Basic Principles of Light

[New Masters Academy]

In this lesson, instructors Chris Legaspi and Heather Lenefski will show you how to apply light to simple forms and use halftones to enhance the sense of 3-dimensional space. Then, you will apply your knowledge of forms to render your household objects.

This lesson belongs to the course The Beginner’s Guide to Drawing. It is a 12-week course designed to empower new students with a structured approach for learning how to draw. Join instructors Steve Huston, Chris Legaspi, Heather Lenefski, Bill Perkins, and Mark Westermoe as you learn the fundamentals of perspective, rendering, and composition. After completing this course, you will develop a solid foundation in drawing.

Throughout this course, you’ll have access to the NMA community for feedback and critiques to improve your work as you progress.

[Sam Pollard]

Just me, or is lesson 8 repeated at the beginning of lesson 9?

[Daniel Daigle]

You are a life saver Sam, We are making the correction now B)

[Patricia Sheley]

An example of the second law of light “Everything that receives light is also a source of light”: is the moon, it reflects the suns light and on earth is a source of light.

[Andrea Lo Rillo]

I was trying to do the assigment and found that i have a bit of troubles when I add the core shadow

[Francisco Verdin]

Hi guys is there a way we can unlock the assignment forms?

 

I used to be able to open the assignments on the older website version.

 

Thanks.

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Francisco
Please email @nma.art">info@nma.art
you can also report a bug on the left hand toolbar at the very bottom

until then, you can opt out of nma.art/v3 and use the old site 🙂
https://www.nma.art/v3/my-account/beta-opt

[noselves]

Week 4: Basic Principles of Light

This week we learn the laws of light, I’ve learned this before and this acted more as a review. I did the first assignment using the 3-D model and using simple 3-D forms, I tried to imagine the light as a straight line hitting the object in my mind’s eye. Using newsprint paper I felt really careful to add the values, to not tear up the drawing surface. I had trouble rendering the sphere and establishing a smooth transition from the core shadow (terminator) to the darkest half-tones, the impression mass of the sphere is found in the curvature of the form and the light should follow this. The next assignment was on household objects, initially I drew a bottle of olive oil and a measuring cup, unbeknownst to me I forgot that these were transparent objects so the laws of light wouldn’t follow what was prescribed in the assignment than if it were objects with a matte surface. So I drew two additional objects for the assignment, a lamp and a bottle of lotion, I placed the light relatively at the same angle for the objects (probably should’ve experimented more). The shadow pattern confused me the most as there was a cast shadow falling on the area behind the handle, the light coming parallel to this from the right. The lamp had lighting below it’s base resulting in the top of the main base’s surface to be knocked back into shadow, same with the actual surface of the bulb. The bottle of lotion had a sharp crease that resulted in the form going back into space then back out to create a cast shadow on the bottle itself. Work is on my ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8wmOrQ

[Lisa Freeze]

I’m loving these videos – can anyone answer what the pencil is used in this video? Thanks!

[Daniel Daigle]

It looks like a CarbOthello but any pencil should work for this. Feel free to experiment and see what works best for you. As a student, especially if you have a heavy hand, it’s generally advised to use the softest pencil you can find. This will improve your sensitivity since the pencil is hard to control

I hope this helps 🙂

[Cindy DELORY]

[Alexander Alexis]

Assignment 1:

Assignment 2:

[Shola]

Where can I find the 3D models? I cannot find it anywhere where it says I can use a visual viewer to rotate the objects??

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Shola, please check the reference tab under the video. if you have any issues with this, please email “info@nma.art”

[Author]

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