Painting the Interdimensional Traveler - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 277

In this section, we will look at how to create dynamic and atmospheric lighting for our image. We will use
gradients to create dramatic lighting. We will look at how to paint rim lighting directly into the image.
We will also create the look of a colored key and fill light on the character. Lastly, we will add a fog to
create a sense of atmospheric perspective. This gives a mysterious feeling to the figure and also lets us drop
part of it into a deep shadow.
Adding Dynamic Lighting Falloff to the Image
In this section, we will see how to create a dramatic key light that lights the figure from the upper left and
falls off into shadow at the feet. This technique of massing areas of light around the key point of the image
(the head and chest) while letting the lower body fall into shadow is a common design trick. By showing just
the legs in shadow we describe their shape in silhouette without having to spend time painting the details.
This is a huge timesaver when working under a tight deadline. Make sure you have the legs visible in rim
light and shadow. This allows the viewer to read the forms and place them in their mental picture. If these
areas fall into darkness, it will call attention to their absence and just look like you didn't finish the figure.
1. As we did before, when setting up the backdrop layer, we will be using an adjustment layer. Go to the
Layer menu and select new Adjustment Layer ⇒ Levels ( Figure 5-49 ). This will create a new adjustment
layer at the top of the layer stack. Adjust the levels controls to darken the overall image as seen in Figure
5-50 .
Figure 5-49: Create a new Levels adjustment layer