1. Theory of enlightenment!

The theory of lighting in art is a fundamental element that influences the perception and representation of objects and bodies within a work. The way light interacts with surfaces creates a range of visual effects, determining the appearance of colors and the depth of shapes.

Reflection and refraction.

Light, when incident on an object, can propagate in various ways. Reflection is the phenomenon by which light hits a surface and bounces back, thus reaching our eyes. This reflection is what allows us to perceive the colors and textures of objects. Additionally, refraction, which occurs when light passes through a medium and changes direction, also plays a crucial role in visual perception.

Propagation.

Regarding the spread and reflection of colors, it is essential to understand that objects do not have intrinsic colors; rather, they absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. A red body, for example, absorbs most of the light except for the red wavelengths, which are reflected and perceived by our eyes.

Brilliance.

The brilliance of a body in a work of art is linked to various factors. The texture of the surface, the amount of incident light, and the interaction between materials can influence the gloss level. Bodies that have more reflective surfaces tend to shine more, since they reflect a greater amount of light towards the viewer.

2. Set a scene!

When preparing a scene for an illustration, managing lighting and reflections is essential to creating a striking and realistic representation. First, it's crucial to identify the light source in your scene, whether it's natural sunlight, a lamp, or any other source. The direction and intensity of the light will influence the arrangement of shadows and the overall atmosphere of the composition.

 

You can choose from several ways to stage a scene, depending on the story you want to tell or the mood you are looking to convey. Setting the tone from the beginning will guide your lighting and color decisions.

First example.

In this example, I'll illustrate how lighting enters from a window, bathing the room and creating a scene rich in visual detail. The incident light is refracted as it passes through the window glass, generating a spectrum of colors that dances on the surfaces. This phenomenon is due to the deflection that light rays experience when passing from a transparent medium, such as glass, to another, in this case, from air to glass and vice versa.

 

Upon entering the room, light passes through the medium changing from air to glass, refracting in the process. Similarly, upon leaving the window, light passes from glass to air, again undergoing a change in its direction. This refraction game creates a prism of colors, highlighting specific shades depending on the environment of the room.

 

This is how the lighting, when interacting with the environment through glass, clears different colors, giving life to the scene. Reds, yellows and other hues are revealed and displayed in the space, giving the room a unique atmosphere full of visual expression.

Second example.

Another is to make a lab with subtle lights that don't highlight vibrant colors and are more grayscale. Like the grayish blue, special for that lighting that comes from scientific machines. The atmosphere can be very cold but it has a good feeling for the viewer.

 

I also highlight that many reflections can appear thanks to the illumination of lights, thus adding details to objects such as tubes, flasks, beakers, glass funnels, etc.

Third example.

You can also create a scene of a cafe shot, under bright lighting, whether day or night. The light, which spreads through the sun's rays coming through the windows, reflects on the glasses and even the drinks, intensifying the colors and adding brightness to the scene.

 

The colors of the environment can adopt warm or cold tones, and sometimes a combination of both. At night, the reflections of moonlight on the windows add a soft, cold tone to the scene. Meanwhile, inside the enclosure, artificial light generates warm lighting, creating a harmonious balance between different color temperatures.

Materials that could help you.

Below, I provide you with some materials that you can incorporate into your illustration to make it more attractive to viewers. These elements can add interesting visual details and enrich the visual experience of the work.

3. Combination modes.

After addressing the theory above, we'll dive into blending modes, an essential tool for our illustrations when creating the illusion of light and shadows. In this context, we will explore those fusion modes that I frequently incorporate into my drawings. The proper choice of these modes not only influences the intensity of light and shadows, but also shapes the overall atmosphere of the work. Throughout this exploration, I will highlight how each blend mode can contribute to the visual narrative and how their implementation can be key to achieving captivating visuals.

Multiply: Create shadows and depth.

 

Brightness: Adjust the brightness of a layer.

 

Hard Light: Add bright reflections on surfaces exposed to a strong light source.

