Drawing Shadows: from Basics to More Advanced Settings

1. 00 Intro: Hello everyone. I'm glad that you're here. I'm an illustrator and concept designer with an architectural background. This would explain my special fondness for technical drawings. Enough about me, I guess that you are here to learn about shading or organize your knowledge in this subject. Shading is usually the last step in drawing thus may be treated neglectfully. Meanwhile, it's shading that gives an impression of three-dimensionality and even reality to flat drawings, if it's placed correctly of course. I've noticed that many shading tutorials explain vulgarly this phenomenon based on examples of apples, cherries, and other fruits. Well, these classes are more abstract as the first 11 lessons are focused on geometrical shapes and solids. Don't worry these lessons are really short and concise. What will you see here during those about 45 minutes? We will start really quickly with some basic theory, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Then we will go for a bunch of quick exercises starting with shading different types of geometrical solids. Believe me, you can show your artistic side even while shading a cone. Further lessons will be focused on cast shadows, that's when geometry kicks in. Who doesn't like geometry? It's a little bit like exercises in logical thinking. Don't worry, we will begin with planes, and then try to make smooth transition to more advanced objects. Each step will be explained thoroughly. One of the last lessons will be devoted to somehow unusual, though quite useful light setting in traumatic backlight. Finally, a case study shading a combination of the previously seen solids in a form of a Victorian house. Let's begin. 2. 01 Shadows Basic Idea: [MUSIC] How the shading looks like depends largely on the light source location. Secondary, also light's intensity play some role. Let's start with the secondary role. If the light is very diffused, shadows, edges, are less defined and contrasts are lower. You may have noticed that on very cloudy or foggy days, both people and the buildings almost don't cast shadows and everything seems quite flat. Analogically, in the case of sharp light, shadows have very defined edges and contrasts are higher. Now let's get back to the location of the light source. There are two crucial parameters, horizontal location and vertical location. Horizontal location that reminds which site of an object is illuminated and which is in shadow, as well as in which direction an object casts its shadow. Vertical location, in other words, means the height of the light source above, or sometimes below the object. It's especially important in the case of casted shadow, soon everything will be more clear. The most classical setting is a light source placed at some angle in front of the object and above it. This way we may see a part of an object illuminated and part of it in shadow. That's the setting query we will focus in the next videos, although I'll show also other settings as a comparison. 3. 02 Own Shadows Polyhedrons: [MUSIC] I hope that the title hasn't scared you. Coming up with catchy phrases is not my strong point. Anyway, even if drawing on shadows is in many cases quite intuitive, there are also aspects requiring explanation, especially rounded forms can be tricky, but they will be discussed in the next video. In the case of overhead lighting like sunlight or a ceiling lamp, the top of an object will be the most illuminated part. The next inline will be this wall, and this, and lastly this one. If we'd like to draw a view from, let's say, this place showing walls marked with two and four, it would look like this. This is actually the most classic view. One of the walls is highly illuminated while the other is rather shadowed. This way we can show all the details clearly visible on the illuminated wall, as well as show quite strong contrast with the shadowed wall which in turn makes the drawing more three-dimensional. There is a very nice way of shading simple objects to make them look more artistic. Its gradation of shadow even on a plain wall. It's not a realistic way of drawing, but in the case of simple objects like this, focusing on an edge connecting two walls and emphasizing contrasts gives the drawing, even a simple one, some artistic touch. This is a view from an observer on the same direction as the rays of light. It's less contrasted than the previous setting. Almost flat. How about more complex solids like an octagonal prism? Logic would such as dare to have a light source placed here, gradation of intensity of illumination would be like this. The wall face directly to the light source, the wall next to it, the next, next closest wall. While walls on the other side would be darkest. Sometime ago, I was thinking so, how wrong I was. Here comes the surprising part. The correct gradation is this. Why? Someone could ask. But it's quite obvious. Around it, there are [inaudible] shadows and right after that, there is a core shadow. But on the next wall we can see so-called reflection, which is brighter. [MUSIC] The rule of the core shadow and reflection gets even more clear in the case of solids of revolution. 