adding shadows to painting...?

Question

any tips or websites that help ?

Answer 1

Just remember, when greying down color to simulate shadows, that you are not really adding shadows...you are simply adjusting the hue to cause viewers to believe what they are seeing is a shadow. In fact, you can use any color you like, as long as it is in context with the rest of the painting. It will work if the value is correct. A shadow can be represented as white, so long as the rest of the painting colors are likewise reversed.

Answer 2

Paint your background, and save the colors you mixed for the background. Then paint your subject. For the shadow, add just a dab of black to the colors you saved, and paint the shadow onto the background behind the subject. Keep in mind a few simple rules: always make sure the shadow is opposite the light source (if there is one in the painting, such as if you painted the sun in the sky), and make sure all shadows point in the same direction. Longer shadows occur when the sun is low in the sky, so don't paint a bright blue sky and long shadows in the same picture because it will look weird. If you are adding shadow to the subject, the rule about the light source applies also. You should study photos of people and objects before you paint shadows. A professional portrait of someone's head is the WORST type of picture to study for shadows because portrait photographers use two light sources when they shoot so half of the face is not in shadow. There are hardly any shadows in such portraits anyway. The way a face looks in a professional portrait (shadow-wise) is not the way a face looks in natural lighting situations.

Answer 3

What ever the colour the shadow falls on add a touch of it's opposite i.e if it falls on green add a touch of red to the green mix. Try it and good luck

Answer 4

never shadow something using black unless its a shade of grey to begin with. you should shadow colors with their complementary color. (e.g. if you have something red that needs to be shadowed, you would use green...etc.)