How to Render: The Fundamentals of Light, Shadow and Reflectivity

This book is about the fundamentals of light, shadow and reflectivity; the focus is firmly on helping to improve visual understanding of the world around and on techniques for representing that world. Rendering is the next step after drawing to communicate ideas more clearly. Building on what Scott Robertson and Thomas Bertling wrote about in How To Draw: Drawing and Sketching Objects and Environments from Your Imagination, this book shares everything the two experts know about how to render light, shadow and reflective surfaces. This book is divided into two major sections: the first explains the physics of light and shadow. One will learn how to construct proper shadows in perspective and how to apply the correct values to those surfaces. The second section focuses on the physics of reflectivity and how to render a wide range of materials utilizing this knowledge. Throughout the book, two icons appear that indicate either "observation" or "action." This means the page or section is about observing reality or taking action by applying the knowledge and following the steps in creating your own work. Similar to our previous book, How To Draw, this book contains links to free online rendering tutorials that can be accessed via the URL list or through the H2Re app.

Former Chair of Entertainment Design: Art Center College of Design
Designer / Author / Educator / Co-Producer
With over 17 years of experience teaching and creating curriculum on how to design, draw, and render at the highest college level, Scott brings unique and unquestioned expertise to the presentation and communication of the concept design field. He has authored or co-authored 10 books on design and concept art. In addition to books, he has co-produced over 40 educational DVDs with The Gnomon Workshop; 9 of which feature his own lectures. Scott frequently lectures around the world for various corporations and colleges.
In addition to teaching, Scott has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from vehicle and alien designs for the Hot Wheels animated series, Battle Force Five and theme park attractions such as the Men in Black ride in Orlando, Florida for Universal Studios. Some of his clients have included the BMW subsidiary Design-works/USA, Bell Sports, Giro, Mattel Toys, Spin Master Toys, Patagonia, Minority Report feature film, Nike, Rockstar Games, Sony Online Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Buena Vista Games, THQ and Fiat to name just a few.
To see more of Scott Robertson’s personal and professional work, please visit www.drawthrough.com and his blog at www.drawthrough.blogspot.com