Flash Painting Tutorial: A simple study of light and Shadow in comics

Tutorial

We are talking about the comics, usually refers to the black and white comics, the basic principle of this kind of comics is through lines, black and mesh point to show the real life of the object contour and light and shadow performance.

Therefore, the production of black and white comics is necessary to carefully study the various properties of light and shadow of various forms of expression.

First, we should understand what is light. From the point of view of physics, light is a kind of "singular" matter, which has the characteristics of diffraction, reflection, interference and so on, as well as some particles. It is called "wave particle Two" in physics.

In the field of production, does light have attributes that should be understood?

Personally, the light should have some basic attributes of the following: From the aspect of the comic production to be applied.

1. Light Position: light source relative to the direction and distance of the object.

2. Softness: The degree of light diffuse reflection, the area of the light source and the intensity of light and other factors determined by the light to the soft degree of the object.

3. Brightness: Light of the bright degree.

4. Color: The color property of the light source.

5. Attenuation: The intensity of the unit area of light produced by the Yuguangpo of radioactivity gradually weakens.

6. Occlusion: During the propagation of light, the phenomenon of shaded regions is caused by the blocking of objects.

7. Color temperature: In 19th century, British physicist Willian Kelvin (kelvin) found a carbon-emitting light that produced different colours with different temperatures. The lower color temperature affects the exposure of the red light, the higher the color temperature affects the appearance of the blue light. (Specific contents refer to the relevant knowledge of photography)

Correctly understand the properties of the above light, will not directly improve your painting skills, but through the correct grasp and use of these attributes, you can gradually improve the image of the characters and the reality of various objects, and you can make your painting with the General people can not show the amazing contrast effect of light and shade.

We often see the use of all kinds of light and shadow in Japanese cartoons. such as the shadow of a very type of nose, the shadow of a male character appearing on the face, and so on. However, because of the unique style of Japanese cartoons, many Japanese comics characters and scenes appear to have a lack of three-dimensional sense, or even many are deliberately produced ' flat ' (because this can facilitate the development of related products). However, in almost all the scenes that must be light and light, the Japanese comics production staff will be meticulous to improve the details of each shadow, visible to the study of light and light is every one who aspires to the production of comics can not relax the ' compulsory course '.

There are only two implementation paths to accurately capture shadow effects:

1. Mathematically and physically calculate the position, direction, brightness, reflection, color temperature of each light, and calculate the shadow of each light forming around the object;

2. Through the meticulous observation of life and learning art of light and light knowledge, by experience to show the shadow effect around the object.

In general, only people and physicists who develop computer graphics software can master the first method, and they will sum up a variety of equations for calculating shadow and surface brightness to calculate shadow effects. But these people (software programs, optical physics researchers) often lack the skills of art, can not make any outstanding works of art. ("Rendering" in 3D software is the most important form of application in this way)

But the general artist and the art worker because does not have the time to study the massive mathematics knowledge, therefore usually uses the second method. However, the specific methods and details should be found by each of the production staff themselves, you can even study a combination of the above two methods integrated approach. But remember, all the methods of light and shade should learn to summarize from life, more to observe the various shadows around: The shadow of the skin, clothing shadow, indoor shadow, outdoor shadow and so on, careful observation of everything is the artist's best teacher.

The following is an attempt to summarize the application methods and theories of some of the second methods.

The following will discuss the effects of light and shadow in comics by analyzing the specific application of some light properties.

(a) degree of softness

The softness and brightness of light are the two main factors that determine the type of shadow it forms.

In daily life, soft light is the most common, the fluorescent lamp, the window projected into the house light, all kinds of reflective and so on are soft.
The soft properties of light are widely used in various plane fabrication.

Soft light is usually used when showing a close-up of a woman or a child. Because the shadow of the soft light is the most layered and relatively small contrast, in the expression of some horror atmosphere, male close-up often can see hard light (not soft light), hard light will make the character (object) of the surface looks sharp and angular, full of strength feeling.

However, these are from the photography and 3D production areas of the work summed up the experience, in the comics we do not have to understand the position of various lights and lighting adjustment methods, as long as the correct grasp of various lights formed by the shadow and diffusion effect is enough.

The softer the light shines on the object, the more blurred the edge of the shadow becomes, and the shadows fade from Black to gray. Soft light is ideal for objects and characters that are rich in layering and texture. On the contrary, the less gentle (gathering light, the clearer the edge of the shadow formed by the light of a strong light or light emitted by a distant light from the object, and the less shallow (thick black) The shadow is, so this kind of light is often used to perform scenes that require strong contrast.