4. 03 Own Shadows Revolution: [MUSIC] In other words, those rounded solids like a cylinder, a cone or a sphere. Let's start with a cylinder. The principle is the same as in the case of an octagonal prism. This would be an illuminated area. Next to it there are mid shadows. Just keep in mind that unlike an octagonal prism, transition between these various areas should be more smooth. Here we have a core shadow, and now it gets brighter and righter through the area with reflected light. The best tool to exercise shading is a good old pencil. I'm using here a graphic tablet for the sake of recording but nothing can really replace the feeling of different types of pressure and angle of inclination of a simple pencil on the paper. My favorite is slightly soft 2B pencil. But many artists prefer even softer grade like 4B or 6B. Just for the record, here are names of those areas. A cone shouldn't surprise us but it's good to repeat this role to use it instinctively in the future. I use here lines parallel to the curved line of the base, and lines leading from the base to the vertex. It's easier to capture this gradation of density of shadows with at least two directions of shading lines. Again, the left side would be an illuminated area changing gradually into mid shadows. Further to right there is a core shadow, and a thin belt of reflected light. A sphere requires a little bit of attention. Illuminated area is rounded, and very gradually it gets darker until the area of a core shadow. The core shadow should form a quite broad belt. Lights reflection in turn resembles a young moon. I admit the touching a sphere can be technically challenging. We should draw curved lines very densely and use very smooth transition between lighter and darker areas. Besides standard lines, I'm also using here a broad semi-transparent brush to make this sphere look more smooth. Alternatively, we can create an optical illusion used for example, in lithography. Shorter lines and sparse hatching for lighter areas, dense hatching for darker areas. That's an option I chose here. [MUSIC] 5. 04 Cast Shadows Planes: [MUSIC] So far we were focused only on objects, on shadows, but the real fun begins with cast shadows. That's when geometry is main focus instead of hashing technique. We need to shortly discuss some planes before moving to solids. Here here is a flat plane like a sheet of a stiff papers standing on a flat surface. A light source is set in our classical way. The surface of paper or whatever that is, is illuminated, but some space behind it is shaded. To determine an exact shape of the shadow, we would show the dotted lines from the two endpoints of the edge touching the ground. An angle of these lines is exactly the same as an angle of which a light source is related to the object on a top view. Now we just have to determine how long the shadow should be. If the light source is just a little above the object, the shadow will be long just like in the case of sunrises and sunsets. On our perspective drawing, path of rays of light will look more or less like this. I used an expression more or less because there is no need to determine the lights placement super precisely. We're interested in these two points, C and D. They meet each line designating an angle of the shadow and that's how points C prime and D prime are created. The same rule would apply to every point between them, but luckily, we don't need them to construct the shadow. These endpoints are enough. I know it sounds technically and maybe even confusing, but the image should explain everything clearly. You have certainly noticed that shadows during sunsets are much longer than in the middle of the day. Now let's imagine that the light is set higher. An angle of raise on the top view remains the same, but it's much sharper on the side view. Rays hit the ground much closer to the vertical plane, and as a result, we get a short shadow. Just as an exercise, we'll repeat this method in the perspective drawing. A horizontal angle of the light source placement is the same, but the vertical placement is different. The path of these rays will look more or less like this. Point C prime and the D prime are created near the vertical plane. More or less accuracy is good enough for majority types of drawings. 6. 