Most art schools and drawing courses teach you how to draw shadows first. Building and drawing such primitive figures as a cylinder, a ball, a cone, a cube is a rather tedious and uninteresting business. However, it is precisely such tasks that are the first step towards understanding the shape and volume of a geometric shape, as well as the ability to depict its dark and light sides - that is, the ability to draw shadows with a pencil in stages. In further artistic practice, the ability to correctly feel the dark and light sides will be a good help in any drawing.
If you want to make the study visual and realistic, you need to give it volume. In this article we will tell you how to draw shadows with a pencil correctly.
Light and shadow
Drawings should be realistic and pleasing to the eye. Therefore, it is necessary to correctly combine light and shadow in them. This will give the drawings contrast, depth and a sense of movement. shadows to make the drawings look more lively, attractive and interesting?
A bit of theory
Have you ever thought about what allows us to see the shape of objects? Let's reveal a secret: this is a collision of light and shadow. If we put an object on a table in a windowless room and turn off the light, we won't see any form. If we illuminate the object with a very bright lamp or spotlight, then, again, we will not see its shape. It allows you to see only the light that collides with the shadow.
Neither light nor shadow falls on objects at random. There are certain patterns. They allow us to assume how the light will be located on the object, on its forms, and where the shadow will begin. And a drawing person needs to know these patterns.
Elements of chiaroscuro
In drawing, the following elements of chiaroscuro are distinguished: glare, light, penumbra, own shadow, reflex and falling shadow. Let's consider each of them in order.
glare called a spot of light, which is located on a convex or flat glossy surface and is obtained due to the strong illumination of the object.
Light are the surfaces of the object that are brightly illuminated.
Penumbra called a faint shadow. It occurs if the object is illuminated not by one, but by several light sources. In addition, it forms on surfaces that face at a slight angle to the light source.
Shadow- These are those parts of the subject that are poorly lit. A falling shadow is one that an object casts on the plane on which it stands. And his own - the one that is on the unlit side of it.
Reflex is called a weak light spot, which is located in the region of the shadow. It is formed by rays that are reflected from other objects nearby.
The image of these light gradations allows the artist to visually depict the shape of an object on a sheet, convey its volume and degree of illumination.
Do these rules work for computer graphics?
Yes. Computer graphics is the same drawing. Therefore, how to draw shadows in AIS or Photoshop is no different from depicting them on paper. All the theory and all the rules that work for an image on canvas or paper are also valid for a computer.
Step 1: Choosing the Right Materials
How to draw shadows with a pencil? First of all, you need to choose the right pencil. Of course, you can draw shadows with charcoal, sanguine, gouache, and acrylic. But at first it is better to limit yourself to a pencil.
For shadows, special drawing pencils are used. They are sold in sets. A budget option can be found at any office supply store. There is also a special paper for drawing: it is better to choose a thicker and stiffer one.
There are many varieties of drawing pencils. There are soft (M, 2M, 3M, ..., 8M, 9M) leads, and there are hard ones (T, 2T, 3T, ..., 8T, 9T). In the sets of foreign manufacturers, M is replaced by B, and T is replaced by H.
For the image of shadows, a set of 3T, 2T, T, TM, M, 2M and 3M will be enough for you. For the image of light, it is better to use hard pencils, and for shadows - soft ones. So the drawing will look more natural and it will be easier to draw it.
Let's talk about paper. Too smooth sheets, those on which we print, are not suitable for drawing. Do not use too hard paper. It will be difficult to draw shadows on it. It is best to use special drawing sheets, which are sold in a folder in stationery stores. How to draw shadows correctly? First of all, get the right materials.
Step Two: Line Sketch
How to draw shadows in a drawing? First of all, make a line sketch of what you want to draw. It is advisable to do this from nature, but you can also use a photograph of the object. The most important thing is that the object you have chosen is still. In this case, you will have a lot of time to draw it.
Take a close look at your home environment. You can draw flowers, clocks, kitchen utensils, clothes. All of these are excellent subjects for sketching.
If you are using a photograph, it is better to print it in black and white. So you will be able to more accurately depict the outline and shadows.
