How to Draw With Dramatic Shadows

How to draw with dramatic shadows 

Spectrum art lesson 12/13/12

We will practice warm ups with:
     1. Shapes like the letter "Z" using the side of the pencil.
     2. Figure 8s keeping our fingers and wrist relaxed.
     5. Shadow bars going from dark to light to dark and back to light.
     4. Bricks in a pattern.

In this lesson we set up a table lamp on a subject so it cast strong shadows for the students to sketch. The first subject was shadows falling across the table surface at an angle. The subject matter included paper tubes which have shadows inside and shadows outside, a ball that has a round graduation of shadow, and a box that has a shadow in solid, a bowl and a few other items of interest.. The students observe how the shadow is not flat meaning there are subtle shades with lights and dark areas inside the shadow.

The second subject is complex and consists of a figurine and candlestick and other irregular shapes. The lamp is situated so the light is cast on the background against a surface, such as a wall, giving the subject a reference place in space.

The third subject has a lamp will be placed directly above some objects to case shadows below. The object will be a figurine, a ball, a wooden bowl.

Warm ups for this week 

These examples were not the ones used in class but I hope it gives an idea of what we were trying to do in drawing.

Example of Shadow From Above Lighting

Note in the example of the light from above the shadow falls directly below, seen best on the bowl, the ball is a little forward of the light and the shadow is cast forward, the box is a little to the left of the light and the shadow is tilted to the side.
Note the shadow within the shadow on the ball and the bow.
Pay attention to the reflective light.

Example of Shadow From Side lighting

In the example of the shadow from the side the shadow stretches across the table top. The shadow on the bowl is inside as well as beneath. The ball is inside the shadow of the bow. The shadow of the bowl falls across the box. The shadow of the ball and bowl has a dark "foot," the area where the bowl and table touch. The shadow of the ball stretches across the table top and gets fuzzier at the furthest edge.

Example of Shadow Against The Wall

In the example of the shadow against the wall we see many shadows. There is allot of reflected light bouncing back and forth giving shadows inside shadows. In our example the shadow against the wall is darker than the shadow on the table except for the edge where the bow sits on the table. Note the reflective shadow between the box and the bowl.

Water Color Painting With shadows.

Watercolor Painting With Shadows.

Spectrum art 2 

12/13/12

We will explore adding shadow into a picture by adding colors you might not think of.

We do not add black to make a shadow; we mix other colors to give a rich darker color or a muted color if it is desirable for the composition.

We will use a grid and practice mixing colors to add shadows. The colors in the grid will be opposite on the spectrum. This will be like a chart.

We will practice painting shadows on some basic shapes.

Example Of Shadow Chart.

To the left is an example of the exercise where we made a color chart. The color wheel on the top is a reference for the colors from the opposite side of the wheel.


In the example, we used various colors (Student's Choice), and in each consecutive box added more of the value from the opposite side of the color wheel to darken the original color. The first column started with a green box next box below added some red for darkening, and more red was added further down. The same process was repeated for the blue and the lavender.


Below is an example where a tree was painted, and the green was dabbled with some red to give shadows to the tree.

Example of using opposite color for the shadow.

(c)Adron Dozat

Art 1 How to Use Photos To Compose a Picture.

Spectrum Drawing Art 1

How to Use Photos To Compose A Picture.

12/6/12

Warm up: We begin with four quick exercises to engage the brain. 1. short lines to make a maze. 2. drops of black water like syrup, 3 wavy lines 4. swirl lines like snakes.

Quick sketch challenge:We will draw a nutcracker that I will bring to class. This drawing will be done in 5 minutes.

Lesson:
We will use magazines to find pictures for inspiration. Each student will design their drawing using the inspiration from the magazine. The important thing is to define the point of interest and compose a pleasing picture not just copying the photo. Each student must use no more than 50% of the photo in the drawing, everything else is garnered from their imagination.

Warm up illustration.

Example of warm up exercise done in Spectrum Art 1

Illustration of the Quick Sketch Challenge.

Quick Sketch 5 Minute Drawing.

(c)Adron Dozat

How To Paint Snow in Watercolor Art 2

How to paint snow in watercolor.

Art 2

This is a very simple project; it is a good introduction to painting snow for the young artists.

We will start with a demonstration of "staining." I call it staining because the young artist sometimes has trouble with the concept of a wash technique, so I say we are "staining the paper" when we mean a VERY LIGHT WASH.  We want the water about 99% clear so it is only tinted, check the value on a sample of paper towel before applying to the paper.

Using a 2b pencil, lightly sketch in the barn and tree. We draw the horizon about a third of the way up from the bottom. There is nothing more boring than a picture cut in half by a horizon.

We start with a wet sky, turn the paper upside down and holding it at a slight angle, (we do not want the color to contaminate the snow) and using ALMOST CLEAR water with just a very little blue we wash in the sky color starting at the horizon and going to the top edge of the picture. We will add a little lavender halfway up and a little violet further up. The effect is to be a sky that is darker and looks colder. We let this dry. The young artist may need a second project to occupy themselves while this part dries.

The snow is done in a similar way. We do a VERY LIGHT WASH of almost clear water but with a little blue from the sky mixture.

After the snow dries under-paint the barn a pale red and the foreground tree a pale brown. Under-painting is flat and without detail, we use the lightest color for this step. While the barn is still wet we add a little lavender for the shadow, don't overwork it, drop a little bit in, and let it go. While the barn dries we will add a few sweeps of light blue color to the snow and some lavender for the shadow under the tree.

When the barn is dry we "draw" the boards and details using the very tip of the brush and a darker red. When the tree is dry we use the same technique of using the tip of the brush to draw texture and branches with a darker brown. Some blue is added to the brown to give it the darkest area. This dark tree is a contrast to the whites in the picture, so take some time with it and draw a lot of interesting branches with your brush.

The background is done when the sky and snow is dry. Lay the brush down and roll or drag it sideways across the horizon so the color is irregularly applied. While the background is still wet dapple some darker browns at the base to look like bushes and smaller trees.

A few posts will help to break up the large white snow areas if needed.

Example used during the class of Stain technique (light wash) for snow. This stage shows under-painting.

How to paint snow in watercolor lesson for young artist. Example prepared before class.

(c)Adron Dozat