Any Tips For Heavy Shading?

[BLTX]

Something I clearly still need to work is heavily shading a character. I've been working on this for the fourth epiosde of my comic, but I could use some tips on how to properly shade this heavily. Any ideas?

[VibrantFox]

i think the biggest thing will be finding your lightsource and understanding the form of your characters, not like shapewise but as a 3 dimensional object even is it's rudimentary. Another thing is that you don't always have to completely blackout certain shapes or forms as it can affect the way the drawing or object is perceived and in the worst cases making it hard to read.

For instance your example in the top i hadn't quite realized was a person until i saw the unshaded drawing at the bottom

what i think might help for this case is literally just bringing what you already have down a notch like this:

maybe you could keep thr pure black for some parts but given the high saturation of some of the color pallete i think it'd be just fine like that

like one example i can think of having used hard shadows in my own art was this

and the thing here is the most dramatic shadows fall on the focal point being the face to show this hard expression meanwhile there's softer shadows on the rest of the body + clothing to give it form

overall i think the biggest thing is balance so once you've got a better understanding of the look you wanna go for it's easier to implement. there's always looking at other folks art and how they do harder shadows and then just messing around mimicking some of those till you find something you like. but you've got a solid foundation so far it's just making sure things are clear to read on your comic pages especially since you'll be adding text so you wanna make sure things are easy to distinguish

[delladz]

1. Determining light source, different areas of the face are gonna look significantly different depending on where the light hits it
2. Varying your multiply layers, Something that helps create depth is using different layers of shades with different textures as well as changing the opacity of each layer
3. Since you're working in color, try using other colors other than black to shade, it does a lot to affect the mood of the comic
4. See what artists you like are doing, basically monkey see monkey do. Take the time to just experiment and have fun, its art lol

hope this helps! if I find the opportunity I'll post examples if you're interested!

[BLTX]

I wouldn't mind gettng some examples in!

[BLTX]

Love the shading work on that one! The only thing is I want the eyes completely blacked out to go for a specific feel.

[BLTX]

Been working on it a bit, and still trying to go for the blacked out eyes, I came up with this. I tried to see if adding some eye-colored shiny areas would help give it a little more depth and better illustrate "This is a person"

[margodraws]

hmm Hellboy has great heavy shading, literally crack open any volume for great examples!

Like the others have said, it's all about 3d form and light direction. You don't need perfect realism, but you do want something that reflects reality enough to be believable. When a real person's face is in shadow, what's casting the shadow is the forehead/brow bone and hair. Tilt the face forward = more shadow when lit from above.

Here's that lighting applied to a realistic-ish character and one more like your guy:

[BLTX]

Update #2

[Swamp]

I would drop the eye shine. Eyes are set deep in the socket, so the shine gives the impression of sunglasses reflecting light. This is intensified by the round shadow. Since it's the hair blocking the light, the shadow should have a jagged edge like the hair

[BLTX]

Something like this you mean?

[Swamp]

Yeah. I'd leave it on the nose, but I think that's easier for the reader to parse

[BLTX]

How do you mean leave it?

[stiatent]

Some ppl above said good points already, with light source and thinking of the character as if they were in 3d space and the emotion/mood/personality you're trying to capture. Drawing orthographic views can give you a better grasp when thinking of your character in 3d space (well pseudo 3d space as it's a 2d drawing XD)
Search "orthographic character sheet" for references on making one if it's something new to you

From your drawing, shadow under her eyes now look as if her eyes are bulging out

I googled 'Anime Forehead shadow' and got results like this might serve as referance-

the example below, the edge-work on the shadow isn't too sharp and maintains that human roundness of the face:

and the character's personality/ expression you're trying to capture plays a part too, in the ones below the eyes to make the character look intimidating. Environment lighting is a major factor too, this guy below is lit from behind towards his right side -the source being the light from the celing (you can see the glow on the roof).

To me without the eyes usually work good for expressing mystery and disappointment (like that saying of someone feeling left in the dark) and the eyes visible works for intimidating and shocked characters. Eyes opened wide works good for the shocked or fierce while squinted eyes for the intimidating/ cold look.

But then again art is always flexible beyond my interpretations above lol The shadowed out eyes of the guy below gives me a mystery sense (the eyes are usually the 1st thing that draws a viewer so with that gone it gives the impression that the character's thoughts are mysterious/beyond our knowledge). His smile is what sells his expression here, he's clearly confident or maybe finds a little humor based on whatever he's thinking.

Guess that's a good exercise too, examining art that execute techniques you want to master, What impressions you get from the character/scene as a viewer? and figuring out how they achieved it

For me when it came to lighting, looking at Scene lighting tutorials for photography and film on YouTube were helpful.

A photography example from youtube, he mentions mood too

Horror is usually my jam for their high contrast lighting, looking at stills from horror movies and games can be inspiring too in the way they manipulate the viewer to see certain things within a scene or even on a character's body.

hope this serves some help, keep up the hard work

[BLTX]

From your drawing, shadow under her eyes now look as if her eyes are bulging out

They probably are. My characters have big, bulgy eyes.

[margodraws]

here's my best shot on your actual character:

• lightened the base colours so the black shadows pop
• head casts shadow over the neck and body
• face shadow extends past eyes
• hair hilight reflects light source

You could lighten the shadows a bit too; in most of the anime examples above, they're not pure black. Added benefit is that you can see the eye direction. Thoughts?

[BLTX]

Freak'in LOVE that one! I think that's exactly the look I needed! If you don't mind, I'd like to copy those exact shadows! The only thing I won't copy is the hair highlights, just to keep things consistent!

[margodraws]

yeah go for it! happy to help

[BLTX]

Thank you! I'll post an update once I've finished it!

[BLTX]

UPDATE #3

[system]

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