Step 3: Achromatic Colors
How to draw shadows? When working with a pencil at your disposal, they all start with white and end with black, having several shades of gray in the middle.
How to create an achromatic scale? Draw a rectangle: this can be done on a separate sheet of paper or in the corner of your drawing. Divide this rectangle into five equal parts (you can have more, but 5 will be enough to start), then number them.
The very first square will be white, and the last one will be black. The parts between them need to be painted over with three different shades of gray, dividing them by tone. As a result, you will have something like the palette of your pencil: the first rectangle is white, the second is light gray, the third is medium gray, the fourth is dark gray and the last is the darkest tone that a pencil can give.
Step 4: Shadow Theory
How to draw shadows? To do this, you need to understand their nature.
Find the main light source. Observe that the lightest ones are often closest to the light, the dark ones are further away, and the shadows fall against it. Particular attention should be paid to reflections, as they can be the brightest point of the object selected for drawing.
Step 5: Choosing a Hatching Method
How to draw shadows? With hatching. It is superimposed over
Choose the way in which you will stroke the sketch, depending on the object itself, the light source and there are many types of hatching shadows, and the most popular of them are straight, circular and cross.
Straight line is the drawing of many parallel lines as close to each other as possible. This method is great for objects without texture and for drawing hair.
For circular hatching, you need to draw many small circles. With this hatching, you can create an interesting texture by scattering circles and supplementing them with lines. In addition, you can more clearly show the density of the object you are depicting by placing the circles close to each other.
Shading objects by drawing intersecting lines is cross hatching. This method is great for adding depth to a drawing.
Step 6: Pen Test
Try to make shadows. Since your drawing is still at the initial stage, you should not make them too dark. So you can easily erase them if necessary. Draw, gradually filling in the places that you need, and leave the lightest places white.
As you draw, compare your work to the object or photograph to make sure you're applying the shadows in the right place.
Step 7: Patience and Step by Step Work
Add shadows in several layers. They need to be gradually darkened, applying layer by layer. There should be a noticeable contrast between dark and light places. Remember to use the achromatic scale: the drawing should not be in the same gray tones.
There is no need to hurry. The process of shading the shadows is similar to the development of a black and white film: it should occur gradually. Patience is your key to success and beautiful drawings.
The more you deepen the shadows in the drawing, the less noticeable its contours will become. And rightly so, because in real life almost nothing has a black outline. The same should be reflected in your drawing.
Step 8: Blending the Shadows
Now blend out the shadows on your drawing. It is necessary to make them more realistic and smooth. You need to control the pressure so that it is not too strong and too weak. Blend until you are satisfied with the result.
If you do not have shading, you can use a small piece of paper. The eraser will help you brighten those places that you blurred by accident. It can be a highlight, or an outline that is not completely hidden under the hatching layer.
Most importantly, remember that most drawing people, including the most famous artists, made mistakes at the initial stage of their creative path.
- Between your hand and the paper you are drawing on, you can put a blank sheet of paper for printing: this way you will avoid spots on the drawing.
- In order not to dirty the sketch and correct errors, it is better to use a vinyl eraser. Erasers made of this material do not spoil the paper and erase pencil marks well.
- Don't use your finger to smudge the strokes.
- To make the difference between light and shadow more noticeable, you need to use good lighting.
- It is better to hold the pencil at a smaller angle to the plane of the paper in order to draw with the side of the stylus, and not with its tip. So the shadows will turn out more natural.
To prevent the drawn vector object from appearing flat, shadows and highlights are added to it. The techniques described in the lesson will help you draw a shadow and give volume to your vector drawing.
Shadows are usually located inside the subject and go along the edge, so it will be convenient to use the " Creating Shapes(Shift+M)" to cut off the excess or create a new shape based on two existing ones.
To do this, draw two offset circles as shown in the image below. Or other necessary figures. It is important to remember that when drawing a shadow, the main thing is to correctly draw a line inside the object and close it, everything outside will be cut off. Select both items. And grab the Shape Builder tool. Hold down the ALT key, click on the extra area and it will be removed.
