Your work is absolutely breathtaking! Such realism! Thank you for sharing your ideas on how to properly light up a studio and discussing the pro and cons.
Although, you haven't made a video that I haven't loved, this one is perfect and at just the right time! Thank you, Emma, for everything about you and what you do !
Thank you for sharing your lighting and how the different lights work for you and in your studio. I’m so glad I found your channel. I’m Fran, 71, living on a mountain in Tennessee. 😊
Hi Emma, thank you for another helpful and informative discussion. I think it is time to reorganise my studio again. I was quite surprised to see your studio without lighting, it just shows what a difference some strategically placed lighting makes to your environment.
Yes my studio is not ideal because I live in a small cottage with smaller windows to keep the sun out! But with good lighting you could work in a dungeon and it wouldn't matter.
Hullo Emma! I am so curious about how other Artists have set up their work spaces! Your lighting situation is very unique but not as uncommon as most might think. You offer wonderful advice and very good basic instruction that applies to most painting situations! Thank you for sharing this with us, I hope you consider doing more videos for beginners and more advanced art creation techniques. I have had several studios and even 2 places to work in my current location, a bedroom and the open dining area that I have mostly taken over for working on soft pastels, I have found that the light coming from our French doors is just so amazing! The bedroom needs 3 lights always, no matter what time of the day. I am curious about every aspect of your working life. Thank you for sharing your art journey with all of us.
I too have worked in many many studios over the last 13 years. One was a conservatory with light from all around and that was nice! But now I feel I could set up in a mouse hole and it would be fine. Pastel is flexible :-)
Thanks for this video :) I've been considering that Daylight lamp for ages, you've convinced me now. I paint watercolor in a southwest facing room so not ideal natural light. As for the temp of the bulb in your ambient clip-on lamp- last month, I stumbled onto bulbs by Feit Electric that have a tiny switch with 5 temp settings on top (2700-6500k). I was so excited by this feature that I bought 2 boxes of 6 and gave some to my mom and friends (who were equally pleased with the idea!). They were surprisingly inexpensive (6 for $10 USD). According to my teenagers, apparently I "collect" and spend more time discussing light bulbs than the average person. And...here I am discussing light bulbs and buying a new lamp. TY!
Revisiting this video. Since acquires an LED easel lamp & LED desk lamp. The white umbrella is intended to go between your light source & subject. So other way around.
Thanks for the comment. I know the direction of my umbrella light is opposite to how they're normally used. I probably should have mentioned in my video that I just don't have space behind me and don't want the umbrella so close to me. I tried other more directional lights to my right but this actually cast the biggest and most even area of light. So not conventional, but works for me in my space.
Actually you are missing important information. Buying a daylight bulb or light is not enough. Check the CRI rating on your bulb or light. Color Rendering Index should be 90 to 100 rating and certainly not less than that, to see colors accurately.
Hi Emma, and thank´s so much for this great video! I have now ordered a Dayligtht lamp, and am also thinking of bying one like the one with the umbrella. I already have a ligthstand and umbrella as I can use if I buy a lampholder and a lamp. What do you use - 45 W, 70 W or 80 W?
Hi Emma. Another great Idea . Thanks. Have you considered a Book? About your journey and of course, yer brilliant work/play? P.S. The Musical Intro after a short intro-is terrific! So joyful whoever does it. Slainth'
Thank you! The book I dream of making is a painting dogs in soft pastel instructional. But it takes literally a couple of years of hard work to make the content for a book. I'm struggling to see when I'll get time. But I will some day I hope! My intro is something my partner wrote on ukulele. Kindly he let me use it, I love it too!
That was really helpful! Having sufficient light is something I've always struggled with. My "studios" have always been a bit awkward, and I'm currently working in my housetruck, our self built RV on the back of a heavy truck. Because we have our own off grid power system, keeping power use down is important, especially now in our New Zealand winter. I've been looking at a rechargeable light I've seen advertised on Instagram, but I don't know how much light it actually gives. Do you know of any power economical lighting systems I might be able to get?
I worked from a motorhome for 3 years. We had a 1000 watt inverter and 4 leisure batteries. I used my Daylight Company lamp in the van and I don't think it took much power. I often worked at night as we travelled and explored during the day and I would have laptop well charged during the day ready for work that evening. Depends what country you're in but I seldom had trouble with power. However in Winter some places it will be trickier! If you can fit more leisure batteries onboard I would do that and have a good storage system.
I've just released a video about editing if you're interested. It won't teach you everything you need to know but it might send you in the right direction. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M_rzz6gJYHI.html
Thank you! This is really helpful especially in the winter when the days are so short. May I ask you a question about something else? Do you use a fixative? If not, how do you prevent your pastel paintings from smudging? Because I'm completely new to soft pastels (I used to work with oil paint but wanna switch to pastel because of the toxicity of oil paint)
I don't use fixative. It's a video I haven't made yet as I don't use the stuff and will have to buy some to demo for the video. On modern pastel papers like Pastelmat you really don't need it as that paper holds the pigment really well. If you're going to use it, I advise spraying lower layers as you work and not to spray much at the end. I'll make a video very soon as I get asked this question a lot :-)
@@EmmaColbertArt Thanks for your reply, looking forward to your video!❤ Maybe I just have to get used to it being more fertile than oil paint and that I don't brush my hand accidentally over it when its finished😅
This is too coincidental!!! I was just on Amazon a few days ago and I bought that identical light cuz it was the only one that had a two-in-one adjustable lights and the pivoting options. I just plugged it all in yesterday because it just arrived and I have also rearranged my studio to get better lighting so your video is good timing
Yes it works great if you can shine one light almost directly above. That's why I like the bar shaped lights as you can direct them over the top of your work. As long as you can see what you're doing and are not casting any annoying shadows it's working fine!
The place where I paint is the least ideal. The room is very dark and the space and arrangement of furniture makes it so I am in front of a window, in front of the ceiling lamp and the only place where I can put a desk lamp is on my right, and I am right handed.
Get a desk lamp that comes up and across the top of your painting. The long strip light might be good as you can have the base to your right but still have it shine right down on the work. There is always a workaround. My studio was in the back of a camper van for three years.
Hi , wanted to ask your advice after watching your video and having my own set up. I am drawing left handed so just switched the sides you mentioned for the lights , but even with my daylight and softbox light I get a slight shadow from my hand on the other side on the easel . Does this mean I just need another light somewhere?
Yes, I have my main daylight lamp to the left and above the work. But the big studio light sits to my right to take away the shadow my hand casts. You need to light from both sides to get rid of shadows.
Do not buy Ott Lights because the CRI rating is only 80, poor lights for seeing colors accurately. See other artist videos for more important information about lighting, such as the Kelvin rating which shows the color of the light. You want something in the middle like 5 000 Kelvin for a whiter, balanced light.
Thanks for the extra info. I'm aware that there is a lot more detail on this topic. However, my set up works very well for me and that's all I was sharing here for those just getting started. Position of the lighting especially for filming is what I was most interested in sharing.
