Light & Shade for Characters

A handy, accessible, and beautifully illustrated artist's guide to using light and shade to push character designs to a professional level.
A handy, accessible, and beautifully illustrated artist's guide to using light and shade to push character designs to a professional level.

This shorter-form book from 3dtotal Publishing, from our new series Create & Learn Collection, takes readers through clear and simple methods to achieving top-quality lighting in their drawing and digital paintings.

The invaluable content is written and illustrated by professional artists, including an in-depth introduction by Kenneth Anderson (aka Character Cube), a character designer and illustrator based in Scotland, UK, who specializes in the creation of characters for animation, gaming, and traditional publishing. After covering the fundamentals of light and shade, he explores the ways lighting and shading can be used to describe form, push character stylization, and enhance storytelling.

This is followed by eight invaluable tutorials from global artists, including Iranian concept artist Taraneh Karimi, Serbian illustrator Ognjen Sporin, and Italian character designer Isabella Agosti. They cover a range of topics, including 'Controlling tonal structure of a character with light and shade', 'Using light within a character design', and 'Using light and shade in a stylized 3D character'.

With a compact format and short, clear tutorial steps, this book is ideal for those wanting a quick reference guide or more relaxed approach from a tutorial book. It's an ideal gift for an artist friend just discovering their digital-painting skills, or a must-buy for artists wanting to discover how the professionals create spot-on lighting and shade in their designs.

Contributor: Kenneth Anderson (Introduction by), Taraneh Karimi (Contributions by), 3dtotal Publishing (Edited by), Ognjen Sporin (Contributions by)

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.