If you want to make the drawing more beautiful, create a second shadow outline next to the first. The second shadow will be lighter than the first and this will add volume. After all, the more details are drawn, the more beautiful the drawing.
The color of the shadow and highlight should be, respectively, slightly darker and lighter than the main color of the subject. There are two ways to change the color:
- Double-click on the color swatch to drag the pointer up or down.
- Leave the color the same. But change the blend mode. For shadows, "Multiply" is suitable, and for the illuminated part of the subject, "Lightening".
The second method should be used with caution, as any effects may not read correctly in earlier versions. And for, it is better to avoid such tricks altogether and change only the color.
It also has a good volume effect. This tool allows you to "stretch" the mesh on the shape and paint each of the links in a separate color. With the help of a mesh gradient, you can not only create shadows and highlights, but also add photorealism to a vector drawing.
Other Ways to Draw a Shadow
In addition, beautiful shadows are obtained thanks to the Gradient tool. If you put black on both sides and change the transparency value from zero to 50%, a beautiful shadow with a smooth flow will come out. Combined with the Multiply blend mode, it will look very realistic, even against a colored background.
For example, an ellipse with a radial shadow is drawn under the ball, which also had to be changed to the shape of an oval. This shadow looks very realistic.
Below is another example of such a shadow. The collar of the shirt stands out a little thanks to the linear gradient with the lowest opacity values.
The folds on the clothes or the shadows are not the correct shape, therefore, the Pencil tool is suitable for drawing.
Often, the shadows are located along the edge of the clothes so that they do not look outside, we will cut off the excess with the "Creating Shapes" tool described above.
A real example of working with shadows can be seen in the lesson.
Video tutorial: Draw shadows and highlights in Adobe Illustrator.
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Making a shape shadow effect in CorelDRAW X6
Created in: Adobe Photoshop
Let's be honest, drawing a face is not easy, especially if you have no experience! It's not the same as painting landscapes, where it doesn't matter if the tree is shifted sideways by a centimeter, or if it has changed its shape. When you draw a realistic face, everything must be in its place, otherwise it will turn out to be ridiculous. And not only that, each part of the face has its own unique anatomy, which must be taken into account - at least as a basis on which you can then build something!
In this tutorial I will show you how to draw eyes. I hope that this lesson will be useful not only for beginners, but also for those who have been in the field of drawing for a long time, but will be happy to learn something new and develop their skills even more - or maybe just try something new .
INTRODUCTION
They say the eyes are the window to the soul and without a doubt they are the most expressive part of the face. I heard that if you draw the eyes correctly, then you are halfway to a good portrait, and this is somewhat true. The eyes are also often the element of the face that makes a portrait look lifeless, and this usually happens when the artist doesn't fully consider their anatomy.
So, before we start drawing realistic eyes, let's look at a line drawing showing what an eye looks like in reality. Of course, the eyes come in different shapes and sizes, but the general shape will always be the same. The eyeball is called so for a reason - it has a spherical shape, and its lines are visible even when we do not see the entire eyeball. If you look from the side, it becomes even more obvious. Further, in the inner corner of the eye is the lacrimal canal, and, of course, the upper and lower eyelids. Omission of any of these details leads to an inadequate result!
To achieve a more complete picture, I will show you how to draw an eye in two perspectives - a front view and a ¾ turn, because. these two perspectives are most often found in portraits.
SO, LET'S BEGIN!
To begin with, open a new file and choose a skin color for the background fill - something in between, not too bright and not too dark. Add a new layer and make a sketch of the eye, not forgetting all the little things that were mentioned above. Our light source will be on the right, so we can now add its reflection to the sketch.
First of all, let's give shape to the adjacent area of the eye. You can paint directly on the background, or (the most convenient option when creating a realistic portrait) just add a new layer below the sketch layer and paint on it. Select a standard round brush with Opacity (Opacity) in the mode of Pen Pressure (Pen Pressure), pick up an orange-brown tone for the shadows and a yellow-beige for the light spots, so that you can start shading. Move the brush along the natural curves of the eye sockets and eyelids.
