Shadow Workshop 2024

[Cassel]

@Linda J WalkerYour shadows on the curly ribbons are very good! And I would say that the cluster is also a success.

@Anja PelzerWhen you have trouble with curly ribbons, you can choose some that are not too curly and you will do just great. But it is a matter of practice. For your extra practice, the "added" effect looks good. The only thing seems that in some places, where the ribbon is flat or touching the paper, the offset is too much. But the curly parts look good. The shadows on the clusters look great.

@Susan Ewart I think your shadows on the curly ribbons are fairly good, even if not to your taste. And yes, when working on those multiple layers in a cluster, you have to avoid distractions. It is not hard to do, but easy to lose your "train of thought" so to speak. I also see a difference in the shadows for your cluster. It looks great.

@Carolyn Rye Yes, I also find that using a mouse is harder. Making a smooth line or curve is difficult.

@Jen Brown The shadows on the set of flowers are ok. I think that the flowers on the right could probably have more offset and more blur too.

@Sheila HoggYou managed to make very good shadows on those curly ribbons! And for the cluster, you also did very well.

@Rene MarkerYou are right. In most cases, those details are not going to be very obvious. It will likely show more if the elements are thicker (like a shadow over a button). I am sure that in most clusters, scrappers will use "regular" shadows and it will be ok. Now, knowing that in reality, it MIGHT be important, one just has to consider how much of an importance it has and if it is, then we'd know what to do. And thanks for the tip on odd number of elements. You are also correct in mentioning the multiple lightings in anything that surrounds us: a window, a ceiling light, and light bouncing off a white wall. The only thing to remember is consistency: if you happen to have double shadows on one element, it would have to apply to all; if the shadows are mostly in one direction, it should apply to all. Different light sources won't shine only on some elements. I think that is where some scrappers can make a mistake: trying to simulate multiple light sources, they end up with shadows that are random.

@Daniel HessI would say that your shadows on the cluster are a bit too "strong", however, it makes the difference very obvious when the shadows overlap an edge so it shows well that difference between the surfaces.

@Gerry Landreth Those additional clusters you shadowed are great!

@Corrie KinkelShadowing existing clusters can be very tricky because you have to use settings consistent with the "inside shadows" that the designer already put. Occasionally, it does not fit your current project.

I know that a lot of the tutorials might seem "picky" and the result might not look obvious, but the important thing is that now, you know how to do it, and hopefully, it will also give you something to THINK about and you might observe real shadows around you too. It will be up to you to decide when and where to apply those techniques.

Tomorrow, we will look at cast shadows, which is something different again! That will be the last lesson. Then, you can start breathing again!

[Susan Ewart]

51 minutes ago, Cassel said:

I know that a lot of the tutorials might seem "picky" and the result might not look obvious, but the important thing is that now, you know how to do it, and hopefully, it will also give you something to THINK about and you might observe real shadows around you too. It will be up to you to decide when and where to apply those techniques.

Often, the harder (or pickier) tutorials turn out to be some of the most important ones I've needed to learn.  I think this one is an important concept to understand.  I can see there is a pattern to the steps that I need to get straight in my head.  That will come with more practice I hope.  Or...is this the "Shadow" version of scripting for me.  hahaha

Edited August 25 by Susan Ewart

[Susan Ewart]

5 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

For me this is logical and therefore not very complicated. No problems with unsteady hands here! I only had to keep my focus on the layers and found the trick in the video to hide the shadowed layers temporarily useful. I have no layered clusters in my stash so I made one just a simple one from elements I have. I find it easier to make a cluster when I'm working on a project and I'll will pay more attention to the shadowing on them if needed. 

Thanks for the reminder for hiding the shadows.  I only did it the once.  I had to laugh, this concept and it's steps are logical and easy for you and I struggled to keep it all straight in my head.  Doesn't this remind you of how we each were with Scripting (you got it, I didnt).  😅

[Jeni Simpson]

Lesson 5 Curly Ribbons
Oh dear, I'm not sure my hand was steady enough for these.
And, I did give them a go, although I'm having trouble with lesson 6, not my best one, I am sure.
Funnily enough, when I uploaded my lesson here, I noticed mistakes and had to correct those. Easily enough with the warp brush and the eraser.

[Carolyn Rye]

Lesson 6.  I have really found this hard.  This has taken me quite a few hours to get to this.  I have really learnt a lot. 

[Jeni Simpson]

6 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

The font is Neug Asia, probably from CF and most definitely more readable the bigger it is.  I just learned that.  I'm reading a book called Just My Type, about fonts and a bit a history, politics and some humor about fonts and how they all started.  One of the things when Type designers were designing was how readable the font(typeface?) is when it's small.  Some fonts are great small and are great fonts, but only when they are big.  I noticed if this got too small it would make your eyes go wonky.  

Great information there, Susan. I love fonts and have read heaps about them, I studied them in my Graphic Design course and have enjoyed learning about them ever since. There are some wonderful sources online about type and I often share them with my online graphics group. Working with a good x-height when creating text for layouts is always good. The larger the x-height, the more readable the font is. Also, learning to combine fonts is great especially when creating scrapbook pages. Serif fonts are excellent for journalling because the serif leads the eye along a piece of journalling, although I often use a sans serif font. After all, I love simple, clean fonts.

[Corrie Kinkel]

7 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Thanks for the reminder for hiding the shadows.  I only did it the once.  I had to laugh, this concept and it's steps are logical and easy for you and I struggled to keep it all straight in my head.  Doesn't this remind you of how we each were with Scripting (you got it, I didnt).  😅

Yes it did, I'm good with logic!

