Need help with shading/drawing in general

[Light]

Heyho all

So im basically new to spriting and drawing faces altough I've drawn on paper and stuff
recently I got a drawing tablet mainly for playing a game called Osu! but thats a different story.
And now im trying to actually draw something with it.

Now that I got the basic outline somewhat done I want to give my drawing a little bit more life by adding color and shades to it but
I really don't know where to start.Of course I tried to shade it and I looked up some tutorials but I dont seem to improve at it.
(Keep in mind im a noob and this is my first drawing on a tablet tho)


Heres something I tried and I hope someone is able to identify who this is supposed to be xD ( would be a good step so far)

I want someone to try and shade this a little bit focus is mainly on clothes and hair or at least give a hint to something that might be useful.



This is how I started
So I did what everyone tells you to do and thats scribbling a base down
Then I added hair and finally done the outlining and the other stuff.




But after adding the base color I just never know what to do ._.

Original Png Full Size

[prince_freeza]

But after adding the base color I just never know what to do ._.

the first thing you need to do when you shade is determine the light source, like so:
left, back, front or right (ofc there are lots of positions a light source can hit your character but what i'm showing you now is the most basic)


what you also want to learn is shading types, see not every surface has the same type of shading (for example the skin area will have a different looking shading "texture" than pants or hair) my advice to you is that for a start you stick with 2 color shading until you get the hang of how everything is supposed to look\feel like.

this is an example of a 2 color shading with the light hitting your character from the left side:



note the differences between the shading of skin (smooth,clean) and the shading of a shirt (wrinkles).
this might seem frustrating at the beginning, but you won't go no where without trying, practicing and patience.


you should search Google,youtube and deviant art they have all kinds of tutorials about shading,proportions,coloring...etc you name it.

[Light]

Hey thanks for your time and actually taking my drawing and going through the trouble of doing that for me.

I've found out about the blur and the smudge tool Dx
I've tried it on my own now I this is the result



Although using both of these feel like cheating since you just scribble the color you want on to the place and then smudge and blur it until you like it.


I'd like some feedback on this kind of shading and if its appropriate

[prince_freeza]

Although using both of these feel like cheating since you just scribble the color you want on to the place and then smudge and blur it until you like it.

why would using the blur/smudge tool be cheating?! yes they do make the job easier sometimes but their tools put there so you can make use of them :P

good! my suggestion for improvement next time is that you try adding more and firmer strokes with the brush to define hair strands (similar to the way you did it in the back side of the hair) it will result in your hair having a more natural texture rather than looking doughy.

[Light]

try adding more and firmer strokes with the brush to define hair strands (similar to the way you did it in the back side of the hair) it will result in your hair having a more natural texture rather than looking doughy.

I've given your advice a try ( this time on paper ) and I took a closer look at how people outline their work



I guess it still look a bit stiff and stuff.
When im done with the outlining I will scan it and try to add color to it.

Also I want to know : So when you draw do you usually just do it from scratch just with your imagination or do you take other pictures as reference ?
I always feel like if you don't do it from just your imagination you don't really get anything out of it if you just copy a drawing and try to imitate it.
But I guess thats how most of people learn - by imitating and then adding their own style to it until they know how it works.

why would using the blur/smudge tool be cheating?! yes they do make the job easier sometimes but their tools put there so you can make use of them :P

It feels like cheating because if I look at for example Anime Series then 90% of the time the charatcers consist of mainly 2 colors or maaaaaayyyybe 3.
The style you suggested me to learn first by only having 2 colors for each part.
And if I use the blur smudge tool it just does not really look right to me.

If I try to shade it with only 2 colors without the smudge or blur it look really awkward too x.x or maybe I just have the wrong settings.

[prince_freeza]

I've given your advice a try ( this time on paper ) and I took a closer look at how people outline their work
I guess it still look a bit stiff and stuff.

it does, but that's nothing unusual just keep practicing and you will get better with time.

Also I want to know : So when you draw do you usually just do it from scratch just with your imagination or do you take other pictures as reference ?
I always feel like if you don't do it from just your imagination you don't really get anything out of it if you just copy a drawing and try to imitate it.
But I guess thats how most of people learn - by imitating and then adding their own style to it until they know how it works.

well if i have a certain posture or pose in mind that i want to achieve i usually do a base template before anything else, you can use pictures as references or even your self if you try to assume the pose you want.
example:

see before starting on any outline you want to get correct proportions by doing that template, and if you have any sort of trouble drawing certain parts (eyes,hands,feet..etc) you can always look at other pictures as a reference or even yourself/others in real life.

