Understanding Light and Shadow

1. Introduction: Hey, everyone. So in this class we're gonna be talking about the concepts of light and shadow and how to describe a form as light is hitting a surface. And so that's really gonna be the overarching concept throughout the entire class. And I'm gonna show you some examples about what I'm thinking about and how I'm conceptually conceiving form that's in front of me and also a little bit about, like, how to not just use your eyes but also use your head to kind of make better sense of what you're looking. So a big part of this class is gonna be heavy on some diagrams and to hopefully get students to think about light and shadow in a more conceptual way rather than just kind of arbitrarily, you know, shading something in and trying to focus on gradation. And so I'll talk about some basic shadow concepts, and I'll touch on edges a little bit. But the bulk of the class is really going to be heavy on thinking about our drawing as if it were a sculpture. And then if we were using the light and shadow as information to chip away at things and make our drawings feel like they have a very solid sense of form. And so while it's very diagram focused, I will end up doing a drawing from start to finish so that you guys can see this concept being applied. And hopefully, by seeing it, it will make much more sense. I will say this class is kind of intended for all levels, but for some people, it might be a little much. And so I did kind of label it as an intermediate class to get started, but I would encourage everyone to take a look. Try and understand the concept on and see if it can help you in your own drawings. Thank you for watching. 2. Form explanation: Alright, guys. So before we get too involved with any sort of any, any of the diagrams that I'm gonna go over, I wanted to just briefly talk about the concept again. Um, just kind of using a couple of items because I feel like it's It's a very sort of complex idea that it actually can be very simple, But I think I know when I first started learning this concept, I kind of was overthinking it too much. And so I wanted to talk about it, at least just by using a couple of things first. And then you'll see a lot more explanation and the further diagrams that I do and then ultimately, in the actual drawing that we do at the end of the class. And so the main concept that we're kind of talking about through this entire classes, the idea of light hitting a surface and then obviously their shadows and things involved along with that. But we're really trying to think about the form that we're looking at and trying to describe the surface of that form with our pencil. And so now that sounds kind of crazy, right? Because just a lot of times were thinking about. I'm just doing a drawing. This is not, you know, this scientific or anything like that. But in order to get a nice feeling of form or to really try and capture that light effect of light that is striking a surface on you need, which we're trying to think a little bit deeper about what we're drawing. And we're trying to essentially describe form with our pencils. And so, ah, lot of the times when I was in school is there, talk about it so we're not just doing a drawing. It's It's like your sculpting with a pencil, right? And so And your paper is that sort of sort of flat, blank surface or empty marble, and you're you're essentially carving out. You know what you're trying to draw, but you're using your pencil instead of, you know, say like a chisel or something, and so that's kind of the idea that we're trying to get across. And so the only reason I brought this out is the biggest thing that you could do. And this is part of the reason why working from life is so important. You know, if you can that's gonna be your best scenario. But if not, then yes. You know, you kind of may have to use reference or what? Nine. I still do this exercise in my head mentally. But when I was first starting out is that right? Now, you know, this this sort of spirit is being flat lit because the light's hitting me this way. And so that's why you're seeing my cash shadow on the back screen and everything like that . So you're not really seeing the shadow that's involved here and that, and that's okay because we'll talk about this later in some of the diagrams. But the biggest thing that you can do for yourself is because when I'm talking, what I'm gonna talk about later is you want to be thinking about we're light is hitting a form and what direction that form is facing. So you're gonna hear me say that, you know, the light that is most perpendicular to the form is gonna be the brightest. And so when you think about highlight, you know, or the area around the highlight those are gonna be the brightest areas that we're gonna be looking at. But then now I was A form is turning, you know. So right now we're getting even light, so this is gonna be fairly evenly distributed. But, you know, assuming the light, you know, was not coming at me and it was more top down and so light was hitting a surface here. But now this form is rotating, right? And so as this form is rotating in space, if the light, let's say, is for example coming from here by the time I get down here, there's no way the form is actually facing downward this way. And, you know, And then as we go and we start traveling upward, the form is now facing this direction. And so what we would do in school a lot of the times is you would literally it's especially in for, like, a cast drawing or something like that. You would literally go and just take your pencil and ask yourself like what? What actual direction is this form facing on? So once I know the direction that the form is facing now I can at least get a better idea of OK, well, now where was my light source coming from? And how light Or how dark do I have to make something so that, let's say, for example, this is facing downward and my light source is coming from above? Well, my eyes were gonna trick me and tell me that, Hey, this is really bright, you know? And it may be so because there might be a new area that's surrounded by shadow. Ah, lot. But if we objectively think about well, it can't be that right. If the form is actually facing downward, it can't be that bright. Um, and so you would go, We would go around all times. I just put our pencil all along a cast, and, you know, obviously you can't do that if it's, ah, it's a model that you're drawing from But that's the concept that we'd be thinking about the entire time is what what direction is this form actually facing? And so I'll do some diagrams that will hopefully explain this a little bit better and kind of what you want to be thinking about as you're doing it. But but nonetheless, I wanted to at least talk about it in some context because it is kind of an abstract thought, Um, and I just take some time to get used to thinking this way. But once you dio, you're gonna have a much I feel like a much stronger sense of turning form in your drawings . And by getting that form effect looking a little bit more accurately, um, you're gonna also create a stronger light effect as well, so I'll show you some examples and we'll kind of go from there. 3. Beginning shadow stage: Okay, so before we get too involved in the in some of the X other ideas in the class, I kind of wanted to start with just a very basic example. And And I'm I know you guys have probably seen, you know, and all kinds of sphere examples over and over again. Um, and it's just the easiest kind of, you know, thing to use as an example, because everyone can at least pull out some something sphere like at home and try and copy it and, you know, put a light source on it. And so that's kind of why I'm using this as an example and, you know, kind of just bear with me in that regard. But what I want to talk about is, um, just kind of getting started with your shadows and what that really looks like. And so, the way I, you know, lay out a lot of my drawings. And if you've seen any of my classes before, you can, you know, I work in very deliberate stages in my drawings, and so they usually begins a block in stage. That's very linear. Um, and then, you know, I will map shadows out, you know, all done in line, and then shadows will get filled in, and then we start modeling. And so nothing is really that different in this particular instance. And so But I wanted to talk a little bit about just the shadows on their own in this context, cause I usually don't spend too much time. Ah, and my other videos