The role of shadows, light and reflections in painting and drawing

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

When you see a picture you like, the contemplator thinks about what exactly impressed him in the work. But the most interesting thing is how the artist himself was able to draw attention to his work. And this task is carried out with the help of visual techniques that are used to convey mood, atmosphere, realism and the idea itself. The most important thing is the ability to see your work as a whole. With this, the artist is assisted by gradations of light and shadow, which allow him to present all the depicted objects at the same time and distribute them into planes and groups.

Tonality in fine arts

In order to understand the role of chiaroscuro gradations, which also include glare and reflex in painting and drawing, it is worth understanding the general scheme of the image of volume. All techniques in the creation of visual art originate from the word "tone", which in Greek sounds like "tension". But most often it is not the color tone, but the light. This is due to how light behaves, changing the local color of the rendered subject depending on the lighting itself and its environment.

Together with a simple line, with a variety of colors that allowthe artist to portray what he intended, tone is one of the main techniques. It is the laws of tone that help masters in conveying the texture, shape of objects, the impact of the environment and airspace on them.

What is valere

The light divisions of a hue or color in a tone are called valers. Their levels start with white and end with the darkest shade of color. Changing these levels depends on how much white or black is added to the local color. But, despite the fact that this reduces the effect of brightness quite a lot, valers are very important in the visual arts. Thanks to the levels, a point is created that attracts attention, the effect of deep space, integrity and, most importantly, volume.

The paintings made in the grisaille technique show the importance of the ability to understand the valères. In such images, gray and other neutral tones are used, with the help of which it is easier for the artist to determine the main gradations of light and shadow - highlight, penumbra, shadow, light, reflex - in painting and graphics.

The role of shadows in painting and graphics

Shadows on the depicted object show poorly lit or not lit areas at all. They can be divided into own and falling. Poorly lit areas on the surface are called own shadows, and the darkness that the object casts is called falling. The shadow that appears under the influence of low light from several sources is called penumbra.

In painting, the shadow changes depending onwhat lighting. If it is naturally warm, then the shadows will be cold, and in artificial light they are warm. These gradations, when interacting with light, make it possible to depict the relationship between light and shadow - chiaroscuro. But it differs from tonal valers in that it is subject only to optical laws, and not to the imagination of the artist. In other words, when depicting chiaroscuro on an object, the artist relies on specific lighting, and when creating an overall picture, using tones, he achieves integrity in favor of composition, which is slightly different from real vision.

The role of light in painting and graphics

It depends on the light source how the artist will be able to convey the shape and volume of the desired objects. And the light itself encloses the space in its own laws, which are distributed in the airspace and are felt on the surfaces. Light appears on the surface of an object under direct rays. Under its influence, not only the most ordinary materials and textures change, but also glossy surfaces. If the latter is convex or flat, a glare is formed under a direct beam of light. Reflective material is much easier to convey with flare due to the general connection of objects in painting with color reflection and other gradations of light and shadow.

The role of the reflex

Reflex in painting and graphics demonstrates the connection between objects and their influence on each other, which gives the work integrity. It is formed in the shadow due to the rays that fall on a nearby object, and shows itreflected light. It is the reflex that complements the work of the artist.

In nature, everything is not always perfect and correct, because objects are combined into groups and plans. The inhabitants of the paintings are painted with special attention directed to their surroundings. The feeling of air space is created by the impression of the objects of the second plan, which arises when studying the first plan. Among the fallen autumn leaves, you can see the greenery that comes from the grass that has not yet withered. These reflections in the painting of nature add a special color and atmosphere to the picture.

Reflexes and other gradations of light and shadow change depending on the lighting. The same view from the window shows all its bright and dull colors for the whole day, which is like a film that changes the mood of the viewer.