To truly take your crafting to the next level there are small bits of precision that need to be made. One artistic piece you can apply to your crafts is creating a light source. What is a light source you ask? A light source is taking the lighting that would come from the sun, the moon, or even a lamp and applying the tone of the light and shadow that light would cast to the subject of your card.
Applying a light source to your card will truly make it seem as though the card is coming to life. Whether it is the sun shining down at high noon, early morning, or in the evening, creating a perfect shadow on the subject of your card will make your design give the emotion and feel that will make people admire it even more.
How do you do this you ask? Consider the mood behind your design. Is this an outdoor or indoor scene? If it is outdoors, consider the shadow on the subject and where the sun would be sitting in the sky for this exact moment. If you are creating an indoor design of a flower vase or something similar, consider the shadow the nearby lamp would be casting on the vase.
Additionally, consider that we are rarely, if ever, in absolute darkness. Even in our beds at night, complete darkness eludes us. Moonlight creeps in through windows. A nightlight in the hallway creeps under the door to your room along the floor.
Keep in mind that when crafting, a white piece of paper represents a blinding light. We glue and paste almost every part of our crafts until the page is covered with an abundance of colors. Only the brightest highlights are left white. When you add light sources, don’t just focus in on the dark shadows, keep in mind where the brightness is coming from.
A good trick I found to help create lifelike shadows and light sources is to literally put up a piece of paper to the sunlight to show the different hues the paper will take on depending on where the sun is. Once you start looking around, you’ll see shadows everywhere and notice the color unique tones every light casts.
For more tips on light sources and how to add them to your crafts, check out the video below. I look forward to seeing some of your unique designs! Happy crafting!