05 Cast Shadow Levitating: [MUSIC] What happens when the plane is flying above the ground like a kite? Let's say this height. If the light source would be perfectly above the kite, its shadow would be right here below it. On a perspective view, I'll draw a reminder of how the shadow would look like if the light source was perfectly above the kite. This plane actually resembles the kite only slightly, but I will call it kite anyway. But we prefer to use more interesting lighting, like the classic lighting arrangement slightly in front of the object and slightly to the left side. The shadow would be moved to the back and to the right. [MUSIC] Rays of light goes more or less this way, slightly to the right, slightly to the back. Rays going through the endpoint will hit the ground in these intersection points. But honestly in the case of a standard illustration which is not meant to be some very technical drawing, we don't need to construct shadows so minutely. It's absolutely fine if we just remember that if the light source is placed in front of and to the left from our object, the shadow will be to the right and behind the object. [MUSIC] 7. 06 Cast Shadows Pyramids: [MUSIC] Finally, three-dimensional solids. To draw a cast shadow of a solid with one vertex like a pyramid or a cone, we just need to find one point where the light that goes through the vertex hit the ground. Shadows of a pyramid may have two forms, a triangular form when a light source is almost vis-a-vis a pyramid, or a slightly more complex form when a light source is on the site of a pyramid. This example is much more interesting, so I'll draw it in a perspective. That's how to do it. One, we need to find a middle of a solid space. In the case of a pyramid, it would be a cross-section of its diagonals. Two, from this point, we draw a line at the same angle as this angle visible on the top view. You don't actually need to draw a top view. Just pick some angle that would suggest that the shadow is casted to the back, and to the right if the light source is placed to the left. Three, decide how high the light source is. If it's very high above the pyramid, the vertex of the shadow will be quite close. So close in fact that the shadow will be triangular. Four, but let's say that we want to draw the setting that is on our top view. Shadows vertex will be more or less here. Five, when we connect the vertices of the base with this A prime point, the shadow looks like this. Six, hatch the shadow. A cast shadow is the darkest shadow on the drawing. Its good to draw all these constructional lines very gently, to achieve some aesthetic artist result, the cast shadow can be darker near the base and more delicate near the vertex. If you want to make the shadow extra dense, and remember casts shadows are darker than own shadows, you may use double hatching. Seven, just a quick reminder about own shadows. Sites from the most to the least illuminated. Those on our perspective drawing are number one and three, so the contrasts should be quite strong. As I mentioned before, the sides of a cuboid don't have to be hatched in a very homogeneous way. I like to make areas near this edge most contrasted. The darker wall will be darkest here, and the bright wall will be even white and untouched in this area. Let's look at a cone just to consolidate knowledge. One, let's find the middle point of the base. Two, draw a line showing a horizontal angle of the lights placement. Three, if there is no need for a high precision, you may just choose some point on this line. Four, join the base with the shadows vertex. Five, lastly, hatching. The cast shadow will be really dark as it needs to be darker than the cones core shadow, which I'll draw in a while. Shading density on the cone itself will look like this according to the rule with a core shadow and reflection. I'm using here crosshatching. One set of lines follows the curve of the base. The other one leads with straight lines from the base to the vertex. 8. 07 Cast Shadows Cuboids: [MUSIC] Objects Sweave only one vertex where the easy part. Drawing cuboids shadow isn't much more difficult, but it is more complex. For instance, in the case of a cuboid, there are three vertices we should pay attention to. But first things first. Step one, constructional lines from vertices of the cuboid base. We need to keep in mind only this frame. Now the line indicating the height of the light source. Free lines to be more specific. Each of them is going through one of these points. As you can see, they are parallel to each other. We can mark the intersection points and join the dots. [MUSIC] This part of a shadow is casted by this wall and that part is casted by that wall. Wait a minute does this mean that the whole cuboid cast exactly the same shadow as only two walls? Well, yes, but not any two walls. It's all about the wall set on the opposite side of the light source. In this case, the back and the right wall, as the light source is in front and at the left side. We can check it with another point, again. As this point doesn't change anything. The quick shading on the cuboid. Remember that the cast shadow is the darkest one, so don't exaggerate with this wall. [MUSIC] Now a cylinder. If we would like to be very precise, we could start with marking the top of these ellipses. Then draw these constructional lines. Then draw rays going through these points until they meet our constructional lines on the ground. Try to join them nicely, especially in this elliptical part. These complex methods can be useful in the case of a scene with multiple objects, where all cast shadows should indicate a common light source. Lastly, a super quick reminder of how to distribute shadows on cylinders. Illuminated area, mid shadows, core shadow and reflection. If you find crosshatching through [inaudible] some,a cylinder should look pretty well, even with shading with vertical lines only. 9. 