Graal Forums - Shading advice

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I've been playing around with graphics lately, recolouring images and adding to some, but I'd like to take it to the next level. I'm interested in getting to a stage where I'm comfortable with creating simple graphics that look good. Obviously, there has to be some sort of starting point. I've managed to create a decent looking (in my opinion) hat shape using the hat template provided in one of Bell's threads. I'm happy with it so far, and was playing around with adding shading. I'm pretty hopeless with it haha. Does anybody have any advice to give me about how I should go about adding shading to this image?

Haven't done any pixels for quite a while now, but maybe this can give you a general idea.

Attachment 54324

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crow (Post 1687251)

Haven't done any pixels for quite a while now, but maybe this can give you a general idea.

Attachment 54324

That's really nice :O Well done! I'll look at that and try to figure something out. Thank you!
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Had a play around with what you had going there, and I've come out with this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emera (Post 1687252)

That's really nice :O Well done! I'll look at that and try to figure something out. Thank you!
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Had a play around with what you had going there, and I've come out with this.

needs more contrast

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felix_Xenophobe (Post 1687272)

needs more contrast

agreed, if you notice crow's hat has more definition, if you didn't tell me what yours was it could be confused with a metal cylinder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emera (Post 1687252)

That's really nice :O Well done! I'll look at that and try to figure something out. Thank you!
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Had a play around with what you had going there, and I've come out with this.

Try something similar, but with hues slightly shifting over to blue like in Crow's example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneticfrog (Post 1687407)

My advice is keep practicing with all kinds of shapes and light sources. shadding is basically common sence and you must be able to imagine what the light hitting specific shapes and textures will do.

here is the best tutorial ive read and the one that really started me off pixeling. i also recommend this to everyone that asks for help in the past.

http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/shading.html

note: if you scroll down and push back there are also tips for Lineart
Colours and RGB Values
Softening outlines
Anti-Aliasing

this site helped me,hopefully it helps you.

Thank you for the link. That helped out a lot! I'm playing around with shading simple shapes to start off with until I get a little more comfortable with shading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crow (Post 1687251)

Haven't done any pixels for quite a while now, but maybe this can give you a general idea.

Attachment 54324

you have a grasp on the concept of shading but no so much with a set light source like graals. Your shading is not wrong but its considered pillow shading. (the devil)

the only problem here is if we look at the hat and try to find its light source. it is what we call "pillow shading" beacause the only way you can get light bright in the front of the hat but dark on the top is if you have a flashlight. or some kind of torche right between you and the hat.

If we use graals general light source its the sun at 45 degrees infront of the player in the sky.

all this to say that the TOP of the top hat needs to be lit up and the rim of the top hat. you have to be able to picture this concept in your mind.

I recommend playing around with what I was told was called "Dithering".

I'm not sure if that's really what it is called so I made/uploaded a Sword of Dither and a Sword of not so Dither to show what I'm talking about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneticfrog (Post 1687410)

you have a grasp on the concept of shading but no so much with a set light source like graals. Your shading is not wrong but its considered pillow shading. (the devil)

I'm now aware that you don't seem to know anything about what you're trying to actually talk about. Thanks for the insight, I guess?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lavaman (Post 1687760)

I recommend playing around with what I was told was called "Dithering".

Dithering also adds texture and should therefore not be used on materials that are not rough. Also, in the past, it was primarily used because of hardware limitations that did not allow a lot of colors. The artists created the illusion of more colors by dithering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneticfrog (Post 1687410)

There's nothing wrong with his shading. Pillow shading is when you let the outline dictate your shading, not that the lightsource is from the front(just that a lightsource from the front rarely looks good anyways, and with certain shapes CAN create pillowshading). However while his lightsouce is somewhat from the front(though off to the side a bit) it doesn't hurt the piece here.

This would be pillowshading:
http://i.imgur.com/ypflc.png

While I'm here I guess I'll post what I posted on the other forums:

Quote:

First thing you can probably do to help this a lot is to work on the outline and form. For example since you're working with a small size it's probably best not to use lines to portray volume(such as the hem of the hat) and instead use lighting. A sharp jump from light to dark will imply a corner or edge.

Second, don't use pure greys unless you know what you're doing. A grey with a very light touch of hue looks much more pleasing to the eye. Typically when you're working with darks a hint of purple suits this well. In this instance blue could probably work, too.

http://i.imgur.com/SOCBM.png

After you work on those two things you can start shading. Try to avoid typical gradients. Get a little creative with it. For example typically shiny stuff(like a nice, shiny expensive tophat) could use "streaks" of highlights to make things a little more interesting. Also don't be afraid to play with these things a bit. For example instead of making the highlight go straight down you can make it taper off and disappear. This implies a conic shape to the hat and works with its shape to make it look more interesting than a very stiff hat, even if the lines still imply its edges are straight.

Don't be afraid to break away from the norm or logic to get creative, especially since it's for Graal that implements a cartoony style. You can often break off and do things that wouldn't make sense logically and it still looks nice and fits.

it was acutally a good example of pillow shading but this guy dusti always has something negetive to say no matter what you post apparantly. :D

just beacause the pillow shading wasnt applied EXACTLY HOW DUSTI SAIS to all surfaces doesnt mean its not pillow shaded on some surfaces that it was applied to...... -_-

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneticfrog (Post 1687784)

it was acutally a perfect example of pillow shading but this guy dusti always has something to say no matter what you post. :D

just beacause the pillow shading wasnt applied to all surfaces doesnt mean its not pillow shading.....

Dusty*

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneticfrog (Post 1687784)

just beacause the pillow shading wasnt applied EXACTLY HOW DUSTI SAIS to all surfaces doesnt mean its not pillow shaded on some surfaces..... -_-

Pillow shading can be compared to radial gradients. I didn't do that on any surfaces.

"'pillow shading', a great evil spoken of by pixel artists in hushed tones. It is the work of the devil, and appears to assume a single point light source hanging directly between us and our object. "

since there was no brightness ontop of the hat you showed us. yet it was bright infront of the hat. i can only assume the light source was applied as a pillowshading light source.