Strandman
Well-known member
very basic shaded object - try to decide the line of change(from dark to light) - this changes incrementally as the light source moves from behind (back-lighting) to front (flood). The starkness of the change is dirctly related to the angle of the light source (almost - but gets a bit complicated). Also - and most critical for colourwork - is the effect reflected light has on the object (may often make undersides of most 'shaded' parts quite bright!
I am looong overdue for a few lessons in the basics and that's one of them- a much appreciated bit of teaching.
When I did last year's Spoonie for BirdsKorea my father-in law (art lecturer and not birder) buttonholed me to say that in order to give convincing form, the lower belly of a wader should be rendered bright due to reflected light, with the shading positioned closer to lower-mid. What does he know..
The other thing that interested me a lot in your skua demo was the "drawing from the inside" approach, with some basic form and shading first and outline second. I've never ever thought of doing anyything other than outline first- is the skua TW's personal approach, or the orthodox?