Shading

Where Is The Light Coming From

This is a crucial skill to develop, to know how to represent dark and light. With practice from real life, sketching this skill improves from observing how it works. Light reflects off surfaces or shadows appear in ways that are unexpected, if you don’t study from real life. For illustrators, animators and 3d modellers who especially are usually using real life elements to make a scene of sketch. We have seen these elements in real life, so it is easy to judge whether a person has done a good job. We may not know why exactly, from a theory point of view, but most humans   can easily judge if it is done well. It is one of the reasons why CGI or 3D modeling can look horrible. 3D modellers use ambient occlusion to calculate how each object is lighted based on it’s proximity to a ambient light. For illustrators and artists who draw, this is a skill that  you can learn by yourself with practice. In concept art for video games, for instance, it is a necessary skill to be able to do instinctively. Index of refraction is the fact that an object will become reflective the more parallel it becomes to the camera. This knowledge of theory is helpful because you can give a name to all these concepts that will help you improve as an artist. There are these guys on Youtube whose videos are titled VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi. By now they have many videos and it could be helpful in learning some theory. We are a visual species, seeing what they are speaking about alongside wonderful and unfortunate attempts at CGI. You pick up the different names for values such as occlusion shadow. The photo below is of a digital sketch I made to show the different values, reference was creativebloq.com, from their blog here (there are figure drawings on the link which show nudity without anything offensive). The best way to see how contact shadows work (so you don’t have a floating hand effect happening for instance), how light reflects or how light scatters and how things react to multiple light sources is by practicing from real life scenes. This practical knowledge will improve the speed at which you finish your artworks.  

Learn Movement

Movement is not something that is associated with learning  on how to shade, but it is vital to know how your characters move, if you wish to be a 2D artist. Your transitions and ability to draw how light works around this character is important. Hair for instance is a difficult thing for people to draw, the way it moves while light disperses through it, has caused many an uncanny valley effect in art. Our skulls go in and you would think logically there is going to be a shadow, but in real life, light scatters unless you are in a dark room. In a character design, the way you shade your character emphases traits about them that you may wish to convey in one drawing, such as if they are energetic, shy, a clean person ect. That  is all done through shading to give perspective and movement in what may be a 2D environment.

Figure Out Your Pencils and Digital Brushes

See how they work. With Pencils, 9H is the lightest. It goes from lightest 9H - 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B - 9B. There is a large difference between the strength level of 9B to B. But there are subtle differences and they make a large difference to your artworks. Then there are digital brushes that change with the opacity and in different settings. Play around and experiment to see what you can do with your tools.

The Egg With A Light Source Exercise

It is a simple exercise, but it puts into practice what I have mentioned in the previous point. Get a portable lamp, one egg and start drawing. There will be shadows, reflections that will start to give you an idea of what to do. This is an easy exercise, go from there and start to experiment. Before you know it you will be drawing from real life moments. Nothing beats learning from the real source material.  When you start to get creative and add in mythical creatures in your art, it still has to make sense in the world you live in, as that is what we judge everything by.

Crosshatching And Lines

There are different versions of crosshatching and lines to represent shading. In the photo above the first technique is stereotypical cross hatch version ,and then there are other techniques including dots to represent shading. There are many other versions, but I went with these four just to show the differences. It is an old technique that many artists have used through the ages. But it not only represents the shadows, but gives depth to your artwork. There isn’t one technique that is better, it is up to you which style you wish to show.

If You Don’t Like Crosshatching Or Lines Use Ink

It is more difficult because ink is wet and require more precision. But it can create an interesting look on black and white sketches. It is more realistic if that is a look you prefer and use this as a preparation for painting with colour. There is no doubt it is hard to control ink as it is wet and mistakes are difficult to overcome. Preparation is essential. In digital art you can create the same effect without the worry of making a mistake. This process of learning how to shade is fundamentals and may help you to decide which medium you wish to paint in.