ask vicki (how the heck do i paint lighting??)

hello friends! <3

and welcome back to another installment in the series Ask Vicki! :D where you ask me questions about art and i do my very best to answer! this post is based off of fellow patron Alexus's question: 

 
Do have any specific methods for lighting?

i most certainly do! i've cobbled together knowledge here and there over the years of doing art and will now regurgitate that information in the most educational way possible. so without further ado, let's get LIT ;DDDDDDD 

B A S I C S
 

i know, you've probably seen something like this sphere in the middle of nowhere many times in the past, but it really is the best place to start. when i make art, it's less about making a piece 100% realistic and more about making it feel like it's grounded somewhat in reality. understanding how light affects basic objects like spheres and cubes can give you a stronger innate knowledge of how light affects more complex subjects. i suggest doing some studies of your own and observing light in your every day life to see how it acts on regular objects. 

from there we can start to learn how light affects more complicated subjects, like people. i will be focusing on people in this post, but you can apply these same techniques to anything. it's the principle not the rule that i'm trying to get across. you can easily apply a shadow to your artwork with a multiply layer effect (more on that later) and erase parts of that layer where you want to show light hitting the subject. i've created a few examples above to show how the direction of light and it's subsequent shadow can make a drawing look more 3D. 

L A Y E R      E F FE C T S

one of my favorite layer effects to use is Overlay. think of it as providing a light wash of color to your entire artwork, like tinting it. *quick layer effect tip: if you only want it to affect a certain part of your drawing make sure to set it as a clipping mask to that particular layer. i typically use orange and blues on overlay layers to add warm or cool feelings to the piece (example above), but you can choose any color you want based on the piece that you're making. overlay layers can also help to unify your color scheme and make it appear like it's all being hit with the same light source. 

another layer effect i use in almost every piece is Multiply. multiply is a great way to add immediate shadows to your artwork. it has the similar effect as overlay in that it can help unify your color scheme if you're only using one color to add shadow. i've created a couple examples above to show how i most commonly use multiply. 

some spicy tips

these ones are more advanced lighting tips that focus mainly on color and feel and are really useful! the first one "gradient lighting" is one i like to use when i'm drawing a character in a sunrise/sunset environment. it's very soft and creates a beautiful color scheme. 

the second one (has an actual art term but i don't remember it) mimics that "border" you can sometimes see when lighting is very intense usually on a sunny day. 

the third one references how shadows, if not intense, usually have some sort of reflected light in them. you can see from the sphere example how the object itself is pink, casts a blue shadow, but with a slight pink hue in the shadow. this is a result of how light behaves and and has the ability to bounce off surrounding surfaces and reflect back onto the object. this gives the object a more 3D look and more life! 

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so that's a wrap on my tips about lighting. i hope it was helpful or useful in some way and that you get a chance to try some of these out for yourself! as always, the best way to learn is to observe lighting in your day to day life and practice so that the information actually sticks. ^^ also observe how your favorite artists use lighting in their artwork and experiment those techniques in your own drawings! i've gained this info over years of making art and am still learning every day more about light and how to better use it to create art that makes me happy. i mainly covered the basics in this post, but there's a lot of other tips about backgrounds and environments that i'd like to share in another post! we'll save that for another day~

If you have any questions of your own, I'd love for you to comment it on this post and I'll answer in the next roundup! Or if you have any answers of your own to these questions please share your insight as well! I think it's a good opportunity for others to offer their solutions/advice. I believe everyone has something to offer and that we can all learn something from one another. ^u^<3

Have a great weekend friends!

Vicki