Pick a light source

Decide where the light comes from and everything else falls into place.

Level: beginner. About 10 minutes.

What you need

• A pencil to mark the light
• A light, a medium and a dark marker in one color
• Smooth marker paper

Steps

1. Draw a tiny sun in the corner

   Before you color, pencil a small sun in one corner of the page. It reminds you where the light comes from the whole time.

2. Follow the light with arrows

   Imagine arrows from the sun to your shapes. Every side the arrows hit is light; every side they miss is in shadow.

3. Light side, dark side

   Color the whole shape with the light marker, then add the medium and dark on the side away from the sun.

4. Put the shadow on the ground

   A shape also throws a shadow on whatever it stands on. It falls on the side opposite the sun and is darkest close to the shape.

5. Same light for everything

   Check every object in the drawing: all the light sides face the same corner. That is what makes a scene feel real.

Practice

• Draw arrows from the sun to each shape.
• Shade the ball, block and can: dark away from the sun.
• Add shadows on the ground to the two balls.