Any advice on colouring/shading

[Chelsaurus]

Hey guys so after getting a tablet at the weekend these are a few drawings I have done of peoples OCs
I could really do with help with the colouring and shading? If anyone has any advice at all, it would be greatly appreciated

 

[Byebi]

Your drawings are so cute! Especially the first one +_+

Here are some pretty basic rules when it comes to coloring/shading, if any of it doesnt make sense im sorry LOL

-Keep in mind a direct light source~ It will cause less confusion and more unity/give a more concrete picture if your light is from one single point instead of shading in multiple and different directions. Sometimes people forget where their light source is so they draw lines to remind them (like in this left example)

-Dont be afraid to use darker colors!
-The bigger the difference in contrast between the base color and the color youre shading with, it implies a stronger and more intense light source. (example would be being indoors with sunlight shining through window vs standing directly under the intense sunlight during summer)

-If you'd like to go for a less 2d/flat look, pull your colors closer to the center of the object, it will give it more shape/dimension.

-Also, this is in japanese but in regards for choosing what color to shade with, it's basically saying
instead of just using a darker more black version of, for example, blue, it looks more vibrant if you moved to a slightly violet shade! And then for the bottom example, when using yellows shade with a more orangey color (sometimes people even use purple!) Changing the hue when shading can make a HUGE difference.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[Byebi]

-Adding to the color hue thing I said above,
I made a chart for examples of what to shade/brighten with
idk how much you know but maybe it might help someone else that views this?

These colors arent set in stone, because you can do **** like this:

(artist credit here)

because of different values/shades of darkness.


-In addition to choosing color, a lot of well known artists make it a rule to never use plain greys and blacks, but instead add a little bit of color into them.

The second to last grey is a neutral/plain grey that a lot of artists will avoid. Slipping in a slight tint of blues and reds can change teh atmosphere of a picture by a lot instead of using neutral greys.
However, the "no black/grey" rules is also broken by a lot of people, depending on their style. It's not something to worry about until you're making like full illustrations with lots of depth (i didnt start doing it until 2ish years back)

SO SORRY FOR RAMBLING I JUST REALLY LOVE COLOR THEORY ALSDKFj;dfasf melts away into the sewers

 

[piichinu]

don't pillowshade

 

[namiieco]

You can look at a piece of simple art work you like and try to imitate little techniques that they used, such as different types of highlights etc.

 

[Luxanna]

Sorry for this vague response but something that really helped me was charcoal drawing/classes for a bit,
You can probably still use sai paint or w/e program you use and just use a black sketch pen and some marker, but just taking a lamp and putting it near objects and drawing what you saw really helped a lot with understanding light/shadows better. Dont forget to move your light source around and use different objects/shapes

 

[Chelsaurus]

=SNIP=

Hope this makes sense!

Ahhhh I see that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to respond, I didn't think people would! I'm such a newb aha I only started to learn how to draw better than stickmen a few weeks ago and that was because of all the amazing artists inspired me and opened my eyes up to art; before then I didn't care for art at al (probs cos I could do it aha)

I will give these tips ago, I have seen people use different colours like purple and that. I only learnt to shade the eyes today from a photo which turned out so much better (1st photo) than any of my other work!

I think ill have to spend a day messing around with the programme I started using at the weekend- know the brushes more and try out some shading. Thanks for your help and including pictures- they really helped

-SNIP-

No no ramble all you want- its helping alot haha I did get sent a link about colouring but didn't finish it off ill have to go back to it. But thank you again!

- - - Post Merge - - -

don't pillowshade

What's pillowshade?

 

[Chelsaurus]

You can look at a piece of simple art work you like and try to imitate little techniques that they used, such as different types of highlights etc.

Oooo I hadnt thought that thanks, ill try that

- - - Post Merge - - -

Sorry for this vague response but something that really helped me was charcoal drawing/classes for a bit,
You can probably still use sai paint or w/e program you use and just use a black sketch pen and some marker, but just taking a lamp and putting it near objects and drawing what you saw really helped a lot with understanding light/shadows better. Dont forget to move your light source around and use different objects/shapes

Oh yeah, I hadnt thought of that Ill give that ago aswell thanks for the tip!

 

[Byebi]

I wish you the best of luckkk!!! sounds like youre already improving dont give upppp

PS pillow shading is well,, google it its like one of the first few examples

 

[himeki]

What's pillowshade?

Where you basically just outline everything with shade

 

[princesse]

Just a tip, when you see in paint tool Sai tuorials, when it says use luminosity, you can use the screen option in medibang. You can also use add, but I don't really like it >. <.