Isabella Flores
Painting a night scene can be a challenging but rewarding endeavour. To create a convincing night scene, artists must pay close attention to value, colour, and light. Most values in a night scene tend to be very dark or very light, with colours appearing dull and desaturated. The light source is crucial, as it determines where colour is revealed in the composition. When painting a night scene, it is essential to understand the impact of different light sources, such as moonlight, streetlamps, or artificial lighting, on the colours and values within the scene. By studying the techniques of master artists like George de la Tour, Goya, and Chris Ivers, one can gain insight into capturing the beauty of night through their artwork.
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What You'll Learn
Choose your colours
When painting a night scene, it is important to pay attention to the colours you use. Most of the colours in a night scene are very dark or very light, and the middle values tend to be quite light or bordering on the dark shades. The colours are usually dull and desaturated, especially in the dark areas.
When painting a day-to-night scene, it is recommended to use cool colours, such as blues and greens. For an oil palette, you can use ultramarine blue and phthalo green. For warm colours, it is best to stick to cool versions, such as cadmium yellow light (a greenish-yellow) and alizarin crimson (a purplish-red). These colours are intense, so it is a good idea to reduce their chroma by adding a complement or cool grey.
If you are painting a night scene with street lamps, it is important to note that the shadow patterns will be different from those in daylight. Unless you have seen the location at night, it will be challenging to paint accurately.
When painting a night sky, you can start by painting the top quarter of the canvas with Prussian blue. Then, blend this into purple for the next quarter, followed by light purple for the next quarter. You can also add white paint to create the moon and flick it onto the canvas to create stars.
For darker areas, you can use deep violet and burnt sienna, while for lighter areas, you can use cadmium yellow and burnt sienna. To make the colours glow and sparkle, add a little white to heighten them.
To create a warm, glowing light in your night scene, you can use a thin mixture of Raw Sienna and Quinacrodone Gold to create a warm wash. This will be the lightest area of your painting, so keep that in mind as you work around it with darker colours.
Remember, colour tends to flatten at night, so a vibrant green in daylight will become a grey-green at night.
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Focus on light sources
When painting a night scene, it is important to focus on the light sources as they will determine the colours and values in your painting. Light sources can be natural, such as moonlight, or artificial, like streetlamps or candlelight.
If you are painting a natural light source like the moon, you need to understand how the phase of the moon impacts colours. During a new moon, colours are very muted, and they gradually get brighter as the moon progresses through its phases. Even a full moon, however, provides only 1/400,000th of the illumination of sunlight, so the overall light in your painting must be decreased considerably. You can replace the light and shadow information from a sunlit scene with moonlit colour harmony, value, and colour contrast to make it convincing.
When painting artificial light sources, it is best to work from life as the shadow patterns will be very different from those during the day. Streetlamps, in particular, can be challenging to paint as they will drastically change the lighting of a scene. If you are painting a night scene with streetlamps, it is recommended to observe the location at night to understand the shadow patterns.
To create a strong light source in your painting, you can use a thin mixture of warm colours like Raw Sienna and Quinacrodone Gold to establish the light areas. You can then paint around these areas with much darker colours to create contrast and make the light stand out. You can also add a little white to heighten the colours and make them glow and sparkle.
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Understand light and shadow
Understanding how light and shadow work is fundamental to painting a convincing night scene. The interplay of light and shadow creates the mood and tone of your painting and helps the viewer understand what they are seeing.
Firstly, consider the light source. Moonlight, streetlamps, candlelight, or electric light will all create different effects. Moonlight provides only 1/400,000th of the illumination of sunlight, so a night scene will generally be very dark with some light areas, and very little middle ground. The light source will also affect the colours in your painting. Moonlight will create blue tones, candlelight or a campfire will be warm, and artificial light can be various colours, including orange streetlights. The light source will also determine the length and darkness of shadows.
Next, consider how light interacts with objects in your scene. Opaque objects will be lit differently from translucent or transparent objects. When light hits an opaque object, it is simply absorbed and reflected, but with translucent or transparent objects, light is also transmitted through the object, creating effects such as subsurface scattering and refraction. The angle of the light source will also determine where shadows fall, and how they will look. Form shadows are created by the object itself, while cast shadows are those cast onto the surface behind the object. Cast shadows can add drama and mystery to a scene, especially when the object casting the shadow is off-camera.