It feels like cheating because if I look at for example Anime Series then 90% of the time the charatcers consist of mainly 2 colors or maaaaaayyyybe 3.
The style you suggested me to learn first by only having 2 colors for each part.
And if I use the blur smudge tool it just does not really look right to me.

If I try to shade it with only 2 colors without the smudge or blur it look really awkward too x.x or maybe I just have the wrong settings.

well this is the thing, you have to know when to use or not use the blur/smudge tool depending on what kind of shading texture you want to achieve. i suggest you don't rely your self on the blur/smudge tool too much for shading you did say you have a tablet(?) so instead you can shade using a brush with low opacity if you want a better looking shading for your character.

a quick example:



on the right one: 2 color default brush shading.
on the left: 50% opacity soft brush shading.

[Light]

So to explain why I use the blur and smudge tool to shade is because everytime I try to shade something with the brush tool ( using paint tool sai)
it turns out like this and I really dislike it for some reason maybe I have the wrong settings orsomething




So for reference I want to achieve something close to this it had just such a smooth look to it.
Or something that has abit of sharper shading.

[prince_freeza]

honestly, this looks way better than the smudge tool result you posted earlier.
Do you use layers? or was the hair and the shading done on the same layer?! if not i suggest you draw everything on a separate layer so you can fix and polish some parts without affecting the rest.
(lineart,hair color, hair shading, highlights...etc everything has its own layer)

So for reference I want to achieve something close to this it had just such a smooth look to it.
Or something that has abit of sharper shading.

what kind of settings does your pen have? make sure you have pressure sensitivity option on it makes such tasks much easier (as the brush size and opacity will be based on your hand pressure when you use the pen on your tablet) you could also achieve such results with a mouse but that takes longer and a little more experience.

like this:

[Light]

what kind of settings does your pen have? make sure you have pressure sensitivity option on it makes such tasks much easier (as the brush size and opacity will be based on your hand pressure when you use the pen on your tablet) you could also achieve such results with a mouse but that takes longer and a little more experience.

I think I found out how the settings work, by trial and error + Youtube videos.
Drawing on a tablet is alot more enjoyable now.

This is what I tried out today , I was someone on youtube use the same style to do hair and his drawings in general.
Mine looks nothing but his but I still like the outcome the color really puts strain on the eyes tho.



Also here is my first sprite in a looooong time (My miserable atempt at the flying knee pose LOL)
(In reality its 79x79 but I resized it so it isnt too small for the Forum)
I made my own template from Template and drew everything from scratch.

[koori]

this is my opinion and that, so you dont need to stick to this, but anyway:
i think you should work more on the structure before jumping into color and shading, you know, a well structured drawing can look good even if the coloring and shadows are quite simple/basic; but a drawing with the most awesome color and that will still look confusing if it's not well structured

structure (Click to View)

by structure i mean you ability to see the shape you are drawing as a 3d form, understanding the shape and how all the sides of it are seen from different points of view is very important (but also tricky, this is not sth easy).

for example in this woody drawing:

the hair looks unbalanced, it seems like all the hair is on top of his left side of the head, and the slight backward bending woody's hair has is very difficult to see.
the nose looks also out of place, (maybe that's just your style, but looks weird to me)

this is how i would do it: (which is still not the best, look at those froggy eyes, omg)

*tip: i would suggest not drawing a straight line to show the hairline, some short lines in the direction of the hair looks more natural, just look at your own head, and touch it, caress it gently, feel it being a part of yourself and love it for what it is*

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drawing some little sketches from different point of view of the hairstyle you are going to is very helpful, it'll help you understand it and avoid wasting effort on sth you dont know at all how it looks.
but also, spiky hair like woody's is difficult in general, and more if you are just starting; i would suggest you to do henry's, jan's, jack's or monk's (it can help you making good looking head shapes before adding hair to it)

also in sai the bristle and fine-flat brushes are nice for hair

pf explained quite nicely shading so i'll skip that

color and stuff (Click to View)

take a look at this image, the hair color changes in light and shadow, but the value is not the only difference, saturantion and hue(more greenish or purplish blues) is important too. this also happens with the skin, clothes and pretty much everything.

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another interesting thing about color is the warm and cold hues thing.
instead of making red just red, a darker red and a lighter red think about the overall color temperature distribution and adapt your color to it.
one good way of doing this is to make light warm/cold and the shadows the opposite.

for example, the lit part of the headcloth on the left is orange; and the shadow part of the right one is brown and still they both look red(kinda). the same with the rest, doing this will help to avoid flat looking colors/shapes and also will give the entire drawing the feeling of being lit with the same light [source] which allways looks nice
*tip: is a good idea to change the color of the lineart to adapt to what's underneath or sorrounding it*

i hope this is helpful or sth