How to paint white objects

Hey guys.

I thought you might be interested in seeing an approach to painting white objects with rich transparent shadows. The trick is in establishing the correct temperature for the light and shadow. Using cool light, the shadows will be warmer than the light, and it almost doesn't matter which color you start with in the shadow, as long as it will end up in the correct temperature. I did this little sketch in about half an hour, and compressed it into two minutes. I hope you enjoy and maybe even learn something :)

Check out the link below:

How to paint white objects

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Comment by Christine Lewis on September 12, 2014 at 13:10
This is very helpful! Will have to remember this.
Comment by Steinunn Einarsdottir on June 26, 2014 at 9:28

Very well explained Þrogrímur, thank you for sharing.

Comment by Marina Laliberte on June 3, 2014 at 22:42

This is great, and will take me many steps further.  Thank you!

Comment by Rodrigo Leal on May 27, 2014 at 23:59

My second view of your stilllives today. And so the video about "how to paint white objects".Soberb!

Comment by Þorgrímur Andri Einarsson on May 16, 2014 at 22:02

Thanks for the comments guys.

Saghi, I agree with what he is saying, especially about the outdoor light sources, but this only applies to when you have a blue sky and sunshine, then you definitely have two light sources. If however it is overcast then you only have one light source which is cool. Then your shadows will be warmer then what you see in the light. 

But notice in the very end of his video he says something which I find most important. When you have a cool light source, your shadows might still be cool, but they will be "warmer" than what is in the light. So it is all relative to my understanding. If you have a warm light source, it does not necessarily mean that your shadows will be blue, but there will be more blue in them then what is in your light, and vise versa.

I took the liberty of making my own test, but unlike in his video demo where the background is white, I used a black background. I think if the background is white it will reflect much more of same color temperature into the shadow than if the background is black.

I am using a 5000 kelvin (cool light) light source in my studio. I used the "color sample" tool in photoshop to pick out the color in the light side, and in the shadow side. You can clearly see that the shadow is warmer then what is in the light.

What helps me in understanding this concept is thinking about it like this: If the light is cool, then less of that cool light will be in the shadow, making the shadow warmer.

I hope this helps :)

Comment by Faisal Tariq on May 15, 2014 at 14:44

Thanks for sharing..

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