Continuing to work with the round brush, we paint in the shadows and highlights, and add some gray-purple to vary the color, even if this color is not very noticeable. To smooth out the brush lines a bit, I usually use the Smudge tool in Finger Painting mode, the brush tip in Scatter mode and Opacity in Pen Pressure mode. Experiment with the settings; these parameters are my personal choice, but maybe completely different ones will suit you!
To get a clearer picture of what the eye will look like, let's paint in the white of the eye. The most common mistake here is choosing pure white for the squirrel. Remember, we have to take into account the round shape of the eyeball, as well as the reflections of the light source. Use a grayish tint - it will work best here - the degree of its lightness will depend on the overall illumination of the picture. Adding a bit of skin tone (or a tint of light if it's bright enough) to the white of the eye can make it look more realistic. And with regards to the lacrimal canal, you can take a beige-pink shade as its basis.
Now let's color the iris. I choose a color that fades from medium to dark blue and then add a light, light layer on top of this base. This already gives a sense of depth. Next, add the pupil. Please note that on a ¾ spread, the pupil is no longer round, but slightly oval; this is due to a change in perspective. Don't forget the little bright dot to illustrate the reflected light flare, because it will help you fine-tune the iris later on!
We have almost got quite realistic eyes, even despite the fact that the drawing is still raw and lacks many details. However, for now, we will work out the basic shape of the eye and give it volume. Taking a round brush, I choose a fairly rich orange-brown color for deep shadows between the upper eyelid and eyebrow. I also use this shade to add some shadow on the upper lid and a little on the inner corner of the lower lid. The tear duct takes on a beautiful rich orange tint, which is also lightly applied to the outer corner of the eye. To enhance the light spots on the eyelids, you can equally use both light beige and gray-green shades. We also once again draw shadows on the eyeball itself.
Further from this point on, everything is tied to further processing and adding details. We work with the same round brush, varying (manually) its Opacity (Opacity) and size. I always get the feeling that I am carving a figure in stone like a sculptor, and not just painting like a painter; adding shadows and highlights, I sort of enliven the figure, and it becomes voluminous and realistic. This is what we will do: deepen and draw shadows. Adding a soft but noticeable shadow on the edge of the upper eyelid helps to achieve the effect of eyelashes, and softens the edges where the eyeball disappears under the eyelid. The color of the iris is played with a pale green, and where the shadow of the eyelid falls on it, we add a very rich turquoise color.
Staying on the iris, take a small brush - either round or pointy - and you can start drawing a pattern of lines. There are such lines on any eyes, but sometimes this pattern can be so dark that it is almost invisible. However, the iris always has lines running from the pupil to the outer edges of the iris itself. In this case, we want them to be noticeable and saturated. We will choose pale green and turquoise for this purpose, but use both light and dark shades of the same or similar tone. From time to time, move away from the drawing and look closely at it, so you can notice some flaws that you need to work on. Here I've added a little more highlights on the outside of the eyebrow, on the edge of the lower eyelid, and around the tear duct. Then you can move on to the eyebrows.
Using the tool Finger (Smudge tool) with a dotted tip of the brush, we carefully draw the iris. Please note that you need to move from the pupil to the edges of the iris: we do not want all the lines to blur! After that, we select a very bright - but almost desaturated - pale green color and go over the iris where the light falls on it: in the right side, and a little in the lower left corner, where a small glare from the light hits. To emphasize the line of the eyeball, we take the white-blue color and draw the main highlight on the eye. Now I draw it in the form of an arch, crossing the border of the iris and getting a little on the proteins. This will give the surface of the eye a wet sheen.
Using a small round brush with Opacity (Opacity) and Size Fluctuation (Size Jitter) in the mode Pen pressure (Pen pressure), now you can draw an eyebrow. Choose a nice dark brown and another regular brown. Lightly go over the eyebrows with the Smudge tool. Take the color of the skin surrounding the brow and use it to thin out the excess hair. Accentuate the skin around by adding a few spots of light, especially on the outside where the light will hit directly. After that, you can move on to eyelashes. Let's add a new layer so as not to spoil the overall picture of the eye. Select a small round brush with Opacity (Opacity) and Size (Size) in the mode of Pen Pressure (Pen Pressure) and start applying cilia with light movements. If they are not dyed with ink or curled with a special device, they practically do not fold up!
