Exercise 29: Practice Sheet

Check out the Exercise and Download the Practice Sheet HERE

EXERCISE:  Taking a look at refining the basics of adding values doing simple exercises.

I have been requested many times for a simple exercise that focuses on the basics of adding values to create form and structure. Let’s break it down into the simplest of simple exercises. Below are four practices for you to zone in and focus on how to shade values. Use the light box directions as you do your own practice sheet.

• 1. Outie vs. Innie - To start it off, you can have the same shape but how you shade the lighting, will give the illusion of depth. Really imagine where the light source is coming from and how that would be reflected on the spheres.
• 2. Edges vs. Curves - When it comes to shading objects. There are two extremes you can focus on and everything else is somewhere in between. The first is hard edges and the different surfaces of an object act as “planes” that will often have high contrast due to the edges. The second is the soft gradient edge that reflects the light gradually over the surface area because there is no distinct falloff where the light creates a high contrast. (ALTHOUGH often metallic or shiny surfaces may gave the look of high contrast due to the reflective nature)
• 3. Different Light Directions - When you begin to imagine your objects in a 3-Dimensional Space, you you begin to imagine lighting and where to place it more accurately. This is a good practice to imagine adding different lighting on the same object, making you think more actively on how you place your lights and shadows.
• 4. Enclosed vs. Open - Lastly this focuses on two things: bounce lighting: and the subtle difference in shadow values in an enclosed area.