s-alvatore‘s cellshading tutorialThere are many different possibilities for cellshading and here, in this tutorial I want to

explain my way of shading. I hope that this will be a small help! :--)

I mainly use Manga Studio Debut 4.0 for my artworks.Before I start to shade, I line the sketch and color. My lineart is pretty clean because it is easier to work with clean lines in my opinion.

For the lineart, I use a pen named Brush in Manga Studio. For the shading, I use the same pen.

First think about the light source. It is very important to know where the light is coming from, so you can put the shadows at the right places.

Start with marking where the shadows belong to. This can be very rough because it is just an orientation for the later work. You do not need to do this step if these markings are confusing for you or if you just do not need them.

Now create a new layer folder and the first shading layer! I put the opacity on 30%

Usually I start to shade the head region, most time around the nose or eyes. I start to erase the rough shadow mark (picture 1) with a transparent pen (not eraser) and replace it with clean shading (picture 2).

As I said before, I use the same pen as I use for my lineart.

The way of shading longer fur or hair is a bit more difficult. First of all I erase the shadow mark again. Then I line the shading (picture 1) and fill the lineart (picture 2). In the end I use the transparent brush again and erase some parts of the shading (picture 3), so it looks more natural. The feeling for which parts you have to erase is getting better with time. !! It is important to always shade with the fur direction !!

I continue doing these steps until I am done with the first layer of shading.Then I create a new layer - the second shading layer again with 30% opacity

On shading layer two I repeat all the steps:-rough shadow markings-erase the marking -line the coming shading and fill the lines-erase details with a transparent pen

I continue with these steps until I am also done with the second layer of shading (left picture below). Afterwards I created two more layers of shading (right picture below). You can create as many as you want. Usually I make 2-3, depending on the light source.

After finishing all the shading layers, I create a new layer once more with an opacity of 100%.

(On the first two pages you can find the shading tutorial. On the last page are other advices and help.)

s-alvatore.deviantart.com

Use a soft brush (for example airbrush) for the soft shadows. Then play around with the opacity and look what looks best. !! The shading opacity always depends on the colors of the character and the background/ light source !!

(no matter if soft or hard shading)

After I finished the different shading layer, I start with effects to make the character suit the background and atmosphere. (I switch to a program called Krita)There, I create a new layer. I fill the layer with the background colors.Then I change the layermode to overlay and try out different opacities again.

I make the background visible now and try different layermodes for the whole picture. Here, I decide for Addition, Color and Soft Light. Try out different things until you are satisfied with your picture.

As a last step to blend the character into the picture you can color the lineart. First you have to lock the lineart layer. (You can also copy the lineart layer and lock the copied version) After locking the layer, take the color(s) from the light source and start to paint it over the lineart at the light parts. Since the lines are locked, you will only color these. Then use a dark background color to paint over the shadow parts of the lineart.

before after

I hope that this tutorial will be helpful and will answer questions. If your first shading attempts were not that successful, do not give up!

It will get better with time, so keep on shading! ;--)

s-alvatore

s-alvatore.deviantart.com

s-alvatore.deviantart.com

other advices and helpIf there are still questions or problems, this section might be helpful. If this is not helpful,

feel free to ask me and I will try to help you if I can.

1. fur/ hair direction

If you still struggle with the direction of the fur, this might be helpful.Try to sketch the direction before you start to shade. Look at pictures and use them as reference. Furthermore you can orientate on your lineart.It is also important to shade with the direction of the markings, NOT against it!

2. short and long fur

Animals have different fur lengths. Some animals even have short fur at some parts and long fur at other parts but the shading cannot be the same at every place. When drawing short fur, the cells have to be smaller and for longer fur they have to be bigger and thicker. Skin has no scales at all.

3. the light source

The light source is the most important thing for the shading. It decides if there will be a lot of shading or not. It decides where the shadows belong to and how strong the opacity has to be.

The direction of light is never the same and different shading angles can make pictures look more interesting.

Also the power of the light is never the same. Just think about the sun and the moon: usually the sunlight is stronger and brighter.

When the lights are dimmed (left picture), there are more shadows. If the light is strong (right picture), there are less shadows BUT these shadows are darker.

4. colorful shadows

Shadows are not only black and grey. Sunsets for example color everything yellow and orange. Snow makes things look blue and forest lights create greenish/ yellow shadows.

If you shaded the character with black/ grey and you realise that it does not fit the background and image atmosphere, you do not have to do the shading again. Just lock the shading layer (picture 1, right side) and draw over the grey with a matching color. Try out different things until you are satisfied.

Here, a character-matching color is a pinkish-purple tone, so I try this one out first (picture 2, left side). I think it looks good but I try out another color nevertheless: a blue tone (picture 3, left side). It does not really fit, does it?So I try to combine the different colors by just coloring one layer with blue (refer locked layers).

The left version is wrong! Always shade with the direction.

5. highlights and light effects

If there are shadows, there are also light effects.But I use highlights rarely, mainly just for the nose and the mouth (picture 1). In my opinion it does not look realistic anymore if there are too many light spots in the fur, drawn with a hard brush. It often makes the fur look very metallic. But highlights are definitely there!

Imagine a ball for example. You see, there is light. It is pretty pale and soft. So when I really want to use light and I do not get this effect by editing the image, I use a soft pen like airbrush or the basic_wet_soft tool in Krita. So I get a soft and pale light on the character‘s fur.

The character looks better with the soft lights (right picture) but this does not work with every character (because of the coat colors) and with every background/ atmosphere.

s-alvatore.deviantart.com