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LESSON NOTES
Moving on to a more advanced curved form, we see how the core shadow determines the viewer's understanding of an object's volume. Even if you keep the silhouette the same, modifying the core shadow completely changes the interior shape of the form.
DOWNLOADS
Secrets of Shading - Part 4 - Light on Complex Organic Shapes.mp4
3 GB
ASSIGNMENTS
What do you mean by compressing the light? Does't Lambert's law compresses the shadows...?
This is great! Is there an explanation of how to illustrate the volume of the lit surface area along the top of a form? In a case where you want to identify a sculptural detail of the surface that is being described.
I confess that I found it really difficult to visualise what the shape would be from the outline. I struggled to get the forms to sit together in a natural way….any advice?
I found interesting the little details at the end of the tail. Maybe the photo itself looks a bit over saturated.
Wanted to give it a try. I used a lead holder mechanical pencil with 2B (personal preference). I needed extra reference, so mocked up this shape in Blender to see if I was getting the lighting behavior right. Don't know if that's cheating, but I'd prefer that to just imagining it and hoping for the best.
Also, I have trouble with figuring out how dark is "too dark". Is it dark in reference to everything else in the picture? I know not to make the terminator pitch black, as that'll make it flat as Wisconsin. But is this too dark or too light?
I would recommend researching the halfway to black rule. It essentially states that if you take a 10-step value scale where 0=white and 10= black the value of the core shadow and cast shadow (vs) is equal to half of 10-the true value of the object (tv) add the true value of the object.
so
vs=(10-tv)/2+tv
so for example imagine the true value of a hypothetical object is 0, meaning that the object is white.
tv=0
vs=(10-tv)/2 +tv
vs=(10-0/2+0
vs=5
so the value of the shadow will be 5, which is a 50% grey.
Here is a diagram I drew to illustrate this.
The true value of an object is the value of that object found at the passive highlight.
My attempt at this assignment and a render study of two balls with different materials.
I was rewatching the video and decided to try it out. Drew a reference (sorta bulging crescent shape) below.
Used a combination of random mechanical pencils lying around (not artist mechanical pencils) for the outline, and a Prismacolor 6B pencil for the shading (as well as a tiny bit of erasing, using a Tombow mechanical eraser and a gum eraser I ripped a chunk off of).
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4yr
Nice, I think the side view and the 3/4 view schematic generally agree with each other- good job. Your shading in the shadow areas looks a bit patchy, try to go a bit slower next time and fill in gaps more evenly- this makes it easier to assess the true value of the shadow for yourself and keep value differences in the shadow area very subtle. Right now your reflected lights jump up in value too much. Don't do it as fast as I do it int he video- I need to rush to make it watchable in real time, you should go a bit slower with laying in shadow areas.
maybe I missed something, but I don’t understand why is the shadow casting here, if the light comes straight from the top.
I remember asking myself the same question. It is possible if you have a recess
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4yr
It wouldn't be! But pure top light is rarely useful, it looks unnatural. See Hawaii at high noon:
https://external-preview.redd.it/nouDqKHfUB0m9pc0m_QOMbBO6BzfHP0D639IyDfe-RE.jpg?auto=webp&s=d0ad73bc7aedf9032b0f218c0e8fe403fa89c5da
I always imagine the light is a bit off to one side or coming from behind so that I can add cast shadows that explain the form. Cast shadows have more wiggle room than form shadows- they should be edited and invented to do a job instead of being confusingly accurate. See this clip from Stan at about 5min 50sec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3WmrWUEIJo
Tried applying the lesson to a similar shape - changed it some to see whether I understood the concepts. All feedback is welcome.
Hi Denis, it looks really good. If you had a quick sketch of this shape with contour lines similar to what Steven had in the video then it would be clear if the shading is correct.
For example, if the shape is meant to be rounded on top then the bit in the middle looks flat to me since there is a sharp edge between the light and dark.
Otherwise it reads well as an organic shape so good job.
