite last winter, a figure standing at the edge of a crumbling rooftop with a city sprawling behind her. I had the lighting dialed in, the color grade was tight, and the mood was exactly what the client wanted. But something was wrong and I couldn’t name it for two hours. I kept staring at it the way you stare at a word until it stops looking like a word.