Light for the Artist

Intermediate and advanced art students receive a broad vocabulary of effects with this in-depth study of light. The guide offers detailed descriptions that start with the basics — the direction of light, reflections, and shadows — and advance to studies of light in natural and manipulated situations. Examinations of subtler light effects include foreshortening, field effects, multiple light sources, colored light, depicting the light source, and the behavior of light on shiny surfaces.
Lavishly illustrated with diagrams and paintings, this volume applies its principles to figure, still life, and landscape paintings. Author Ted Seth Jacobs stresses the importance of comparing real-life vision to the canvas, since no system of rules can substitute for close and careful observation. Jacobs points out common errors, suggests light effects that artists should keep in mind, and discusses how preconceptions can be put aside in order to see the world more clearly.