When I was a kid I played Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D, quite often with my friends. This is a game of story telling and imagination, and I am sure it is no surprise that several of the people I regularly played with went on to work in theatre and television. While some of my friends poured over the rule books learning all the ins and outs of the game and a few of them went on to become writers and directors, my true love as with lead figures. Specifically the painting of lead figures.
I would sell many of my painted figures at the local games store for a nice little profit that helped to support my painting habit. The cost of paints and brushes and new figures were easily offset by the return from the figure sales. It was a great racket for a kid.
While I have not followed the trends of lead figure painting for many years I remember the going style when I was involved. All the figures in the various magazines had a single light source that the figures were painted with. Perhaps a highlight on one side of the figure and shadow on the other. Or a strong top light, or what not. And I remember one day trying to follow this style and becoming quite frustrated with it. My frustration lay not in being unable to execute the technique, but in what happened when the figures were finished. It was fine when the figure was lit for the same direction as the painting, but if the light came from the other side, it looked strange. Further, if two figures stood next to each other and the light came from different directions they looked incongruous and strange.
While I took a few painting classes and read through all the miniature magazines I could get my hands on, I also spent hours and hours sitting at my desk painting and painting and painting. The theories of painting miniatures are surprisingly similar to those of lighting design. One starts with a base color, then adds in some rich color to fill in the shadows and fabric pleats and finally you dust the figure with a nice highlight to bring out the dimensionality. This certainly does not apply to all lighting, or even all figures, but the similarities are enough to be worth noticing.
It is interesting to me to see how the games of childhood evolve into the games of adulthood. How my lead figure painting and later my interest in philosophy have synthesized along with my interest in literature and imagination into my current profession. And that is one of the things I love about working as a freelance lighting designer. That my many and varied interests can all be engaged and entertained. That my love of literature and philosophy and music and color and time can all come together in the various shows I have the pleasure of working on.
I am curious to see where it will go.
Paradigm Shift Copyleft 2006
Tags: dungeons and dragons, light, photography