08 Cast Shadows Levitating: [MUSIC] I know that so far the subject of this class has seemed to be quite abstract, but believe me, this knowledge has its use in illustration. It's obligatory actually. Just wait several minutes for the case study to see how all these lessons are put in use in just one drawing of a building. With that being said, we're moving forward to even more complex shadows. Let's imagine that this cuboid isn't standing on the ground like the one from the previous lesson, but it's suspended in the air. You probably remember that in the previous case, we had to draw only a shadow casted by the back wall and the right wall. In this case, we have to add a shadow casted by the base as well. By the way, the base is the darkest part of this cuboid but we don't see it at this angle. Again, it isn't more difficult than the previous lesson, but it requires a couple of additional steps. First, we need to decide on which height above the ground our object is. Here are supporting drawings of different views of our cuboid. You can see here both horizontal and vertical direction of rays. Now we can draw a projection of the base on the ground, these bottom wall named A, B, C, D. These lines are parallel in reality, but on a perspective drawing they are leading to the same vanishing point, somewhere on the horizon. The same applies to these lines. Although they are leading to the right vanishing point. From the point where a vertical line meets the line leading to the left vanishing point, we can gently draw a horizontal direction of rays. From the point B, we draw a vertical direction of rays. These two lines of rays direction meets in a point we can call B prime. To find another point of the shadows base we lead again, a vertical line from the point C to the line leading to the right vanishing point. From this point, we sketch a horizontal direction of rays and from C, we draw a vertical direction of rays. Their cross section shows us where the point C prime is. Would you like a smaller repetition to better grasp of this row? With the right training, you'll be able to draw it automatically, even though now it may seem confusing. Here is point D, a vertical line meets a line leading to the right vanishing point. From this new point, we should lead a line called by me a horizontal direction of rays. From the point D in turn, we draw a line called again, probably only by me a vertical direction of rays. These lines meet in a point which is a shadow equivalent of our point D. Thus, it's called D prime. I admit, it doesn't look obvious and clear, but adding some colors should help. That's how the shadow of the bottom wall looks like. It seems like a lot of work to draw a shadow of a levitating cuboid, but luckily we don't need to find shadows of all the six walls. The bottom and the top base will be enough. Let's find the shadow of the top base really quickly. We already have those vertical lines showing how high above the ground the cuboid is. We also have lines showing horizontal direction of rays. The only missing part are lines showing vertical direction of rays, going through points E, F, G and H. We actually didn't need points C prime and E prime, but it won't hurt to draw them just for practicing. The only thing we need to do in order to complete the shadow is connecting points B prime with F prime, F prime with G prime, G prime with H prime, and finally H prime with D prime, and here we have the shadow. What we see here are in fact shadows of only three walls. The bottom base, ABCD, the right wall, BCGF, and the back wall, BCGH. With some practice drawing cast shadows happens almost automatically and subconsciously. 10. 09 Shadows Casted on a Hinder: [MUSIC] Things are more and more interesting with each lesson, aren't they? The previous examples showed how shadows look like when they are casted on a horizontal plane, like a table, a floor, or a ground. But what happens when there is another object in a close proximity? Obviously the shadows should be costed also on this another object. Let's imagine, or actually take a look at this pyramid. If it was standing alone and light would be set at this angle, pyramid shadow would look like this. We've seen that a few videos ago. But in our new more advanced case, there is a hinder, another solid, or just a vertical plane. The ray of light instead of travel all the way to the ground, hits the wall, right at this point. While meeting a vertical hinder, it just breaks and starts to climb upwards. Now, the vertical direction of ray of light enters the scene. The cross point of the ray and the imaginary line it is here. