Lighting/Light Box

 So I saw the lighting section in my book, and it talked about studio lighting set-ups, and it reminded me of a light-box, which I show off the effects of in these three pictures shown here.

I found that in the first picture, the flash made the image look fake and not natural. I also thought it made everything look like candy, especially the actual candy. I thought the second picture where I used only the two lights on the side of the box to light it made it have that real vibe to it and a less glossy look, making the photo much better looking overall. Finally I think the last picture was the best of the three, because I thought the combination of my use of focus, and the balance of lighting, it makes the candy look less glossy and more appetizing in general.

Today I leave you with this question: Which technique of taking photos is your favorite?

General drawing: Face Portrait

Now that I've experimented with some basic shapes, it's time I got into some more complex drawings. This time, I decided to draw a face portrait using what I've learned previously (lighting and shading) as well as new information that gives tips about portraits, and drawing human features properly. The two definitely work together to get the best result. "Sometimes side lighting with its interesting contrasts, helps characterize the features and shapes the male face." (Civardi 100) If you don't use proper shading techniques to portrait the appearance of light and shadow on the person's face, the drawing will fail to look truly three dimensional. Although the lighting is very important in the drawing, this is actually one of the last steps you want to do when drawing a portrait. What you want to do is first draw the basic shape of the head, then add some detail in the form of simple eyes, the nose, the ears etc. and then focus on the different surfaces and planes on the person's face before even focusing on the lighting. (Civardi 99) Unlike a simple sphere on a surface, there are more complex parts to draw. For me personally, the most difficult parts were the eyes and the mouth. Even the slightest difference in a pencil stroke could create a noticeable irregularity in the drawing. Luckily, the book did break down many of the separate parts of the face and broke down how to approach drawing them in detail. Despite this, my drawing came out a bit rough.
While many parts of the drawing are well done, like the nose and jaw, there were still many parts that did not quite match the original picture I chose of the man. Overall, the picture lacked some polish that my previous picture managed to come closer to. However, it's important to keep in mind that this was my first attempt at a face portrait, and that there should only be only improvement from here on out.

This brings up the question, what are some strategies you have when it comes to improving on accomplishing difficult tasks?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.

General drawing: Lighting and shading

I’ve always been at least a little interested in anything artsy or creative. While I’m fairly skilled and familiar with anything musical, having played multiple instruments, and participated in two shows through Northwood and KR’s drama department, I’ve never put much time into drawing. My cousin took art lessons during her elementary school and middle school years. She had a natural talent and a passion for art. I was always impressed by even her doodles, but never took the initiative to improve my skill in this area, until now. I will be using Giovanni Civardi’s “Drawing A Complete Guide” in order to get at least a basic idea for all things drawing.

The first thing that struck me as very important was the light and shading in a drawing. Whether the drawing is color or achromatic tones (meaning tones that have no color), the contrast in light/shading can be incredibly useful. One of the most important things shading is used for is volume and depth. Value is light and shadow portrayed in the drawing, and chiaroscuro is the contrast between the two. These two ideas help create intuitive space. "Intuitive space an illusion created by the artist that tricks any viewer into seeing depth, volume and mass on a two dimensional surface" (Civardi 83). The first thing I decided to do in order to properly use intuitive space was to draw some basic objects, three dimensional objects like spheres, boxes and cones. Two important things to include were the object’s cast shadow and form shadow. A form shadow is the less defined dark side on an object that is not facing the light source. The cast shadow is the shadow created by the object, or the shadow the object casts (Civardi 89).  One also has to account for the small amount of reflected light, adding an unexpected lighter patch where the form shadow is. Minding the shadows and the different tones each part of the object had was very important when it came to finally drawing, since that really helps when you are creating the illusion of a three dimensional object. I started with drawing the lighter part of the circle, and then slowly transitioned into the darker parts. After this, I then increased the level of detail in the object and its shadow. My first attempt at a drawing was a sphere with proper shading and shadows.

 

The final product came out looking pretty good, but it took much longer than I initially thought it would. Even the slightest change in lighting is significant, ( Civardi 81) and getting the gradual change in shading was much more difficult, and often took me multiple tries to get it just right. Ultimately, the most important thing I learned was the level of concentration of focus that goes into drawings like these. Detail was incredibly important, but in the end the final result came out much better than I originally anticipated.

The question I have for you guys is what are some things or activities that require even the smallest amount of detail in order to be successful? How do you reach the level of detail needed?

Giovanni, Civardi. Drawing, A Completle Guide. N.p.: Search, 2006.