I recently stumbled on a site that covers perspective in amazing depth, while easy to read and understand. There’s even a section on light, shadows and reflections, making the site as a whole a compelling read and extremely valuable resource for anyone who’s serious about their art (that’s you, right?).

It’s vast. No need to read it word-for-word. You can skip around clicking just on the sections that interest you or you can simply scroll through looking at the diagrams that do so much talking by themselves. I even discovered here that the proper name for the “Shadow Root” is the ‘normal point’ (anyone working in 3D modelling will be familiar with ’surface normals’).

Visit handprint : elements of perspective

There’s nothing more to say except, “GO! READ! LEARN!”

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If you’ve read and understood parts 1 and 2 of this article, by now you’ll have a pretty good idea of how to construct shadows in a scene. The great thing is: that’s all you really need.. a pretty good idea of how it’s done.

Let me just say here, that perspective can be an extremely technical subject. Combine that with the intricacies of light and you have the potential to get bogged down with complex details and bore people to death! So I’m covering a few essential basics.. partly because there’s no room here to explain things in great depth but MOSTLY because I get by only using the knowledge I need and there’s so much more to learn.

(click the Read on link below)

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In Part 1 you saw how the shadow root sits directly below the light. I created a shadow by tracing light lines, intersecting them with shadow lines. The points of intersection created the perimeter of the object’s shadow.

With a simple light source such as a lamp or flame, it’s relatively simple to plot the shadow root on the floor.

(Click the Read on link below)

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TechSmith, the creators of the fantastic screencapture software Camtasia Studio, have graciously agreed to sponsor the ‘Bitey Castle Academy’ lesson DVDs that I have been talking about on the Bitey Castle forum for the past few months.

I’ll be using Camtasia Studio 4 to capture the video and audio from my computer, so you’ll be hearing me explain stuff, and watch as I create it.

After taking a poll of which lessons everyone wanted, Special Effects lessons overwhelmed the other poll options of Flash Basics, Drawing Basics and Animation Basics. While the Effects lessons are aimed at 2D animators and illustrators, the same physical principles apply to other types of animation including 3D, stop motion, etc.

I am aiming for a March release of Waterlollies, so immediately after that’s finished, I’ll get to work on the Special Effects DVDs. A teaser chapter or two will be released in the brand new Academy section of Bitey Castle, but the remainder of the lessons will be available only by purchasing the DVDs.

I’m doing the Effects DVDs first but I will cover the others in separate “volumes” later. Each volume will consist of several DVDs.. so the Special Effects Volume will have separate DVDs that cover design, animation and treatment.

Stay tuned after Waterlollies (that’s if the amazingness of the movie doesn’t KILL YOU!!!) and I’ll announce the DVD progress here.

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