Ever felt frustrated having worked so hard on a drawing – only to find it still looks ‘flat’?

Is it the proportions? The perspective? Perhaps the composition?

The most effective method of taking your drawings appear three dimensional, is understanding how light and shadow works.

If line drawing creates the proportions, handling of tone creates the form.

The theory seems simple and the changes in technique small, but applying the principles of how tone, light and shade work, will improve the illusion of form in every drawing you do – regardless of the subject.

And the exciting part about it is, once you ‘get’ lighting, the principles never change.

When reflected light is handled well, it can give your drawings that ‘How did you do that?’ response – so it’s worth taking the time with.

When working on three dimensional drawings, the two things I focus on are form and edges. We’ll also create some quick sketches to map shadows and cover drawing techniques on turning a form.

In this course you’ll learn how to draw using dramatic light and shadow.  All form, no matter how complex, follows a basic set of shading principles.  By understanding how light operates on the fundamental volumes of a vase, apple, and geometric shapes like sphere, cube and cone you’ll be able to realistically shade and render basic forms and be prepared to draw and shade more complex subjects.