Nov. 2: Light and Form

• The Form Principle:
• stay true to the rules of light and color, but also give your art the impact that it necessitates.
• you do not have to draw in every single shadow texture when a plane is in full shadow.
• Half Shadow:
• "One way to create drama, especially with a vertical form, is to light the top half and leave the rest in the shadow"
• the theme of impact and creative liberty.
• 
• Occlusion Shadow:
• Shadows that occur wherever two forms touch each other or wherever a form touches a floor.
• Three-Quarter Lighting:
• The traditional lighting for portraiture art. 
• A light source is placed about 45* from the face
• a secondary Fill Light, or natural light, is used to ensure that the face is able to be seen.
• 
• Short light can also be used to push the shadow of the nose further across the cheek and help make the face look thinner.
• Frontal Light: 
• Frontal lighting emphasizes two-dimensional design instead of sculptural form. 
• It's good lighting to choose if you want to emphasize local color or pattern--to features. fashion or costume, for instance. 
• Edge Light:
• thin white line around the form. 
• The width of the rim light varies according to the size of the planes that face back to the light. 
• 
• Contre Jour: 
• think of the light area behind the subject not as flat white paint but as a sea of vapor with light streaming out of the background melting away the edges of the form. 
• 
• Three points about lower lighting:
• Sources of light that shine upward are often strongly colored, either with the warm orange glow of firelight or with the blue flicker of a computer screen.
• One way to make something look large in a nighttime setting is to have the light shine on just part of the form and fall off rapidly. 
• Building a small maquette, or model makes it easier to experiment with actual light. 
• Spotlighting:
• The shadow should match the color to the surface ahead of the spotlight beam because it is receiving the same ambient light as the rest of the scene.