Customer Reviews

Dynamic Light and Shade (Practical Art Books)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is precise, and it's comprehensive. It may not take you by the hand and say "step 1, draw a circle..." but I don't think this is really a HOW-TO type of book. It's more of a WHY book. It explains to artists the fundamental reasons to use a wide range of specific lighting theories, and it describes these theories very well (Hogarth's explanations work for me, and probably for other people in the worlds of comics, animation, etc.).

This book doesn't aim to be your one-and-only reference on the subject of lighting (an extremely technical subject to be sure). It's primary focus is not on color, but on form, and it may not talk about lighting the way that 3D artists do. But I've learned a ton from this book, and I refer to it often.

If you're looking for explicit or step-by-step instruction on applying lighting and shadow to your drawing, this probably isn't the book for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for real-world illustration examples of just about every type of lighting situation (even through fog and rain), be sure to pick this one up!

Burne Hogarth, with his immaculate drawing style, presents examples of everything from multi-point lighting to backlighting. I particularly enjoyed his examples of lighting the foreground, middle ground, and background differently. As always, the author's books are a joy just to look through.

...An intermediate-to-advanced, in-depth, analytical treatment- I really wanted to like this... yet...

Flipping quickly through this work, it's pretty obvious this isn't one of Hogarth's best. I'm specifically referring to drawing quality- the teaching & concepts here are very detailed, analytical, and sometimes even helpful. Filled with Hogarth's own artwork, as well as work by other artists, it sure seems like someone dropped the ball on image quality & content. The images here *teach principles* well enough; it's just that I can pretty much count on one hand the number of images that I actually *like* to look at. And that's a pretty big problem(!). The entire book is in black & white mixed-media, which is fine by me as long as the artwork is *inspirational*...

Still, the actual teaching here on light & shade is really pretty detailed. Check out this listing of 'light-types' explained & depicted: silhouette; minimal; single-source; double-source; flat-diffused; moonlight; sculptural; spatial; environmental; textural; transparent; fragmentation; radiant; and expressive (whew!). Who knew there were this many kinds of light? But again- the pictures don't do the words any justice when the pictures fail to excite & inspire. This confirms to me something I had already assumed: besides a few good art instruction books to help with getting started, the best way to learn to draw anything is by copying photos & artwork by our own favorite artists. This seems *especially* true in the case of light & shade.

Will some people love this book? Sure! It's nice to see the several Tarzan pictures here- at least for curiosity's sake. But I think most people, including Hogarth fans like myself, will pretty readily admit this book is about average at best- and not really helpful at all for beginners (not recommended!). It's certainly the weakest link in his 6-book Dynamic Drawing series. If it *continues* to stay in print, it'll likely be based mainly on the strength of Hogarth's famous name.

P.S. A better book for beginners? Walt Reed's The Figure! It contains somewhat brief but *excellent* tips on basic light & shade.

Luckily I only borrowed this book and didd't waste any money on it...
I bet your an artist who'd love to have a better understanding of light, right? Of how it reacts in different situations and fun stuff like that? Just because this seems to be the only book out there, it does not make it any good.
It's a selfish excuse for a gallery ofhis work. If you like galleries, buy it.

However I was looking for something that would allow me to understand how light worked in different situations. I reccomend, instead of this, "Light and Shade (Barron's Art Handbooks: Green Series)"
Much better.... it actually explains rather then expecting you to know already.

This is not a how to book. This is a picture book. The author is a consumate artist, no doubt about that, but the publishers have marketed it in such a way as to suggest that you...the reader...will learn how it can be done. Not true. The author merely shows countless numbers of his own work. This leaves you to guess how it can be done. If you are a fan of the authors work then add this to your collection. If you want a book on how to render lighting effects in your own work then pass this book bye.

This book will not significantly improve your understanding of how light affects and creates shadows on form. However, I don't believe any book can do that. You can learn to draw a realistic face from your imagination, but the variations of how light will affect forms are infinite. Most artists who get good at "faking" it rely on a good understanding of form and perspective, backed by countless hours spent observing and drawing things under various lighting situations. They basically are always relying on observation, be it direct, photographic, or remembered. Try to think of an artist who could create truly convincing, consistent lighting for a scene from their head. I can't think of any. I guess my point is, let's not be too hard on old Burney, he was just trying to make a buck:)

If this book has a practical application, it's probably as a collection of creative ways to light your subjects to achieve particular dramatic affects. Fun to flip through, but just not all that useful.

This book has a lot of black and white drawings of Hogarth and others demonstrating different types of light; middle ground, background, foreground lighting as well as directional lighting. It is illustrated with sphere heads as well and gives you a good foundation to jump from in your own work. I am advanced in lighting already so I was a bit disappointed in the simplicity here but if you need to learn this at a basic level then there is none better! Again, it takes practiced participation in exercises to understand the lighting changes and work to learn it well--as in anything. If you are willing to learn, there are no better 'how to' books. This one is at a beginner level but still useful if you are learning directional and ground light. It was too elementary for an artist already familiar with lighting, though.

This book is killer.... it starts by talking about silhouettes.... then adding 1 highlight... then more and more form definition...

Everything from directional light, to moonlight, to sculptural light.

Great for anyone looking to add detail to their line work.

This book is good to illustrate the phenomena of light in a composition. It discusses the different kinds of light and their effect on the environment of the picture. Worth getting to use as reference material.

A very nice book, with a lot of important notes about the subject, but the images look like comics to much.