Learning to be a better Lighting Artist can be a daunting task. What seems to be an easy task to many quickly becomes a very complicated process. A lot of people think it is about placing out lights and then you are done. If you are a lighting artist you might sometimes get frustrated over how people simplify your speciality. That sounds like a good blog post for another time. Today, we are pointing out one or some of many things that helped me as a learned of Lighting for Lighting Artist.
Learning Style
First one must understand one self. I learn in a very different way than others, and in a different order of events. That is not to say I do not listen or take the advice seriously, I just know I need to learn in a certain pattern or method to truly make sense of things. This has frustrated people trying to help me in the past. They have a hard time understanding my process, thinking and why I am doing something. You might be told to learn photography, watch movies, do painting and learn the software to name a few things. It all depends on how you process information and apply it. Since I knew nothing it made it very hard to get started since my basic knowledge was below average, as I did not focus a lot on 3D Art to begin with. Not to mention I am a snowball learner. Snowball learner means I am super slow compare to others but eventually I catch up. And that is okay. You do you!
Mentors
I always look for mentors and I do not pay attention to persons age or title. You could be a Junior Lighting Artist or a Student. If I think you possess superior skills I will learn from you openly and gladly. Having this mindset has helped me a lot in learning and improving as lighting artist. I have also paid to check my knowledge up against experienced lighting artist through Game School Online where I had a mentor named Thomas Wright. This was very affordable and worth the investment. I have also paid a lot more to learn from CGMA and the tutor was Omar Gatica. I have also paid very little to explore from younger Lighting Artist but talented artist such as Florent Tunno who create courses and has a beginner tutorial at EXP Points. In the same community I also tried Maria Yue who is Senior Lighting Artist and talks about Lighting Theory. I sometimes go back to my own course for refreshment which combines most of the content anyone teaches online the way I understood it. It is 10 hours of Unreal Lighting going through Lighting Theory, Practical Lighting and more for a small price. By learning from others you will understand that lighting has many approaches, people know things you do not know and you will gain confidence because often these are known as talented, skilled or senior lighting artist. Arguably I might be doing this also due to my very high Imposter Syndrome.
Photography
It is useful to learn Photography as it will help both your eye, understanding of light, composition, framing and also technical understanding in the engine. Exposure anyone?
Movie Production
It can be useful to learn or do a short movie too. It will also teach you many relevant skills related to Photography but also you get a chance to learn lighting in a practical sense, colour grading, story telling with light and thought process that goes into creating a short movie.
Drawing
Learning to draw a little bit helped me also in terms of understanding framing, composition and traditional skills relevant to Lighting. Obviously, I did not become a master sketch artist but it trains your eyes which is very important. You need to understand shape and form which is relevant in Lighting.
Painting (Digital in my case)
Painting was probably the most useful boost in terms of improving my lighting due to the skills it improved for me. It improved my eyes, understanding of light, shading, reflection, shadows, shape, form, colour theory and is a traditional form of lighting.
Editing
The first thing I started with was actually filming myself and learning to edit. To get an understanding of camera and storytelling using cuts. This aided my understanding of light placement, thinking ahead and planning for cinematic lighting later.
Storytelling Lighting for Games
I also specifically created a horror prototype in Unity to learn the thought process, design and technical skills to do lighting in more than one game engine. This improves your technical skills, limitations, strength and put emphasis on what you need to learn technical to achieve your creative vision.
Apply your knowledge for someone else
I will often apply the knowledge in other peoples project. As this teaches you the challenges and difference in having full control over your creative outlet versus other peoples limitations, pipeline and designs. In my case I redid lighting for the game Intruder for Superboss games.
Visual Effects
It is helpful to do some visual effects as it teaches you post production, how lighting works with green screen and related skills to lighting.
Create learning content
Sometimes I will try and pass on knowledge that I learn to see if I understand it. And have someone who actually knows the software tell me if I am right, wrong or close. This is a humbling experience and certainly efficient way of eliminating uncertainty. However, this method is not for the faint hearted.
Color Grading
It is a good idea to learn color grading specifically as it helps improve your understanding of color theory, post processing and reading graphs. I found Davinci Resolve very useful in that context.
This is just a handful of methods, techniques and approaches I go through to push myself and my understanding. What are yours? Please share.
