Anyone for film noir? Those deeply atmospheric black-and-white Hollywood movies of the 1940s and ’50s—The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity—you can watch them now and wonder how those directors and cameramen managed to get so much atmosphere onto the big screen. They used the light. They exaggerated the source and intensity, and played with the detail in the shadows. When color came to movies and TV, it was still the light, its source and intensity, that shaped the picture, but color and field began to guide the eye.
Sketching at dusk and at nighttime is nigh on impossible without a light source. Victorian painter John Atkinson Grimshaw was famous for his city night-scenes, especially of the docks in Liverpool, London and Glasgow; his nickname, “Mr. Moonlight,” is a clue to his technique. Van Gogh created especially intense light sources in heavy oils in The Starry Night, as did J.M.W. Turner in so many of his seascapes.
A sidewalk café, row of stores or a theater will offer interest and warm light sources after dark, as will bus stops, stations and airports. Roads and sidewalks are washed in pools of light, and any rainy night presents reflections and the intense reds of tail-lights and amber taxi signs. Light and color also deepen in intensity after dark. There are special qualities to night shoots with cameras, moving or still, because cameras make their images with light. Sketchers have to make the light. In daytime the sun does the job, but around midnight, your page is black. Anything visible can only be seen according to the light source it is reflecting, whether street lights, café windows, doors suddenly opening or cigarette lighters flaring.
TIM RICHARDSON
The Shard from Bermondsey Square, London, England
Here is a great night sketch by Tim Richardson. It uses a limited color palette, and confident mark-making gives the commercial office blocks a sense of scale. The Shard is a significant London landmark, famous for being the UK’s tallest building. Little touches of yellow to show lighting, with a few red dots to pick up highlights, are inspired touches.
DANIEL GREEN
Hennepin and University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Although Daniel Green sketched this at the end of the day (above), it uses such vibrant colors! The paint has been boldly applied, which helps articulate the view. I love the yellow lighting and the trails of red—taillights perhaps?
KUMI MATSUKAWA
Winter Night View of Tokyo, Japan
A lively sketch (above) by Kumi Matsukawa, which uses a limited but tonally interesting color palette for a night view. Looking out from a restaurant, the silhouettes of people convey the movement of a busy street, while the yellow touches on the trees suggest twinkling lights.