[Anja Pelzer]

my day 7

I hope this is okay, I tryed with both pins

 

[Euka]

Day 5 is a miss for me - I have tried but my mouse refused to co operate - fortunately, I rarely use ribbons and at least I have good notes now on what to do should I need to shadow them.

Day 6  was easier and it is logical but oh boy, I needed to concentrate without interruptions.   I don't generally use clusters but it is nice to learn how best to shadow and showcase them.

[Michele]

Day 5
Well, I won't say it was torture, but it wasn't easy. I have to work on the points at which the top of the drawn shadows meet the bottom of the original shadows. I couldn't seem to get them to blend well. It's tough working with a mouse, but I'm getting better at it for this type of technique. Oddly enough I found it easier to draw from the top to the bottom. I don't know why.

 

Edited August 25 by Michele

[Ann Seeber]

LESSON 7 - SHADOWS - Assuming the light source is the top right according to the highlight on the top of the pins. Here's my attempt...

[Gerry Landreth]

15 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

You found layered clusters, very nice I'll have a look there because I have a couple of clusters that are in a kit but they aren't layered so I only can shadow on the outside.

I searched for "layered clusters," which narrowed the results. The file types available for download are JPG, TIFF, or PSD.

[Michele]

Day 6
Just like Corrie, I found this to be logical. It's easier for me when it's logic over creativity. I'll try to do another cluster tomorrow, but for today my eyes have had it.

 

[Michele]

23 minutes ago, Gerry Landreth said:

I searched for "layered clusters," which narrowed the results. The file types available for download are JPG, TIFF, or PSD.

The PSD file is the one you want as it will have the elements on different layers.

[Ann Seeber]

28 minutes ago, Gerry Landreth said:

I searched for "layered clusters," which narrowed the results. The file types available for download are JPG, TIFF, or PSD.

I open PSD in PSP and save as a .pspimage to preserve the individual layer format.

[Ann Seeber]

6 minutes ago, Michele said:

The PSD file is the one you want as it will have the elements on different layers.

TWINS! 😉

[Daniel Hess]

I strongly suspect that I missed completely with the blue pin but I think I did alright with the other three.

[Corrie Kinkel]

8 hours ago, Jeni Simpson said:

Lesson 5 Curly Ribbons
Oh dear, I'm not sure my hand was steady enough for these.
And, I did give them a go, although I'm having trouble with lesson 6, not my best one, I am sure.
Funnily enough, when I uploaded my lesson here, I noticed mistakes and had to correct those. Easily enough with the warp brush and the eraser.

Jeni these lessons let you look critically to your own work (or that of others) as well and help you understanding better!

[Corrie Kinkel]

1 hour ago, Michele said:

Day 5
Well, I won't say it was torture, but it wasn't easy. I have to work on the points at which the top of the drawn shadows meet the bottom of the original shadows. I couldn't seem to get them to blend well. It's tough working with a mouse, but I'm getting better at it for this type of technique. Oddly enough I found it easier to draw from the top to the bottom. I don't know why.

 

Michele I agree and I also draw from top to bottom, maybe it has something to do with working with a mouse and/or being righthanded. It goes more fluently that way.

[Rene Marker]

Had a heck of a time at first. For some unknown reason, the Gaussian Blur was showing on the settings preview and the Overview Pane but not on the actual canvas. Kept undoing and starting over and it never changed. Finally closed the canvas (which actually closed the program), then restarted PSP and pulled the canvas onto the workspace. Then it worked.

I did do the 2nd pin and did the shadow to the left for practice. Since it is practice, I didn't consider light source. I wanted to get to know the steps.

Now off to think of other items this would be used for...

 

[Susan Ewart]

11 hours ago, Jeni Simpson said:

Great information there, Susan. I love fonts and have read heaps about them, I studied them in my Graphic Design course and have enjoyed learning about them ever since. There are some wonderful sources online about type and I often share them with my online graphics group. Working with a good x-height when creating text for layouts is always good. The larger the x-height, the more readable the font is. Also, learning to combine fonts is great especially when creating scrapbook pages. Serif fonts are excellent for journalling because the serif leads the eye along a piece of journalling, although I often use a sans serif font. After all, I love simple, clean fonts.

Thanks Jeni, I love fonts too and learning more about them is interesting.  I only happened to read this book when my friends were moving and thought I might like it.  I didn't know that about Serif fonts, that's neat to know.  I've learned about X-height, baseline, wasteline, ascenders, descenders, majuscule and miniscule etc, from doing Calligraphy years ago but know very little about fonts, typefaces and rest of the lingo that goes along with them.

[Susan Ewart]

4 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Michele I agree and I also draw from top to bottom, maybe it has something to do with working with a mouse and/or being righthanded. It goes more fluently that way.

I'm top to bottom too, using a mouse, a craft knife and and glass cutter.  I'm a lefty and have more control coming toward myself.

 

[Susan Ewart]

Lesson 7

I liked this lesson and even remembered the steps along the way (cause they were short).  I finally understand how to use the feathering.  Thank you!  I never would have thought how this is done.  It's pretty simple and fast as well.  I tried different settings.  I would have liked to try more pins but I'm getting a new hard drive and the data needs to be transferred over so I'll be down for a while.  

Thank you Carole, for a another informative workshop.  I'm sure beyond a basic shadow I would not have come up with these techniques on my own.  I'm glad to know them and have access to the videos as well.  

[Donna Sillia]

Shadows seem to be my nemesis. However, I finally did complete the last two lessons. I have downloaded some clusters and ribbons for practice. 

[Rene Marker]

Thanks @Michele and @Corrie Kinkel for mentioning going top to bottom for drawing the ribbon shadows. I tried it this afternoon and it went a lot better than going bottom to top. And, that was with a mouse. Now I at least I can do it if needed but I'll probably still hide curly ribbons inside a cluster.