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean that we can just connect the dots this way, or is not that simple and doesn't look that weird. That part of the shadow that is lying on the ground should look just as it would if there was no hinder at all. The shadow changes its course first when it meets the hinder. That's why we should join these points with our shadows vertex. To consolidate our knowledge, let's make another very quick exercise. The scene looks very similar, but our hinder is placed a little closer. Also, the light source is lower, so we should expect correctly a longer shadow. The cross point on the wall is right here. The shadow on the ground looks just like it should, until it meets the wall. Then it starts climbing. As you can see, a large part of the shadow is casted on the hinder. [MUSIC] 11. 10 Suspended Objects: [MUSIC] This subject, again, may seem like a very theoretical case which doesn't occur in drawings very often but it's probably the most important part of the course if you'd like to draw buildings. Intriguing, right? Let me explain. All protruding roofs, balconies and cornices are these type of suspended objects casting shadows on vertical walls. To be honest, most of buildings have at least one of those features. Actually, even recesses in walls for windows or doors are shaded according to this rule. Let's discuss this super important rule then. In the case of pyramids or cones, it's easy. We just need one constructional line for a possible location of the shadow's peak. Let's say that the light source is at our usual setting. If the light source is high above, like around the middle of the day, it can hit the cone's top along this line. Here, these two lines meet. What's happening if the light source is lower like early in the morning or during evening, the light's ray would travel somehow along these line. In consequence, these shadows should be shorter, so It's an absolute opposite to the case of vertical objects casting shadows on a horizontal plane. Now let's move to more complex solids like cuboids. To make it more interesting and practical, let's imagine that it's a balcony. The light source is set at an angle of, let's say around 30 degrees this time. Constructional lines derived from all these points will have the same angle. The light source will be quite low so puffs of rays can look like this. After going through points A, B, C, and D, the ray intersect to leave their respective constructional lines at these points. Once we have the whole package of intersection points, we only need to draw an outline of the shadow. Finding point D prim wasn't necessary for this process as it's inside the shadow. To make it extra clear, here are the lines needed for finding each of the primpoints of the shadow. Red for A, blue for B, green for C, and yellow for D. 12. 11 Back Light: [MUSIC] During all these lessons, we were placing the light source in front of our objects. That's the usual setting. However, sometimes a cast shadow express more than an object itself. For example, in horror scenes, that's one of those rare moments when we might want to place the light source, in the back of the scene, and just slightly above the object, so the cast shadow would be really long. Let's use examples of two solids, a pyramid and a cylinder. In both cases, light source is placed behind an object and slightly to the left. Methodology of constructing cast shadows is the same, as in the case of previous lessons. First, we should find the middle point of the base. Then a construction line reflecting an angle of the horizontal position of the light source. The next step is drawing a ray of light going through the vertex. If our goal was to create a long dramatic shadow, the light source should be quite low. Let's say that this is a nice angle. Now you only need to connect this intersection point with the ending points of the base. While hatching, remember that cast shadows are always darker than old shadows. Considering of course, that colors of an object and the ground are the same. Let's say that in our slightly academic case, all the objects are white. I'll darken it with some gradient, mostly for extra artistic values. Even simple geometric solids deserve some artistic touch. The last example before moving to the real-life example drawing, is a cylinder. The brightest parts will be edges in the top. The darkest area will be on the right as the light is on the left. Other areas are gradually lighter. Let's notice that the illuminated area on the left, is larger than that on the right. Let's find the middle of both bases. Easy. Now let's draw construction lines from these three most important points, and rays passing through these points. The light source is, again low to create a dramatic effect. Now we need to draw a shapely ellipse. Here is our shadow. Actually, near the ellipse, the shadow may be quite vulgar. Don't worry if your ellipse hasn't turned out perfectly. So much about the theory. Now let's see, how to use all this knowledge in practice. 