Practicing shadow shapes
2mo
@sabersnail
I've been practicing shadow shapes lately, and have been pretty happy with how these are turning out. I'm not sure if I need to simplify the shapes more. It's pretty easy to give in to getting lost in the details in the face, feet, hands, and such.
Any way, just wanted to share these, and would be happy for any kind of feedback. I love learning how I can do better!
I did another one today. I tried to pay more attention to the shapes, getting rid of some spots where my initial work felt unneeded or adding spots where help was needed deciphering the form. I also tried to keep my initial sketch and the "ink" edges much looser. My previous two images were drawn to a head-sized grid, but this one I tried to start from a more gestural approach and did a lot more relative measurements after that.
I'm happy with most of it except for the right breast, which doesn't have a very clear shape. I wasn't really sure how to improve that.
These are great. Maybe thinking a little more about shape design might help it look a bit less mechanical like a Photoshop filter. I'd look at some classic comics inkers like Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson and Wally Wood, to name a few. Two spots in particular that stand out are the shadow on the bent kneecap in the first drawing, which could fit a little more smoothly with the nearby shadow, and the lower white area of the bent knee of the seated figure, which could stand to be opened just a bit more at the bend.
This exercise has been on my mental list as well, and I hope I can do as well as you have when I get to it.
Thank you for responding! As I was looking back over these two, I had actually been thinking that I could entirely get rid of the black shape in the middle of the bent knee on the first one. It's confusing and doesn't serve a useful purpose. "Shape design" is a good way to think about it.