Direct Light – Lighting in which the light goes straight from the source to the lit object. An example is a light bulb or the sun.
Compare that to indirect lighting, which is when there is no single direct light source. The object is lit by scattered or bounce light. For example on a cloudy day when the sun is covered by clouds, its rays are scattered and everything is lit indirectly.
All forms, when lit with direct light have the same elements – highlight, halftone, core shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow. It’s an essential skill to be able to quickly identify each element on a given object and to execute each accurately.
A. Highlight
B. Halftone
C. Core Shadow
D. Reflected Light
E. Cast Shadow
Can I please ask: The part of the cube above that you identify as “core shadow” – that seems a surprising idea to me and not something I’d noticed until now. I shall look more closely from now on, but is this part C you label derived from teaching theory or from direct observation?
True that these are fairly rough pencil studies, but to me the idea of darkening on the edge of a plane like that – where the effects of simultaneous brightness contrast are at their greatest – feel counter-intuitive.
Alan,
Thanks for the great question. Core shadows can be seen from observation. A cube is is tough though… If it’s a perfect cube with perfectly sharp edges, there will be no core shadow. But in reality, you will rarely see a perfectly sharp edge like this. Most have a slight roundness to them which can create a very thin “core shadow”.
Hmm… so could we agree then that for all practical purposes, a cube is one form that effectively doesn’t have a “core shadow”? If it’s too small to be represented, and if we can accept that there are no perfect (Platonic?) forms in nature, then in this case the theory helps us none.
One area I always find difficult to think about is where these solids touch the supporting surface. The tiny but important shadow where the base of the shape – again with no perfect corner – touches another surface, leaves a shadow. If one accepts the need for softer edges, dealing then with this shadow is something I find problematic.
Any tips or suggestions?
agreed.
As for the very thin cast shadow, details like this can be stylized to fit the needs of your drawing. My approach would be to vary the line weight or indicate only a portion of this shadow. Maybe show only the center of the shadow and gradate out towards the sides.
I am thrilled to find your site. I’ve really wanted an explicit drawing book. I’m going to go through each part and try to follow your instructions.
THANKS!
im starting to learn can you please tell me whet pencil is use for this illustration?
Junior – I used a Conte 1710 B on SMOOTH newsprint.
Thank you for allowing me on your site. I knew there had to be a link between drawing a pencil portait and angles. I have been so incredibly excited to start drawing pictures of my three grandchildren. It has been five years of trying to get it right so I am hoping this will be a new beginning. Thank you Jackie M
Hi,
Please let me ask one question.
In case you have eg. a orange and consider the temperature, do yout think the highlight is cooler or warmer as the local color/ halftone?
Thank you in advance foryour time,
Karl
depends on the temperature of the light source. The highlight is simply a reflection of the light source.
Proko I think you forgot the center light!
But it’s amazing nonetheless
Realmente e quedado muy impresionado con todo lo que enseña,me han gustado todos sus tutoriales,ya que son una gran ayuda para uno que,agustado del arte y la pintura,aunque en el tema de pintar no tengo mucha experiencia,voy a probar mas adelante….Pero en el tema del RETRATO que llevo un buen tiempo..me han servido sus tutoriales y me he dado cuenta que durante muchos años estaba en el camino equivocado…Ahora miro mis DIBUJOS….y veo que solo estaba haciendo solo MONITOS…sin ninguna TECNICA VERDADERA…Asi que desde ya estoy sumamente agradecido de encontrar sus TUTORIALES…MuCHAS GRACIAS AMIGO…STANPROKOPENKO…dede ya su amigo..Rigoberto..DE CHILE…
Hi Stan
Could you consider making this post about direct light into a video. I teach art and your videos are AMAZING. I show them to my students and it really helps.
Love your site.
Kelly (Your Canadian Friend)
Hi Proko, I want to learn Direct lighting for shading my figure drawing. I want to know that did you include it in your new figure drawing fundamentals course or should I pick the Portrait dvd ? But remember, I want to shade figure. Please guide me. Thanks.
Johney, the last lesson of the figure fundamentals series will be taking a figure drawing from start to a complete rendering. And I will use direct light in that video. I will definitely cover shading and lighting in that lesson. Portrait Fundamentals also has the two demos of ‘nicolai’ and ‘morgan’ which show how to render.
btw, if you haven’t seen my videos about the basic elements and shading, they are available for free:
http://www.proko.com/basic-elements-shape-value-color-edge/
http://www.proko.com/shading-light-and-form-basics/
They don’t have example drawings, but they do have the theory. For the examples you’d need to see the portrait or figure fundamentals final demonstrations.