talking about, you know, shadow types or anything like that. So I'm just kind of mapping out my shadow in a very simple lanier line. Obviously, my light source is coming from above, and so the form shadow there has to wrap around the sphere accordingly. Um, all I'm really doing at this point is thinking about the drawing in a very sort of flat two d cents. So I'm not thinking about trying to make anything round, um, or anything, you know, overly complicated. I just kind of want to get something on the paper. Um, and hopefully just, you know, with a very few bits of information. Weaken, say like, Okay, this is where you know the light sources, and this is what's happening. And and you would want any drawing really to kind of start that way before you get too involved or get any tone on the paper. Um, you know, just think in a very flat two D cents make it nice and graphics so that everything is easy to assess and look at, um before you move forward. And so now that we have everything in place here, we can kind of talk about things a little bit farther. And so this line right here is essentially, you know what we would call our Terminator and all the Terminator is or what it means. This is where the light is meeting the shadow, you know, And so that's the distinctive line that we're creating. And so, obviously I'm aware that, you know, the the actual sphere that line is very soft and fuzzy on things like that, but for the sake of simplicity and kind of understanding, as I want to make a very clear representation about where the light and shadow are meeting , And then I could make adjustments as the drawing kind of moves on. And, you know, the same could be said for the cast shadow on the surface and everything like that is that yes, there's some you know, softness to that edge or anything like that. But it's not gonna help me, um, at this particular stage in the drawing, because it's a little too early. Um, and so again, we have our terminator here, and and all it really is is a distinct separation between the light and shadow. And so, you know, other schools I've seen, you know, use the word core shadow. Um, it's all essentially the same thing. So most of telly a type schools, we use the word Terminator. Um And so that's kind of why I'm using that word here. And so, you know, basically from the Terminator, as things were kind of going towards the light, you know, that's where our gradation is gonna come from. So things are building out of the Terminator. But then things are also getting darker and the depths of the shadow as well. And so now, depending on in this particular instance, you know, I have a white sphere, um, against a semi, you know, darker surface. And so we're getting some bounce light just below. And so we have some reflected light that's bouncing back up into the sphere. And so that's kind of making some adjustment to the shadow. But, you know, I kind of try and ignore that stuff, you know, early on, because it's really kind of a small detail in the grand scheme of things. So, um, things like reflected light. I'm not gonna really touch on per se because it's just it's a little almost two minor. But I really just want to focus on kind of the core shadows that we're dealing with. So, like the Terminator here as we're ah drawing. And so I'm just gonna lightly fill this in. I'm not gonna try and match the value per se, but the next phase of the drawing that you want to do is you want to go ahead and just fill in your shadows so that you get a very clear distinction about what is in light, what is in shadow on. And then it's very obvious. And so you know you want to try and get it is even as you possibly can so that there's no noise and things look very clear and specific. Um, without talking about style or anything like that, you know, it's kind of up to you, but for the sake of the exercise, I would say, you know, you want to build up to that Terminator. Don't go beyond it and try and keep it as clean as you possibly can. So I filled this in a little bit darker and a little bit more evenly, and I basically just joined the form Shadow and the cast shadow together so that they make a little bit more continuous of a shape, really, For this particular exercise, I wanted to just focus more mostly on the Terminator. And because that's really where we're going to see the biggest changes take place. And so what you want to do realistically in your drawing is you would want to essentially build out from the Terminator towards the light. Um, and that's more of a personal preference on my end is I always prefer going from dark to light versus light to dark. Part of the reason for that is that the biggest changes in form are gonna take place at the edge of the Terminator. And because basically, all it is is that from that Terminator shadow edge, things were gonna gradually roll into the light, and it's usually that you know, I would say 15 to 20 degrees out of the terminated those air, the biggest areas where the form is turning the most. And so that's kind of where I typically spend a lot of my time as I'm kind of building out of a shadow, and getting towards the light is all. Spend a good chunk of time making sure that that transition as good as I can possibly make it. Obviously, that's you know it's dependent on what we're drawing. You know, whether it's a portrait or figure or anything like that. But it's those little tiny areas coming out from a shadow and rolling into light. I try and spend a little bit more time getting those nice and even, and just as you know, getting that sense of form I try and spend as much time on. That is possible because what ends up happening is as you get closer to, let's say, you know, highlight or anything like that or an area of form that is, you know, mostly in life is that your value range gets so compressed and the values get so close together that you know the the amount of change that is happening on that surface or on that form is very minute. But those big occurrences that you're seeing, um, of a form turning and rolling from light into dark are anything like that is gonna happen on that Terminator edge. And so that's kind of why I put so much emphasis on that. And hopefully this will make sense when we actually see the later demonstrations and examples. But I wanted to just at least have a basic, you know, spear just so that, you know, it's the easiest thing to kind of grasp on, and everyone can at least hopefully at home grab something that is sphere like, and at least put a light on it and try this exercise at home. So, um, going forward, what kind of talk About some other stuff. But hopefully this basic example makes sense for you. 4. A quick note on edges: Okay, so on the topic of edges, well, kind of start by isolating it to just a couple of terms. And so, essentially, what we have is that we only really have. You know, if we're gonna go by names, we have a couple of basic edges. So if I were to just have, let's say, you know, kind of sharp, straight line like that, we could say, OK, well, that's a hard edge, you know, meaning it's very crisp. It's very sharp. There's no feathering, um, or anything like that. Um and then, you know, on the opposite side of the spectrum, we would say, You know, there's a soft edge, you know, and essentially all of that is is kind of a very feathered looking tone. And it may be, you know, wraps. You know itself again. And this is all relative to form. So it's. That's why it's kind of tricky to isolate certain things because edges in themselves have zero context on their own. It's all relative to the form that they're on or what's depicting and the light source. But I wanted to at least talk about it in just a very simple context. So we can say that. A very sharp, hard line. We would say It's a hard edge versus, you know, kind of this feathery sort of a line that we have here. We could say this is a very soft edge. Um, no, it's sort of the way we would think about values. It's very similar in the context of edges, Meaning if this is you know, and if we think of a value range, we have, ah, you know, very dark value, you know, like this. You know, I'm sorry, this is kind of crude, but so we have a very dark value. And then pretty much from let's say, this is black, even though it's not. But I'm going to say we have a very black, you know, a full value range. You know, that's a dark, dark, dark and then the sort of infinite, you know, So we have, let's say, a white, you know, to our white, that's our bright. This is our brightest value, for