My Paintings Didn't Look Good Until I Discovered This Secret

[@JNeedels]

That was one of the best lessons I’ve ever heard when speaking of getting a likeness. I do mostly portraits and that information is priceless. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

[@arzudinc5895]

Great tip. You are an excellent teacher ❤

[@rebekahcrossman4690]

Michael Angelo is in good company IMO. This is exactly what’s been missing in my drawings. Thank you, thank you!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Michelangelo is amazing, so quiet and never had a bad word on my paintings haha 🤣Glad it was helpful!

[@resistancepublishing]

I learned about the shadow shape method 12 days ago and I’m definitely going to work on mastering it

[@amysbees6686]

Brilliant! A real game-changer, Florentino!🎨

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you so much 🙏✨🎨😊

[@gregorymartzevitch222]

That is amazing! I was stunt by this lesson! It's the most valuable 12 minutes 40 seconds I 'ever spent! Huge thank you Flo for such helpful information!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad it was helpful!

[@93boom93]

Thank you! I had understood about shadows but I did not start with them. I often start with a nose to top of orbital socket as a line. or orbital socket down to a nose line. As I progress with these line i add shadow. But you have made me see that the likeness comes from the shadows. The lines can be forced into place with proper shadows and shadows are easier to see and measure and place comparatively than tiny little lines. Thanks so much!

[@davirosa]

Very Welldone Instructive video! Thank you Florent! I would like to give the names of the three lighting setups: 1st - Butterfly (due to the shadow under the nose) 2nd - Rembrandt Lighting 3rd - Split Lighting Another powerful one is the Loop Lighting. It's kinda a mix between 1 and 2. About drawing shadow shapes... Glen Orbik used to say to Draw the light shapes instead. But he Always mention to interpret the shapes as puzzle pieces. So, probably the ideal is to draw both, tweak from light to dark shapes, cause puzzle is like this, the positive fits into in negatives! Hugs from Brazil!!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks, never heard about these lighting names actually but it makes sense!

[@davirosa]

@@FlorentFargesarts The Rembrandt is famous among photographers, and It happens that Im a photographer too. But try the loop lighting, its more and less what you made in your lady Second atempt. Its an sculptural lighting but not harsh, somehow more pleasent to light delicated female faces and hence keeping It in a deep shadows mood.

[@elleeo1495]

A brilliant explanation, Florent! I've seen you use this in your paintings. I try to be mindful of these important shadow shapes, but the additional details you've included in this video really make all the pieces come together. Thank you for sharing your amazing skills & knowledge. Merci beaucoup, mon ami!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks, glad it was useful 🙏🎨😊

[@richardsong8]

Great teaching! So well communicated! Painting/drawing/teaching... wonderful triune gifts...

[@elizabaum]

This is really helpful. Thank you.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're very welcome!

[@helenstyx5549]

I'll try this out, thanks a lot for the lesson!

[@philcourtney7831]

Have you done any videos on using lead white or flake white ? It was recommended to me for doing better flash tones.

[@yanivhay]

WOW super valuable instructions here, Florence this is truly helpful - thank you very much for providing this info and also in such a clear and easy way. 😍🤩

[@youroldmangaming8150]

Thank you Florent from New Zealand. This is very helpful and helped me to link mentally some things I was doing but not knowing it and not consistently. I will put this into my toolbox now. Thank you.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Awesome, glad it's helpful. Thanks for your nice comment 🙏😊

[@VickKelly-v9f]

Thank you so much I am happy to have found you! Merci

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You are so welcome!

[@raphaelcesco]

Game changing material here, thanks a lot for sharing, Florent ! 🙏

[@Jonathan-a-az]

very helpful, thanks. I try to keep the asaro planes in mind when drawing but this simplification of just 3 memorable shadow casts might be even more useful. I'll definitely give these a go.

[@mariaetheridge8343]

Excellent tutorial - thank you!

