Saturday, May 03, 2008

Paint object to touch surface

As digital artists we often are called on to move an object into a different setting. This leaves us unable to use our artist's eye to actually observe the details of the things we are painting, because they don't exist in the domains we have chosen for them. So, we have to infer some things that would be visible if we had a real subject to look at. One of these things is shadow. It is shadow that will relate one object to another object or surface if the perspective is otherwise correct.

With that in mind, a demonstration. Put your teacup down and slowly bring your outstretched palm downward toward a flat surface in front of you. Watch carefully how the shadow changes as your hand approaches the surface. Depending on the light and the angle you are viewing from, the cast shadow will grow thinner, sharper and darker until you touch the surface.

Once your palm touches, there is just a thin dark line between your hand and the surface. There also happens to be a softer shadow on the underside of your hand that blends into the cast shadow. It is this dark line of demarcation that implies that the object is touching the surface. Of course, there may be other shadows as well cast by the upper portions of the object, but it is this dark line that lands the object convincingly for the observer, even though most non-artist observers looking at the painting without that shadow would only feel that something is missing, without knowing what.

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