ImagineFX_Issue_148_June_2017

Your questions answered...
For this prison scene,
working out my lighting
in 3D saved me hours of
working out the
logistics of complex
cast shadows.
Step-by-step: Using 3D
software to help create
dramatic shadows
Although 3D tools
can make certain
aspects of the job
easier, a strong sense of
composition and
staging are still required
for setting a scene.
I use DAZ 3D to set up my scene, carefully
1
positioning all the crucial elements so they can
be lit up by a relatively narrow area of light. The
further I place the light source from the bars of the
cell door, the less the shafts of light will fan out.
Question
How can I quickly paint
dramatic cast shadows?
Wilbur Hawthorn, US
Answer
Tom replies
the great comic book
artist, wally wood, once
wrote, “never draw
anything you can copy,
never copy anything you can trace,
never trace anything you can cut out
and paste up.” indeed, there’s no need
to make drawing and painting any
more difficult than it already is. using
photo references, applying textures
directly onto an object… these are just
two of the ways art software helps you
to realise an image.
if i’m in any doubt as to the way
shadows would fall in real life, i test
them out with 3d posing software. i
mock up a quick scene from some
prefab models and primitive shapes
and then i draw the finished piece
over the top. this keeps my shadows
accurate and enables me to focus all
my drawing attention on the details
that the reader is actually going to see.
Artist’s secret
Seeing the light
Looking from the point of view of the
light source enables me to see which
areas of my image will be lit, pre-render.
Whatever’s obscured will be in shadow.
This is handy if I want to highlight
specific elements in the scene.
After rendering in 3D, I use Photoshop’s Stamp
2
filter to create something approximating a line
drawing. I always upscale the resolution of the
image first, because I want the filter to preserve as
much detail as possible.
I create a new layer and draw the finer details
3
using the Pen tool, putting more character in
the face and making fixes to anatomy and clothing.
In this instance, with big block shadows covering so
much of the image, I barely had to do any drawing.
June 2017
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