Light and Shade: A Classic Approach to Three-Dimensional Drawing by Mary P. Merrifield

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Light and Shade by Mary P. Merrifield

Every so often I find myself realizing that I need to override what I am actually seeing in regards to light and shadow shapes in a painting in order to emphasize the form of the objects.

This is where this book is especially helpful, because it is a quick guide to the classical approach to rendering three-dimensional form in the western tradition. The book is organized by the different shapes that you may need to shade, and offers practical advice on how to render a three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional picture plane.

It’s a thin volume, but well worth having in the studio because it is so descriptive.