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NightFall

Author: Roger Elliot, Associate Editor

Painting darkness (night scenes) seem to give the beginning artist a lot of trouble. If it is truly dark then how on earth can we paint it? Of course IF it were truly pitch dark we could not paint it for our eyes are unable to perceive any object upon which SOME light does not shine. If you have been following along with any of my other lessons you know that I often contend that we have trouble painting things because we know too much about them! We know, for instance, that in the dark of night it is impossible to see very far. We then tend to translate that into the idea that we could not possibly paint a very dark night. Remember, it is rare that a night is totally dark. It is usually moonlit, etc. In this little exercise we will attempt to paint a night scene with a full moon but later in this series we will paint a night scene that is even darker. It is all in how we THINK of our subject. I hope that you will have fun with this and that you will add this to your "suitcase" of knowledge. As usual, I am assuming that you know how to open the Photoshop 4.0 LE program and how to create a canvas which this time will be 500 pixels wide by 375 pixels in height. If you are new to this series you may wish to review lessons 1, 2, and 3 for information about how to open the program. Here we go. I'll call this one "Nightfall". You may, of course, call yours anything you wish. As always, have fun!

The first thing we do is to paint our canvas black. However, it is very important that we paint it the correct shade of black! We are dealing here with RELATIVE DARKNESS. Get this too black and nothing we add will show! I obtain this darkness by going to the middle options tab on the right side of the program screen. From the tab that has "color", "Swatches", and "Brushes", I select the swatches tab. In the second row of colors you will find a few of the black colors from dark to light. Select the fourth black from the left! This will give you the correct darkness for this step.

		Here I have added a full moon. Here is how I achieved the "haziness" of that moon. First I opened the "swatches" window. I selected from the top row the SECOND white in that row. I then moved back to the left and selected the airbrush tool, then I selected the "brushes" tab and selected the largest size in the SECOND row, the one that looks all fuzzy! I moved this into the position that I wished to have my moon (DO NOT CENTER IT IN THE FORMAT!) and, making sure not to moved the tool, I depress the mouse button 5 times! This will give you the "hazy" look you desire.
Finally I move back to the swatches and select the whitest white. I choose the brush size from the TOP row, largest. Holding the airbrush tool in the center of my moon, I depress the mouse button ONCE. There you have it! :-)

Here I have added some clouds with the appropriate light from the moon at the edges. I make the clouds using a slightly darker black from the swatches tab. I added white to the edges using a slightly "off-white". I then worked this out with the smudge tool until I have arrived at the tonal values I prefer. In my painting I have chosen to bring one of the clouds over and in front of the moon for effect. you may or may not wish to add this effect. I keep my clouds long and "stringy" because I like the effect of clouds that are wind swept. Think Halloween! :-)

Now I have added a couple of hill sides. I do this with the airbrush tool after having selected a dark black from the swatches tab. Notice that the hillsides are not painted in solid! We need this effect. Here's how: Select the airbrush tool and the SMALLEST brush size. Depress the mouse AND HOLD IT DOWN throughout the entire process. Shake your mouse up and down to create the trees. Be sure to vary the tops of your trees for realism.

From this point on it is up to you to turn yourself loose! :-) I have chosen to add a couple of old trees and a fence to my painting. You add anything you wish. Just use your darkest black and don't forget to add some highlights in a lighter black for variation. Have fun and remember, painting "dark" is easy and fun! See you next time!