[Mike]

doc- i posted some examples of the gradations above.

In my experience the number 3 side of the cube is lighter than the shadow since it is affected by reflected light off the surface it sits on. However, the shadow is only affected by that light reflecting off the side and on to the shadow making it darker. Also, if you look at the 3d render in waylon's post, you'll see that there is a noticable difference in the value btw 3 and cast shadow.

[waylon]

The 3d render in my post? I guess I'll take that as a compliment, I did that in photoshop. Or do you mean Fred's diagram of the basic shapes? (I think he freehanded that one too, not sure though.) I wouldn't trust any rendered image, in any case. There's a lot going on in real life that software just isn't equipped to handle yet.

Incidentally, I finished adding the original "Paint Along with Fred" thread to the "threads 'o knowledge". Edited for clarity.
http://fear.incarnate.net/~vlad/sijun/threads/cube_lessons_01.html

[This message has been edited by waylon (edited April 11, 2001).]

[Mike]

just to clarify, i was referring to fred's(esp upper right cube composition). don't get me wrong waylon, your cube is pretty tight.

[waylon]

Heh, I was pretty sure that was what you meant.

[Ben Barker]

Those are pretty sweet Mike. What kind of charcoal is that, compressed? Any water used?

I always have a devil of a time trying to fill in the holes in the tooth of the paper. I was just wondering how you got around that.

[Mike]

ben - i used "alphacolor char-kole pastels." first you take a pallette knife or x-acto and you make a powder of the charcoal. then you mix it with a little baby powder and rub the mixture on with something called webril wipes(they're kinda like cotton balls but they're flat instead of round). if you're doing hard edges you should mask it off with scotch 411 magic tape or friskit.

[Wiked Ewok]

yea, Fred's pics are 3d renders. I guess you're right waylon. The thing that confused me was that many posts in the original thread seemed like they had a lighter bottom than top on the 3rd side. Maybe it's just the eye fooling me since the contrast between the darker cast may make the bottom seem lighter. Hrmm..just noticed I forgot all the cast shadows to define the edges of my cubes..gonna go fix that

[seburo]

i agree with mike on the gradation thing. he and i go to the same school and had the same teacher(from what he said, he taught both syd mead and craig) for drawing cubes and stuff. from what i remember, he told us that what you see was important, but to do certain things to make it more "cube-like," like the gradation thingy