Inside Art with Dima
Easy
Drawing Class
Key points of Light and Shadow
Light plays a central role on how we all see the world and in drawing the use of light brings out the 3rd dimension.
Light source
A light source has a point of origin from which it travels in all directions in straight lines. Anything in its path will be illuminated on the facing surfaces.
Shadows
Shadows are cast where the light does not shine directly on a surface – where there is no light shadows are black – transitions between curved surfaces create shadow lines and half tones that grade from light to dark.
Reflected Light
Light reflects off surfaces in all directions. The reverse side of an object will be illuminated by reflections caused by surrounding surfaces. White and glossy surfaces reflect most light, dark surfaces reflect the least light, matt black can hardly reflect any.
Key Points
Highlights – focussed points of light in direct line with the source
Light – diffused bright light shining from a given direction
Shadows – darkness where light does not shine
Half tones – occur on the transitions between surfaces
Reflected light – light that bounces back off surrounding surfaces into shadows
The
drawing of a circle can be transformed to look like solid sphere by
simply applying shading based on these key points.
Examples below are
White ball on dark cloth – the shadow is deep with little reflection.
Grey ball on white surface – the shadow is less intense and reflection brighter.