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  :)Pin It

Testing Copic Marker Shadow Colours

Today I'm taking a huge leap and experimenting with different colours to add interest to shadows.  Now I'm not sure if you've seen this post but in it, Mandi-Lee talks about using complimentary colours in your shadows for extra wow factor.  I've previously tried using the BV family and even the occasional B, but I was wondering what else might work other than complimentary colours.

To test some combinations, I created a grid using a single Copic colour marker and a single colour for the shadow - not the easiest blending combo in many cases, but this provided some incredibly interesting results!  I was expecting many of my shadows to look pretty awful, but was quite surprised by how good so many of them looked - some of these colours even blended rather well!

Now for the best results ideally pick a colour darker than you are colouring with, (this didn't always work out that way the way I did this), as a result some of these colour combos may have looked better with a slightly darker colour for the shadow.  Also though I didn't use them here (as we know these should work),  don't forget about the complimentary colours when looking for shadow colour options!

On to the test...

First I tried some of the light/bright colours - these were a bit tricky to blend and some of the combos turned out a bit interesting, the yellow in particular proved quite fussy.

My favourites for shadows on:

• BG02 were W3, BV00 and R02 - though C3 was also ok
• YG05 were BV00, B01 and W3
• Y02 were B01 and E02
• V04 were C3, B01 and W3 - though some of these aren't really shadows but they do look great!
• E11 were C3, BV00, R02, E02 and W3

All in all, there were many more colours than I was expecting, that produced great results, though not all results are 'shadows' exactly!

Next I tried some mid tones and darker colours - I think these were even more successful, but again I ended up with some interesting combinations. 

My favourites for shadows on:

• V06 were T5, BV17, G28 (closest to complimentary colour)  and B37
• RV29 were G28 
• B08 were T5, BV17 and B37
• YR09 were RV19, TR18 and B37 (closest to complimentary colour) 
• YG67 were T5, BV17, G28 and B37

It turns out there are many more choices for interesting shadow colours than I originally thought, and not at all what I would have predicted!  I had hoped to find some pattern to what works - something like the complementary colours - but it seems to be a little random.  I would encourage you to try your own version of this to find exciting options for your shadows!

If you're a bit nervous then the amazing team at Copic have made it easy for you with the new Copic Colour Wheel.  For reliable shadows with the wow factor,  try using the complimentary colour for the marker you have chosen - you will find potential colour choices opposite your chosen colour on the new Copic Colour Wheel.

Back with more soon,

Kate

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