You can keep adding more lashes on the same layer, or you can create a new one to make them thicker. You can also duplicate the layer with the already drawn eyelashes and move it a little to the right or left, then reduce a little Opacity (Opacity), delete unnecessary elements and go over them with the tool Finger (Smudge tool). If you are satisfied with the result, we slightly blur the cilia in some places. Let's add a few small highlights between the eyelashes on the lower eyelid, and get a beautiful glitter effect.
The last step in every drawing is adding those little details that make the drawing come to life, to make it more realistic, even though the quality is rather obvious. Using separate layers for these details will only help you, because in this case you can edit and experiment with effects without damaging the drawing itself. But before we start detailing, let's work on the iris a little more. Take the darkest turquoise color and draw around the pupil a circle of lines coming from the center to the edges - some more visible and longer, some a little less visible and shorter. This will add greenery to the eyes and make them sparkle. Now we will add some more highlights to the laser squirrel using a standard spotted brush, then blur them with the tool Finger (Smudge tool). Using a smaller spot brush with 50% Angle Jitter, we will go over the eyebrows, eyelids and corner of the eye with a bright white-yellow color. All this is done on a separate layer! Slightly smudge overly visible points, some of them may need to be removed with Eraser (Eraser) to help better blend with the surrounding area of \u200b\u200bthe skin. Now duplicate this layer and set the layer blending mode to Overlay (Overlay), then slightly move this layer and you will get a beautiful imitation of the skin texture.
Now all that's left is to look at your drawing one last time, you may want to add a few more strokes to the lower eyelid or the corner of the eye, or adjust the highlights or shadows - and that's it! Ready!
I bring to your attention a short and informative lesson that will help you to draw and write glass objects in the future. Today we will begin to understand what is so special you need to know when you draw, for example, a glass or a glass vase. How to fill this vase with water and then with flower stems.
You will learn the simplest rules for the image of glass from this article and a short video clip. Perhaps, after viewing, you will be able to draw a vase with your favorite flowers with the paints, pastels or pencils at hand.
Such a picture or drawing will bring great pleasure to you and will be quite appropriate as a gift by March 8 :).
So let's get started:
Glass color
Naturally, glass comes in a wide variety of colors and shades, but we will start with clear and colorless glass so as not to get confused.
Glass is transparent, which means it acquires the color of the environment.
If the glass stands on a blue background, then the substrate will be blue in any of the techniques (oil, acrylic, pencil, gouache). And to be more precise, probably a darker color than the background than the color of the environment.
How to draw bright carnations
Examples of glass colors in pictures
Blue vase on a blue background
The color of the glass is the same as the color of the background (Alexander Adriaenssen 17th century)
How to make an opaque vessel glass?
To put it simply, without delving into physics and reasoning about high art, there are a few simple things that need to be understood and used:
Determine where the light source is, put a highlight
Knowing where the light comes from, we can determine where to put the highlight. We draw a conditional beam from the light source. In the place where the beam will touch the glass, the brightest glare on the entire glass object is formed.
If the vessel has a convex or curved shape, the glare may follow the shape of the vessel, or break into several bright dots or lines.
The highlight stands on the dark side of the vessel - because here the light touched the object, but has not yet had time to dissipate.
Painting technique A la prima
Examples of glare in paintings
How to draw glass? Where to put a highlight?
Glare on the right on a glass vase
Glare repeats the shape of the vessel
Glare on a dark vase
Glare reflex
Since the glass is transparent, the light will pass through, scatter a little, and hit the opposite side of the glass object. If we conditionally extend this beam further and stop it on the other wall of the vessel, this is where the reflex will form.
A reflex, unlike a glare, will be a large bright spot of diffused light. In no case should the reflex overshadow the glare. The reflection is much lower in intensity than the glare, and many times larger in area.