13. 12 Case Study Victorian House 1: We can't really focus on drawing the structure of this house as is a whole different subject. If you would like to get to know how to draw a building along with explanation of perspective rules and tips on drawing architectural materials, I'd recommend checking these classes. Links are in the description below. Getting back to our Victorian house, there are a few interesting spots for own and cast shadows. I'll start with the first type. Although no matter which type of shadow we are creating, the first step is always determining the light source. We can do this in our imagination, but for the sake of this course, I'll show it here, on simplified flat views. I chose an angle of about 60 degrees, which should leave interesting, long cast shadows on vertical planes. The sun will be also quite high, which in turn will leave quite short shadows on horizontal planes like the ground. This way we will be able to see the whole shadow in this frame. We will get back to the cast shadows in the next lesson. Meanwhile, this wall will be quite dark. I'm leaving increases in shaded walls bright, just like other illuminated walls. [MUSIC] The chimney is hatched in exactly the same way. Shading of those semicircular recesses should get the gradually darker that closer to the top of it we get. Even these recesses should be shaded this way as they face exactly the same world's direction. All these bottom surfaces are even darker. Don't miss these narrow places like cornices and recesses over windows. The cylindric thread, will be shaded according to that slightly surprising crawler with mid shadows, core shadow, and reflection. I hope you still remember it. I'll make the window panes very dark. Lastly, I should also darken some stone parts a little bit, mostly to achieve some tonal diversity. The drawing starts to look three-dimensional, but wait for the cast shadows. This should be a real game changer. 14. 13 Case Study Victorian House 2: At first, constructing shadows for complex objects may not come 100 percent naturally. But remember that practice is the key. With time you should be able to construct these shadows effortlessly. How long shadows should this building cast on the ground? These seem to be the right, that remaining external line for the shadows behind the house. The shadow should be this long. When the line crosses this ray, it should turn and run parallel to the side wall, until it crosses this ray. That's the almost complete cast shadow on the ground. However, it's not fully completed. There is a roof or other apart of it that will cast some shadow. The upper part of the roof won't do it as it's strongly leaning backwards and its shadow is inside the already visible shadow. But the lower part, these cable will casts small shadow shaped like slightly distorted trapezium. As the gable wall is about 2/3 of the rest of this wall, its shadow should be about 1/3 length of the length of this part of shadow. We don't have to be very specific here, but it's always good to keep more or less correct proportions. [MUSIC] Chimney is an important shadow casting factor here. For the sake of this kind of drawing, it's enough to keep in mind that the cast shadow will be set at an angle which is resultant of rays direction and a roofs slope. The same applies to the tallest roof. Cornices will also cast shadows more or less these deep. [MUSIC] This recesses are associated by this wall. It's easy to forget about some elements here, there. In the case of the balcony, we can mark a shadow casted by the bottom plane and then by the sidewall. Raylink will cast shadow at the same angle, and the bolster shadow can be joined just roughly. There are some narrow gaps between the railing bars so we can show it on the shadow as well. 15. 14 Summary: [MUSIC] I'm glad that you managed to wade through all of the previous lessons because you haven't skipped anything. It's been a long road from understanding a general idea of shadows to shading diverse solids, to constructing plenty of types of cast shadows. Yes, there was a lot of constructing to finally see all this somehow formal knowledge in practice. The best way of mastering the art of shading is obviously practicing gradually, step by step. I'd strongly recommend to make exercises from lessons 2-11. Each of them takes only a while. Shading and especially constructing cast shadows shouldn't be so confusing afterwards. Also, don't forget to check out the project section and get an individual feedback on your drawing. Thanks for watching. [MUSIC]