Shadow edgeīelow are two photographs to illustrate the subtle differences in the shadow strengths when I altered the lighting slightly. If you can learn to alter the weight of line and to incorporate more soft edges in your drawings, it will make a massive difference to the realism and style of your work. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make in drawing, is keeping all of the edges the same – most commonly, all of the edges are kept sharp and crisp. So as we go through the next demo, I’ll indicate the areas to keep soft and the areas to keep sharper. This one piece of information that can drastically alter your drawings and paintings. If you want to increase the dramatic quality of the scene, you would use hard light. So if you wanted to photograph somebody in the most flattering light, you would have soft light.

Soft light is very diffused, creating softer shadows and softer edges. Hard light is harsh light so creates sharp shadows and harder edges. In photography, lighting can often be called hard light or soft light. Soft edges suggest the idea of roundness and a gradual transition. Or it could be an area of high contrast (light and dark) to draw the viewer’s attention.Ī ‘soft edge’ is more flowing or fluid and tends to be more low in contrast. So, it could be a crisp line to indicate changes in shape or angularity. The term a ‘hard edge’ can describe two very hard surfaces, such as a tabletop with a metal cube on top of it or most commonly in drawing, we talk about the hard edge being an area that has a sharpness to it or a focal point of the picture. Softbox single source lighting set up in my studio T he importance of hard & soft edgesĪn edge is where two objects or two surfaces meet together. One of the key lessons from this demonstration I want you to come away with is to understand the importance of soft edges in your drawings. The Softbox gives us the fall of light we’re after, yet slightly softer edges on the shadows. My lamp has a diffuser on it called a Softbox. This set up demonstrates each distinct area to be aware of, exaggerating the widest tonal range, and when you’re a beginner, it’s the simplest way to see the difference between the tones. The different characteristics of the light hitting an object can completely change its appearance.įor this demonstration, I’ve created a lighting set up using one single light source which gives us a predictable fall of light. This week we’re going to put pencil to paper and see how the theory works in a simple pencil drawing of an apple… Understanding your light source In Part 1, we looked at the theory of light and shadow. In this light and shadow series, we look at the theory, drawing and painting of a simple form focusing on shadow, light and edges.

Pencil drawing simple airplane