How do I create shadows?

[lettersandnumbers]

Hello,
please excuse this simple question, but I am a beginner.

how would I create shadows similar to those in the attached picture. See the shadow underneath the green square, how is this done without messing up the colors of the paint underneath it?

[La_]

what kind of paint are you using?

do you have a color wheel?

acrylics, put a gentle wash of 'green' over top the existing green and it will get darker in value.

or an even gentler wash of red (greens compliment as seen on a color wheel).

or add a touch of white to the green and put a gentle coat on the light side where the shadow isn't

hope that helps

la

[arnoud3272]

Hi,
This isn't really a question about design, but about technique. I'd say the best answers can be get in the relevant forum of the chosen medium. Acrylics, Oil, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Digital, ...

[jackiesimmonds]

Perhaps, with watercolours, which are transparent, you might be able to lay a wash of colour over an existing colour, to create a shadow..but with any OPAQUE medium, you need to treat the shadow colour as a separate part of the painting, and you do not need then to worry about spoiling the "underneath" colours.

[birdhs]

In order to determine where the shadows are going to be created, you would have to determine exactly where the light source is at.

The shadows all will be determined by the type of light, single source or reflected or both, strength, distance from object and texture(s) of the surfaces.

The color of the shadows is determined by the type of (in)direct light, time of day, local color, reflected light and so on.

If you can give us some of this information and the painting you are working on, we could help you to learn about shadows.

As you see, there is no "one answer" to the question posed.

Greg

[lettersandnumbers]

Thanks everyone for the help.

I am working with acrylic. I've attached a picture of the style of painting that I really enjoy, this was also done with acrylic.

Here you can see the shadows under the rectangular shapes really give the feeling that the pieces are "floating"
But as you can see the shadows overlap various colors, how do you keep the shadow consistant over on top of other colors?

[La_]

sounds like you need to do some experimenting

the image you post looks Very digital, overly smooth and that's difficult to do so perfectly with acrylics.

paint a canvas of stripes ... use a different color for each stripe
might as well practice your composition too, place your stripes in an interesting way, some close some apart, straight, crooked, play with it.

when it's dry, layer different colors over top the stripes and pay attention to how diff colors react to diff colors.

or better yet, if you haven't already, paint a color wheel and understand it's uses.

la

[WFMartin]

Except for acknowledging a particular optical illusion which is often a factor, most cast shadows can simply be built of a color that is merely a darker version of the color upon which it is being cast.