Rella... is an anime-style illustrator! But not just any anime-style illustrator. She is a master of light and shadow! When looking at her work, I'm always stunned by the beautiful and diverse lighting. So naturally, that made me wonder… How can I do something similar? Are there patterns in her process that will allow us to get similar results? So in this video, I will be attempting to breakdown 6 of Rella’s unique lighting scenarios. Showing you how I’ve applied these techniques to my own illustration attempts in order to see if Rella's techniques can help fix my boring lighting. You see…. Recently, when looking back at my illustrations, I realized that I was using mostly the same lighting on the same kind of background. And while that’s not necessarily bad, it’s missing that 'wow' factor. That emotional impact that can be seen in Rella’s illustrations. Take this illustration, for example:

The usage of light made it not only beautiful, but calming and just magical! Ever since seeing this illustration, I’ve been dying to know how it was done. I was curious about what secret techniques I could learn from this. So I decided to break it down, and try applying the techniques to my own illustrations. First off, I started with recreating the background. Then add the base color. When you start with the background, it makes picking colors for the shadows much easier. The shadow, which was just 1 layer on multiply blend mode. I first fill in the whole layer, then erase parts to show the light. Next I added the second darker shadow, to give the image more depth and form. I sometimes use lock transparent pixels to do this, or create a second multiply layer. Lastly, Rella likes to add glows, dust, and sparkles. Then finish off the illustration by adding chromatic aberration! And that was it. That was so simple, that it kinda scares me.

I find that there’s only like 6 main steps to this. However, recreating the illustration was the easy part. The hard part is to see if I can apply this to my own illustration attempt. To see if it’s as simple as it looks, or if I’m missing some crucial steps? I started with the background. I did this quickly just to get the feel of the lighting. Then add the base color. And since the background is blue, the shadow will reflect the same blue color. When we isolate Rella’s shadows, we can have a clearer understanding of how she shapes the light. Here we can see big shapes informing us of the direction of the light. And smaller shapes for details like lights going through the hats. When I tried doing the same thing, I find adding light to be more straightforward and less intimidating. Thinking in shapes hierarchy will also make your composition more appealing. Now that we got the overall vibe of the image down, it’s time to add details.

And here’s where things started to fall apart for me. You see, when I compared my progress to my Rella’s, I started to get really worried. Rella’s looked super polished, mine just looked flat and dirty. Despite that, I continued with adding the darker shadow just like Rella. But when I did that, it somehow looked even worse? Maybe I should add a bounce light? That could fix it, right? Wait, how much should I add? Is that too much? Too little? No matter how many times I tried adjusting the illustration, it just doesn’t have the same feeling as Rella’s illustration. Not that it’s a bad thing. I actually think that this turned out alright. But I felt frustrated when it comes to adding shadows and bounce light. I understood ‘how’ to do it… But I couldn’t understand ‘why’ or ‘where’ to add it! I had the technical skills but lacked fundamental understanding to use them effectively.

And then it hit me. Techniques alone won’t solve my lighting issues. It’s the deeper understanding of theory which enables for flexibility and creative freedom down the line. So, I decided to properly study light and shadows. And as for how, I found this book which perfectly complements Rella’s techniques, answering many questions I had during my study. Alright, let’s keep this short. Color and Light is a book by James Gurney. And for the next 50 secs, I’ll show you my main takeaways. First are the 8 different light sources, with 5 often used by Rella. I had no idea that clouds play such a big role in colors. Just look at how it changes the color of the sky. And talking about clouds, do you want to know why the sky’s blue? Me neither. But apparently it’s pretty important. This was due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. Sunlight, which is made of many colored waves, scatters when it interacts with the atmosphere.

Blue light scatters more due 
to its shorter wavelength. Therefore, less atmosphere results 
in more blue lights, while thicker atmosphere reduces the blue color. Other than the sky, there are different
types of character lightings: Half shadow, Three quarter lighting, Frontal lighting, Edge lighting, Contre Jour, and Spotlighting. Oh, and I finally understood 
“The Form Principle,” I hope. The things that I thought were important 
were the form shadow and the cast shadow. Knowing the difference between the 2 will 
help you make better shading decisions. And now armed with basic 
understanding of light and color, I’m excited to dive back into the 
study and apply what I’ve learned. After a sunny scene, it’s time to try a darker. I decided to start by breaking down
this image due to its simplicity. Starting with 1. Background, 2. Base color,
3. Shadow, 4. Light. And then some 5. Details. So let’s dive into each, while 
applying it into my own attempt.

