A few years ago I was playing around in a post on Huma and all of a sudden drew a shading tutorial online. That was the only tutorial I ever drew and I was happy with it because after 2 weeks it fluttered out of existance. I love tutorials. Perhaps more than the resulting pictures themselves. They add a third dimension to a piece of artwork: time. After viewing an oldschool tutorial recently, I decided to recreate the newschool tutorial I drew so long ago. 888888TTTiiii:::::....... 88 Step One: Simple outline 88888888888 88888888888888888888 888 88 88888888888888888888888888 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 888888 8 8 888888 8 8 888 8 8 888 8 8 888 8 88 88 888 888 888888 88888888888 888 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 In case you can't tell from the outline, this is a sphere sitting on a plane. It's casting a shadow to the right. I keep the outline simple, it isn't important if the lines connect or not, they're only there to make sure the basic shape looks good. I spent about 2 minutes drawing this outline. About 30 seconds of that was adding the plane and the shadow as an afterthought. For complex objects this may take quite some time, and when you're done, you'll be disappointed at how much time you spent making something that looks so bad. Don't be frustrated, the shading is the most important thing... it's unfortunate so many artists overlook it, or toss it in as an afterthought. 888888TTTiiii:::::....... 88 Step Two: Shade Dark Regions 88888888888 ...........................888 88 ............................... ........................8 8............................. .......................8 8........................... .....................8 8.......................... ....................8 8 ................... ....................8 :: 8 ................. ....................8 ::: 8 ............... .....................8 :::: 8 ............... .....................8 :::::::: 8 ................ :::::::::::::::::::::::8 ::::::::::::: 88...........::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::888 888...........::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::88888888888::.......::::::::::::::::::::::::::: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii I start from the darkest shade and work up to the brightest shade. This "lightening" approach is very similar to drawing with a pencil. I also draw over the outline as the contrast builds. This should take a little longer than the outline did, depending on what you have to shade. For complex objects, you're busy casting shadows everywhere and making the background dark. If you make the background too bright, the foreground won't stand out at all. 888888TTTiiii:::::....... 88 Step Three: Lighter Shades Next iiiiiiiiiii ..........................iiiiTTTTTTTTTiiiiii ............................... .......................iiiiiTTT8888TTTTTTTiiiiii............................. ......................iiiiTTT888888TTTTTTTTTiiiiii........................... .....................iiiTTTTT8888TTTTTTTTTiiiiiiiii.......................... ....................iiiTTTTTTT88TTTTTTTTiiiiiiiiiiii ................... ....................iiiTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTiiiiii::iiii ................. ....................iiiiTTTTTTTTTTTTTTiiiiiii:::iiii ............... .....................iiiiiTTTTTTTTTiiiiiiii::::iiii ............... .....................iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii::::::::iiiii ................ :::::::::::::::::::::::iiiiii:::::::::::::iiiiiii...........::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::.iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii8ii...........::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::......iiiiiiiiiii.........::::::::::::::::::::::::::: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii::::::::::::::::iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ok, it's starting to look a little better. I added a little more shadow at the base of the ball for contrast, this was an unplanned change. This step should take just as long as the previous step. The main idea is to bring out your foreground as much as possible. Work with brightness, and concentrate on contrast. I see (and fixed a couple) minor problems with the shape of the ball, and the smoothness of the shading. I would also like to change the evenness of the table shading. I'll do this in the next step. 888888TTTiiii:::::....... 88 Step Four: Fix Problems in overall shading ..::iiiiii::::.. .........................:iiiTTTTTTTTTTTTiii:............. .......................:iiTTTTMRKTTTTTTTTTTiiii:...................... ......................iiTTTT888888TTTTTTTTTTTTTi:.......................... .....................:iiTTT888888TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT:........................... ....................:iiTTTTT8888TTTTTTTTTTTTiiiiTi: .................... :::::...............:iiTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTiiiiiii: ................. ::::::::::::::::::..:iiTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTiiiii::ii: ................ :::::::::::::::::::::iiiTTTTTTTTTTTTTTiiiiii::::i:' ... ................ ::::::::::::::::::::::iTiiiTTTTTTiiiiiiiii:::::i::..........::::............. iii::::::::::::::::::::iTiiiiiiiiiiiiii::::::ii:...........::::::::::::::.... iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii::::::::iTTiiiii:::::::::iii::.........::::::::::::::::::::: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:iTTTTTiiii:::::.......iiiii:::::::::::::::::::::: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:::::::::::::::: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:::::::: I made the table shading a little more interesting. I also decided that the shadow change in the previous step didn't quite work, and I removed it. I then slimmed the ball by a couple characters, and cleaned up the shading. I darkened the edges of the sphere, and smoothed the transition. All the steps up to this step are merely general. You specified the general shading in the previous steps. It's not until this step that we pay attention to details, and make the shading as asthetic as possible. This step takes as long as necessary. It can take as little as a ten minutes (as this ball did) or as long as several weeks (as some of my other pictures) This is the final step, so I also clean up the edges of objects, making them as smooth as possible. I also like to add my name in the object somewhere. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoy others. And hopefully I'll find time to draw another picture by the time you read this ;) -Mr Kite SAUCE00Shading Tutorial Mr. Kite Remorse Productions 19980104¡