Using the provided reference images, create a digital painting that showcases your understanding of light and shadow by painting light from different angles. Experiment with sunlight from left and right, soft light, depth, and atmosphere. Study how photos, illustrations, and films use color and fog, then apply that to your images.

In this lesson, Jeremy Vickery teaches us how to apply what we've learned about composition into a painting.

Let's look at the difference between static and dynamic compositions, focusing on how shapes and lighting can change to add energy and depth. Dynamic lighting, with contrasting sources and colors, brings out form and makes scenes more engaging and visually striking.

By manipulating light sources' size and diffusion, you can change the quality of light to create different moods and effects in your artwork. We’ll cover how different light sources, like direct or bounced light, create varying shadow effects and influence the feel of a scene. Examples from films show how cinematographers use light to shape characters and enhance storytelling, with techniques like golden hour lighting and diffusion to soften harsh shadows.

In this lesson, Jeremy shows how contrast and color palettes are used in filmmaking to guide attention and create mood. It covers light and dark contrast, high key and low key lighting, and how simplified or varied color palettes can shape a scene’s visual impact. Examples from Arcane, Gladiator, and Schindler’s List demonstrate these principles in action.

Focus on seven key points for good lighting composition: focal point, shape, form, depth, separation, contrast, and palette. Decide what you want viewers to see first and use lighting to highlight it. You can do this by emphasizing strong shapes and silhouettes for clarity, lighting your subjects to show their form and three-dimensionality, using techniques like Rembrandt lighting, creating depth with atmospheric effects like fog, and separating subjects from backgrounds using backlighting or rim lights. These techniques help viewers quickly understand your images.

Let's talk about composition and how light and color play a role. Artists often get bogged down by confusing rules, but composition is about visual communication—what do we want to say with our images? There are two types: geometric composition—the placement of objects, lensing, framing, repetition, leading lines, blocks, and the rule of thirds; and lighting composition, which affects how we see an image. By understanding these principles, instead of relying on luck, we can create better images.

It’s time to critique your Materials assignment! Jeremy Vickery looks through your submissions and gives some advice on what is working and what could be improved.