Practice: HTB Head

Lesson by

330

Mark as Completed

Assignments 14Lesson NotesDownloads 1

Practice: HTB Head

Lesson by

Dorian Iten

in The Shading Course

330

Mark as Completed

Assignments 14Lesson NotesDownloads 1

Overview

In this project, we'll apply the "Halfway to Black" (HTB) shading method to a simple head.

Example

Steps

Download Project File – If you prefer, you can also draw your own head or build it in a 3D program like Blender. If you do, keep your design very simple! This is important. Every surface you add will create a lot of additional work when you start shading. Make sure you only use flat surfaces. Except for the eyes, which should be half-spheres.
Choose Light Direction – Make sure you have a good 1-2-3 Read. (See the lesson "7 Tools for Showing Form".) Create two light probes: one for the floor and one for the head. You can omit the cast shadow for now. We'll add it in the next assignment.
Apply HTB Shading – Create 4 variations of different local values for the floor and head. (See examples.) Don't draw reflected light or ambient occlusion yet. That's also for the next assignment! :)
Upload – Share your work.

Meet these Challenges

Draw correct perspective.
Use two different local values for the floor and head.
Make each of your four variations unique.

Duration

This project should take 1–3 hours to complete.

Common Mistakes

Undefined light type.
Decide whether your blockhead is lit with natural light (parallel light rays) or artificial light (a nearby point light source that radiates rays).
Inconsistent light directions.
Make sure you have the same light direction and 1-2-3 read on the head and the floor.
Outlines.
Don't show outlines in your final image.
Light from below.
Choosing a light direction lower than the floor will create a cast shadow of the floor onto the head.

Additional Examples

@selenitis

•

9mo

Here is mine, any feedback/critiques are welcome!

Vin

•

9mo

Here is my result, it's not easy to do in digital, but I am glad I did it! ( I am krita newbie) . A little bit confused about the value on ear and nose. I hope I did it right.

Woo Joo

•

8mo

looks great, very clean! how were you able to get rid of the outlines?

Samuel Sanjaya

•

1yr

getting a little bit confused on the cast shadow. imagining the local value on a boxy form like this is somewhat headache inducing, since I got used to seeing box like this seperated with mid and darktones directly. any feedback or critiques are welcome

Karlo H.

•

2yr

@flugmodus1

•

3yr

Thought this one was easy ... turned out i was wrong :-)

Brayden Copley

•

3yr

I have to say that as I do these I'm astonished at how much texture even very smooth paper has. In doing these quick ones I've not taken the time to island hunt and smooth everything out. I am looking forward to the refined head to see what I can do with more time and attention. Seeing all of this finally makes me understand why my shading always went too dark as a kid. Not knowing about island hunting or kneadable erasers meant that I would use too much pressure to get an even tone thus pushing things too dark, and that I only thought of erasers for removal and not refinement.

Félicia Gagnon

•

3yr

Tony Vu

•

3yr

I decided to redo the assignment. I also intend to attempt the refined part again as well. To change things up, I thought I would do a duck instead of a head. Also, I realised that 1 and 3 are really similar after I completed the assignment. I Might go back and change it up at a later date.