Overview

Now it's time to take the Ambient Occlusion (AO) Study to the third dimension! In this project, you'll take an existing image and shade it again, using only soft ambient sky light.

Materials Needed

• One of the project images (see downloads section) or a reference image of your choice.
• You can do the occlusion study in any medium. Choose the medium you are most comfortable with.

Steps

1. Select an image you love or download the project image.
2. Either A) print the image or B) open it in your preferred digital painting application.
3. Create an "ambient occlusion pass". This means you shade the subject as if it were lit only with ambient light, like an overcast sky. Shade your subject as if it were made of white plaster.
4. Upload your study alongside the original image.

Duration

This project should take 1–3 hours to complete. Go for high quality. 

Examples

Common Mistakes

1) Making Ambient Occlusion too small or too big

2) Making Ambient Occlusion too light or too dark

Tips: Ambient Light vs. Key Light vs. Fill Light