COLOR: Cel shading vs Soft shading?

[lorenatzilla]

Which do you think it's better for a webcomic? Pros and Cons?
I know it depends on the artist's style but, overall what do you think?

[NickRowler]

Honestly, it does depend.

When it comes to soft shading, if done right it can look great but if done poorly, it can look really bad and unprofessional. Some people overdo it with the blurriness to the point where the overall shape is lost.

Cel shading tends to look flatter and more "cartoony". Sometimes people want that, it really depends.

I think if you had an examples of how you do both, it would be easier for people to decide which one looks better.

[shazzbaa]

As far as the look of the comic goes, this is a question that doesn't really have a satisfying answer! Which is better for a webcomic? Well, whichever you're more confident in and whichever fits the look that you're going for on this specific comic.

I think the easiest metric, if you really need one, is "which one is faster for you?"
I find cel-shading requires a little more thought, since you're abstracting the shadows into shapes, but it also simplifies the amount of rendering you're doing, so cel-shading might be good if you have a tendency to get fiddly with painterly rendering and spend too long on it --- but it might slow you down if you already have a strong sense of light and shadow and can more easily lay down your lighting in a few brush strokes.

[AnnaLandin]

This is a question with no real answer!

It all depends on your own personal style, how well you pull it off, and what precise look you're going for. I do a softer, more painted style with my comics, because that's what I feel comfortable with, and it achieves what I want it to achieve.

That doesn't mean it's inherently better or worse than celshading. There are celshaded comics that look flat and terrible - but there are loads of celshaded comics that look downright amazing. It's all a matter of how you use the methods you've decided to go with.

Basically, if the question "Does it look good?" can be answered with "yes", then it doesn't matter which style it's coloured in.

[punkarsenic]

it definitely depends on the comic's style - but id say most art styles require a bit of both. i primarily do cell shading in limited palettes, but i also add smth extra to the values with overlay and lumi&shade layers, and some things often require some soft shading to look right. my comic is visually quite dark, so cell shading is needed to clearly show look at this and its okay that this is basically just black

if you combine soft and cell shading you can play around with contrast a lot more, which is always fun and useful, so im going for both.

[indagold]

if you do it well, it doesn't matter. If it's done poorly then it matters. Either one lazily drawn makes you not care much for the piece regardless of style.

[DMBrigman]

As most people have pointed out it really depends on what looks good for the comic.

I personally get carried away with soft shading and end up taking a lot of time, something I can't do because I release a page per week. I do adjust the shading style based on page and mood, so sometimes it is more cel-shaded and other times more soft shaded.

Ultimately, it is really subjective and per artist so there aren't any concrete pros/cons. For me cel-shading is faster but doesn't add as much depth. I also have to think harder about how to break up the shading to help add depth. Soft shading is great for mood and complex color palettes, but it takes me longer and I have to think about colors more.

[Zanreo]

For me, my shading is almost like... soft celshading? One "block" of shade color, but with soft, more "blended" edges towards the base color unlike the typical sharp celshading lines. I think it looks better and is easier to get right - with hard shade-lines you have to "outline" it carefully or else it looks bad.

But yeah, depends on the style and effect the artist want.