Will You Answer The Call?
Stepping into the darkness, your heart begins to race. You don’t know what brought you here, and the absence of light is unnerving. The quiet skittering doesn’t help, but you keep putting one foot in front of the other, even as your hair stands at attention. Where will this blackened path lead you?
Suddenly, a beam of light blazes to life ahead of you, lighting an altar of sorts. Upon it lay an envelope with your name on it. Strange, you didn’t know you were coming. Flipping it over, you see a wax seal of a beam of light. Breaking it open, you draw out a card. It is an invitation to begin a quest. Will you answer the call?
Since I’m passionate about challenging myself and others creatively, I will be sharing a monthly “Creative Quest”. I will try to make them as open as possible for all kinds of creatives, but since my mediums are primarily visual, they will likely lean that way.
Creative Quest - Dramatic Light
With this being the “spooky” month, I thought it would be fun to explore creating with dramatic light. It can be used to develop sinister or spooky atmospheres to significant effect.
What Is Dramatic Light?
Dramatic light is characterized by high contrast, featuring bright highlights and deep shadows. Paired with colour, atmosphere and shape, it guides the viewer's eye, creates visual intrigue, and shapes the emotion/vibe of the story being told. It’s often referred to as moody, bold, or compelling.
Other terms that describe this light are chiaroscuro and tenebrism. Chiaroscuro is high contrast, but there is usually still detail in the shadows. Tenebrism, on the other hand, allows details in the blacks to be lost.
Digital Art and Photography
There’s nothing I love more than creating drama, tension, mood, and evoking emotions. I often use this type of light to achieve those ends. I would lean more to the tenebrism side because I like the mystery of what can’t be seen. Here is a small sampling of examples from my portfolio. The first example is a composite, where I built up my scene. Notice how the light in the scene guides your eye. The other two are true portraits, one offering a sinister vibe and the other enhancing the drama. If you would like to see more examples in photography or digital art, you can visit my Galleries.
Painting and Drawing
Two of the examples below are from the Baroque period, the painters Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio, respectively. Notice how the light they use draws your eye to specific places in the painting and what is left in shadow. Does it add to the drama of what is depicted? How would these scenes have looked if the light had been even or soft?
The two Instagram examples are contemporary artists in the drawing medium. Both use the light to enhance the story they are telling.
Films and Gaming
The following are clips from a Quentin Tarantino film, Planet Terror, and a trailer for the video game, Elden Ring. Tarantino uses dramatic light and colour to tell two different stories in the same scene. The Elden Ring clip uses various forms of light to call attention to the shadow the storyteller is speaking about. Each choice calls attention and helps set the mood.
Writing
Even writers utilize dramatic lighting to help set their scenes. The opening of the quest features a simple example, but here are some examples from famous writers. Notice how J.R.R. Tolkien sets the scene using light in this brief excerpt:
“The company was in the big common-room of the inn. The gathering was large and mixed, as Frodo discovered, when his eyes got used to the light. This came chiefly from a blazing log-fire, for the three maps hanging from beams were dim, and half veiled in smoke. Baliman Butterbur was standing near the fire, talking to a couple of dwarves and one or two strange-looking men. On the benches were various folk: men of Bree, a collection of local hobbits (sitting chattering together), a few more dwarves, and other vague figures difficult to make out away in the shadows and corners.”
J. R. R. Tolkien
Your Creative Quest
Now that you have an idea what you will be working with, your quest, should you answer the call, is to create something that features dramatic light. Create a series of images, paint, draw, make a short film, design a video-game space, or write about it. Whatever your creative medium, find a way to explore this high-contrast lighting.
Mini Challenges
- Select a single light source and explore how changing its direction shapes the scene.
- Add colour to your lights and discover how that can enhance or change the mood.
- Combine light with atmospheric effects like smoke or fog, and discover how they can work together to tell a more nuanced story.
Self-Reflection Questions
All good quests involve some reflection. We’re here to grow as artists, right?
- What did you find the most challenging about this light, and what do you need to remember about it going forward?
- List the effects you enjoyed the most about this light.
- What are some other ways you could apply what you learned?
- Did working with this light spark any ideas for you for future projects?
The Portrait Witch's Workshop
Join my Facebook Group, The Portrait Witch’s Workshop, a gathering place to share progress, compare battle scars, and trade secrets with other questers.