(ii) Occlusion

Occlusion can be said to be the most common kind of light and shadow phenomenon. The shadow of a person, the shadow of an object, the eclipse, etc. are all manifestations of it.

An example of a classic occlusion that has been applied to a variety of movies and comics is the Vampire Shadow. Vampires (or scary people or monsters) will almost always have their dark shadow close-up before their debut, and often use shadows on the wall in order to show scenes that need to be taboo (bloody) or require a climate of horror.

The main example of occlusion is, of course, the shadow.

In life, we meet a lot of shadow every day, so that everyone can be regarded as an expert in the shadow observation. In comics and animation, if there is a problem with the shadow processing, it is easy to give the impression of distortion of the picture.

For example, if all the shadows of the characters are omitted, then the characters may look like they float in the air, because humans have formed a visual habit through the perennial visual accumulation of realistic light and shadow. People will naturally be the point of the beginning of the shadow as a human foothold, people will be based on the length and direction of the shadow to determine the height and direction of the light source. If there is no shadow, the human eye will find no reference, will produce some illusion.

But interestingly, the shadow in the comics is not as in real life as in the meticulous performance. In comics, shadows are used for special purposes: to render the atmosphere, to express moods, to enrich the scene, and so on. And the shadow that people tread at foot often can use a few simple lines to express.

For example, in the performance of clear weather, many times will use the shadow effect. Clear (very sunny) weather or the weather of lightning, often with a strong contrast of the shadow (the outline is very clear), cloudy rain and Fog (sandstorm) in the weather is commonly used in contrast to the relatively small shadow. This involves the attenuation of light, in the environment of low visibility (more suspended particles in the air), the attenuation speed of light will be greater than the clear and dry weather, so the shadow part of the corresponding appears more blurred.

Cartoonists also often reflect the position of the sun by lengthening or shortening the shadow, thus indirectly indicating time.

In addition, when the characters in the cartoon wearing hats (with the brim), also used the shadow of the brim to show the character's mood or occlusion of the character's eyes (sometimes foil the eyes).

There are so many ways to use the shadow, each of which needs to be observed and practiced constantly in its own work. Please leave behind some of their own experience in the use of common discussion.

　　Below talk about performance occlusion effect should pay attention to technical problems.

First of all, it must be clear that the existing comic methods to show the shadow is more laborious. If the press has a hard time asking for you, you should learn to choose between shadows.

For example, you want to show a character standing under the tree, the most ideal occlusion effect of course is the shadow of each leaf in the face and body shape of the shadow are displayed. However, with the existing technology and time constraints, this is not realistic, so it is necessary according to the importance of the scene in the work to determine the degree of subtlety of the shadow. You can even use almost no shadow, only some different shades of gray, sometimes this will have a good effect.

If it is necessary to perform a more delicate shadow effect, then you should pay more attention to observe the life of the shadow falling on the object, the surface of the object is often concave and convex, shadows on these surfaces will also produce the corresponding bending and brightness changes. Often sit under the tree, draw some shadow formed contour (not black, save time) and Gray line, observe the changes in the shadow after the light movement. You can also sit on the side of your lamp and study the shadows. The important thing is to take the initiative to observe.

After the actual observation, you will find that most of the time the shadow and your imagination have a lot of difference, pay attention to these differences, because this is your work is different from other people's work place. To improve the realism of the place, even if only a few lines to performance, the same need to observe.

　　(iii) Color temperature

Color temperature is a concept that is seldom used in life, but she is very common in photography.

First of all, it must be clear that color temperature is not a concept of temperature, it can only be used to explain the color of light on the Photosensitive object changes in the cause.

Any Photosensitive object (film, eyes, etc.) have a normal exposure of the color temperature (color temperature value), when the value of the color temperature of the light is higher than this equilibrium value will be exposed to form a blue color, and when the color temperature of the light value below this equilibrium value will be exposed to form a red color.

That is, the color temperature affects only the colour properties of the light and does not affect its brightness. So what does it do in black and white comics?

This begins with the habit of the color properties of the human eye. In the art, the red, yellow, blue three colors as the base (color of the three primary colors), in the field of computer graphics and television display, the colors of red, green and blue are used as the standard colors (the three primary colors of light), but in these two fields, three colors are mixed in different proportions to form other colors.

But the human eye to red, green, blue Three colors of gray sense is different. Generally speaking, the human eye will think that green relative to the other two colors is relatively bright (in favor of white), red in the eyes of the general formation of the middle Gray, and blue formed a very deep gray.

So in some Black-and-white comics, when the red and blue at the same time (such as the French flag), the general use of relatively shallow gray dot paper to represent the red, and a relatively deep gray network to represent the blue.

It is because of this habit of the human eye that the color temperature of the light can be transported to the black and white comics.

