The relationship Between Light and Shadow
What actually creates realism?
Why does your eye keep tricking you while you paint?
What is the very first thing a painter should do when starting a painting?
This lesson brings you into one of the most essential structures in painting: the relationship between light and shadow.
You’ll begin to see beyond appearance, understand what truly organizes a subject, and move toward translating what you see into a clear and controlled painting.
Definitions:
The Value system
The value system is the ordered scale of lightness and darkness that artists use to organize and control the values in a painting.
Value
The quality by which we distinguish a light color from a dark one.
Shadow family
All the parts of your subject that are not reached by direct light.
These areas are generally darker in value and belong to the shadow side of the form.
Light family
All the parts of your subject that are directly or indirectly hit by light.
These areas are generally lighter in value and belong to the illuminated side of the form.
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