building a permanent still life shadow box - good bye cardboard and duct tape!
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2022
- I have been using this cardboard box as my still life shadow box and it was making me a little sad. So I decided, seeing how I have grown to love painting from life, I wanted to make a permanent box for my studio. One that functioned but also brought me joy! This is the story of how I did that!
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Does anyone sell these premade? Im in the rabbithole, been looking for a week. Nobody has them, everyone making them from scratch.
That is a good question! I am not sure? I have not come across any premade ones that would work well for painting still lifes. Usually they are for photography and so have reflective sides which eliminates shadows.
I will pin this comment to the top incase someone else has come across one! Sorry to hear you have been down the rabbit hole. You can make one easily from a cardboard box until you find what you are looking for.
@@harbinsondesigns Thanks!
All you need is 3 sides…. Check out set up still life videos on youtube, look for this guy making a pumpkin painting.
This is not the way to present a still life, neither to light it properly.
Any light bulb or side bed lamp can do the trick, you then just need books or some cardboard to surround the light source and direct/tunnel the light, no need to spend a single dollar to set up a great still life and light one properly, even a black shirt or a dark book cover can make a dark background so no need to buy paint either if you don’t have any dark cardboard or other piece of fabric.
Trust me, you can do everything with what you have at home without having to spend a single dollar. If you skip the part of setting up a still life by yourself then you can’t possibly make a good still life anyways, because the basis is not the background at all, it’s all about the light and the angle you light the subject, this is trash.
I don’t mean to be rude and there is nothing personal either but this woman doesn’t understand anything about still life nor lighting, and she put a lot of unnecessary effort constructing a wooden box that just cannot make a good still life, it’s just plain immature.
Look for photography supplies.
Very nice idea.
This is great!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
very nicely done! cheers!
Thank you so much!!
very helpful, thank you!
Thank you for sharing this video.
You are very welcome!
This is so awesome! Love that design you painted and the little door at the end 😊 Such a great way to enhance your painting experience and painting studio. Would love to share this with other Evolve students if that's alright with you! 🙂 ~ Daniel
Thanks Daniel! It really makes me smile every time I do a still life now! Feel free to share away ♥️
Loovvee it!
I've always thought about making one of these for this purpose.
Well this is your sign to make one!
@5:36 nice safety boots! :)
I know 😬 I wore the safety glasses at least 😂
Great video - thanks!🙂
What lamp are you using please?
You are welcome! The lamp I have here is from Ikea which I don't believe they carry anymore. However this one on Amazon is very similar. You want a lamp with a narrow beam of light. This will help you get crisp clean shadows! m.lightinthebox.com/p/simple-modern-contemporary-led-new-design-cool-desk-lamp-for-study-room-office-office-metal-dc-5v_p6997643.html?currency=CAD&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&sku=221_3079%7C224_40195&country_code=ca&adword_mt=&adword_ct=&adword_kw=&adword_pos=&adword_pl=&adword_net=x&adword_tar=&adw_src_id=4674349488_17678435451__&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6_Sou_eC-wIVGhGtBh1-PwAcEAQYDCABEgIwmfD_BwE#header_anchor
Man,....I was just about to cut up a bunch of heavy 2 X 4's to start building my new soft box.. Then this video came up on my youtube feed. Boy am I glad I saw this. Why in the hell am I building a soft box with heavy 2 X 4's?? Do I really need something THAT heavy or clunky? This straightforward box idea is better. If I build it 36" inches tall, and have an opening on top for the light source...and different levels in the box where I can place my shelf; 0" inches, 12" inches, 24" inch levels, lets say......that should do it. And I totally agree with your thoughts about present lumber costs. I was out at Home Depot four nights ago to buy those 2 X 4's...and I saw the current costs of sheet lumber......ouch! Thanks for the design idea....(I know it's just a box)...but I think some youtubers are getting a little fancy with their design ideas...and this simplifies it back kinda where it needs to be.
So glad you found it helpful! I have moved my still life box several times and am really glad it is not too heavy to do so! I really like your shelf idea to bring smaller objects closer to the light source! Happy building!!
@@harbinsondesigns Thank you. HD was closed early unfortunately (New Years)...but Monday I'll head back. The 1/4" (half inch) sanded plywood is also the right thickness and weight. 3/8'" inch that I found in the garage is too flimsy...and 3/4" inch is needlessly heavy.....so, the 1/4" inch (half inch) is right on the money for this. I can't believe I'm writing this much over a soft box....but I've been procrastinating on this for three straight days, kind of dreading the process...and then your video popped up. I'm going 26" inch wide, 20" inches deep on the shelf. Just thought about the light source possibly being too close.... Don't want that light blasting the still life. Well, I'll work that out. Sorry for all the rambling. lol Thanks for your help. Happy New Years.
Happy New year's!
Great job:) What is the lamp that you are using? Warm or cool light or changeable?
Thank you! The lamp I have here is from Ikea which I don't believe they carry anymore. However this one on Amazon is very similar. You want a lamp with a narrow beam of light. This will help you get crisp clean shadows! The lamp I have is only warm light. Ideally it would be great to have both options! m.lightinthebox.com/p/simple-modern-contemporary-led-new-design-cool-desk-lamp-for-study-room-office-office-metal-dc-5v_p6997643.html?currency=CAD&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&sku=221_3079%7C224_40195&country_code=ca&adword_mt=&adword_ct=&adword_kw=&adword_pos=&adword_pl=&adword_net=x&adword_tar=&adw_src_id=4674349488_17678435451__&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6_Sou_eC-wIVGhGtBh1-PwAcEAQYDCABEgIwmfD_BwE#header_anchor
Great music! Your video was quality as is but I sometimes will turn off videos like this because the music is just hard to listen to and distracting but this all really came together well.... so the content was quality AND they presentation made it watchable.
. Which made it learnableb which made it valuable!! Thank you!!! I hope you keep offering your talents and are being rewarded l accordingly. :)
Thank you!
vou fazer um pra mim
It is such a great tool to have as an artist! Hope it goes well for you!!
Ciao, puoi dare le dimensioni esatte, grazie
Thank you for question! The final dimensions are 20 inches wide and 25 inches tall at the opening and it is 21 inches deep. I cut 5 panels that were 20 inches by 24 inches and assembled them to make the box. Hope this helps answer your question!
The thing about a box like this isn’t very good for still lives I’m afraid, 3 sides is enough : the base, the background and one side. Having extra sides to either cover the top or bounce the light off can sometimes work but giving yourself the option to experiment depending on the subject is better, making one single open window like this isn’t the way to present a good still life…
The light is particularly bad, that’s not the way to achieve good still lives in the manner of Dutch painters or to light a subject nicely, the light cannot be that close to the subject to lighten a subject nicely, neither does the angle feel right, and it shouldn’t be direct, it must be coming from something around 70 degrees plus or minus and it should be worked out with panels to direct the light in order to obtain different types of contrasts and adjust how the subject is lit.
Getting some opaque pieces of fabric to put in front of the light source is also a must to soften the light.
Everything I’m talking about doesn’t cost anything and is part of every house, just a little hands work that require no other tools than scissors, no need to buy anything at homedepot either, anyone interested in doing still lives is better off saving money to acquire interesting subjects instead, but if anything there are other videos people can find on how to set up a still life, this is a bad example, the light is everything and here it is constrained to a bad spot…