The whole shading side to comics

[mythgital-creatures]

Hi all!
So been in this spot where I am in a crisis over my current webcomic and would like to alter how I do future comics.
Pretty much the big question is about shading, I currently do a ton of handshading like I do with normal art but less refined

Now what bothers me is that it takes about a day to do this depending as it's usually around 2-3 panels per file, takes an average of 3 days to those done. It feels like I could cut that progress time down as it takes me a month to get an episode done of around 20+ panels. I know a lot of artists are capable of fully shaded webcomics but I'm slower for reasons.

Was thinking on some episodes which take part at night to test out a more different shading so it's something that is not flat colour, something that is more gradient or filter?
Just wondering what are your views are? There could be some that prefer a fully shaded webcomic which I can do but it takes longer and I wish to cover much larger projects in the future which will obviously require a lot out of me.
Or hopefully a more simplistic shaded piece to bring it together nicely could be a better option, which I won't add right away, once I get this webcomic done and moving onto the next one I will. Feel free to add examples of more simplistic yet effective shading.
Thank you

[kyupol]

My panels take 30 mins to 3 hours depending on complexity. Most panels take me 1.5 hours to do.

As you can see, my shading isn't gradient and I use paint bucket to cut down coloring time.

[llobucervallince]

From what I'm seeing you're not using a cell style for the shading, it seems like you're applaying a lower opacity mutiply/add brish that you stack, which seems to be slightly more time consuming.
there are many ways of shading, but cell is very common because is simple and quick, although you could also use Fx to do quick lightning and shadows but it might not suit your style to be honest.
personally what I usually do is make one layer with a hard brush to make the form of the shadow (shadow Layer A), then select the pixels and use the same type of layer over it to define the volume (B), then I do the process again (C).

[mythgital-creatures]

Yeah the way that I do it is a longer process, I actually shade with the a blend of airbrush and colour pencil on the same layer as the flat colours so it's a lot of back and forth with blending colours and neatening where I shade and highlight.
But I might try the whole lasso and fill and experiment around with it to see if I get a pleasing result. Really need to develop that 'Webcomic' style and save my usual for bigger art pieces

[BoomerZ]

I do a very quick and dirty shading that mimics cell shading. I flat color everything. This block fill the shaded parts with dark blue on a separate top layer (one layer for all the panel's layers.). Then I just lower the opacity to about 75% on the layer. Instant true shadow color for the flats below it.

[TheBlacKat333]

I literally changed my whole comic artstyle cause shading was taking up way too long of the comic process for me, but if I have any advice from back when I drew comic with shading, is to pick one shadow color for day, one shadow color for night, and one universal-ish highlight color. Also for the love of all that is holy, don’t treat individual panels like its own art piece. That’s how I got hand cramps for a week.

[RedLenai]

My shading is the step that takes less.

First of all, I make characters in a different layer than the background.

I do all base color in a single layer, I don't do gradients most of the time. Just solid color (Which I have pre-sets when I draw same characters, I also have a specific color for solid shading and soft shading)

For shading I clip the layer to the base color one and use the "Fill with no Gaps" tool from the ASSETS store.
Then I use a soft brush to erase some specific areas and give it a softer look

close and fill tool without gaps - CLIP STUDIO ASSETS

Then I add a bit of lighting with a soft brush (Overexpose -brightness- layer effect)

Then solid lights. Same process for every drawing (Brightness)

[ScribbleJay]

My process is really similar to BoomerZ’s. I use Photoshop for colouring, but I’m sure most programs will let you do the same thing.
1. Use the lasso tool to select where you want to shade. If you already use flat colours it’ll be easy to select large areas.
2. Make a new layer and lower the opacity of the layer (50-80%, depending on how dark you want the shadows to be.)
3. Change to a soft brush and select a shadow colour. If the light is warm (yellowish light), I’d select a dull purple or blue colour (K value less than 17, or it’ll print too dark and muddy). If the light is cool (blueish light) the shadow will be a warm value, but most light sources are warm. Like, you know, the sun.
4. Softly brush in the shadows. I use a soft brush because you get the best of both worlds… you can lightly edge the selected area to get a gradient, or just fill the whole selection for a sharp shadow.
The whole process can be really quick — probably the fastest part of the colouring process for me.

[ThunderChicken]

I use the airbrush tool for shading, and I do the shading on its own layer on top of the flat colour layer but under the main ink layer. It’s not the most efficient way to do things, I’m sure, but it’s effective and I enjoy doing it.

Here’s the shade layer combined with flat colours on a recent drawing I did, with the ink layer hidden:

And here it is with the ink layer visible:

[mythgital-creatures]

Thank you all that has shared your ways so far! It's been super helpful having a look the various ways of shading and highlighting

[AmysGames]

Personally, I don't shade at all unless there's an obvious light source or I'm trying to be extra dramatic.

I don't think that works with every art style, and I'm not sure I'll keep it up for the whole comic, but for now it saves me quite a bit of time. Hopefully you can find something that works for you!

[mythgital-creatures]

So did some testing to see what would work out, it's hard to tell how much time it will cut because it took me a while scratching my head as I just slap the colours down and refine. So it was a mix of solid fills with some smooth brushing here and there for the more highlights. It's a lot simpler without looking flat, so with a few more tweaks I should have something that is faster.

[Lazy-Gamer]

I usually shade the characters in my comics if it's a tense scene or something that just needs to stand out more than the others. I find some Manga do it that way so, yeah. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[mythgital-creatures]

So after some reviewing this morning I'm not 100% happy with it, doesn't feel truly my work which I can be tight about as I shade and highlight a certain way. A bit hard to force a new style just for the webcomics.
So what I'm going to do is scale back how much I put in when it comes to shading, to try and be more precise with the brush stroke so less to refine, more airbrush use for larger areas and tell myself not every single detail needs to be done, cause I wasted about a minute shading the white of the eyes... Which is unnecessary for such scenarios and make use of scenes where I can get away with using a multiply gradient layer with a parts lightly erased.

As I am slowly getting to speed, sometimes I'm capable of sketching and doing the lineart the same day as my sketches are getting more precise without the too many going overs.

I did try running this through my followers but it's just Likes and no feedback so it doesn't ease my stubborn nature

[Shanny8]

My shading falls into a "cel style" process...it doesnt bother me with how long it takes because my goal to get the desired effect/page that I envisioned...