What is ESL you ask?
I learned that it stands for Environment Source Lighting. I took a class on this at Adepticon and it has really brought my bust painting to a whole new level!
This is a 2" tall bust I 3D printed. One of the things the instructor talked about was to think of the environment your bust is in.
In this case, I wanted the Plague Doctor to be on the verge of lighting a HUGE pyre of the dead. I also imagined it taking place on a clear, full moon night.
So I tried my best to get the warms and cools to work together to really make the shadows pop.
With ESL, you take into effect the environment you picture your piece in. If it is outside, in a desert, the sky would be blue and the ground would be brownish. So the environemental lighting would have tones of blues on the upper highlights, and more earthy browns on the lower areas.
Or if the piece is on an alien world and the colors are different.
OSL is lighting that comes from specific objects and doesnt take into consideration any ambient lighting.
This piece is technically a combination of ESL (moonlight) and OSL (the warm tones)
This discussion about ESL and OSL has renewed my interest in building my first “Shadow Box” diorama. I’ll have to dig out my Shep Paine book again.
