Let's Talk Shadows

Hello Everyone and welcome to another Copic Oz Tutorial!  Today I thought we'd have a look at shadows, in particular Cast Shadows!  What are Cast Shadows?  Cast Shadows are the crisp, non-blended shadows that occur when an object blocks the light source.  These shadows are like shape it comes from - for example, walk outside on a bright sunny day and look for your shadow.....this is your cast shadow!  These shadows are darkest near the object and lighten as it moves further away.

Let's have a look at creating cast shadows.  Stamp an image that you like!  I have used Power Poppy's Lavender stamp set and stamped the bucket of lavender several times to make a sample sheet.  (You could also do this in your sample book/X-press It Blending Journal and keep it for future reference!)

First step before you start to colour is to decide on where your light source is coming from!  An easy way to do this is to draw some lines on a piece of acetate and lay it over your image.  Remember the angle doesn't have to be sharp or high.

Once I've decided on where my light source is coming from I've coloured the first bucket.  For this image I've made the light source come from the front side and used Copic E93, E95, E97, E99, E19 to colour the bucket.

Change the light source for each image and colour them all!

Now imagine that if the light is coming from one side and the bucket is blocking the light to create a cast shadow, then the shadow will fall on the opposite side.  A lot of people like to colour images with a front/centre light source (see the first bucket), however you really won't see the shadow from that angle as it will fall directly behind and out of view of the reader.  Also note that if the shadow is high over head then the shadow will be shorter, if the light source is lower, you'll get a longer shadow.  Once again, think of walking outside, in the middle of the day your shadow is very close to your feet, later in the day it will stretch out in front or behind you.

Colour all your shadows paying attention to your light source.

I hope you've enjoyed today's tutorial and have some fun creating cast shadows on your own creative projects.  Why not leave a comment on this post with a link?  We'd love to see what you create!!

Happy Colouring!
Kathy  :)