Journal #6: On “Using Light”
From the Comic Tools article selection, I chose to read “Using Light,” because light is something I always neglect in my comics and art as a whole. It scares me, as it has scared me for several years now. I know that once I learn my way around lighting and shading I’ll become a better artist but at this moment, some of it absolutely boggles my mind. So, I went into this article to try to learn something.
It boils down to a very basic tutorial on light, but what surprised me initially was that it wasn’t just about light in art: it was also about the light in your room that you draw in. What’s incredible is that I, like the artist, had been incidentally drawing where the light was correctly placed for the entire duration of this class. But knowing where to place a lamp in the future is undoubtedly going to be helpful to me.
I liked how brief some of the advice was, such as the very first point: “Generally, thin lines facing the light source, thick lines facing away.” I want to implement this into my own art and hopefully it’ll give it a far more dynamic outcome. I always struggle over where to place a light source when it isn’t obviously depicted, so having some ideas on how to tackle the art part of this can help me decide where to place lights in my comics from now on.
Something else pertinent that I learned over reading this article was that most of the tools the author provides aren’t physical artist tools, or even direct tutorials—they’re just mental tools. Knowing that a lot of art advice can come to me in the form of mental tools helps me be motivated that I can grow as an artist the same way that I’ve grown as a writer. Much of what I’ve learned about writing can be condensed into a list of mental tools to keep in mind when taking the pen to the page. Thinking about art in the same way makes it less intimidating to improve in. I know this class specifically isn’t about improving as an artist, but I think that part of my lack of expression in art is because of my lack in certain areas of artistic skill. So, as a personal goal, I’d like to improve my art skill to see if I can be more satisfied with where I’m at as a storyteller. Of course, I’ll have to start tackling larger projects to see how the storytelling comes out, but that will start with the Adaptation Project.