example. So there's essentially between these two points, isn't it is infinite, you know, and it sort of becomes the same thing with edges. And so, um, what's dictating that is the form and the light source. That's hitting them, though, so we could say from Are hard edge here to our soft edge here. There's an infinite number of edges in between. Ah, and what's dictating it is our light source and the form. So you know, you know, So we'd say like Okay, well, if this is a very soft edge, well, we could have an even softer edge, You know, where it's really diffused to where it's almost blending itself, you know, in tow light. And we could say that's a very diffused, you know, Say something like you would like we saw earlier in the ball example, um, or the sphere is that you can go from the Terminator edge into the light, and it gets very, very soft until it just kind of turns into the light. And if this is our, you know, say, a shadow or something like that, we have an infinite number of edges that would go in between so and often times you would hear I would, you know, it's kind of when I was first starting out, we would say that you know, edges that aren't, you know, in between you know, they're in between a soft edge and a hard edge. You know, we might call him a firm edge, but it's it's kind of an arbitrary term. It doesn't really mean anything. Um, again, going back to the idea is that the only way that any of this has context is the form itself that we're trying to describe, um, and then the light source. And so and that's kind of if I can hammer anything home throughout this whole classes to get that ideas that these air you notice, just talk in the in the sense of edges. It's sort of an abstract term are an abstract way of thinking. Um, but if you start, if you kind of root it in reality meaning we're trying to depict something as artists. So you know, whether it's, you know, a portrait of figure, um, a still life. Um, there's infinite number of edges, and that's gonna vary. Um, infinitely, depending on the form that you're trying to describe in the context of your drawing Aziz well as the light source that is hitting that form in its relationship to it. So again, think of edges like values in that sense is that there's an infinite number of edges in between hard and a soft. Just there is from dark to light. It's the same thing Now. There is one particular thing that we could discuss that is unique, Um, and it doesn't necessarily exist, but people use it as artistic license. Um, and that would be called like a lost edge. And basically all the lost edge means is that is that, you know, when you squint down, let's say, you know and kind of in the context with the ball. Um, just see if I could do this here is like I don't know, Let's say you know, if I'm going back to the sphere example, I have my shadow in a cash shadow in, You know, let's say, you know, as I'm filling things in, you know, in this and use and a lost edge, you know, you'll see a lot of artists use it, and I would say the best example is like a context of let's say, like like the easiest examples, like a background, you know. And so let's say you know, you could even say within this shadow shape here is this if I were doing this as a completed drawing that the value range down here gets so dark and that blends together when I squint down that I no longer have a defining edge on. And so, you know, that doesn't mean, you know, in in the in the concept of reality, just because the values get so dark, it doesn't mean like, now that this this piece of this fear no longer exists, Um, you know, in reality, because it does. But visually, yeah, you know, the values get so close together that it becomes very hard to decipher where things separate, especially if you squint your eyes down to sort of simplify shadow patterns on bats. Kind of all the lost edge is, and so you'll find artists use this edge, you know, as a tool, maybe for the for design, um, to simplify something. But it doesn't necessarily, you know, it's I would say it's an artistic license thing. So it's not like things don't just disappear in real life, you know, like a visually, um so that's kind of something to keep in mind is that yes, you can use a lost edge for creative license and in to kind of make cohesion within a picture, but in reality it doesn't really exist. So that's why I only really mentioned these three, you know, in this discussion because, you know, lost edge. Um, you know, again, again, it's an artistic licensing. And so let's say you know, if this was the in context of a background, um, you say this is a horizon line and there's a background is that I could say that the background is really dark, you know? And so I could essentially, you know, air quotes, lose this edge, you know, the shadow shape of the sphere into the background and so that there's no defining edge for the sphere. And it would look better if this site is also filled in. And so we have, let's say a really dark background, so on and so forth and we lose the edge and what you end up kind of creating this nice graphic sort of a look, you know, to the drawing. And you know, a lost EJ can happen, and more than just the background, it can happen in kind of any place the artist chooses. But the background is kind of the easiest example. And it's something that you would see a lot of, especially in. I would say, you know, when I was first starting in, you know, kind of getting, you know, life drawing and stuff like that. I was in an illustration school, and, um, you know, they would use lost edges all the time. And it looks really neat and kind of design E um and, you know, you kind of learn how it gives you an understanding of space, and that's all it iss, you know? So, um, that's something to think about. And it's not something I wouldn't even really press on and say It's that important right away, especially if you're just starting out. It's nice to know and to least think about it and consider. But for the most part, what we're gonna be dealing with are these. And like I said, the understanding of in between this hard edge and soft edge is an infinite number of edges , just like our value range. So we need to be mindful of that, Um, but again, in relationship to the former, trying to depict an a light source. So hopefully that makes sense That's kind of sort of the easiest example I can talk about in terms of just isolating edges unto themselves. Um, I will talk about more in understanding the light concept and how form is turning. And that might make, I think, hopefully kind of bridge some of the gaps together. But in a very basic sense. That's kind of what I'm thinking about. Um, if I'm just isolating edges on themselves, but, um, anyway, we'll go on from here. 5. Picture demo: Okay, So before I get to the actual, um you know, drawing that I'm gonna be doing I wanted to at least draw on top of my reference so that I can hopefully explain the concept again a little bit better. And it Oh, I'm hoping that it will give you an idea about what I'm thinking about when I'm drawing a little bit easier. Um, so we know that just by looking at the image that my light source is kind of coming from above here, Right? Um and that's gonna be obviously the biggest indicator. So and then I'm basing all my decisions based off where the light is coming from. And so obviously we have a very strong shadow side of the face and then a light side of the face. And if I were to ask myself, Okay, The brightest areas on the head are essentially going to be in the forehead here, and so this area is facing the light, you know, it's, you know, it's pretty bright. And then as the form is turning, the forehead straightens out, and then it turns up again, which is why this brow ridge is a little bit brighter. So what I'm thinking about and and that's kind of why I'm drawing these little tiny tiles is as a form is turning. If not, it's the orientation to the light is changing with it. Um And so that's kind of why. And even when I was referencing in the beginning, how I would kind of try and put my pencil, you know, if it was a cast, I would be putting my pencil on the surface, um, to see where the form is actually facing. That's kind of what I'm trying to do. Hopefully or at least hopefully come across in this example is that you know, as form is turning, I'm gonna just draw these little tiles over here, you know, based off of my light source. You know, I can say that. Okay, the lights coming here and then as a form is flattening out, it's now