Examples of highlights in paintings
How to draw glass? Reflex
Reflex on a vase
reflex, clearly visible
Reflexes of the external environment
If there are several colored objects around our glass, then they should be displayed in it to a greater or lesser extent. How bright the reflection to draw on the glass, you can decide for yourself.
If there are flowers with green stems in a vase, then for sure these green stems will somehow be reflected in the thickness of the glass.
These reflections are not as noticeable as on opaque objects.
Draw a beautiful swan
Examples of reflections in a painting
Yellow, orange, greenish reflections on the glass surface
Glass has thickness and shape
This means that both highlights and reflections will follow this shape. They will also linger a little in this thickness.
It should be borne in mind that the bottom and curves of the glass object are usually thicker. This means that the shadow and light in such places will be more intense or "thick". If the glass is colored, then the intensity of its color will be greater at the bends and the bottom.
Examples in pictures
Glass thickness is a darker feature. Glare repeats the shape of a vase
Video tutorial how to draw glass
Watch a short lesson and draw a glass vase together 🙂
Many of my students are afraid to draw glass. And this fear can be caused by various reasons. Some say that they see nothing in glass and do not know what to draw, because it is transparent. Others, on the contrary, say that there is too much of everything in the glass, all kinds of highlights, colors and reflections. Let's try to figure out what is the real problem in the image of glass and glass objects, and how glass differs from other materials.
Properties of glass objects
To begin with, I propose to recall that the natives exchanged glass for gold. And I don't think it's stupid, glass is really a very beautiful material! The natives did not know the objective value of glass and gold and evaluated them visually. So, sitting down to draw glass, try to see all its beauty. Look at him through the eyes of a native who saw something like this for the first time in his life. Glass can have all sorts of and most saturated colors, while it can transmit light, it can be transparent and literally invisible, glass can reflect the world around it to the smallest detail, or it can pass it through itself, fancifully deforming. I am definitely one of those people who look at glass objects and see an endless amount of incredibly interesting details.
Glass and light. How to draw highlights on a bottle
Does this mean that we need to draw all the highlights that we see in the bottle? Of course not! You always have to make a selection. Let's say you have a glass bottle in front of you. Six lamps shine on the bottle, and light from the window falls. All light sources are reflected in the glass of the bottle, and each can be reflected several times! In such lighting, you should not chase all the highlights, take those that are most clearly in shape. I always turn my head and watch the highlights dance across the surface. Glare, which then appear, then disappear, I usually ignore. Highlights that change their shape, but remain, I paint. I almost never copy the flare shape, as it is really unstable. I draw a highlight in a shape that sits better on the surface of this bottle. After noting the brightest white highlights, I begin to mark the reflections in the same way. I turn my head, watch how they distort, and choose the most interesting ones that fit better on the form. In the pencil drawing of the bottle, I try to mark as many highlights and reflections as possible so that they all have clear boundaries.
How associations will help draw a bottle
I often ask my students to describe glass, what associations they have with the word glass. Sometimes I ask them to hold the bottle in their hand and describe how they feel. As a rule, I hear something like - sharp, cold, smooth, hard, transparent, etc. And then I ask them to draw in such a way that their stroke can be described in the same words. The smear should be sharp, smooth, hard, and clear. Even if you draw an orange bottle, it should have cool colors, as you remember associatively that the glass feels cold to the touch. It is very important to change the nature of the stroke depending on the subject being depicted. Suppose, when drawing the bark of a tree, we will not impose a stroke in the same way as when depicting glass.
Features of drawing a glass bottle
We always start working from the brightest pure colors. If the bottle is orange, then you can start with pure yellow, orange, red and other colors. We always remember that it is never too late to apply dark brown, purple and other shadows, as well as reflections, but we can add bright and pure shades only in the first layer. Also, I do not use any one color in the glass image, I work out each glare and reflection marked in the pencil drawing separately with a different color, I collect it as a mosaic. In the early stages, this approach seems unnecessarily fractional, but in the end I generalize everything, and the bottle is assembled. When the surface of the entire bottle is collected by color, I wait for it to dry completely and apply dark reflections. To achieve a glassy sheen, you need to work very contrastingly. Light highlights should border on dark reflections without any transitional tones.
