Figure Sketch - Flat Lit

When you are standing right by the light source (or close to it), you don't see much of a shadow on the model. Sometimes we call this front-lit, but since my model was facing sideways I'll just call it flat lit to avoid confusion. The basic premise is that your subject is lit as if you were wearing a headlight.

Because you don't have the light and shadow patterns to help you define a value structure for your painting, you have to rely on local values to give your painting some punch. The dark background provides ample and rich areas of dark, while the shirt gives us the upper end of the value spectrum. Thus I can use a full range of values, and even give it some really strong contrasts without the help of light and shadow on a shared surface.

Small dark notes in the face, such as the eye lashes, the nostril, and the upper lip define the features. There isn't much else in the way of forms to suggest likenesses (except the silhouette, which is pretty significant) so these little notes have to carry a lot of weight. That is to say, they have to be executed very carefully, or it'll start looking like a different person very quickly.

I'm not a portrait painter so painting likenesses isn't at the top of my priorities, and usually I don't care if my painting doesn't look like the model – I'm more interested in the overall mood, gesture, the universal rather than the specific – but bad drawing bugs me so if time allows, I'll fuss over critical notes like these accents notes (eye, nostril, upper lip).

The figure is not entirely devoid of modeling, of course. The light source is slightly to my right so there is a little bit of darkening as the forms fall away from the light-facing planes. I was able to sneak a little bit of anatomical definition this way, but still, it's nearly flat.

Diffused light works similarly too, in that local values are key to giving the painting a good value range. Often, diffused lighting suggests north light or may be outside in an open shade, or perhaps an overcast sky. In these cases the light is much cooler than the warm flat lighting I have here.

So the next time you're in a figure painting session or class, and you don't see much shadow from where your easel is set up because the light is flat, don't start grumbling. you can still do a good painting by relying on local values. Make sure to pay particular attention to shapes, because if the shapes aren't interesting, you don't have much else to go on. On the other hand, if your shapes are strong - such as a strong silhouette - you have a lot of freedom to push paint around as long as you keep your value structure organized.