changing its orientation. And so when I get when I get to, let's say, like, the lower part of the face, um, you know, let's say you know, down here, you know, in the cheek is that now the form is facing downward, right? And so but the trick is is that if I look at this area right here, my eyes were gonna tell me that, Hey, this area is actually pretty bright, you know, it's a it's on the light side of the face. It looks relatively bright. But if I do that in the drawing and I make it as light as I perceive it, it's going to effect what's happening up up in here, in the forehead. It's gonna make this area feel, you know, less bright if I make it equally as bright. So I have to think about If the light sources up above through here, how much distance does this light have to travel in order to get to here? And can it be as bright as the forehead that I've established here? And in reality, it can't but my eyes air constantly, tricking me, telling me, Well, no, it's it's on the light side of the face. It has to be bright, right? But that's that's sort of the sort of the illusion, or sort of the I don't know. It's kind of like a trick, you know, you could say is that we have to look past that. We can't just look at you know what we're observing and go and just take it at face value because ultimately we're making a drawing that the you know, the person who's going to view the drawing is not gonna look at what we drew from there. Just we're gonna look at the drawing for what it is. And so we have to think as artists a little bit further about what kind of decisions were making as we're working so that it ultimately gives us the best effect on DSO. There's all these kinds of little optical tricks that our eyes are, you know, kind of deceiving us. We have to think beyond that and think more objectively about what's actually going on with what we're observing and what is facing the light. What is turning away from the light and draw that accordingly. And so and then you get little areas, you know, Let's say, like on this side of the face where we get these little pockets, you know of light, you know, down here and, you know, let's say, for example, our eyes would tell us that Hey, these air, really, you know, these little kind of pockets of lighter. Actually, you know, they're pretty bright, aren't they? But in reality, it's it's not. The only reason that these two areas looked bright at all is because of how much shadow there surrounded by. And so what this effect is called is is called simultaneous contrast meaning we have these things that are surrounded by dark, and anything that's near them that looks remotely lighter is going to appear much brighter than it actually is. But again, if I were to think about what's happening on this side of the face A, I know it's the shadow side of the face. But then also to is what is the orientation you know, of these forms and so we can think about once You know, we know that even on the light side of the face that this form is facing downward. Well, it also has to be true on this side because you know the faces essentially marrying each other, and there's a relative degree of symmetry that's happening. Um, so that's something to keep in mind, and so it's areas like this in the mouth that, you know, we can see these little tiny pockets of light and it's very confusing visually for us and be it's like where we get so tempted to make it so much lighter than it actually is. But if we make it that light these areas through here also then gonna take away from the light effect, you know that's happening on this side of the face. Um, you know, So if these are all the kinds of decisions that you have to be thinking about the entire time you're drawing and it's, I know it's a lot to sort of take in at first, but, you know, kind of take it slow and work on one area at a time and be thinking about these other things as you're working. And so I'll try and explain it as best I can as I'm drawing. And like I said, the actual demonstration will be sped up, so I'll try and hit those points as best I can. But again, think about the diagrams that we went over earlier in the class, and then what's happening here in the face on, and I hope that it all kind of comes together for you. 6. Getting started: So before I get started with the actual drawing portion of this, I wanted to at least give this a little bit of context. And so, as you can see, I essentially have my drawing blocked in. I mapped out my shadows and I filled them in with a relatively flat, dark value on. And this is kind of where you would want your drawing to be before you considered any sort of four modeling in your own drawing. And so, you know, nice, flat two D image. I'm not I didn't soften any edges. I essentially have a nice sort of graphic Look to the drawing my terminators have been established in If the drawing looks good at this point, that means you're off to a great start, you know, because at this point, it really is just kind of proportions. Shape recognition, things like that. And then once you get your drawing to, you know, you want to get the value, um, of your shadows, you know, relatively dark. They don't necessarily have to be that full jet black value. And obviously, depending on, you know, either the model or reference that you're working from. You want to give yourself a little bit of room for error, Teoh, to make things darker or lighter if need be. But you do want that a niche initial value in your shadow to be dark enough to see port the lights that you're going to establish as you start building out your form eso again kind of just to keep this in mind and give this, you know, sort of demonstration a little bit of context. This is kind of the starting point, and so we would want to have a nice, proportionate drawing with the values filled in and and kind of go from there. And so before I actually do any modeling, I just wanted to go over the concept again with just a little quick demo on the side here. But, um, you know, this is kind of, you know, I will kind of explain this as I'm doing the actual drawing again. But I wanted to just make another secondary diagram so that I can just go over this one more time and, um, you know, so as we you know, I'm thinking about you know where my light sources where my shadows are on. Then I'm also again thinking about the direction, um, at which forms are facing. And a lot of that again is gonna be just me Not necessarily looking at what my eyes were telling me and saying, Well, you know, this has to be a certain value because this is what my eyes are seeing. But I need to make something a certain value based off of the logic of which way the forms air facing and then also that is relative to the angle of the light source, as well as the distance at which those forms are actually coming into interaction with the light. Um, so anyway, I know that was kind of like a mouthful, but here's just a basic, you know? OK, here's like my generic head. You know, mannequin, I have a simple, you know, form shadow, you know, for the cheek and then the nose. And what not. And so we can say that. Okay, my light is coming from above so that I know that the forehead here has to be one of the brightest areas in the drawing. And then, from there, I have to start thinking about if that's my brightest point and light is hitting this area of the most that more or less everything else is going to kind of beat down, played to that. And so his light is traveling across the face or anything like that. Obviously, I have my shadows. And so I know that this is gonna be the dark side of, you know, of this portrait. And so most of the values on that side are gonna be significantly darker than on the light side. And then even what's gonna be brighter is that forehead area. So I'm just keeping that in mind. Azzam making this diagram here. And so the tricky part, actually sometimes is not coming from like the shadow side. I feel Is that at least for me, when I was kind of first learning this, it was always drawing things on the lighter side of an object or a portrait. And what have you that made it a little trickier. And part of the reason for this is that even if we take the light side of the face right here, we have to consider that if let's say the forehead is our brightest area and light is travelling down the face there's gonna be a relative distance that we're going to restart, receiving a drop off of light. And so if we've established what our brightest area is, even though we're working on the light side of the