Reflected light

Study of light reflected from one object to another

For this exercise I tried different objects and different mediums. The first drawing on the left was in oil pastel.  I slowly built up the layers concentrating on the definite shapes in the reflections.  I drew the reflective outlines first and then started shading in colour.  I worked in 2 stages working a light cover for each object and then darkening the shadows in a second phase. In the drawing below, I found it very difficult draw the reflected light because the candle was, in hindsight, not a good subject choice.  It had a matt surface and was very pale in colour.

 I directed light from the right and found definite shapes in the jug.  I used conté crayons for this but regretted it after as I couldn’t get the detailed I wanted.  The crayons are wide and flat so it was very difficult to work in detail.  The mixer below was easier to draw as it was very shiny and had easy reflections to draw.  This was done using colour pencil and was a good exercise in blending.

 

 

 Again I used colour pencil for the drawing below tried to capture the reflections in the glass, which was a crinkle designed glass!  I find it easier to draw reflections in metal than in glass, which is hard to make it look realistic.  This drawing actually took a long time to complete.

Shadow and reflected light and shade

This is my attempt to use charcoal on a large scale.  I enjoyed using this medium and am becoming more comfortable with it and less afraid but there is a lot of progress to be made.  The shadows were actually quite like the drawing although it looks quite smudged instead.

I tried another go at shadows and light with a bowl of apples, this time with conté crayons.  Again this lacks detail but the apples do have a feeling of depth.  The bowl looks flat .

Negative and positive space

Patrick Caulfield simplifies his drawings to a very stylised and simplistic form.  I like his style although many of his paintings are quite different to the white ware series.  To emulate the feeling of his style I did some sketches of a bedside table with a light or alarm clock and then reduced them to simple forms.  The drawing below left, was done in colour makers and I tried to get a flat coverage of colour.

My second attempt was using tempura paint.  I may have simplified it a little too much but I quite like the result.

Check and log

What are the difficulties in separating cast shadow from reflected light and shade?

I found having to analyse this quite difficult and confusing although it has forced me to look more closely at what I am drawing and how the shadows have their own form.  I am not sure I am totally comfortable with this yet but it is something that constantly needs looking at in the development of my drawing skills.

The reflected shadow and light follows the contours of the objects.  How have you shown this in your drawing?

I am not sure that I totally understand this.  I have tried to look carefully at each object and defined reflected light areas precisely.