Shading for Character Design in Procreate

All right, so glad you're back. So today we're going to work on shadowing. We worked on sketching the character, line work of the character, coloring the character, and the eyes. So today we're going to do shadowing. I don't know if it's the right way to shadow or if it's the wrong way to shadow, but it's the way that I worked out. It works well for me. Hopefully you'll get something out of it. And yeah, stay tuned. Let's get to it. And I'm still working on the audio. It's a lot better than the other videos, so hopefully you'll be able to hear me because I'm a little soft spoken. And yeah, so let's go. So the first thing I'm going to do is I am going to make a new layer. I'm going to put it somewhere on top of his painted body layer. And now this doesn't, this isn't really specific. This just kind of works for me, but I'm going to use a green, dark green color. I'm going to go in the new layer that where there's nothing at. And I'm going to change the layer option to, what do I usually do? Color burn. I change it to color burn. And I just choose a regular hard airbrush. All right, color burn. Okay, so I'm going to select, I'm going to select the body area where he's all painted. So all of his skin tones. So I'm going to select that layer. And I'm going to go back to the plain layer. So sort of like a mask. So it just goes on that layer. All right, so and that's pretty much how I do the shadows to begin with. So I usually do a shadow here, under his big old head. And the reason I do it on that layer is because I can, I can just manipulate it freely. However I need. What did I do here? Oh, I should have changed the brush so it's full. That's better. So this shadow is just, so this shadow is just kind of under his head. I do have the light coming in here, but it's, you know, it's, I really wanted to be perfect. I can follow that and make all the shadows here. You know, like all the shadows following the light. But that's all right. He's, the shadows aren't going to be that, that dark. He's kind of a light character. So it's not, it's not that important to get crazy with it. But it does help to kind of follow. So sometimes when I say things aren't that important, but they do look right. So, you know, I guess I haven't been thinking too much in quarantine. So I'll make the shadow like this. So that's that plane under his eye. So all that's going to be in shadow. All right, and if the light is coming this way, you want to have some shadows under his arm. So not too much light would be hitting that. So it's just like you just pretend that they're all shapes, you know, so whatever these shapes are. So if the light was coming this way, this part, the bottom part of his hand would be all in shadow because his hand is covering, you know, so if the light is coming this way, then this part is all in shadow. And this arm would actually be shadowing his body a little bit. The shadow on his little belly. Shadows on his toesies. And if he had a little knee here, his little kneecap, the shadow for his little kneecap. And also he's in shadow. So just like this bridge, this is another bridge. So this would actually all be in shadow as well. So you got to kind of think of it as a 3D, as a 3D model. All right, and if this is his little eyelid, then I'm going to leave almost like so this, so his eye kind of comes out a little bit. So I'm going to leave a little bit of light for that top eyelid. And I am going to shadow here, but so his nose, so this would be the side of his nose where the light would hit. This would be the ridge. So the light would actually come and hit a little bit there. So I'm going to take an airbrush. I'm going to sort of lighten up because the light would actually come through and hit a little bit here. So I'm just going to lighten that up. And this is just his back ear. So I always make that darker just to give the depth. You could also do it with his leg because just to show the depth, but I don't want to make it that dark. So I'm just going to take the airbrush and I'm just going to darken it a little bit like that. Just so it's dark, but it's not super heavy dark, right? So I'm just going to make a little bit of a shadow there. I'm going to do the same thing I did. I'm going to do the same thing I did to his leg, to his, check my video. Okay. To like the front part of his snout because that would also be, so the snout would come out and this plane of it is actually not getting too much light. So it'd be getting some light here and some light there, but this plane is actually not getting that much light, but I want to make, make a little shadow where his little nose is. All right. So, okay. So I need to get some water. Sorry about that. Quarantine. Okay. So, okay. So now once you have the shadows pretty much where you like them, you know what I'm going to do the mouth. So I'm going to take just the mouth area where I have the mouth. I'm going to select that. I'm going to go back to that shadow layer. So the light is coming here. So the light would be coming a little bit, getting in his mouth. So we're going to have this coming around. I don't want this to be, I don't want the shadow to be outside of the mouth because that would not make sense. So the reason I'm doing it curved like that is so the tongue. So the reason why I did curve like this is so that it looks like, you know, in a lot of characters, they have a thing like that going down. So, I mean, I could do that with this, but just to, so just to make it look like the tongue isn't just like a ball. This is just to give it, to flatten it out. And if I did it more, it would make it look like flatter. So that's all that is. All right. So we're pretty good on the shadow. So then what I do is I take that layer, which was the color burn, and we bring it down to about 50%. And then I'm going to play with the color. So I'm going to go to hue saturation and just, just so you can see what it looks like without, without the