face, we have to consider of the relative distance that that light is travelling down on top of the angles that the forms air facing. And so if we were to think about, let's say areas like the cheek, Um, and then even like the chin is that some of these forms are actually facing away from the light. Um, and even though they're occupied on the light side of the face, we still have to consider their relative angle, Um, in which the form is turning and then again also to the distance away from the light source . And that's kind of where this gets a little tricky. And in a nutshell, women's up happening is you. You actually end up making certain things a little bit darker than maybe what your eyes tell you they are on. And that's kind of where the disconnect is a lot of times with first learning. This concept is that your eyes are telling you one thing that okay, this is the light side of the face. Everything has to be bright. And then that way the shadow sides days dark and everything like that. But because of, you know, again, just thinking conceptually and logically about how form is turning and how planes air changing. Um, that may not always be the case, and this is kind of where you started thinking about things a little bit more, and I hate to keep saying conceptually, but it almost becomes like an abstract way of thinking because you're not just trusting your eyes anymore. At this point, you're thinking about how this form is is turning in space relative to the light source. And you're trying to just carve out that form so that it looks round and kind of What ends up happening is that you know, you're not you're never just trying to copy what you see. You're trying to make a piece of art, and you're doing that by any means necessary. You know, obviously there's a you know you can't go too far, obviously, and especially in the in the realm of representational drawing. And so, in this case, we're trying to create a portrait, but this would apply to anything. So figure. Still life, etcetera. You know, something that resembles nature. You're always gonna be thinking about this. And, you know, in this particular case, I'm just trying to make something look round on. And so I'm having to push and pull these other things to get that idea across. And so that's where, especially again on the light side of the face. I feel like this concept is a little trickier. On the shadow side, you have a little bit more flexibility. I feel like because the relative values are gonna be more or less dark. Anyway, um, but once we get over to the light side of the face, we then have to really kind of, you know, slow down, focus and and think about the angles of which forms air turning. And then again, the relative distance away from the light source, what is more perpendicular to the light source and what is, you know, starts to turn away and maybe become even more parallel to the light source. And I know it's kind of a lot of things all at once. Um, which is why I tried to separate everything in stages. And so that's kind of way we would have a block and stage. We would have a stage where we met out our shadows and then a stage where you fill in the shadows. So we're trying to isolate the steps as much as we can so that, you know, we're not trying to juggle, you know, five balls at once. And now we can maybe just focus making juggle one or two balls at once to make the process a little bit easier. So I just wanted to preface, You know, this sort of before I got too far ahead in drawing the actual portrait is that portion will be sped up quite a bit for the sake of time. So anyway, hopefully that made sense. I know I kind of rambled on a little bit, and, um, if you watched, you know, if you've watched this far, hopefully all the diagrams and examples before this, um, have kind of helped up to this point so that you have a better grasp of what we're trying to do with this exercise and in this class. So, um, when you see the portrait demonstration just kind of follow along, and you may have to re watch it a few times just to see it as it you know, it is. Like I said, it has sped up quite a bit for the sake of time, but hopefully, as you see it applied, this will all make much more sense. 7. Head forms 1: Okay, so now obviously, this drawing is going to be sped up quite a bit. And so I kind of just want to talk about the general ideas as I'm starting to begin the form pass. And so even though it's sped up, you'll hopefully get an idea of what we're gonna be covering in. Um, a lot of the earlier stuff that I was talking about goes over the main concept, but I thought it be helpful to basically see this take place in a drawing. So I'm choosing to start at this particular portion of the drawing in the mouth on Lee because it's one of the darker areas on the shadow side. And, um, for me, like I kind of said previously, is that I have a tendency to prefer just start working out of the shadow and in tow light. So in this particular grouping in the mouth and then going up into the cheek and into the nose on all that, it's a fairly dark area that is gonna allow me to build up to my lights and kind of set the stage for the rest of the drawing. And so, starting from the shadow side of the head for me is gonna be a lot easier to give myself a relative range of values. Toe work from a zai Get towards the lighter side of the face later on. So you might be looking at this particular portion of the face and kind of in the lower, you know, mouth here and and kind of be thinking that Wow, you know, he's making that really dark. Um, you know, in terms of its value range. But, um, again kind of thinking about the idea of where this position of the cheek and in the mouth is relative to the light source a swell, a zit being pretty far from perpendicular to the life source, meaning that the direction in which the forms are facing are actually going against the light pretty deep on DSO These values there are inherently gonna be darker than what our eyes are going to perceive. And so and that's really the biggest concept I could sort of want to overstate throughout the course of the drawing. Is that you? You kind of don't want to trust your eyes implicitly. You want to be objectively thinking about where things are oriented in space and make decisions based off of that versus just going by what you see. At first glance, this is, um, kind of working from the Terminator out. I'm being very conscious of the build up of the range Azaz. That form is rolling out from the edge, and a lot of the areas on this side of the face are gonna be very tightly compressed together, meaning the range of values that are occurring in the face are fairly close together. Um, on the shadow side, and so they're gonna be all be fairly dark. And it's not really until I get into the top part of the cheek where we start getting into some lighter values. But what I'm trying to do in the face is to gradually work up to that lighter value. And so I'm basically kind of going from the darkest areas and just kind of circling around to the light. So that way I can better gauge just how light I actually need to make that particular form , cause it's it's not gonna be. Aziz Bright is what you're seeing again, just kind of going back to the idea that I'm not really trusting. You know what? My eyes telling me I'm going purely based off of where this form is actually sitting in space relative to its orientation to the light. And so was I have gradually worked up to the light. I may end up having to go back and make additional passes through the same areas to kind of either deep in the values or make corrections. But I will say that I try to get things as accurate as possible the very first time I go and make the initial form passing. If something is off, you know, it certainly can happen, and it's and it's not the end of the world. But I go with the mindset of trying to get it right the first time. Um and then the tricky part, obviously with some of this is that because I'm working from section to section and I'm not kind of bringing up the entire drawing together is that it's really difficult to assess whether or not you get it right the first time. So even once the drawing gets entirely filled in and we have the entire, you know, face filled in with tone, I may have to go back and make some adjustments or some corrections. But just keep in mind that I'm trying to get it right the very first time. Ah, and if not, then I can always go back and make those fixes. And so obviously, the tricky part is that it's sometimes hard to have a context of the whole. So you kind of want to be thinking, you know, in a kind of with the end game in mind about what you want, the light effect toe look like and what you're trying to go for in the drawing on and then kind of go from there. But, you know, I'm basically just gonna try and depict. This is accurately as I can on and hopefully we end up with something that looks, you know, pleasing at the end. But, you know, now that we have this one cheek in, it's gonna kind of set the stage for the rest of the face because I'm essentially working from the shadow side, out into the lights so we can kind of, you know, at least have an idea of like Okay, well, the range that I'm working in right now is more or less gonna be the darkest range in the entire drawing. And so now, going forward with the rest of the drawing a good chunk of vino, Let's say the other side of the face the forehead is gonna be significantly lighter than the rest of this part of the face. So I'm gonna be keeping that in mind as I'm continuing along, and so will kind of go from there. 