I began with the night sky background, which was just a gradient. Then stars using the default spray brush and added base color and shadow, which really helped put the character into the scene. When picking colors for the shadows, I like to just eye-drop the background color, then adjust it from there. In Rella’s illustration, you can see a darker gradient for parts that light cannot reach. And after adding that with a soft brush, we’re pretty much halfway done! Next, it’s time to add the light. Rella likes using crisp white light in her night illustrations. Here, the white light is coming from a hidden light source behind the character. Although initially I thought that this white light was the moonlight, but after some research, I realized that that’s not possible unless the illustration is set in space, where there’s no atmosphere. So when it comes to the night scenes, you could decide between a hidden light source or that the whole scene is set in space.

Here, I use Add blend mode for light, since I find it to be the most versatile for Rella’s style. But it really doesn’t matter which one you use. Don’t forget to also add this colored light, which I’m assuming to be the light falloff. The final steps were to add the secondary shadows for details, then Rella’s iconic dust and sparkles. I made a custom brush for the sparkles, which you can download from below! Don’t forget to also add some chromatic aberration. And that was it! Wait, that was it? This looks kinda bad. So I decided to add some flowers and a lot of blur to make it look more interesting… And here’s how it turned out. I think the downfall of this image wasn’t the lighting, but instead, the composition, camera angle, and this awkward pose, which resulted in a flat-looking character. But technique wise, I think I did pretty well? The fundamentals that I learned from the book also helped me quite a lot.

Especially with identifying 
where this light was coming from. And I think the next step now is to test 
whether the techniques that we just learned can also be used in a scene with 
completely opposite lightings. So let’s try and find that out 
in Rella’s spotlight lighting. Now, the majority of the 
character is engulfed in light. To do this, I started with the same 
steps: background and base color. The background here was supposed to be a wall, 
so I added a cast shadow to show just that. Next, I added soft shadows to 
show the form of the character. For lighting, I decided to go 
with an intense circular spotlight. I did this by painting a circular light 
on top of the character and the background. This lighting scenario is often used 
to create a dramatic mood and tone, which is perfect for the more 
mysterious vibe that I’m going for. My light source is coming from around here, so I’m adding shadows around 
the top part of the character.

Sharpness or softness of shadow depends on the distance and angle of the light. Shadows closer to the light will have crisper edges, while those further away will appear softer. At this point, I had the look and feel of the image down, so it’s time to add the details. I noticed that in Rella's works, the areas in strong light often have fewer details. This was because the intense lighting eliminate the shadows, resulting in an overblown effect. So I made sure not to add too much details to areas closer to the light source. Once all that was done, I added Rella’s iconic dust particles. Then I used Gaussian blur and grains to emulate the effect of a camera in low lighting. And finally, chromatic aberration to wrap things up. I’ll be honest, I have no idea how it turned out this well! I’m really happy with the outcome. But despite that, there’s still a lot of flaws in the process and outcome.

On the technical side, I feel like 
the hair could have been better. It’s still quite flat compared to Rella’s. And on the theory side, this lighting scenario
was still a big mystery to me. I only managed to get to this point,
all thanks to having Rella’s art as art direction. And real life photos as references for
light, shadows, and colors. Without those things,
I wouldn’t have been able to do this. While the color and light book helped me
zoom out and understand the basic theories. Now, I need help with zooming in. And focusing more on light and 
shadows in specific scenarios. And I think I got just the thing… ‘Light for visual artists’ is a book by Richard Yot. Which focuses on the different lighting scenarios. We got: Frontal, Side, Back, Above, Below. Explanation of every sky you could think of. Oh wow, look at this one...
Maybe I’ll try this in a bit. And sections on shadows, 
indoor lights, and materials!

But I actually got this book just to read this section on specific light scenarios. So after going through them all, I just went straight to applying them in the next attempt: The Stage Light. The stage light signature feature is definitely this rim light effect. And the secret to creating this effect lies in the background, which is often black to allow the rim light to stand out dramatically. So you know the usual steps. I decided that the light will come from above. So I added a slight gradient to give a sense of form. Then it’s time to add the light. For rim light, I tried keeping it super thin and minimal, not adding more than necessary. The light was also so strong that it created this glow effect where it’s in contact with the surface. Any dust particles passing through the light will also pop out. From here, I tweaked the image as I saw fit, adjusting things like contrast, hue, and saturation. In case you’re wondering, here’s how my layers looked.