For further explanation, the color temperature of some common objects is listed below:

The flame of the match: 1,700~1,800 K
Flame of Candle: 1,850~1,930 K
Taiyang (Sunrise or sunset): 2,000~3,000 K
Fluorescent lamp: 3,200~7,500 K
Taiyang (Noon): 5,000~5,400 K
Daylight (sunlight + sky Light): 5,500~6,500 K
Sky (Cloudy): 6,000~7,500 K
Display: 6,500 K
Outdoor Shade: 7,000~8,000 K
The sky (a small cloud or cloud): 8,000~10,000 K

With these color temperature values above, it is easy to explain why the clear sky seems to be a dark blue and candlelight seems to always be so yellow reason: the human eye to adapt to the color temperature is generally the temperature of the sun (6000K or so), the sky (no clouds) of the color temperature is far higher than this value, so the blue, Candle color temperature is far below this value, so the appearance of yellow, red. (Note: The color of the object's luminescence is mainly determined by its spectral composition, color temperature is only the effect)

Therefore, the color temperature in black and white comics in the application is mainly reflected in: when you want to show some high temperature of the object (light) when {such as outdoor Shadow, the sky and so on}, should let them appear to be partial blue some, that is to use some relatively deep gray dot the paper; When you want to show some low color temperature of the light when {candlelight, sunshine, etc.}, You should make them look yellow, use some of the lighter gray dots or leave white. ...... Of course, the premise is to create a realist comic.

At the same time, the correct use of color temperature, but also in the scene to show some of the scene does not appear in the information, for example, the light from a relatively yellowish (gray dot) is shone into the window, and the angle in the room naturally thinks it may be morning or dusk (it is not necessary to use the sun down every time to indicate that it is so vulgar).

Of course, you can not put these methods absolutely absolute, everything should be based on the overall style of your work, the screen to the specific requirements of light and shade, as well as personal preferences and other factors. Learning anything can not be too rigid, the above mentioned is just some basic principles of color temperature, the specific application methods also rely on everyone in the creation of specific exploration and mastery.

Of course, if you think you don't need color Win Lai "Mischief" in your picture, you can not think about the effect that your work needs to determine the technology you want to apply.

　　(iv) attenuation.

Attenuation can be regarded as the most important propagation attribute of light which we are most likely to overlook.

(* Note: If you are not interested in any of these theories, you can skip the theory and read the application section directly)

　　Theoretical part:

Attenuation is caused by the propagation of light in all directions and by the diffuse reflection of the surrounding fine objects, thereby reducing the intensity of glazing on a per-unit area. In the following, I will introduce the attenuation, diffuse reflection and other content mixed up.

Before you introduce these, you should first look at a shadow around you as a reference entity. You will find some phenomena:

　　1. The intensity of light on the surface of an object is related to the distance of the object from the light source.

　　2. The edge sharpness, opacity, and blur of the shadow formed behind the object are related to the distance between the object, the light source and the plane that forms the shadow.

　　3. The intensity of the same shade is not immutable.

After you've reached a few basic conclusions, you'll wonder why, right?

In photography, there is an optical law that is often used-the inverse square law. The contents are as follows: The intensity of the light received by an object on the unit area is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the object and the light source. Although you don't use this law directly in comics, it tells you a basic knowledge that the farther away the object is from the light, the less light you get. ）。 It should be remembered, however, that some of the energy is very large and dense (almost no divergence) of the light {such as Laser} does not have a significant attenuation phenomenon.

This law directly explains the first phenomenon and indirectly explains the second phenomenon. When the distance between the object and the light source is constant, the nearer the object is to the shadow, the less the light that occurs (from the object to the shadow plane), the clearer the edge of the shadow that is formed; the farther away the object from the shadow is, the more it decays and the blurred the edge of the shadow. And the third phenomenon, in addition to being affected by the attenuation is also affected by diffuse reflection, due to the general surface is diffuse reflection, in the room to observe the shadow, the shadow will be affected by other reflected light and appear gray is not very average.

The above theory you just know enough, the key is to see how to apply.

　　Application:

In comics, we may not be able to think about how to use attenuation, but if you look at it carefully you will find many ways to apply it.

　　(1) For example, in the comics we often show the movements of some characters, when the shadow of the character will need to decay knowledge.

When the character's foot is on the ground, the shadow of the character will form a more distinct edge, at this point you will certainly use a black shaded block to show the shadow of the foot, which is no problem, and when the character jumps up, feet off the ground, the shadow below him should have become not as dark as before, The edge of the shadow should also be blurred, and many people are still accustomed to using shadow block method to show the shadow, giving people the feeling is the light source above the object is very high brightness, this should be very real scene but let people have the illusion. If you need more subtle effects, you should have a lighter shade of gray at this point and add some blur to the edge of the shadow.

