Love the lighting. Love love love.

Something feels off to me on the bookshelves directly above the flame - I feel like they need to be dark and have greater contrast, being that close to the flames - or wait, I just realized they're supposed to be further back in the room? Hm, if they're further away I think you might need to dampen the candle light on them?

thank you!! and I think you have a point, atleast for the bottom row of the bookshelf, it should be less affected by the candle light if it's as far back as it seems. I'll keep that in mind for the future!

Sure looks like some housekeeping might be needed...

By the way, I wonder what book she is reading.

ahahaha yes, it does seem that way lol. and it's a ledger!

Thank you so much, I adore it. <3

I'm very glad!! :)

Your lighting skills are one of the best I've ever seen, oh my god.

oh wow, thank you! That makes me seriously happy :)

I think lighting [is this the correct word?] is one of the things I appreciate most in art, I'm striving to get better myself. I figure, I oughtta do some studies after still life, or, in any case, photos, but I just can't find the patience to do it [if I wanna study light I won't have the patience to draw a proper picture from every other aspect]. Though, just assuring myself I do have the right idea, is this what you've done in order to get to such a skill level?

Yeah that's correct, and it's something I really appreciate as well!
I guess when it comes down to it though, I don't think of lighting really as much as a technical thing as a compositional element, so maybe studying how light is used in composition will help you more? That's what I do at least. Looking at movies and animated films is great for this! and doing copies from them, that's great practice,and you learn sooo much. If you need some artists to look at who have great composition and lighting,I can give you a list! But in short, yes, you do have the right idea, just do mastercopies too! If you combine what you learn from life and what you learn from doing mastercopies, you can combine them and create you're own really awesome compositions. For example, I was having a realllllly hard time with having the candle light and night-time moonlight work together in a way that they weren't competeting with eachother, so I looked at how the old masters painted candle lit scenes at night and that helped a lot!

Indeed, I do need to focus on composition a bit more. What do you suggest in the way of studying it and how lighting works in it? Ah to be honest I haven't really done copies and such of the masters, as I have just begun learning about them! Who would be a good place to start studying? And also, which artist exactly did you go to for studying candle light with moonlight?
And thank you for the help and replying, it's much appreciated! ^^

>>>-- I wrote a lot of names down, but I'm just gonna link you to one of my teacher's pinterest, he's always posting really good work he wants us to look at and study http://www.pinterest.com/willbwesto.....ation-vis-dev/ and here's his facebook, which has wonderful information too! https://www.facebook.com/willwestonstudio
>>>>>
I would definitely say movie stills, especially black and white movies, since lighting is so incredibly important in those (it's all they had to work with, really!). A few of my favorites(color or b/w) are stanley kubrick films, Amelie, The girl on the bridge (or le fille sur le point) is really nice too, alfred hitchcock films are great too, Tarentino films, Akira Kurosawa films too! There are lots, and the screen caps are easy to find with google. As for masters, there's kind of 2 categories (for me), old masters and like illustration gods lol. For old masters, there's Rembrandt, who's really wonderful with light and portraits, I adore his work. I mean I'll just give you a list of names here, Leonardo da vinci, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, JOHN SINGER SARGENT HES AMAZING, Joaquin Sorolla is a favorite too, Vermeer, I mean there's a lot of artists I like BUT I also just found this blogpost that should clear up a bit of what I'm talking about when it comes to composition http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/201.....mposition.html <--- this is also just a really great blog for illustrators by illustrators so I'd look through it more!!

As for really good illustrators (who you might find more relevant, as their work is more "modern") theres Norman Rockwell (who tells great stories with a single image!!! it's very worth it to study his paintings and think about why we know whats going on, like ask yourself "how does the composition work? what is the focus of the piece? why is it the focus (things pointing too it/lines of sight/ lighting/color/contrast/etc.), who are these people and whats the setting, and what details in the piece let me know this?)

OK OTHER ILLUSTRATORS (all amazing, look up all of them):Frank Frazetta, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, Alphonse Mucha, Yoshitaka Amano, Arthur Rackham, etc..


As for the artist I studied specifically for this painting, I looked at this piece by Schendel Van Petrus! http://t.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper.....light_Sun_.jpg it's called the fish market I think.

I hope this was some good info! It's probably a bit confusing, but theres a lot out there, and I hope this gets you started!

thanks!<3
fyi i kept this for five years in my inbox because a lot of it was stuff i was too weak to understand at the time. i'd come back to it from time to time to check my progress, & today i finally removed it today because i feel like i am at a point now where all of this wonderful advice you've given can stick!

It only took me 10 years to reply to this BUT THATS OK, I'm glad any of this could be helpful to you! It's really interesting looking at the advice I gave since I was also in a really different place then, but it's fun to remember the stuff I was really into then and should probably still think about now lol. Thank you for reminding me and I hope your journey is going well!

heh, yeah, kind of a blast from the past, eh?
yes, actually!) i'm thinking more and more about light and other thinsg that matter, i would say that your art & advice have been part of the start of this for me.)

Remid me, how I studed high mathematics at university.

That's cool! and also something I could never do lol

Graduate high education institution?

no, the high mathematics lol