[@IronJaxX]

J'adore tes vidéos Florant! Un gros merci du québec. Le top serait que tes vidéos soient toutes en français haha.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Merci beaucoup @IronJaxX, ahah! Oui, j'aimerais tellement pouvoir me dédoubler pour avoir le temps de faire une chaine francophone en plus, pour le moment c'est un peu juste 😅😅😅

[@tfrtrouble]

That's a really interesting perspective. I've been watching a few videos recently on using the loomis method to draw faces, and in some cases, the artists are landing up with an technically accomplished face, which absolutely looks like a person, but it doesn't really look like the person they are trying to draw.

[@RealShinpin]

I wondered why i was having trouble with charcoal drawing... I'm going to utilize this in my drawing from now on .

[@neenakandwal6191]

Brilliant video! Thank you Florentino!

[@deniseclarkart]

Thank you so helpful! So well explained!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ThomasJojo]

Thanx Florent. I was tangled.up in lines, and had started to think about building shapes for volumes instead, so I found this in the morning, so u helped me pointing the direction I looked.for. Always helpful you are.. ;-)

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad it helped!

[@sketchartist1964]

It's all very true. I had the same experience. I wasn't understanding how to create good portraits until I began focusing on the values and shadow shapes instead of the features. Do this and a nose, a mouth, or an eye, will magically appear all by themselves.

[@KennyGsca]

Makes you wonder then…….if you had multiple facial maps of a known celebrity, and without knowing who it is….. using the facial map points draw in a face……”what would it look like? could we recognise the celeb?” Food for though. Thanks again Flo for your wisdom and knowlege

[@wrighteously]

Photogrammetry I think it's called

[@jttigera2]

Could we do it by hand from the digital maps or would we need software

[@FlorentFargesarts]

I think a machine would recognize a facial map for sure. For a human being, imo, it's way too abstract to be usable.

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

Maybe? Ileana Hunter draws faces with graphite in a very minimalist way. She did one of Audrey Hepburn which doesn't have a lot to it but is instantly recognizable (as long as you've seen some pictures of Audrey Hepburn).

[@paulashton4155]

No food for thought..its tried and tested..what point you making..its made you yhink...wow..best not do that!

[@polarbearsrus6980]

Great topics, thanks for sharing.

[@judihopewell2499]

Very good lesson. Florent thank you

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad you liked it!

[@Msannamitta]

i recently did something like this from a painting that is in bad shape. so to replicate from that which is the goal here I layed down my shapes in charcoal very softly and not to much tone so I could come back, look and remove parts for the lights. Your video made good timing for me in what I'm working on. Thank you

[@FlorentFargesarts]

That's great, I think it's the best strategy when a painting is in a bad shape to, precisely, rethink the shapes like you did! kudos 🎨👍

[@krishnamayimarianni8026]

Brilliant! Thank you!

[@joydeschenes]

Very informative, thank you

[@JudeandherPencil]

Really fantastic explanation Florent, thank you 🙏 so good! ✨

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad you liked it!

[@barbarap8647]

A million thankyous😊

[@orangutanjuice]

I was fortunate enough to come across Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics when they first came out. His approach to light and shadow taught me this very technique, and I'm eternally grateful for that.

[@rdendelacruz4332]

....actually, thats the reason sometimes why you need to change your subjects color to black and white......to locate the shadow shapes........when i paint, i use 2 pictures. The colored one and the black and white one

[@FlorentFargesarts]

That's actually a great idea to work with 2 different pictures 👍👍

[@rdendelacruz4332]

@@FlorentFargesarts thanks for counting in my strat sir😅😁

[@jameslabs1]

Thanks

[@joycesmith5786]

Very helpful. Thanks

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're welcome!