　　(2) Another major application of attenuation is the shadow of the character's cheek (or below).

With the teaching of comic books, many people have learned to take the initiative to show the shadow of the side of the face, but some people do not understand the application should pay attention to the principle.

The shadow on the side of the cheek is actually the "shadow of the main light" often used in photography and film. The contrast between the shading of a shaded side face and the brightness of a face without a shadow reflects the luminance and distance of the main light source. When the light from the main source hits the object is very strong, this contrast will appear to be relatively high, in the comics will be reflected in the contrast between white and black, and when the main light is not very strong, in the comics in the white and gray in the weak contrast, the weaker the main light, shaded part of the brighter.

In other words, the shadows on the cheek reflect the properties of the light around the character. One mistake that can often be seen is that some authors mechanically add a shadow to the person's cheek without noticing whether the shadow matches the background light. Sometimes the author adds a strong shadow effect on the cheek, but with a weak light on the background, the reader thinks that the character has a strong light on the edge, which is probably not what the author wants to show.

　　(3) Attenuation also has a major application reflected in the performance of the weather.

Rain and fog can be said to be one of the most difficult environmental factors in the comics, I think the reason is to express these need a wealth of light and light knowledge, especially the attenuation of knowledge. Very much attenuation occurs when light travels through a lot of tiny granular translucent objects such as fog, and because of the complex diffuse reflection and refraction, the light will form a beam in the direction of propagation, and visibility changes will occur due to different distances.

However, if you look at the actual scenes and pictures of foggy days, you will find that there are many laws of light and shade in foggy days. In the comics you can try to behave like this: first, draw a sketch for all objects in the scene (especially those larger objects, such as houses, etc.); Then, draw a roadmap for all the lights in the scene; Based on these two graphs, you can basically establish the distance from the observation point and the light in the scene that the object needs to perform. , and then based on this information, the focus on the performance of objects near the point of observation, so that they appear more clear, and then use scraping dot method or in the computer to make them appear blurred, and then use some carved into the background of the shape of the transition points to express objects farther; For the scene needs to show the light source to add some gray dot made of "beam" effect, this is done to show the presence of fog in the air. At the same time, do not forget the attenuation of the shadows of objects and characters in the fog, do not let the shadows in the mist look like in the midday sun, they should be vague and gradual.

　　(4) Finally, do not forget the attenuation of a more common application-the performance of distance and sense of space.

Because decay is almost ubiquitous, it is often seen in life. When you look up at the birds in the sky or the train in the distance, do you find that they seem a little blurry when they are near? This is a kind of decay.

Knowing these, we can boldly put things in the distance with some gray net or even a few lines to show, but be careful not to overdo it. This application is mainly manifested in the process of expressing objects from far and near (or from near): In the first lattice with a relatively vague effect of the object to express the distance, the second lattice with a little closer to the distance do not blur, the third lattice object to a very close place. This is a very common usage and an important application of attenuation.

At the same time when the scene is relatively dark, also commonly used attenuation effect to express the sense of space. For example, when showing a large room with three windows (warehouses, classroom), if the indoor light is small and outside is dawn or dusk, commonly used a way to show room space sense is to let outdoor sunshine from three windows, and then use a few transition dot effect to show three times the Sun, At the same time with a small amount of light to show the interior objects, so through the three-ray space distance and attenuation mapping effect, let people feel the room is very large.

Another manifestation of space is the scene of a room that shows only a dim light source. In this case, in the comics you can only show a nearby light source attenuation transition effect, and the feeling is that the room has deep space. At the same time, this method often appears in the street scene showing the night.

The attenuation of light is a very common phenomenon, more observation and practice in the work will help you to better understand it.

The last thing to emphasize is that you should also learn to simplify the shadows like the Japanese comic book producers. If each of the cartoons in detail to show the shadow will greatly reduce the production efficiency, and sometimes even in a waste of time, because there are many shadows due to people's visual habits and other reasons, has not been the default performance. For example, the shape of the hair on the forehead of the shadow, and do not have to each of the performance, people do not care about. So, the more sensible way to show shadows in comics is to show the shadow of the necessary shadows and the rendering of the atmosphere, omitting the shadow of the dispensable.

In general, the basic nature of light in the comics can be included in the performance of these several aspects. Once again, it is necessary to note that most of the content of this article is theoretical, it is not possible to immediately improve your comic performance, but believe that after a long period of accumulation and observation and treatment of various light, your work in the sense of space and reality will have a qualitative improvement.