Art Tutorial Rendering

This is an example of different coloring methods using a minimal amount of effort. The technique is called rendering because like a 3D rendering program, the effort is based on physics and understanding of materials.

The Left column should be easy to follow, showing a somewhat glossy sphere on a fairly reflective surface. The lighter patch of color at the bottom represents light reflecting up from the surface the sphere is resting on(like a glossy table). Darkening the area under the highlight is an exagerration of the contrast that would occur.

The second column represents a sparkly translucent sphere. Translucent means some light makes it in and then out of the object, which gives a higher contrast as the internally refracted light appears to gather in the lower right of the sphere while the upper left darkens. To prepresent a more translucent sphere I could have put a fuzzy blotch of light in the shadow.

The third comlumn represents a transparent object or blue glass. The non-sparkly effect compared to the second sphere represents the fact that it is composed of smooth glass instead of something like rubber bouncy balls.

While I did the light refraction in the shadow without a reference, that is mostly due to seeing the effect so often. If you don't have an actual glass/crystal sphere to observe that effect with, a magnifying glass will cause a similar effect when held at an angle.

The final one is obviously a refinement fo the glass sphere, and it demonstrates how carefully building up a little detail can lead to a serious effect. The first panel is just laying out the dark lines representing a etched pattern, and honestly speaking, doing straight lines at different angles on a sphere free-style is pretty tough.

- The second pane is simple updating the highlight a bit to reflect the etched surface.

- The third and final version sees the etched lines being finished while the turquoise inner glow of refracted light is given a little detail work as well as it refracts upon the etched lines.