Drawing cartoon/stylized textures: glass

Touching on the theme of cartoon textures, it’s worth paying attention to such unusual texture as glass. It can be both matte and glossy. There are several essential features affecting the drawing process:

1.???? We will see a background behind the glossy transparent objects. If the glass is matte, it won’t be so transparent but we’ll still see a silhouette of an object behind the glass.

2.???? On the glossy surface the glares are clearer and bright, they’re consistent in shape. The glare also passes through the thickness of the texture and reflects on the opposite side of the glass. There are no sharp glares on the matte surfaces, the transitions are softer and the degree of transparency is much less.

3.???? We remember that the texture has thickness, it’s also transparent but the density of the texture produces the visual distortions. Along the edges of the ?thickness? the colour will be denser and darker than in the center.

4.???? And speaking of the coloured glass it’s important to remember that the background and the falling shadow will also take on the colour of this glass. The better the texture transmits light, the more ?coloured? the shadow will be.

5.???? Caustic effect – if we’re talking about transparent glass object – the light passing through the object will appear on the back side, concentrating beams of the light in this area and creating a gap in the shadows. On matte texture this effect will be weaker.

We can transfer the described features of the texture into a cartoon style with some reservations:

·??????? The thickness of the glass is more exaggerated than in realistic examples.

·??????? The glares and reflections will also have a more simplified shape and won’t exactly follow the shape. It will be enough to outline them with a silhouette.

·??????? We will see more chamfers on the edges of the object’s faces.

·??????? In some cartoon styles the thickness and glass will take on the colour of the liquid inside.

P.S. You can also watch tutorials on drawing of cartoon objects:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LRdn45

by Yulia Kuznetsova

ArtNest School mentor