ok i'm starting this thread to try and impart some very basic and simple lessons that i have learned in my time pursuing graphics for games.
i know you could prolly go to another source to get this information but i thought it would be cool to have one thread that documented all the simple "tricks" that artists use to produce their graphics.
i hope other artist types step in as well because i am by no means a polished artist.
ok enough blah blah blah. here's the first tip.

when creating shadows or highlights for a surface it is always a good idea to "hue shift" and then select a darker or lighter shade. by "hue shift" i mean select a colour "across" the palette before selecting a darker or lighter value.

in the example above i might select a hue towards the red spectrum if i wanted to produce a shadow or i might go towards the yellow if i wanted a highlight. i don't really matter which way you go, the point is you are adding "colour" to your composition which always adds interest
now i reckon this could turn into a really valuable thread for you programmer types who aspire to create their own game graphics . it just depends on you artists out there. i prolly only have about 4 or 5 more so i'll really need some help here.