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Achieving realistic shadows with acrylic paint
One of the questions from my Artist’s and Collectors Circle recently was about painting shadows . It just so happened that I am preparing lessons on this topic for my Art Coaching class. This also touches on previous color mixing lessons I have covered on this blog. So why not prepare something showing the overlap between color mixing, color temperature and painting shadows?
Sounds good so here it is. There is also a video to show you these ideas in practice.
It is Still About the Light
Make no mistake about it. Painting shadows is as much about painting light as painting … um, lights in your scene. It is all about seeing the light for what it is. As an artist you will start to see the light (no pun intended) and shapes like an artist. For example on a sunny day you will know instinctively that the sunlight is warm. Lovely warm light.
But it does not stop there. How to show that warm light in your painting? Or more correctly how to depict warm sunlight with a few paints and a brush. Starting to seem a bit more tricky now.
Turn on the Light with Shade
Many beginners struggle with this idea. I did and so will anyone at first. This is because you will likely be thinking about drawing and getting all the bits of the subject included on the canvas. Important for sure. But soon beginners want more. Why is the light not coming across in the painting? On the day the photo was taken the light was hot and bright. Sunglasses and melting ice cream weather. But the painting looks flat.
One way to achieve this light filled look is to use shadows effectively.
Color Speaks for You
When you paint a shadow do you reach for the dark colors and paint in a shadow? If so good for you. Surprisingly many beginners do not paint in shadows at all. The outcome is a flat painting. Okay you have a dark color depicting shadows, but they look weird. Why is that?
Two big reasons typically cause shadows to look odd in a painting. Incorrect values and wrong color temperature. Values is the light and dark relationships between shapes. Shadow shapes will be darker than light shapes. But are they too dark? Photos tend to underexpose the shadows. You may be tempted to make your painted shadow so dark it looks almost black.
This tends to close off the shadow shapes. Instead you want shadows that encourage one to peer into them. What is in there? Interesting blues, purples and dark greens, for example, will attract the eye. Especially if you have these colors fairly transparent by not using white paint in them. These colors will remain transparent and therefore have more depth.
A tip is to tweak your digital photos by increasing the brightness slightly until you can see some shapes within the shadows. It may be necessary to increase contrast too so that you keep shapes clear. All you want is to avoid black shadows for the most part.
Color Temperature Gives Life
On a sunny day the color of direct light is warm. Stands to reason your paint will look warm too. But what about shadows? Logic says the shadows must be cool. This one idea changes everything. So many artists stop with using a dark color to paint a shadow. Maybe burnt umber. But it looks odd. The reason is simple. Burnt umber is warm not cool. Especially when put next to dark greens and other dark colors that are cool. So you have a warm shadow and that does not read right does it?
Instead cool your shadows down with blue. Simple as that. The coolest colors on your palette are the blues. The warmest are the yellows. Warm sunlight color therefore has yellow mixed in. Cool colors will have some blue mixed in. Put these color shapes next to each other and you instinctively react to it. You will feel the cool shadow and the heat of the sun.
Suddenly those flat paintings have a zing of real light effects. I can assure you your painting will never be the same again.
Shadow Colors Change
In theory then a shadow color has some local color and blue. The local color is the inherent color of the shape. Let’s say the road is yellow ochre. The shadow will then consist of yellow ochre and blue mixed together. But be careful when mixing colors equally in volume. You could end up with a muddy color. Make sure one color dominates. Perhaps more blue? Your shadow will be colorful, dark and cool. Nice.
Shadows are darker near the base of whatever is casting the shadow. The shadow gets cooler as it moves away from its origin as more surrounding light is reflected into it.
Also aerial perspective influences shadows too. A shadow far away will be lighter than one close to you. Edges get softer too. Make sure that you observe the shadow closely and ask yourself questions like lighter/darker? And warmer/cooler?
Open Up New Avenues of Reality
All representational paintings deal with shadows. Landscapes, still life and portraits need shadows to describe form, volume and light. These tips apply to all of these subjects. Make your shadows look right and your paintings will gain vibrancy and color. As you grow in experience you will make your shadows more intriguing with a variety of colors and color temperature changes. Be patient, but try things. What if …? Have fun and experiment and see your painting improve fast.
To Life!
