[spooge demon]

I know that a lot of jargon is thrown around about simplification and value and shapes, and I know that this may not be really clear to some.

Here is a hand that is part of that tank pic I reworked.



Form- the three-dimensional aspect of what is painted, giving the illusion of depth.

Shape- the two-dimensional aspect that (hopefully) indicates form

I am assuming that you know how to draw a hand....

The light source in this example, only one, is somewhat diffuse and from above. A point source would have strong cat shadows, and example would be the sun. A diffuse light has softer form and cast shadows, example being an overcast day. The difference is the size of the source. You can make a point source into a diffuse one by placing a sheet or diffuser over it.

ok...



Shape first! The hand is surrounded by material that is darker than skin, so I blocked in the outer shape of the hand first. Note the red outline. This value is flat and creates the shadow area of the hand as well as the silhouette. The two middle fingers are merged into one shape. You might think that since this is �sketchy� this shape might be loose or imprecise. Neither. Take the time to consider this shape. If you look at the shape you will see that it is very squared off. See the ends of the fingers? The fingers taper out and are not round on the end. Don�t be afraid to cut this shape back with the surrounding value; if you paint with the round paintbrush, your shapes will be rounded. Cut back into them when you need to. You see where I have simplified the edges of the shape into straighter lines than you might think.

With this done, you can actually light it in any direction. Where you place the lit values will show where the light is coming from, and define the top and side planes of the form. But as I said above, this is a top diffuse source. You don�t need to do anything more with the shaded side-this is what I mean by too much activity or contrast in the shaded sides of forms. The information should be in the lit side, in your halftones working up to your lights.

Now select a lighter value- this will in this case show the tops of the forms of the hand. The palm is a large mass and facing up somewhat. Block in the top of the hand. I indicated the bones in the hand with a slightly lighter value. This is outlined in blue.

Since the base of the fingers is bent more horizontally, they catch more light. Block them in a little lighter. Keeping with the idea of the information in the light, the definition between the two middle fingers is made here, whereas in the shadow they were one shape. Note also that the middle and ring finger are pointed at us, so you don�t see the side plane of the fingers. The index finger is turned away slightly, allowing a view of the side plane. Same with the thumb. This is indicated by placing the light shape to the side of the finger shape. This is an important general point: what makes it read is the information given through the careful thinking and painting, not through a lot of detail and rendering. This allows things to be simpler and have more impact. And once you get good at it, you can paint faster, too.

So to summarize, you have the silhouette, the flat shaded side that is one value, and a lighter value that on the top planes. If your shapes are well drawn, this is all the info you need to simply show form. The gray outline on the right show just the shapes involved. That should read fine.

The ends of the fingers bend around the form and fall into relative shadow. You don�t need to do anymore here.

[Jeezus]

i hear ya!
simple and well said..
thx :P

[SushiMaster]

Thanks!

Daniel

[Nex]

thanks. will try that.

[Francis]

This is very helpful, both in terms of the information itself, but also in seeing how much thought you put into your paintings. Not just a haphazard tossing paint around kind of technique, but much more economical. If you have time in the future, please continue with these "mini-tutes."

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Francis Tsai
TeamGT Studios

[spooge demon]

Working on it...

One thing I forgot to mention,

Do you see how this way of thinking about form would be greatly enhanced by knowledge of light on basic forms. That's why I push that stuff so much. It's not some blind academic knowledge, I use it everytime I pick up the brush.

[Farwalker]

Awesome, all these great paintings and info from you Spooge.
This has helped my bro and I a ton in our artwork.

Thanks for putting in the extra time!



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www.gamingvault.com

[CapnPyro]

very cool, thanks for the instruction please, please continue with the tutorials. Oh yah you gotta put up a link to the article you said you were writing.. i dont know where to find half these 3d site

[Chapel]

Ahh.. it makes too much sense. Hey spooge think you could explain what Algebra is used for too?