 

Intense Light: Similar to Strong Light mode, but with a softer effect.

 

Darken: Enhance shadows and decrease the intensity of lighter areas.

 

Exclusion: Create interesting contrast and color effects or add a complementary color tone to enhance certain elements.

 

Difference: Highlight differences between layers or highlight details or changes in texture.

 

Soft Light: Soften or brighten areas without eliminating details or add a soft touch of ambient light to warm a scene.

 

Add (Brightness): Intensify bright areas without affecting dark colors.

 

Overlay (Brightness): Increase contrast and detail or enhance fine details and highlight features in an illustration.

4. Illustration Process!

Now, I will embark on creating my own illustration, applying the concepts we have studied about the theory of lighting. I would like to emphasize that the previous examples were simply practical exercises and, as an experiment, I extracted ideas from images and then applied them in my own work. These particular processes took approximately 15 minutes.

Uniting ideas.

In my creative organizing process, I tend to capture my ideas in several boxes. Every time an idea pops into my mind, I immediately capture it in one of those frames, which can vary in number depending on the complexity of the inspiration. This approach has become an invaluable tool for enhancing my creativity when creating complex scenes or illustrations.

 

By assigning each idea to its own visual space, I manage to maintain a constant flow of inspiration and prevent valuable thoughts from being lost. This method not only organizes my thoughts, but also gives me a visual perspective of how ideas connect and complement each other.

After organizing a set of ideas in various boxes, my next step is to unify all these pieces into a single illustration. This process involves adding the specific details and objects of each painting, thus creating a cohesive and complete drawing.

 

By integrating each element, I avoid leaving empty areas in the final composition and achieve an illustration that is not only visually rich, but also maintains the essence of each individual idea. This method not only simplifies the creative process, but also ensures that each element contributes to the whole in the most harmonious way possible, resulting in a final work that tells a unique and complex story.

My ideas can sometimes seem limited when expressed in paintings. With the desire to be more creative, I discovered that by trying to mix elements of different ideas and adding a little of each, I manage to find a harmony that enriches the final composition.

Sketch.

For the sketch, I dove into visual exploration by using numerous references of cities and people walking. These references, which included photographs of various cities and everyday situations, served as the basis on which I built my illustration. I adapted and merged elements of these references to bring to life the scene I had in mind. Although the sketch may look a bit dirty, its main purpose is to communicate the essence of the final illustration.

I began the creation of the main character, Argy Sánchez, an original character. This character will be positioned as the "center of attention" for the viewer, sitting on one of the columns of a house or cabin (I'm not sure how to describe it). In addition to that, I have also modified the posture, since I find it uncomfortable and it is difficult for me to draw it.

Colors.

After sketching, I started with the basics, applying warm and cool colors as a guide for coloring, shadows and lighting. In this case, the background will be orange (warm), while what is in the foreground will have a dark blue (cool) tone. I do this to maintain coherence in color theory and take into account what I want to represent in this work.

When applying the base colors to the background and foreground, what I do is reduce the opacity of those, along with the colors already placed. Instead of adding another layer with the multiply mode, which sometimes doesn't go together ideally, I prefer to employ this technique that I recently discovered.

 

In addition, this technique of adjusting the opacity of the layers allows greater flexibility in mixing colors, since I can achieve smooth transitions between the different shades. I've also noticed that doing it this way gives me more control over the intensity of the shadows and highlights, allowing me to adjust the atmosphere of the illustration more precisely. This practice, although simple, has proven to be effective in achieving more harmonious and balanced results in my works.

Subsequently, to intensify the lighting in the front, I incorporate a combination of blending modes, mainly using the "Add" (brightness) mode, and carefully adjust the opacity to obtain the desired effect. Additionally, to add depth and realism, I apply a desaturated medium blue gradient at the top of the composition, where more shadow is visible. I set this gradient to dark mode to boost contrast and give a greater sense of volume to the scene. These small adjustments contribute to the overall coherence and depth of the illustration, highlighting the importance of considering both light and shadow in creating visually striking compositions.

