Speaking of Art Blog

Two of my recent pastel paintings have great 3-dimensionality, so I’ve been told.  They are:

Wall Walker, pastel, 17x23"

A Closer Look, pastel, 14x11"

I hear from people, “Wow, that artwork has such depth!”  And following closely behind that comment is, “How did you do that?”  So, shaken down to its bare bones, here is my answer to that second question:

For me, there are 3 elements that are critically important in making a painting or drawing look 3-D:

Attention to edges

Light/dark contrast

Overlapping objects (with resulting shadows)

Wait, you mean color is not a crucial element in making something look 3-D?  Nope.  Here’s a composite of the 2 images with their color removed.  See, still 3-D.

 1.       Edges: When edges on an object are sharp and distinct they make the object jump forward in space.  I’m not talking about outlining, which actually has just the opposite effect.  I mean that the object’s edges come to an abrupt end and there’s no question as to where one object leaves off and another one begins.  Conversely, fuzzy or blurry edged objects recede in space.  That’s why I made sure that the edges of the lizard’s head are distinct and the edges of the tail are blurry.  Also, the biggest red leaf has sharply defined edges while the background leaves are fuzzy edged and blur into the background.

 2.       Light/dark contrast: To make an object jump forward there needs to be a sharp contrast between the light of the object and the dark of the background.  As the light/dark contrast lessens, the distance between an object and its background will lessen.  That’s why the dark leaves in shadow recede, and the lightest leaf jumps forward.  Also, as an object recedes in space, the details and light/dark contrasts INSIDE the object get fuzzier and eventually disappear all together in the objects furthest back in space.  Notice the lack of detail in the scales on the tail of the lizard compared to its head.

 3.       Overlapping and resulting shadows:  Overlapping of objects automatically gives depth.  In contrast, if you line up a bunch of objects all in a row and they don’t touch each other, they will look like they are all on the same picture plane. Making similar objects that overlap get progressively larger as they come closer to the viewer helps give depth also. 

Part of overlapping is the resulting shadows on the object behind the front object, with attention being given to the location of the light source.  The resulting shadows will be on the opposite side of the object from the light source.  Within the shadow itself, its intensity lessens as you move away from the object, and it gets lighter and fuzzier on its outer edges.  Just remember, missing or faulty shadows will kill the 3-D magic, so you have to work at getting them right.

I hope this explanation helps answer that inevitable question I receive:  “How in the world did you do that?”  It’s not a short easy answer, but then, is it ever easy when one goes about making magic?