And overall, quite straightforward! At this point, my illustration was done! Well... not really. Because I have an idea that I’ve been dying to try out. A while back, I saw this video by the illustrator Redjuice! I was inspired by how beautiful the 3D elements blended with his 2D illustration. And I wanted to try something similar. So since the beginning of this attempt, I planned to do just that, with the 3D skills that I learned in my previous video. Which could either look really cool.. Or end up in total disaster. Anyways, what I did was…. Modeled the 3D elements. Did some composition stuff. Don’t know what to do next. Look up all the tutorials on YouTube. Do whatever the tutorial tells me to do. Then render it out, put it in Photoshop. And... I hate this! So I did this then that then this and that and this and done! And somehow it actually turned out really good!

My goal was to take advantage of the beautiful
refractions made by the 3D software. In order to enhance the beautiful stage lighting,
which I think was a success! Although this lighting was beautiful, I think the next one is even prettier! Colors of the sky during sunset are
often vibrant and complementary. And depending on the clouds or lack thereof, can result in sunsets from
the typical orange-blue, to golden hours, to the beautiful alpenglow. The inspiration for this attempt came from this photograph. I loved the unique angle so much, I decided
to build a whole scene based on this photo. And when it comes to the background, I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to draw it… So I chose to use Unreal Engine to make the sky. This also allows me to easily adjust
the time of day and cloud volume. Otherwise, you could always take your own
photos or grab one from somewhere like Unsplash. I find that having references of what you’re
going for can make your life much easier.

For the shadows, I added a grayish blue onto the whole character. Then added orange glow to the bottom to reflect the color of the sun. To help the character stand out from the background, I added a rim light, similar to what we did previously. At this point, the main lighting was in place. So now it’s time to add details and polish things up. The colors here felt a little bit dull, so I wanted to make it more vibrant. I was experimenting with the hue, saturation, and contrast. When I accidentally made this.. And I instantly fell in love with the colors and decided to stick with this. And although, this was no longer a 'real' sunset. The lighting is still based on the principles of a sunset. As for finishing touches, I added colored glows to the top and bottom of the character. Mainly because I thought it looked cool. I also really like how Rella paints over the line art with the color of sunset. It’s a really subtle effect, which was very effective at showing the intensity of the light.

Then added stars and grains to the background. And finally, the good ol’ chromatic aberration! And this might be my favorite outcome from this study. I was happy with how I was able to transform and stylize the illustration as I please. Thanks to having solid understanding of the lighting. I wasn’t able to go over everything, so if you want to have a closer look. You can download the files for yourself. As for the final lighting, I’m not quite sure what to categorize it as. But for now, let’s call this ‘Dappled Light’. Because I want to focus on this simple yet impactful lighting. Often seen in anime illustrations. Where the bright sun shines through leaves or clouds. Creating this unique and dramatic contrast between light and shadows. As for how to do this, I think you already know. But this time, the shadow will take on the shape of leaves, or clouds. You could draw this yourself or again, grab an image from somewhere like Unsplash.

And set it to multiply mode. For now, this is just a placeholder, but by doing this, you’re essentially getting yourself to that 80% mark without having to do much. I then added the 2nd shadow, which I kept very minimal. I like Rella’s use of pinkish glows around the light. It’s a nice touch that makes the image feel that much more calming and sentimental. So I did something similar by brushing the area in light with a pinkish glow. I was going for a cuter style for this attempt, so aside from some shadows and glows here and there, I really didn’t have to do much. Once I was happy with the overall look and feel of the image, I played around with the shadows to see which ones I liked the most. When I put this image side by side to Rella’s, I realized that there wasn’t enough contrast between the light and shadows. So I fixed that using curves and brightness sliders. Lastly, I added some out-of-focus flowers to guide the viewer’s sight.

And added dust and chromatic 
aberration to finish everything off. Yeah, and that was it! By far the simplest, yet so impactful. I decided to keep things simple. To let the juxtaposition between light
and shadow be the star of the image. And that’s the power of lighting! So what exactly did I get 
out of this two-month study? In the beginning, I began by mimicking 
Rella’s workflow and art style. Trying to grasp what makes her artwork so beautiful. But I quickly realized that copying
techniques alone won’t get me far. I had to solidify my understandings
through studying fundamentals. And by the end, I was able to use what I learned. To craft my own unique approach 
to lighting in order to make it fit my vision. And the best part? I’ve finally learned how 
to give my illustrations that missing impact. That ‘wow’ factor that I’ve been searching for! As always, thanks for watching!

How Learning From Rella Fixed My Boring Lighting

Videos on exploring art & design

Software used:
Illustration : Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint
Editing: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator
Tool: Wacom Intuos Pro
