Light, Shadow and Perspective

[BlackFlux]

I’ve always been able to draw whatever I see but without a reference I find it a bit difficult. I have been reading a lot on light, shadow and perspective, but unfortunately I am not able to follow what I read. Any advice you guys could give me on techniques that might help me improve the value and sense of depth in my pieces?

[foggle]

thats not too bad, but youve got more than one light source in them, which leads to it looking a bit unnatural (unless thats what you intended)

basically imagine a light somewhere your page, and then from there try to imagine how it would land on the object. In the case of the graffitti youve got there, you'll have to think about where shadows would be formed as well. Other than that though, its really a matter of practice - eventually it comes naturally.

[Seedling]

The best advice I can think to give you is to go do some academic perspective exercises. Draw cubes, and then furniture and buildings for a while, both from imagination and observation. Then apply what you have learned back to the funky text.

There are a few perspective assignments available in my Concept Art 101 thread, if you’d like. (The link is in my sig.)

[BlackFlux]

I have been reading Andrew Loomis - Successful Drawing and it seems as if my problem is with light on complex forms. I don't have problems drawing light on basic. Any other suggestions?

[Seedling]

Any other suggestions?

Practice. :-)

[BlackFlux]

Any other suggestions other than to practice?

[Seedling]

You could try doing a series of quick still-lifes, starting with individual simple objects lit by a single strong light-source, and move towards complexity from there.