January 2006
Beginner
32 pages
2h 49m
English
Whether you’re drawing from a photo or from life, lighting is extremely important to the overall feeling of your portrait. Lighting can influence the mood or atmosphere of your drawing—intense lighting creates drama, whereas soft lighting produces a more tranquil feeling. Lighting can also affect shadows, creating stronger contrasts between light and dark values. Remember that the lightest highlights will be in the direct path of your light source, and the darkest shadows will be opposite the light source.

USING BACKLIGHTING Here the light source is coming from behind the subject—the face is in shadow, but the hair is highlighted. ...