Finally, remember that even in darkness, colour is revealed where light falls on it. In a night scene, colours tend to be dull and de-saturated, especially in the shadows. To create a realistic night scene, avoid using black paint; instead, mix your darkest shadows with ultramarine, and use Payne's Gray for a blue tone.
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Study other night scenes
Studying other night scenes is a great way to learn how to paint your own. Firstly, it is important to understand the role of light and shadow in night scenes. Light and shadow patterns will be different depending on the light source. For example, a night scene with streetlamps will have different shadow patterns to a night scene illuminated by moonlight. Therefore, it is important to observe and understand the light source in the night scene you wish to paint.
When studying other night scenes, pay attention to the colours used. Colours tend to be dull and de-saturated, especially in darker areas. Colours can also be washed out when close to a light source. In general, night scenes use more cool colours, such as blues and greens, than warm colours. However, if you are painting an urban scene, you may wish to incorporate some warm colours to reflect the artificial light of buildings and streetlamps.
When studying other night scenes, consider the values used. Most of the values in a night scene are very dark or very light, and the middle values tend to be quite light or close to the darks. This is because colour is revealed only where light falls on it, so there is less colour seen in a night scene than in a scene lit by daylight.
Finally, when studying other night scenes, pay attention to the composition and the way the artist has used light and shadow to create a focal point. For example, in George de la Tour's "The Penitent Magdalene", much of the painting is dark, with some light, and very little middle value. This creates a mysterious atmosphere and draws the viewer's eye to the light source in the painting.
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Practice painting the night sky
Painting a night sky can be challenging, but it's a beautiful scene to capture. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you practice painting the night sky:
Choose your colours
Night scenes typically feature very dark and very light values, with middle values tending towards the lighter end of the spectrum or hovering near the darks. Colours are often dull and desaturated, especially in the darker areas, and can appear washed out near light sources. Rural night scenes tend to be cool in tone, while urban scenes are usually warmer. When painting a night sky, you will generally be working with cool colours, such as blues, purples, and greens.
Prepare your palette
For a rich, dark sky, mix a range of dark blue colours on your palette. You can also add in some Payne's Grey, which has a blue tone and is useful for creating shadows. If you want to avoid black, mix your darkest shadows with ultramarine.
Start with the sky
Using a medium-sized brush, start at the top of your canvas and work your way down. Paint the top quarter of your canvas with Prussian blue, then rinse your brush. Next, paint the following quarter with purple, blending the colours together as you go. Rinse your brush again, and then paint the next quarter with light purple.
Add the moon and stars
Load a small brush with white paint and water, and use your finger to flick paint onto the canvas, creating stars. Continue until you're happy with the number of stars. Once the paint is dry, paint a circle for the moon. You can also add larger stars, comets, or birds to personalise your night sky.
Create contrast
To make your night sky pop, push the values and paint stronger, darker colours around the moon and stars. Remember to avoid painting over any areas of light that you want to preserve. You can also add in some white highlights to make certain areas glow and sparkle, such as around figures or objects in the scene.
With these steps, you can create a beautiful night sky painting, capturing the magic and mystery of the night.
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Frequently asked questions
Colours in a night scene tend to be dull and de-saturated. Use mostly cool colours, such as blues and greens, and for warm colours, stick to cool versions, such as cadmium yellow light (a cool, greenish yellow) and alizarin crimson (a cool, purplish red). Stay away from black and mix your darkest shadows with ultramarine.
Start by painting the top quarter of the canvas with Prussian blue. Then, paint the next quarter below with purple and blend these colours together. After that, paint the next quarter with light purple. Finally, load your brush with white paint and some water, then rub the bristles above the canvas so that paint flicks off the brush and onto the canvas.
Scenes with artificial light must be painted on location. Focus on natural light and change the colour harmony to make a daytime scene look like a moonlit one. You can also study the night scenes of Remington and Frank Tenney Johnson, who often only included the occasional campfire as a source of light.
