A little help with shading?

[ZuZu]

Can I get a little help with shading?
(Yes, I have looked at Dragonfree's guide. It confused me.)

Does anyone know a shading guide that could help? I wanna know how to shade!

 

[Frosty~]

I think shading is fairly difficult to teach. It's one of the most defining features of one's style. You just have to keep practicing until you get good. God knows my first attempts at shading were awful

 

[ZuZu]

I suck at shading. I've been trying for ages. Still not got it right.

 

[Frosty~]

Well you never will if you don't persist at it. There's no overnight method to getting it right and you have to find what's right for you.

 

[ZuZu]

I HAVE persisted! I've killed Pokemon sprites trying to shade 'em!

 

[Butterfree]

What confuses you about my shading guide exactly? It's hard to teach you if we don't know exactly what it is you don't get.

 

[Frosty~]

Oh ok then just give up. That'll do you the world of good.

Honestly, I know it's not easy, but shading isn't a skill that's easily picked up. It's generally one of the most difficult parts of any piece of art, and the only way you're going to improve is over time. So keep trying, locate where you've gone wrong and ask yourself what you can do to improve that. Then try again, taking your previous errors into consideration.

It's the only way to really improve.

 

[ZuZu]

What confuses you about my shading guide exactly? It's hard to teach you if we don't know exactly what it is you don't get.

I don't get everything in the shading guide :3

 

[Aisling]

My advice would be to see how the official sprites are shaded, if that is the look you're going for.

Open some up, zoom in on them, and look at them really hard. Note that, similar to real life, the shadows are generally opposite of where the understood light is coming from. Note the shadows, the curves, everything. Look at them, down to their very pixel.

When I'm trying to sprite a body part or shade a particular area I'll refer to an official sprite, try to find something close to what I was trying to do, and see what they did.

There's a lot you can learn from just looking at things and observing, from colors to shading to anatomy. When in doubt, if you can't find a guide you can understand, just look at things really hard.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

An alternative method is to imagine everything as if it were made out of prisms, spheres, and cylinders. Those three objects are simple enough to shade.

Generally speaking, imagine that light is coming from a little lightbulb in the corner. The closer it is, the lighter it is. The further away it is, the darker it s.

 

[spaekle]

The best thing I can suggest to get a better understanding of shading is to draw. Start with basic things like spheres and cubes, learn how the light falls on those, and keep practicing. When you've had enough of that, start drawing everyday items as you look at them, paying attention to how the light falls on them. It helps to have an understanding of anatomy to be able to shade a 'living' creature, too; if it's obvious you don't understand anatomy, your shading won't look entirely right no matter what you do.

Becoming a pro at this sort of thing would take a lot of time and effort, but consider that the people at Game Freak who actually make the sprites are probably professional artists who went through hell art class after art class to know how to make good stylized monsters with good shading. :v

 

[ZuZu]

The best thing I can suggest to get a better understanding of shading is to draw. Start with basic things like spheres and cubes, learn how the light falls on those, and keep practicing. When you've had enough of that, start drawing everyday items as you look at them, paying attention to how the light falls on them. It helps to have an understanding of anatomy to be able to shade a 'living' creature, too; if it's obvious you don't understand anatomy, your shading won't look entirely right no matter what you do.

Becoming a pro at this sort of thing would take a lot of time and effort, but consider that the people at Game Freak who actually make the sprites are probably professional artists who went through hell art class after art class to know how to make good stylized monsters with good shading. :v

...Yay?

@Alraunne: You are by far the most helpful to have posted in here. Thanks.

@Everyone Else: Thankies. :3

 

[Autumn]

I should point out that in Pokémon sprites, shading often comes from the upper left area. Pretend there's a sun or a lamp or something to the top left of the sprite and look at how the shadows fall in comparison.

 

[ZuZu]

I usually end up shading in this stupid way..
View attatchements for a scratch sprite I made with that oh-so-awful shading of mine.

 

[Autumn]

The shading's not so bad, but you want to get rid of the neon green. @_@

 

[ZuZu]

I was talking about the SHADING.

 

[Aisling]

Kam and Spaekle's advice is good too, it's easier to understand the shading when you try to imagine the subject three-dimensionally. That's kind of a given for me so that's why I didn't mention it, but I should have since it's not a given for everybody. But if you still can't get it just right, turn to the official sprites and see if there's something close to what you're trying to do, and how they did it. When you're doing shading for cartoons it doesn't have to be totally realistic, but a mix of realism and what looks appealing. One art book I have refers to spots where shading isn't necessarily actually realistic but looks better unrealistic as "sweet spots".

The shading on that isn't so bad, but I'd maybe make it curve more. Usually highlights are restricted to a circular shape right where the light is hitting it the most, instead of being parallel to the darkest shade like a gradient.

 

[Autumn]

I was talking about the SHADING.

If you're planning to be a spriter, using the basic Paint colors is a no-no. I don't care that you didn't ask for me to critique your colors; the colors are still a problem with the sprite, so why not just fix them instead of arguing with me?

 

[Spoon]

While observing and mimicing the official Pokémon sprites, sprites from other series, and sprites from talented fan-spriters is a good place to begin with spriting. You could also benefit from drawing and copying the shading of something that's inanimate, like flowers, your shoe, or a bowl fruit. Another method that might help you is removing all the color from a sprite, leavin only the outline, and trying to reshade the blank parts. It's similar to a coloring book page. Also imaging the subject, like Spaekle and Kam mentioned, is a good technique to use.

On the sprite you posted, it's nice to see a scratch from you. You added a good amount of different shades, which helps the sprite pop out more than one with less. You might want to avoid such a bright color, though. The neon green is a really difficult to shade with and it's hard on the eyes. A green, like the shade of leaf or blade of grass would be a better choice. On our right the upper-left should be a dark shade since the creature's body blocks most of the light source, and get lighter as you move rightwards. On the nose and mouth, to get a more realistic style of shading, it'd be a good idea to add a light shade on the top of the nose and a darker shade below the nose. This is because the nose sticks out and light hits it more than the areas around it. The same applies to the mouth, but you might want to make the highlights subtle.


The more time you spend on a piece of art it can only get better, and wanting to improve is a good indication that you'll keep at spriting and only get better from here. Also, I've noticed that you seem to hate your spritework. While it's not the best I've seen, I don't think anyone's first (third, or tenth) sprite as good as they want it to be. You should be proud that you're extending out of your comfort zone and creating scratch sprites, something that a lot of spriters struggle with. If you keep up at trying new things, and challenging yourself, eventually you'll get the hang of spriting and shading.

 

[ZuZu]

Helpful...