Most scenes in a game are seen at the wrong time of day. The artist paints noon, and the player arrives at dusk.
Start flat
Draw the scene in flat, mid-value colour first, with no shadows at all. If it reads flat, it'll read lit.
Four keys
Each key is three decisions: where the light comes from, what colour it is and what colour the shadows lean towards. Dawn leans pink, noon leans blue, dusk leans purple and night leans deep blue with warm pools.
The mistake
For years I darkened shadows by adding black. Shift the hue instead. Your shadows will stop looking dirty overnight.