8. Head forms 2 : okay. And so, as we're kind of getting, you know, more or less, this side of the face resolved, Um, moving forward. What I'm going to be doing is I'm gonna focus on the lower half of the face here. And the reason for that is is that relative to the light source, the bottom portion of the of the face like the chin, the mouth is actually fairly dark in comparison. And what you have to be thinking about is not only the position of the forms, um, facing the light source and whatnot, but also the relative distance on dso. Even something you know, like the chin. We can say that even though the chin is sort of occupying thelancet side of the face, the distance of the chin relative to the light source. And you know, if we say that the forehead is gonna be the brightest area of the drawing, the chin is so much farther away from the light source that it's actually gonna be fairly dark in relationship. And so again, all of this is kind of a relative thing. And so at first it's you're gonna see me put in the channel. You're gonna see like, Wow, that looks really dark. Um, but by the time later on, when we get to the top part of the head, it will make sense in the overall context of the head. And so it's one of those things were at first you don't We almost don't want to trust yourself with what you're putting down, but you again, it just kind of goes back to thinking conceptual e about the form and its orientation to the light and where things are actually facing and making my decision based off of that and not just looking at what I'm seeing and so kind of as I'm, you know, going in through this area. I'm gonna try and fill in the entire, you know, mouth area first and again. The reason for this is that because this is such a dark area, it's going to establish a better range for me going forward as I start moving towards the light areas and I'll end up kind of going through the lower portion of the face on and then gradually work up into the forehead and and again, for me, this is just kind of the way I like toe work personally, as it makes it easier for me to assess things. So you'll see me fill in the darkest areas first and then gradually build up to the light. And for me, I I feel like I have a better sense of control as I do that in my drawing, Um, and it gives me a little bit of a buffer for some errors. If I need to resolve things later, where's if I was kind of starting out from the light and I went to dark? It's it's much more difficult to a race and to try and resolve some of the light, Um uh, afterwards. So that's kind of wine. I'm working the way I'm working throughout the course of this drawing. And so as I'm feeling things and I'm always asking myself, what direction is this form facing, you know, So something like the lip or anything like that, you know that top lip is actually facing downward, whereas Thelancet lip is facing very much upward and which is why that lower lip is going to be significantly brighter in that complex. But you know, not just the mouth, but you know everywhere else in the drawing. These are the kinds of questions that I'm asking myself. And so the relative distance to the light source the angle at which this form is facing and how much light is it actually receiving? Um, you know, and that that becomes the entire thought process. And so, as much as it might sound odd to say, it's like the reference, you know or the model or whatever you're looking at is is you know it's important to an extent, but it's not sort of the end all be all in which you want to gauge everything you know. So I'm always gonna be using what's in front of me as as a source for proportion and shape and things like that. But once I start getting into the mindset of form, you know, in this case with a head, obviously I'm thinking about the forms of the head and what they are so in terms of, you know, skeletal structure, anatomy and things like that. Of course I'm thinking about it, but more so than that is, I'm asking myself the direction in which these forms are facing. And then again, the relative distance to a light source. And I'm purely making my decisions about how light or how dark I'm making something off of that. And so I don't You know, the reference material or the model, um is almost like a placeholder at the end of the day. And so you're making conscious decisions as an artist, and you're trying to, you know, sculpt out a drawing, you know, onto your paper rather than just trying to copy what's in front of you, all right? And so kind of, you know, as I'm filling things and you can kind of see you know where the chin is looking and you again, you might be saying like, wow that, you know, that looks relatively dark. Um, you know, compared to you know what I'm seeing. And again, it's just kind of one of those things where I know that as I'm building up the drawing and I build up, the rest of it is that it's going to It might look dark right now, but by the time we get to the very top of the head, it will Hopefully, um, you know, sort of reset visually, and it'll make sense in the, you know, sort of the grand scheme of things and to the entirety of the drawing. And so it is a lot of the times when you're doing this in a drawing, especially working from section to section, that you have to trust yourself or if it is a long project. This is often times why it's important to do like a little thumbnail study. Um, ahead of time. If you think you're gonna be spending weeks, you know, on a single project, you'd want to do a little studies so that you have a little visual map for yourself to where you know where to go value wise or anything like that. But anyway, nonetheless, as we start going onto this light side of the face, I have to be very cautious with the range of values that I put down because, you know, sort of like the ball example that we started with at the very beginning is that as we get closer to, you know, let's say like a highlight or forms that are hitting. Um, you know, the bright side close to the highlight is that everything gets very compressed, and so the range of values becomes I feel a bit more subtle than it does on let's say, like the shadow side, where it's very obvious where things air coming in and out of a shadow on the light side, you have a much smaller range toe work in, and so, as you start to darken things, you have to be careful to not go too far or you'll break the light effect. And so as we start working on this side of the face, it will hopefully make sense and and give some context to the shadow side going forward. 