Shadow Silhouette
- silhouette animation
- shadow puppet
- cut silhouette
Jointed black shapes lit from behind, so only the outline carries the picture.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
Removing everything except the edge forces every decision into the outline, and an outline is what the eye reads first anyway. A well cut profile carries more character than a fully drawn face, which is why the technique has survived a century.
How it works
Figures are cut from black card and jointed with pivots, then laid on glass over a lit ground. The light comes from behind, so the figure is solid black. Fine filigree is cut into the hair and the hems to let small amounts of light through. The background is graded rather than flat.
When to use it
Use it for fable, folklore and anything that should feel timeless. Avoid it when a character needs expression, because a silhouette has exactly one.
Told apart from its neighbours
Cut-Out Animation is lit from the front and keeps its colour and detail. Sand on Glass makes its shapes from loose material rather than cut card. Paper Craft is three dimensional and lit from the front.
Where it is used
It carries a title sequence, a book illustration, a poster and any picture that should read from across a room.
- Early silhouette features
- Title sequences, idents and stage shadow theatre
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<character>, shadow silhouette style, the figure a solid black cut shape against a glowing backlit ground with no detail inside it at all, the outline carrying every piece of information including the profile of the face and the shape of the costume, fine cut filigree in the hair and the hem where light comes through, a visible pivot at each joint, the background a smooth graded wash of warm light from bright at the horizon to dark at the edges
What goes wrong
A dark figure with faint visible features comes back. Ask for a solid black shape with no interior detail, and for the profile to carry the face.
Leave out
detail inside the figure, facial features, colour on the figure, a front lit look, a flat background
Watch for
Everything moves to the outline. Ask for the profile to carry the face, because a model will put an eye on a black shape unless it is told the silhouette does all the work.
Questions
Draw it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