Shadow painting doesn’t mean dancing around with a paintbrush in front of a light. (Although, whatever tickles your fancy. please, no photos. ).
It’s easy to think of shadows just as shadows. Shadow painting can be a wonderful way of introducing more life, depth, dimension and colour to your work.
The way you paint your shadows can make or break your paintings.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll break our shadow painting into two groups:
Shadows ON something – so in other words, a shadow being cast onto a tree trunk, or grass or a wall, for example.
Shadows IN something – the darks amongst the foliage of a tree, for example.
The shadows IN something can give volume, depth and dimension to the object being painted. The shadows ON something create planes within your picture (horizontal and vertical planes).
We’ve all seen the row of fence posts/telegraph poles receding into the distance with the shadows being cast onto the ground.
It’s important how you approach this example of shadow painting.
The way you paint the shadows on the ground adds to the illusion of a roughly horizontal plane receding.
Shadows ON Something – I love painting shadows on stuff. Not only can you get a sense of the plane that the shadow falls on, but it also gives you information about the object that is casting the shadow.
I mentioned trees before – what a wonderful thing it is to paint the dappled light that finds its way through the leaves of a tree. Think of the impressionists.
The other magical thing about shadows ON something, is that you can use them to “form” the structure of the objects the shadow is landing on.
This is a fantastic thing to be aware of when painting shadows. As an example, the way shadows fall on sand will be very different from the way shadows form the shape of shrubs.
Adjusting your brush technique accordingly will help give realism to your shadow painting. Shadows can also be incredibly beautiful in their own right, and in fact can often be the entire subject of a painting.
The other interesting thing about these shadows, is that they are often a wonderful opportunity to add c o l o u r ! Often, we only give our shadows fairly brief attention. In reality though, there is a lot happening in them, often much more colour than you would imagine.
As an example I often paint the shadows cast on the sand in a spectacular purple hue. When you focus on it, it can look a little strange. But in the context of the painting it adds a whole new dimension.
Recapping on this: think of shadows ON something as creating depth, dimension, and an opportunity for colour.
Shadows IN Something – Obviously these will create the illusion of depth and dimension in your shadow painting, but can aid the illusion of volume as well.
These can be VERY dark.
The thing to watch when painting very dark shadows, is to not create a “Black Space Of Dooooooooom”.
Light bounces around everywhere, including into and out of your shadows. Make sure while creating the illusion of volume with your shadows, that you take the time to observe colour.
As before this is a wonderful opportunity to add colour (and some more life) to your paintings.
Mini Exercise:
In these examples (see photographs to the right), I’ve used a wonderful White, Dioxazine Purple, French Ultramarine Blue and a teensy bit of Cadmium Yellow Medium as the shadows on the sand.
I’ve placed this colour quite strategically, to give the illusion of either flat or slightly uneven ground. You can even shape footprints in the sand using this technique. Notice that as the shadows recede away from you, they are slightly paler and “bluer”.
Get yourself a white canvas and paint a fencepost on it. Paint a shadow coming away from the bottom of the post.
You can change the angle of the bank that the post is sitting on by altering the direction and shapes of the shadow.
Experiment with this on your blank canvas. Play around with a shadow that runs along the ground and then travels up onto something, like a rock or possibly a tree trunk.
Consider what a shadow would look like when falling onto long grass. When you start playing with this, you can see how the shadows ON something can create more interest in your work.
Muck around with altering the hue as the shadow recedes away from you. Making the furthest part of the shadow a little paler can add to the illusion of depth. Hours of fun!
Have a quick look at these photos. When there are shadows in the trees, you will notice there is also a lot of colour.
Dig out an old “dead” landscape painting (one that got the better of you), with some nice dark shadows in it.
You have nothing to lose! Use the edge of your brush, and put some little flecks of colour, warm and cool, light and dark, to create the illusion of sunlight hitting leaves and branches.
Make sure to put some deeper, cooler colours to suggest detail “deeper” in the dark area.
If your thing isn’t landscape, see how adding some colours to shadows, however subtle, can give them some zing.
Go out into the world and look for this. You’ll be amazed at how much colour is hiding in the shadows, waiting to be discovered.
I get so excited about this I wanna jump up and down.
Check out our “Over The Shoulder”
tutorial for
painting shadows below!