paint layer. So that's all the shadows that I made. All right. So basically you can change the color of the shadow. I usually like to do a warm color for him, but that looks like it's pretty good. So it's a little cooler, but that's okay. And then I'm just going to bring the opacity down a little bit and you pretty much have your shadows. All right. So yeah, so that's pretty much how you do shadows. There are some fun things you can do if you want to give it, if you want to get it, give it a different look. You can, you can take the airbrush and you can airbrush the edges. When you airbrush the edges, it kind of gives it a soft, it's a lot softer. So it's a much softer of a shadow. It kind of looks a little, a little softer and doughier. I don't usually, I don't usually do this with him, but we'll, we'll keep him, we'll keep him soft for this one since I started it. We'll make all the shadows soft. Kind of like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Is he still, do they still use him? I don't even know. So kind of like the Pillsbury Doughboy, he's very like, his shadows are all very soft. Michelin Man, very soft shadows. A little more realistic looking. And the great thing about it is you still have your green here. And on that color burn layer, we change the opacity of the whole layer. Not like the brushes itself. So I can go in and I can take the airbrush, like if I want a little bit darker, I can just go in here and put a little more in. Oops! Actually, you know what? My mistake. I changed the color. So let me see what color this is. So I'm going to go back to that color burn layer and I'm going to put it on normal. And then I'm going to bring the opacities at 24. I'm going to bring it up to 100 to max. So that's the color that I changed it to. So I'm going to highlight that color and then I'm going to go back to the layer, change it back to color burn and put it back to 24%. So everything is as it was, but now you have the color that I had changed it to when I went to hue and saturation. So now I can select his body paint layer, go back to the shadow. I'm going to name this shadow. Go back to the shadow layer. And now I can just put any like balls, sometimes there's, that sounds weird, there's whatever the surfaces, that will also reflect. So for example, I'll take the eraser and make it small. So I'll take the eraser and make it small. Can kind of erase away, can sort of erase away a little bit of that outer. So that sort of made it makes it look like there's a little bit of ambient light, kind of bouncing off, you know. So it looks pretty good. And this is bugging me right here, this line. So I'm going to go and change that real quick. Alright, that looks better. Not bugging me. Alright, this looks like it can be a little darker. So I love that you can go back and now it has the history. I love it. It's a huge help. Make sure I'm on the shadow layer. Alright, so what should I do here? So I really want this to be darker. Maybe I just need to raise the opacity. I raise the opacity. Okay, so that made it a little darker. Kind of wanted a little darker still. So what I'm going to do, is I'm going to go on this layer, the alpha lock. And I'm just going to use this, use this paintbrush. I'm going to bring the opacity down on the paintbrush. There we go. I'm just going to make it actually a little bit darker. Because I want it to be darker. So this I'm painting right on the, right on that layer. So I've just made that a little darker. I'm going to go back here. This looks a little bit, I feel like I can change that. So I'm going to go back to that layer. I'm just gonna shape out that flat, shape out that flat little muzzle that he has. I actually don't see the... Okay, so I must have missed this in the other part of the video. But I'd like to, on his skin tone, I like to make his nose a little... This is another thing that kind of has come about, just as my character has developed some. Just give them a nice, so just a little bit of a lighter color, where his little snoot is. I'm doing it on the color layer, so all of the shadows, the shadows should still be showing up. Okay, they are. They're just, they're just a lot lighter. Because I, because I changed it here. Alright, so that looks better. So we're gonna go back here. I'm gonna go back to our original color. And we're gonna do that. Okay, so that looks a little better. Perfect. And so we did on the same layer, we did this shadow in the mouth. It looks kind of funny on this color, so I'm gonna select that. I'm gonna select that pink layer of the tongue, and the inside of the mouth. I'm gonna go to my shadow layer, and I'm gonna adjust it, so I can change just that color. And taking the saturation down kind of helps. Let's see, why is it not, let's see here. Alright, oh I know what it's doing. So basically, since I have all this kind of messy, I'm gonna take this layer, select. I'm gonna go to the, I'm gonna go to this layer, and I'm gonna cut. And that way, that'll be clean. I also see that I, at some point in time, did an alpha lock. So I have shadows that are outside of here. So what I'm gonna do is, let's see, what's the best way to take care of this issue. Hmm, let's see if I can, let's see if I can select this. Go here, and select the inverse. Maybe I can do that. Oh, it changed the inverse color. I thought it was gonna change the inverse, the selection. That would have been what I needed. Select, invert. Now I'm gonna go to the shadow layer, take my eraser, and I'm gonna erase all of this shadow that I should have, that I shouldn't have. That was a dumb mistake that I made, but it happens. Okay, so now we're good. Alright, this, this line is a little weird, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna lighten it up. Alright, now I'm gonna go back what I, and do what I was trying to do in the beginning. Select, shadow. That looks good. Just so it's not so, like, neon. And if it, if you still don't like it, you can select the mouth part, go