Shading Tutorial!
By popular demand, this is a simple shading tutorial going over the bare basics on how I make my shading. Everyone has different style and tastes so feel free to make it as clean or messy as you want until you find what you like.
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By popular demand, this is a simple shading tutorial going over the bare basics on how I make my shading. Everyone has different style and tastes so feel free to make it as clean or messy as you want until you find what you like.
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Step One: Choose the direction for where your lighting is coming from. It's best to choose this during your sketching stage so everything can be pre planned for ease. You can squiggle or draw little lines on the sketch to show were you want your lighting and shading to be.
Step Two: I do my shading dead last. So finish your lines, lock alpha layers and design before doing the shading. Once you're ready for your shading, duplicate you main lock alpha layer and move it above all your design layers (but keep it under the lines still). You can either make it solid white, or your chosen shading color - it's up to personal preference. For this tutorial I'm doing it white.
Step Three: Keep lock alpha on your shading layer (to save you from cleaning up a mess for the next two hours), choose your shading color and put it where you want it. Play with it. Plus with brush setting and style. Want is soft looking? use airbrush and the round soft brush setting. Want it messy and almost painted looking? Do whatever feel right for you! It doesn't have to be perfect.
Personally I like messy looking shading. It's fast, easy, and gives it a more painted look to it. Some texture is always nice in a picture. The pictures below are a example of messy looking shading that turned out surprisingly well.
Color Note: I tend to choose my shading colors based on my background color themes. If for example I'm using a lot of blue hues I will try to give my shading color a blue tint for it to fit into the picture better.
Step Four: Once you're done with your shading, simple set it from normal to Multiply! After that you can make a layer for a floor shadow (under all your design layer so it doesn't mess with everything) and you can add some highlights with some simple light colored lines set onto Add for some extra fun!
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Step Two: I do my shading dead last. So finish your lines, lock alpha layers and design before doing the shading. Once you're ready for your shading, duplicate you main lock alpha layer and move it above all your design layers (but keep it under the lines still). You can either make it solid white, or your chosen shading color - it's up to personal preference. For this tutorial I'm doing it white.
Step Three: Keep lock alpha on your shading layer (to save you from cleaning up a mess for the next two hours), choose your shading color and put it where you want it. Play with it. Plus with brush setting and style. Want is soft looking? use airbrush and the round soft brush setting. Want it messy and almost painted looking? Do whatever feel right for you! It doesn't have to be perfect.
Personally I like messy looking shading. It's fast, easy, and gives it a more painted look to it. Some texture is always nice in a picture. The pictures below are a example of messy looking shading that turned out surprisingly well.
Color Note: I tend to choose my shading colors based on my background color themes. If for example I'm using a lot of blue hues I will try to give my shading color a blue tint for it to fit into the picture better.
Step Four: Once you're done with your shading, simple set it from normal to Multiply! After that you can make a layer for a floor shadow (under all your design layer so it doesn't mess with everything) and you can add some highlights with some simple light colored lines set onto Add for some extra fun!
-> 
