Considerations for Magical Lighting

Line art for a new piece.

I often like to imagine little creatures hanging out on the rocks in the middle of gently flowing streams. I’ve taken many pictures of such streams when the lighting hits just right, and want to incorporate it into my piece.

However I find it very challenging to apply complex lighting to an original composition, and there are many things to consider. How do you capture that magical lighting without it taking away from the subjects of the piece? How do you communicate that any blue in the water comes from the reflection of the sky and not the water itself? How do the pockets of light shift the value composition?

A wiser artist would do several colour studies of these reference images before applying the techniques to the final artwork, but I’m impatient and would rather make a bunch of mistakes on an original image I’m excited about. Maybe I’ll go back and do some studies at a later time…

Wish me luck!