9. Head forms 3: And so as I start building on the light side of the face, it is one of the areas where I'm gonna be a bit more cautious. And so the biggest reason for that is again the the range of value that I have to work in in order to get the form to read properly is a bit smaller than working on the shadow side of the face where I have, you know, a little bit more flexibility. I would say, in case if I wanted to push something, you know, a little bit darker or kind of adjust some of the values. I have a little bit more sort of room, that sort of cheap that if I wanted, wears on the light side of the face in order to get the light effect to read properly so that it looks like you know the light side of the face. It's just that there's there's very little room for error, and then so that's why it kind of slowly build up the light side of the face. And then as I'm building into the cheek here and as I get closer and closer to you know, the highlight on the cheek. What I end up maybe doing is I may have to go back in and even darken the lower portion of you know, the mouth and the chin a little bit more so that it creates an even stronger effect of the cheek on. And then ultimately the forehead, Um, so that they look a little bit more illuminated or more light facing. And so that's where you know, throughout the course of this drawing, as I was building up, you know, this side of the face it was something that I'm constantly referencing back. And I'm looking at the other areas of the drawing that I've established and seeing what I may or may not have to do to get the light effect to read. And and so that's something that, as you're doing any drawing it, so it's kind of this play of you're you're wanting to push and pull, you know, some of the value ranges in order to create the effect that you want, and and so I'm still asking myself, you know, the relative position of you know, things on the light side of the face. Well, how light facing are they And how much is that you know, Is the cheek receiving light versus how much is the forehead receiving light? And so it becomes a list of things and you start, you start engaging. You know, as you add more and more information to a drawing, you want to start engaging these sorts of little things in order to create the right effect that you're after. And so before I get too far ahead with the cheek and everything like that, I'm gonna go ahead and put in the nose because the nose, you know, is really about a 50 50 split in light and shadow. But by getting it in there, it's gonna help me establish. You know what I need to do with the eye. And then ultimately, once you know the eye gets filled in, it will hopefully set me up. Better to get in the rest of the forehead, which, for the most part in this drawing that is going to be the light. You know, the most light facing thing, especially on the right hand side and eso some of the smaller forms in the nose. You know, we're obviously gonna have some highlights on the ball of the nose and as well as the bridge. But I try and work around those so that I'm building up the range, uh, in the nose itself, and then I don't like to pick out my highlights or anything like that. I like to build up to him so that they look a little bit more natural. But for the most part, you know, we're gonna have a bit of light, you know, that is hitting the front part of the nose. Um, but it's still again, you know, relatively, you know, to the forehead, it's not gonna be, as you know, as bright, but it's gonna get pretty close. And again, it's just this whole area of the face, um, becomes a little more tricky because of how even an, um, you know, the value ranges air so close together. Ah, that I need to find little tiny things to help me separate forms. And so, like, you know, things like the sign plane of the nose as it's coming into contact with the cheek. And then, as we get into, let's say, the eye socket. And like the tear duct and everything like that, there's all these little tiny things that are converging into a very small space. And so you have to be very careful about the ranges that you're establishing in these really small spots. And so you can kind of see the gradual build up to the highlights on the nose. And, um, again, as we as we kind of get close to, you know, like the I and then like the light portion, others, like a highlight on the cheek, kind of just building around these areas so that the light will naturally, um, you know, just kind of resolve itself and so that I don't have to go in and use too much, you know, pencil to fill in these areas. And so again, it's just being mindful about the range that is so it's It's very, you know, as we get to the lighter values. It's very, very small, Um, and so anything that looks too dark at first time, I may have to go back and pick out. You know, little things with my eraser, and I'm just trying to find the right balance so that things look you know, is natural, you know, as they do when the subject matter. And, you know, obviously, you know, you try and you take some liberties as an artist to get the effect that you want, but you still want it to hopefully, look, you know, natural for the most part. So as I'm getting into the eye here, you know, there is not a whole lot of, you know, dark values, say, for the actual, you know, iris of the eye itself and then as well as the socket underneath the eyebrow. Because when you start to think about the socket and its orientation is that it's from the eyebrows down, the socket itself is facing downwards. So I have a little bit of room to play in the in terms of value to dark and things a little bit. Um, And then, you know, things were like, the eyelids are gonna catch a little bit more light on. And then, obviously, you know, just under the lower lid, we're gonna have a little small range of highlight through there. But for the most part, you know, when you have an eye that is predominantly, um, you know, sitting in the light side of the face, it could be kind of difficult to establish a sense of form because you don't have a dark enough value range through the area to really establish a sense of turning on. And so that's where you want to look for areas like in the socket. Um, you know, eyelashes and things like that because it can help open up the value range so that you can create that turning effect that's happening through there in granted were kind of, you know, dealing with this concept within the confines of drawing ahead. But this would apply to anything, you know. So I'm even if this was a figure or, you know, you know, still like for anything like that, I'm always asking myself where you know where the areas where I can kind of push things a little bit more or if I need to make something a little darker is for the sake of making something look rounder. You know, that's kind of all I'm really concerned with. And so it's it's sort of our job is an artist, especially for trying to work in the in the context of realism, and we want to make the illusion of form and things looking round and or light hitting a surface. You're always going to be pushing and pulling your values for the sake of that effect. And so that's something I'm always considering, especially in a light area where the range is so tight. I have to ask myself, Where can I get away with maybe pushing something a little bit darker because it's gonna allow me to make something look, you know, a little bit rounder, or accentuate the form a little bit more? Um, And so hopefully that you can kind of see that where I've taken a little liberties in the socket and then the lower lid in areas like that. But as we kind of get this filled in, it kind of sets the cheek up a little bit better and the cheek maybe has a better sense of light on. Then, as we get closer to the forehead will hopefully by the end of it, have a someone decent light effect that's happening with the head 10. Head forms 4 : all right. And so what the I filled in and this cheek more or less filled, and I can now focus in on the forehead. And and so for me, this is probably in terms of this particular drawing kind of a difficult area from the from the standpoint that the forehead is a very even form, and especially on a young female, you don't have a lot of, um, you know, sub forms that you would have on, let's say, an older person or even a male. And so that's why I kind of very tentative about just being really mindful about how we build up the forms in the forehead so that I don't age the model, um, and then also get the nice light effect that I'm after. And so, um, I'm gonna still start from the left hand side because even though it's not entirely in shadow, this side of the forehead is the darkest part of it. And so I want to build up that value range on this side of the forehead and then slowly work up to, you know, the more or less highlight that's occurring in the top part of the forehead. I will say the one sort of element in this drawing that is kind of working against me is the fact that I haven't filled in the hair. And honestly, the reason for that is is that I didn't want to spend, you know, hours filling in, you know, dark hair with a pencil. And at least for the context of what I wanted to try and get across, um, in this video and for the classes, you know, is to just talk about form. Um And so even though we have the dark shadow in the cheek and in and in a little bit going down