Jack-in-the-Box Drawing

[RedHawk88]

Hi there. It's been a while since I've come onto this website. I was wondering if I could get some feedback on this drawing. What I mainly want to know is if I got my lights and shadows correct or if the shadows make sense. I'd also like to know if I got the anatomy of the figure correct especially that foreshortened hand that's reaching for the viewer. Any kind of feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Smitty]

The attach file function here at PJ is smurfed, it doesn't work. To post pics you need to upload to a web-server first such as Deviant Art or your own website. Once uploaded the image will be assigned a specific address or URL. Copy that URL and place it here between image tags [img][/img] Ex: [img]placeURLhere[/img]

[Gravesend Commissar]

I thought I did that. The controls on the website can be so damn sensitive. In any case you can see this image on another post I made on sketches and doodles, the one entitled “Demonic Jack in the Box.” Sorry for the mix up but last night it seemed like every post I made was being unapproved and I thought maybe there was something wrong with my account so I created a new one and posted with that one. I did not mean to spam this particular forum. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[pell]

If you post or PM me a link to where the image is hosted, I'll fix it for you.

A lot of the problem has to do with the fact that, if you use the post image tool, it automatically checks "Retrieve remote file and reference locally" which is not allowed due to space limitations, and doesn't work properly anyway. That should be unchecked when using the tool. Of course you can do as Smitty suggests and use image tags directly in your post, but I like using the tool because it makes centering, scaling and adding tooltip text (popups which I use for crediting artists) much easier.

[pell]

The image should be fixed now.

[RedHawk88]

Thank you.

[battlewraith]

Overall it looks good! I have one issue with the shadows. The clown figure is not casting any, which creates a little visual confusion about where his body is in space. If it's coming out of the box, I would expect there to be some cast shadow on the inside of the lid. Also maybe some indication of that outstretched hand on the ground.

[RedHawk88]

Overall it looks good! I have one issue with the shadows. The clown figure is not casting any, which creates a little visual confusion about where his body is in space. If it's coming out of the box, I would expect there to be some cast shadow on the inside of the lid. Also maybe some indication of that outstretched hand on the ground.

Thank you. This is the exact kind of advice I was looking for. For clarification the light is coming from behind the Jack in the box (not sure if that were obvious or not) so I was struggling with figuring out where to cast shadows. Any advice on doing that?

[battlewraith]

It depends on what you're going for. There are three basic lighting types used in theater, film, photography, etc.
These are Key, Fill, and Rim lighting. Here are some examples:



So if it was dark and there was a strong directional light source directly behind the clown, you would end up with a rim lighting situation like in that first image. As you can see, rim lighting is used to emphasize or preserve the silhouette of a figure or object in a scene.

Key lighting is what we generally think of as lighting: the primary light source in the area. The sun, the lamp in your office, etc. Low key lighting is going to a suspenseful look with strong shadows. In the example, the figure seems like he's getting sucked up by the darkness. Note that you're losing the shape of the actor's head in the darkness of the background. This is where you might add a rim light in addition to the key in order to preserve the full shape of the figure (I think there is a very subtle rim effect on the front of the actor's hair).

High key is a lot of light with very soft shadows. It's more optimistic, romantic, upbeat. Fashion photography, comedies, romances, etc. are going to be lit like this.

Fill light is either bounced light in the scene or a secondary light source. How much there is affects the tenor of the scene.

The shadows in a picture like this are used to convey a general vibe and to help the viewer visually understand where objects are in relation to each other. It helps to have a more concrete idea of the general lighting situation to determine how they're going to work out.

[RedHawk88]

It depends on what you're going for. There are three basic lighting types used in theater, film, photography, etc.
These are Key, Fill, and Rim lighting. Here are some examples:



So if it was dark and there was a strong directional light source directly behind the clown, you would end up with a rim lighting situation like in that first image. As you can see, rim lighting is used to emphasize or preserve the silhouette of a figure or object in a scene.

Key lighting is what we generally think of as lighting: the primary light source in the area. The sun, the lamp in your office, etc. Low key lighting is going to a suspenseful look with strong shadows. In the example, the figure seems like he's getting sucked up by the darkness. Note that you're losing the shape of the actor's head in the darkness of the background. This is where you might add a rim light in addition to the key in order to preserve the full shape of the figure (I think there is a very subtle rim effect on the front of the actor's hair).

High key is a lot of light with very soft shadows. It's more optimistic, romantic, upbeat. Fashion photography, comedies, romances, etc. are going to be lit like this.

Fill light is either bounced light in the scene or a secondary light source. How much there is affects the tenor of the scene.

The shadows in a picture like this are used to convey a general vibe and to help the viewer visually understand where objects are in relation to each other. It helps to have a more concrete idea of the general lighting situation to determine how they're going to work out.

That is very useful advice. I’ve seen some people refer to rim lighting as haloing. In any case I just want to clarify one thing. The light source in this drawing is the behind the Jack-the-Box but it’s toward the vanishing point on the horizon line. So the light source is behind the figure but kind of off to the side from the viewers POV. I only say that to clarify what I’m trying to draw and to see if I’ve cast the shadows correctly. If not please let me know and any pointers would be most appreciated.

[humble-tomato]

I don't think you can push the hand that big in a wide shot like this. If you look at the tentacles on the floor plumb to the hand, they won't make sense size wise.

[RedHawk88]

I don't think you can push the hand that big in a wide shot like this. If you look at the tentacles on the floor plumb to the hand, they won't make sense size wise.

So the hand looks too big? Should I have made it smaller?

[Smitty]

So the hand looks too big? Should I have made it smaller?

Perspective applies to the entire drawing. The perspective and foreshortening applied to the hand should match that applied to the snakes. Which element is incorrect is a matter of opinion but, one of them is wrong. As is, Jack is getting into Reed Richards territory.

Battlewraith makes some excellent comments concerning light and shadow to which I'd add you've gone a bit halo happy with the rim lighting. Rim light is used to pop objects from a dark bg. Your bg is bright white. It needs no rim light. Further, note the example he posted and how the effect is not uniform. Some places it's strong, in others non existent. It's not a uniform 1/32" white line around everything. There's nothing wrong with details disappearing in shadow, that's what shadows are for.

Back to your original questions on the hand. Given the angle of the arm as compared to the hand, he's not reaching for us, he's a traffic cop singing "Stop, in the name of love..." The angle of the hand should be closer to the angle of the arm. If you really want to sell reaching for the reader, get the eye looking straight at the reader and frame the eye with the hand

[RedHawk88]

Thanks for the pointers. Not sure if I can fix the hand but I’ll try. It’ll involve a lot of erasing (hopefully I won’t burn a hole in the paper) I’ll also try and fix the background and some of the shadows. Either way, thanks for the tips.

[Smitty]

You don't have to change anything if you don't want to. Not all drawings need to be perfect or even finished. Some are best abandoned and can still be considered successful as long as you learned something along the way. Comments are often best viewed as "things to be considered NEXT time."