 

The only thing left now is to add shadows and brighter lighting to the illustration. To achieve this, I use the lasso tool to more easily fill in smaller areas. Although it is not necessary to aim for extreme perfection, since this is a sketch, I like to render this way to obtain a style similar to lineart with coloring. This approach gives me the flexibility to cover it with cleaner, more refined details at the end of the process, bringing greater definition and polish to the final work.

(this is the tool that makes it easier for me)

Sketch almost ready for the refinement phase and the next stage of rendering, with the aim of achieving a more polished and detailed representation. At this stage I will focus on highlighting specific elements, such as the textures of the boards of the cabins or houses, to add a level of realism and depth to the scene. This attention to detail will not only visually enrich the composition, but will also prevent the illustration from being perceived as too simple or basic. By including these structural elements, I seek to offer the viewer a more immersive experience, allowing them to imagine a truly "wonderful" environment, full of nuance and charm.

 

In my search for authenticity and detail, I have immersed myself in the study of characteristic designs of Chinese cabins. These designs, rich in symbolism and tradition, have been carefully integrated into my illustration, bringing cultural authenticity to the scene. By incorporating these additional structures from specific designs, I have enriched the visual narrative, giving a distinctive touch to the composition. Now all that remains is to perfect those areas to guarantee coherence and visual harmony, leaving the work ready for the next step: rendering, where I will be able to polish each detail with greater precision.

(Sorry for the quality)

The result, after meticulous additions and adjustments aimed at creating a more complex visual harmony, is finally before you. I have dedicated special attention to every detail, from the color palette to the arrangement of the elements, seeking a harmonious integration that evokes a deeper and more captivating sensation.

(sorry for the quality)

Rendering.

We move on to the rendering phase, a critical point where we begin to refine and clean up the entire illustration to achieve a polished finish. It is crucial at this stage to avoid making the work look unfinished or sloppy, which could lead to impressions like "is this still in progress?" or "didn't the artist try hard enough?" (although it doesn't happen all the time).

 

Keeping the details in their corresponding colors and exercising patience until the drawing is completed will not only ensure a visually attractive result, but will also result in valuable practice applied to the theory we have explored so far.

 

At this stage of the process, there is not much to detail, so I will focus on presenting the final result once I have completed cleaning and refining the drawing. The objective is to show how the applied techniques and theories materialize in a finished and polished work.

I have blurred the entire background part in order to draw attention to my main character. It is not like this? Consequently, I have focused solely on rendering the front part, thus highlighting the central figure and creating a depth effect that emphasizes the importance of the character in the composition.

 

Now all that remains is to add special effects, such as increasing the lighting from the lamps until it reaches the character. To do this, I will create several layers that will allow me to incorporate bright and vivid details. How do i do it? It's pretty simple: I use blending modes like Saturation and Add (Brightness), among others. These modes help me highlight certain areas, adding a touch of realism and dimension to the scene. For example, with the Add (Brightness) mode, I can intensify the lights of the lamps, creating a more realistic lighting effect. Additionally, I will adjust the saturation to bring more life to the colors and highlight the textures of the scene, thus enriching the visual contrast and the general atmosphere of the illustration.

5. Result!

This concludes my creative process with this drawing. I sincerely appreciate the time you have spent reading this tutorial on how to illuminate your illustration with the necessary theory. I want to clarify that, although this tutorial is not aimed exclusively at beginners, anyone can read it and find inspiration.

 

Also, it's been quite a while since I've worked on such a complex illustration. During this process, I have been challenging myself and practicing to improve my own techniques. This exercise has not only allowed me to hone my skills, but has also taught me valuable lessons to apply in future projects.

 

I hope you found this tutorial useful and that it inspired you on your own artistic journey. See you in future tutorials and I wish you a happy Christmas season and enjoy your well-deserved holidays!