[@Lalaland_lady]

Wow, great video! I paint in watercolor and this content is 100% applicable to my work, so thank you. Have you heard of a notan? I have recently learned of them and have been using them to guide my paintings. The black and white shadow portraits are so helpful. There could be so many more. Looking up, looking down, 3/4 and profile. 😊

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Sure, it might be helpful to add more angles. For this quick tip video, I wanted to keep things simple but maybe for a part 2

[@seenuz1]

Awesome 👌

[@louisea966]

thanks Florent

[@cohaiandrei483]

Brillant! Where i cand find a portrait sculpture like yours whit michelangelo ?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Got mine from Atelier Lorenzi, Paris. In the US, check Fountainhead Gypsoteca

[@kyb9623]

thank you!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

No worries! 🙏✨🎨😊

[@OneCanadiansJourney]

Excellent

[@MsSarcasticity]

thanks!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

🙏✨🎨😊

[@Artsuniv]

Hi. Thanks for the awesome tutorial. My question is if the shadow shapes are this important, how do people still achieve likeness in simple cartoon styles? It's something I struggle to understand, since they use shapes.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You can still achieve likeness with linear work, it's just way more difficult for a realistic painting. For cartoon style, that's a completely different set of skills, not a specialist.

[@Artsuniv]

@@FlorentFargesarts oh okay understood, thanks again for the awesome tutorial.

[@melindawolfUS]

I do pet portraits. Do you think the value shapes also help with "pet" likeness? A lot of my reference photos from clients are lit very flat😅

[@joydeschenes]

Yes it does apply….. Pets have structure and form also and blowing up a pet photo to canvas size helps to concentrate on form instead of getting the drawing to size. Even if you are painting very loose it’s the form and shadows that brings the likeness or in a pets case, the personality. 🎨

[@bernadettebrown2935]

Great

[@carloscs1007]

Gombrich tiene un libreto de 100 y pocas páginas donde trata este tema del parecido y la ubicación relativa de los rasgos faciales en el rostro. Los caricaturistas usan mucho estos conceptos 😇

[@carloscs1007]

Librito

[@paulashton4155]

I use light puddles..self developed..sounds like the opposite or parallel idea.

[@enchantingmarina5221]

Yayy Amen

[@oakdogfu]

I hope someone you love gives you MANY kisses!!

[@paultimson6674]

Gil Kane the comic book artist would breakdown a face the same way. Check out his pencils.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

will do, thanks !

[@Suflers570]

One light source upper right side of model. Not artist right side. squint from model to canvas. Squint squint squint very important throughout your painting. Stand back from your easel six feet and compare model and painting. Observe very carefully without having background noises.

[@KimberlyLetsGo]

Rembrandt was huge on this. Look at his portraits and you'll always see that 'Rembrandt inverted triangle' lighting under the eye that's on the shadow side.

[@shuvoDhar.5537]

❤❤❤

[@Herr_Vorragender]

But 🤔you didn't use the loomis method ☝😧😂 I'll see myself out 🙈

[@Brightsupernova]

Makes total sense! I never thought of this before, but think of Andy Warhol and his iconic Marylin- her face is overexposed if you think about how he represented her face!

[@mogalcat3091]

Just today I was looking for an AI that can do shadow shapes. Couldn't find any, though.

[@rdendelacruz4332]

This guy reveals my secret😅😆

[@FlorentFargesarts]

😅😅😅

[@kathyhall668]

Lol i set my phone to recognise my face , it does not! My finger print does not work, i have to put the pinn in everytime.😮😮

[@ORANGEVDO]

but in east Asia. there is no shadow. too much bright....

[@djstief8190]

Okay, look, it is called "negative shapes", we learn this in 3rd grade art in Australia. Save yourself some time, paint what you see.

[@Thyinternet]

Yes, but discern and select what you see. Otherwise you become a meet camera

[@Foervraengd]

Your videos are great, but.... this isnt really a "secret" technique. This is a commonly shared advice even among us digital artists, nor is it a new technique either. It is a super useful technique, but it's not really a secret.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Of course it's not really a "secret" but it’s just a fact that this word works in a youtube title. If it can help beginners who didn't know about this useful technique and introduce it to them, then I would gladly call it a "secret", even though it's not. With 1500+ years of art behind our backs, it's hard to find actual secrets tbh 😅

[@markl240]

Very helpful. Thank you for posting this.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad it was helpful! 🙏✨🎨😊