Jul 2015
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Jul 2015
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Redthic
Jul '15

Shadows or shading are not hard to get the basics of. What I do is use a layer with the opacity turned down and paint black over the areas I want to have a shadow. Maybe set it to between 40-60 percent depending on how dark you want them.

Keep in mind, you will also want a shine on the figure or item to give it more of a 3D pop.

UzukiCheverie
Jul '15

Practice and blending is key. What program are you using to draw? Most drawing programs come with blending and smudging options (SAI's blending tools are particularly impressive).

One thing that helps is to do shading on a separate layer, below the lineart (at least for when you're shading skin). Study light sources, and where it's proper to add shading for certain situations. Common areas for shading are:

Below the hair line
Along the bridge of the nose (with the bridge having lighting, but it depends on the situation)
Below the neck
Used to show ruffles in shirts and clothing

Here are a few shading guides that you can use for characters and backgrounds:

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And of course, don't be afraid to draw actual backgrounds in your panels where they're appropriate! Grey tones and shading works for some situation, but not all. And find some blending tools to use for whatever software it is you're using to draw (: There's also cel-shading, which might work even better for the style you're going for (cel-shading looks like this1 and this, notice there's no blending, it's just hard shading; you can find lots of comics that use cel-shading, such as Kerot).

Good luck!

lastpizzaslice1
Jul '15

i added some shadows according to your tips. Can you tell me if i am still missing anything???

winglesscomic
Jul '15

It's a good first step! Even just a little shadow makes drawings more interesting by adding a bit of depth.

One thing to keep in mind is that a person's torso doesn't cast such a shadow like that on the hair. Most people do something like this, in order to show that that section of the hair is further back than the front hairs:

serenitysquirrel
Jul '15

Are you wanting to cell-style? Then just plop a new layer between your coloring and your inking layers and set it to multiply. Set opacity to 50% and then paint the shadows in black or the like. Then slide the opacity level to taste. A more cell-style flat approach might be best while learning the basics.

As to where the shadows do, it's best to remember your light source, and that you may have more than once source of light. Light bounces and fades and does all sorts of fun things. Here's a link to a youtube search for more information on where shadows. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=drawing+shadows2

epiale
Jul '15

The line really isn't necessary, but it doens't look bad to have it there.

I'm also going to throw it out there that unless you're working exclusively in gray-scale (which, admittedly, is what you seem to be doing for now, and that's perfectly fine) shading with black is a horrible idea. It makes colors look dull, ugly, and unrealistic. It looks much better to shade with a darker color. (purple is a common one)

Or you could use the method I use and pull colors for shading by moving slightly along the color wheel and darkening just a bit. (and a quick example image because I know that's worded kinda awkwardly)