Shadows are often the source of most of the mistakes in students’ early artworks. If we handle them properly, they can be an incredibly powerful part of our artwork, but they can be tricky. The value differences that make them up are often some of the most subtle in nature and they are easily overdone.
Shadows have the potential to add a tremendous amount of atmosphere and graphic impact to our work and this tendency to over-render them can destroy these wonderful effects, leaving us a picture that’s broken up. It’s important we understand how to approach them in a way that doesn’t destroy this overriding unity.
What I want to do today is discuss a few common mistakes that I see often in my student’s work, and put forward a few simple changes to our approach and thinking that can help make this often challenging area so much simpler.
1 DON’T OVERDO THE REFLECTED LIGHTS
The most common early mistake all of us made at some point is