the neck in the form shadow, um, you know, yes, having the hair filled in would give a greater context to the entirety of the head. But I just didn't want to spend, you know, hours filling in hair. Um, for that. And I could still talk about all the form concepts that I wanted to talk about without having the hair in there, but nonetheless, again, just kind of want to build up the values on this shadow side or darker side of the forehead so that it gives me the extra room to build up to my highlight. And and so as I get closer to the highlight in the forehead, that's gonna be the area where you know it's not gonna be as brilliant of a light effect because I don't have the contrast of the highlight next to the dark hair. So I'm going to do the best I can with the ranges that I've established value wise in the drawing and try and get that effect as best I can. And so just something to keep in mind in the context of this particular drawing. Um, you know, if it were, you know, a different drawing or something like that, or the model head lighter hair, I could possibly, you know, have maybe a better chance of creating that entirety of effect a little bit better. But nonetheless, you know, with the forms that we've established so far, I feel like the effect is more or less working at this point. But now I just need to build up the rest of the forehead so that it's completed. And so while there is, like a small little sub form through the brow ridge and through the kind of the the middle plane of the you know of the forehead. It is something I'm trying to be careful of is I find that putting in, you know, smaller sub forms on a young female head has a tendency to age them pretty quickly. Eso Even though there is kind of a small sub form through the brow ridge on and then through the top and middle planes of the forehead, I'm being careful about how much I emphasize that. And really, what I want to try and do in this particular form is that just create an overall evenness through the entirety of the forehead so that it puts more emphasis on the light effect that's happening. So, um, it is one of an area like this, believe it or not, is actually fairly difficult, not in the sense of, you know, either building up a form or anything like that. But it's keeping the value range even enough so that you get a nice, gradual turning a form on. And when you don't have smaller sub forms toe lock onto or anything like that and you just have, um, one very sort of long, you know, expansive piece of form. It's difficult in a mechanical sense in that you have to fill in this long piece of form, even as you possibly can. And so it's just, And that becomes more kind of a thing with the tools. And so you have to be comfortable with, you know, with your pencil or your charcoal or anything like that. And so this is one of those areas where I had, you know, to constantly go back in and pick out little dots of graphite that would be in the forehead . Eso that it maintains a sense of evenness throughout the entirety of the form. And so this was one of those areas where I kind of found myself going back to the shadow side. You know of, you know, of the forehead forms just because I know that by the time I get to the light side of the forehead where the highlight is is that my value range is going to be so close together that if I don't push enough on the dark side of of the forehead, I'm not gonna have enough room to create my light effect that I'm after. And so that's why you see me going back. You know, even as I filled things and I'm going back to the shadow side of the forehead to just build it up a little bit more so that I'm creating that extra room that I'm gonna need to create a brighter effect on the top of the forehead. But hopefully, you know, as as we've gotten to this particular area of the drawing and we've gotten to this stage, if you go back and look at where we started with the shadow side of the cheek, you know, or even the chin you can kind of see how at first those areas felt really dark, and perhaps they were overstated or anything like that. But now that we have the context of some of the brighter areas in the light side of the face in the cheek, and then as we're getting close to the forehead here, you can kind of see how those areas now kind of they feel like they fit right. And so I you know, they don't I'm not trying to copy the reference or anything like that, but I'm trying to create my own drawing and using the reference for placement for portion and then for the relative shadow shapes and things like that. But I'm essentially now making my own drawing and creating the forms that I want to create . And so, you know, at this point, you can kind of see that even though things kind of maybe felt off when we first began that now they feel, you know, part of the bigger picture of the drawing that we're creating And so, you know, and you could argue that maybe in certain areas, I probably could have even gone darker with, you know, the especially the values that are very close to the shadow. I could maybe have pushed them a little bit more, and maybe even it maybe would accentuate the, you know, the shadow, the shadow and light effect a little bit better. And so, um, that's something that you know, Even as I fill in the drawing, I could go back in and dark in those areas down and then create perhaps a better like effect. And this is something when I used to do in school and we would do cast drawings or figure drawings or anything like that is that once you've got the drawing filled in. You would sometimes have to revisit areas and go back and make adjustments. And that's completely normal. Um, you know, And like I was saying earlier, at the very beginning, the goal is to try and get it as close as you can in the very first past. But sometimes it just doesn't happen. Um, you know, even, you know, if you, you know, as you get more experienced, you still trying to get something right? The very first time is very hard to dio, Um and so you just kind of hope that you can get it right. But if not, you have to go back in and make those adjustments once the drawing gets filled in. But as you can see here is we're getting close to filling in the top of the forehead. My value ranges are getting very compressed. And I'm trying to just emphasize, you know, the light is best. I can, um and you know, like I said, if if I were the have the hair filled in, um, the contrast of the dark value of the hair would really set off the highlight in the forehead, but because I don't have it in there. It's not gonna be as strong of effect as I would like. Um, but hopefully relative to what is already established in the drawing, you can kind of make sense of it for yourself. And so is we're kind of wrapping up this drawing. I really, you know, hope that the concept that we have talked about from the very beginning is making sense. And this class really wasn't about, you know, doing ahead drawing or anything like that. But I did wanna have a some sort of example that just wasn't a diagram for people to look at, and hopefully it it creates a greater sense of of what I'm really trying to establish with the information in this class, and that's understanding and interpreting what you're seeing and not just copying something blindly on. And that's something at first, you know, if you're just starting out, it's a very kind of tricky concept to understand. Um, you know that we're not trying to really is artist. We're not trying to copy what we're seeing, but we're trying to interpret it on make a nice piece of art on DSO. That's kind of where the conceptual ideas come into play a little bit more. And so I hope that I was able to get that across to you with some of the diagrams and that by seeing a drawing being done with this concept in mind that it creates that that idea a little bit easier so that you have a visual way of seeing how that's interpreted. And so I recommend everyone kind of give this a shot and start off with some simple you know, whether it's a sphere or a simple still life or anything like that, to practice the concept and then gradually move on to more complicated subject matter, like like a portrait or figure or anything like that. But I definitely recommend going back and looking at the diagram, videos and stuff like that and try to make sense of this for yourself, and it'll take some time, and it certainly isn't easy at first. But once you get a rough understanding of it, I feel like it'll improve your drawing quite a bit. Thank you for watching