

Not sure if this is on topic here as it's not a question about a specific
manga... or even specifically about manga, but about comic books in general.

The use of shadow is important for conveying lots of different things... mood
of a person, setting or simply for dramatic effect. I am wondering
specifically, in a close up shot of a face in the classic 3/4 position, _what
is the difference if the face is in shadow in the foreground versus on the
background side?_

For this assume the only difference in the drawing is the placement of shadow,
the position expression and amount or surface covered in shadow are the same.
The only difference is shadow on the side facing the viewer versus the side
away from the viewer.

Here is my poorly drawn example of what I am thinking in my head:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qt7XH.jpg)

I _tried_ to draw a neutral expression but they both kinda look upset... so
try not to base the answer on the facial expression, just shadow placement.

What are the thematic/mood/emotional response differences to the audience when
using those lighting patterns?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-30T08:46:31.687
21975
2016-12-14T13:18:33.910
2016-12-14T13:18:33.910
8486
14745
question
manga-production
Thematic or mood effects of shadow placement on a character's face?


In real life, the shading on a face (or anywhere on the human body, animals,
plants, and inanimate objects) is merely a case of the direction of light
hitting it. In illustration, the realistic way is most common: the mangaka or
animation aims to highlight and shadow according to the light source in the
scene.

![Takeo from Ore Monogatari!! in
sunlight](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pYkj8.jpg) ![Takeo in fluorescent
lighting](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AiDq2.jpg)

However, in some instances, a shadowing which is not primarily based on the
placement of the light source can be employed to convey emotion or lack
thereof. The most common variety is to shade the forehead and eye area of a
character's face. This is partly accurate to the light source, assuming the
light source is generally coming from above: considering that a character who
is angry, fuming, plotting something evil, sad, dejected, alarmed, or stunned
might tilt their head downward. However, its main purpose is to convey that
the character's emotions are not being revealed at the present moment, in
order to generate suspense (i.e. "What is he thinking?!" or "How is she gonna
react?!"). To shade this area conveys that the character is clouded by an
emotion but the audience has not yet been shown exactly what that emotion is.
Often, the character will dramatically snap his/her head up after the effect,
letting the audience abruptly know what he/she was thinking during that head-
downward period.

![Yamato's emotion not yet revealed](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OjkOP.png)
![Suna's emotion not yet revealed, implied to be
dejected](https://i.stack.imgur.com/U4stS.png)

Since the eyes convey the most emotion, it is possible to achieve this by only
shadowing the eye area. Alternately, it is also common to achieve the same
effect by simply using the character's bangs to temporarily cover his/her
eyes.

![Takeo in distress](https://i.stack.imgur.com/O874j.jpg) ![Suna's emotion not
yet revealed](https://i.stack.imgur.com/w3Zm3.png)

In manga, there is also a practice of using a shadowing which can go against
the placement of the light source. If the face is mostly dark, the character
is feeling evil or dark thoughts which have not been shown to the other
characters (only the audience is able to see that the character's feelings are
covered by a "mask" of darkness; the other characters in the scene usually
cannot detect that the face is darkened). Alternately, a character might be
shown with dark shadowing if the audience is supposed to assume that he/she is
thinking something bad, but then later it will be revealed that he/she was
merely in deep thought/stewing over something/puzzling over
something/concerned about something unrelated to the current topic of the
scene. Another meaning is to depict the character as menacing or possibly
scary.

![Takeo looking scary from the perspective of the other
character](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ssrex.jpg)

One common use of forehead shadowing is to express distress, mortification, or
utter shock. This can be drawn with vertical lines in combination with or
instead of shadowing.

![Takeo in distress](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0tUBp.jpg) ![Takeo in
shock](https://i.stack.imgur.com/njLHX.jpg)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T07:01:00.577
22022
2015-06-01T07:36:43.597
2015-06-01T07:36:43.597
8134
8134
21975
answer