Light and Shadows

by Rachel Rubin Wolf

Light can add drama, emotion and power to a painting. This book shows how - from creating lively sunlit effects to designing strong compositions. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891349316
• ISBN13: 9780891349310
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Northlight
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Improves observation skills

I had borrowed this book from the library and liked it so much that it's now on my wish list so I can add it to my own reference library. The explanations are clear and the examples beautiful. I especially liked the analysis of Zoltan Szabo's use of light and shadow. This book led me to be more observant in looking at light and shadow, helped me understand what I was seeing, and will help me use that understanding in future paintings. I'm anxious to see the author's book on textures also.

Better understanding to apply light and shadows in your art

I bought this book because I wanted to better understand how to apply light and shadow in paintings. This book gives you a basic overview of how light behaves in different indoor and outdoor settings with good description. What I like the most about this book is the fact that it explains different kinds of light in nature, and how to observe and apply the color changes to object's surface because of the behavior of the light. The highlight of this book is the first chapter, which the author sets up something akin to a isolated scientific lab to explain the behavior of light by isolating objects and guides reader to a detail dissection of the anatomy of light and shadow, which is something so helpful to understanding light and shadow that I think is worth buying this book just to look at these few pages! I learn some very important key points about the behavior of light that I didn't notice before, which is basic knowledge that every good artists should know, for instance, the way light reacts with surfaces, and how color changes because of reflected light, which I found the explanation to be very informative and educational. Subsequent chapters devote to much further the concepts in the books. A couple of step-by-step case studies of paintings by different artists lead readers from start to finish, which allows readers to see how to actually apply the theory in an actual setting (I have always found the best way to learn art is to observer how the good artists do it). The book is easy to follow, with good qualites reproduction of example of paintings, and explanation along with pictures easy to understand. The book is about 124 pages long, ALL color pages (no black and white pictures anywhere, which is good!). This book is designed for anyone who wants to have a better grasp of using light in their art.