to shadow, cut it. And then you can just, you can even stay on this layer. Maybe take a dark, I'll take the color of this. I'll darken it. Regular paintbrush, opacity is low. Alpha lock that layer. And, and I'll do the same thing that we did here. The tongue a little flat. So it actually looks a lot better. So we'll stick, I'll stick with that. I'll know for next time. And since I'm here, I'll do some shadows on the little nose, because why not? We'll do some shadows on his little nose. I thought I colored in, let me color in this line. I thought I already did this, but it doesn't look like it's, yeah, it's supposed to be this color. That's better. That line should be darker. This line should be darker. Okay, so I think all of our lines are good. I'm gonna keep this black. Stay black. And I'm just gonna get rid of this all together, because it just looks, doesn't really help my situation. And I'm just gonna clean this up, because something about it seems a little not perfect. Not too good. I think I gotta take, I think I gotta take his normal color. And does that work? Yeah, there we go. There we go. That's better. Alright, so I think I'm just gonna add a little bit more shadow to his belly. Just so it's like the front of him. That's good. And I'm gonna take some off of here. I'm gonna smudge this, just to bring the shadow over. Because it's like his hand is also here. So I just want to give it, give a little bit of a... And this is kind of nice, the shadow coming off. And kind of make that stand out a little bit. Erase a little off his little butt. Just so you really look, so it really looks like the shadows, the lights coming here. And you're getting some shadow from behind that part of his arm. I'm gonna do, the light is behind his arm, so I'm gonna do a little bit here. So it looks like the light is spilling out from behind his arm. Take a little bit off here. Oops, that's a little too much. So it's just to kind of look like the light comes from here and sort of wraps around his limbs. So you kind of think of everything as like a 3D character. And that follows here, where the light would kind of wrap around his little leg. And especially here, the light would come around the backside of his leg. Alright, good. And also, I'm not that great with shadows on the ground, but he would have a shadow. We'll try it on the same layer. Okay, so, actually we'll make it a layer underneath. So if the light's coming here and he's standing there, he would be making a shadow. I'm gonna move that shadow layer all the way to the bottom, so it's beneath everything. Okay, so, this kind of doesn't look right. But that's why I did it on a different layer, so I can kind of manipulate it. And the light wouldn't really, the shadow wouldn't really be behind him, it would all be in front. So you're just kind of trying to make it like the shadow's all in front of him. And the darkest part of the shadow would be, obviously. Alright, and then you just kind of whittle away. Shadow doesn't have to be super crazy. Still a little bit. It doesn't really need to be back here. Because if it's just hitting him, you just want it to make it be sort of spreading out. Oop. Sort of spreading out from where he is. So, that looks pretty good. You can add some texture to it. Let's see, like I'll add, I'll do a noise brush. Just a regular noise brush. And I'll just add some texture to the noise brush, but I'm using it as an eraser. And I'm just gonna add some texture. Just gonna add some texture to lighten it up. That looks good. And I'm also going to, so the light would be coming from between his little legs and feet, so the shadow would be a little less there. So, I'm gonna use that same noise brush as a paint brush now. And then I'm just gonna make it a little stronger where his feet are. Because that's where the least amount of light is gonna be. It's right in front of his little phalanges. There we go. Nice. Alright, I think I will add some highlights. I'll add some highlights to this, but for now I think that's pretty good. Yeah, so I'll play around with it more. I'll add highlights in another video. I think this one's long enough. And this is bugging me, so I'm gonna have to take care of that. What is that? I'm not sure what this is. Whoops. I don't know what layer that's on. Sometimes, oh, so it's here. I'll take alpha lock off. I just want to erase that a little. It might be just that I missed it when I was painting it, so I might just have to... yeah, that's what it is. I missed it when I was painting it. And I'm also gonna erase... no, I guess I'll leave it. It doesn't really need an outline back there, so I'm just getting rid of the outline by coloring it in. Don't really need this outline too much either. So I can either color it in or I can erase it. Let's see what looks better. I'll just erase it a little bit. How does that look? It's a little jaggedy. A little jagged. I'll leave it. Alright, I think that's good. So this is... another thing I always do is I always add everything to a group, so then I can easily move everything around if I need to. That looks atrocious. I'll do the smudge. I'll do smudge on noise. Maybe that'll help. Let's see. Oh yeah, that works. Alright, there we go. Looking good. Alright, so that was shadow and shadowing. It went a little longer than expected, but that's how it is. Drawing, it just takes a long time. You make mistakes, I make mistakes, and you just gotta keep on going. So the next video is going to be lighting and maybe highlights and cleaning up the characters. I don't really know what. But yeah, thanks for watching. I appreciate it. I appreciate the support. Give me a like if you liked the video and subscribe if you want to see more. I would love to just keep making videos forever. I love it. So much fun. Hopefully you guys get something out of it and you can use some of the tips and tricks that I use for your artwork and for your creations. So see you in the next video, which will be lighting. See you there.