#but i do shading with multiply sometimes too so its not like i do not use it

[linterteatime]

Hiii I love your art style soo much its so pretty!! This has probably been asked before but I'd love to know how you go about choosing colours/ making colour palettes because thats something I personally struggle with doing <3

Hiiiii thank you! Okay so usually when i choose my own colours i just pick whatever i feel like looks nice so i don't really have a good explanation for that (yet) lmao, but! i also do this that i think works pretty well too:

which is basically just messing around with the layer filters/Blending Modes of the art programs until i get something that looks nice, not necessarily using the same ones i used here, but any that might work, also sometimes i choose whatever colours (not colour picking) and then do this same process to make them look better :P

[candyje11yfish]

ty! \(^_^)/ feelin good so ill try answer in detail for ya!!!! 

most of the time i just do basic cell shading. here ill explain my rendering process after i choose my base colours, ill try keep it short & sweet!! nvm warning buckle up its really super long.

flat colours -> fully shaded!!

⭐️Picking shading colours!

usually it's just the base colour with +saturation OR a hue shift! i dont really lower brightness.

This is what i mean by HSB, i never use the colour wheel i prefer the sliders!!!

i like my art to look super colourful so i do things like shading pink with blue instead of with a darker pink or red, as shown in the above callie piece.

examples ft lumity:

skin: i always keep it very simple & cartoony! over the nose, below the eyes, the neck & sometimes the tips of the ears is where i'll put shading

hair: as u can See, it's not darker than the base colour at all!! for dark hair like luz's, i brighten & saturate the colour, and for light hair like amity's i just shift the hue a little!

⭐️more kewl tips:

colourpick from yourself!!!! instead of making a new colour for everything, try using a colour u already have down!!!! like below: by limiting my colour palette, it looks more harmonious

really messy image but i hope u get what i mean. also the "off white / black" thing is a separate choosing base colours thing!! i can expand on that if anyone's interested 😙

shove halftones in wherever they fit. here are the 2 pngs i use!! there a rlly good alt to gradients, i used a LOT of them in that callie piece!!! clipping mask over where u want it & alpha lock to change colour.

⭐️here's a WHERE i put the shading:

look st the environment ur guy is in!! pick where your light source is coming from & look where that light will hit and where it is blocked by something.

bounce light: the sun's light is also shining on the grass! so powerful the green reflects right back!

this is kinda more realistic lighting now.

i kinda just put a circle wherever theres a corner!

and i put that Beautiful Shape a lot wherever. i change it a little depending on the character, sometimes its triangular or squarey but thats the base shape! i dont even know what its called but i love it.

look at this hello weird shape guy!!!

actually, my grandfest art are probably some of the most detailed art i have! u can see urself where i put shading & stuff - they do have more desaturated colour palettes though:

& here are some additional examples ^_^ flat colour -> shaded -> multiply layer -> lighting

in this one u can see the hand & leg at the back are completely in shadow too :)

anyway i think that's kinda it? i dont really know how to explain it, i just do what feels & looks right to me??? remember that im Not an expert & this is just how i do things :)

i will always repeat my no1 tips tho: keep drawing!!! and copy ur fave artists!!!!!! it really will hell u find what u like!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hope this post helps a little & answers ur question😇 never be shy to ask me anything cuz i love answering & chattin w u guys!!!!

EDIT: just saying these arent set rules or anything!!!! u can see just how many times i Dont follow my own advice LOL. my artstyle is super inconsistent, i rarely draw things the same every time

[synthaphone]

If it's not too much to ask, how do you shade complex patterns easier?

Its not too much to ask at all!!

My easy trick for shading complex patterns in cel shaded Neopets style art, where you'd want to hand pick your shadow colors for each element:

First, I make a flat base layer, and put each unique color on its own layer that i clip to the base.

After i finish the flats, i then duplicate ALL of those layers, lock them, and recolor each duplicate with the color i want to use for that element's shadow. these are now effectively my Shadow layer, and i rename the base duplicated layer so i know its my shadow base.

and then i use a layer mask on either the base layer or a folder i put the shadow layers in- i use this to paint in the spots where i want the unshaded areas to be.

This method makes it really easy to change my mind on a shading color for a specific area without having to carefully repaint the shadows, or tweak where i want the shadows to fall without having to worry about matching the colors, similarly to having the shadows painted on a multiply layer.

if i'm using a PSD where I already made a shadow layer, like my basic Centibyte base, i just duplicate all of the clipped areas from the flat color base, clip the dupes onto that shadow layer, recolor it to be the shadow color for the base color, and proceed from there.

You can do this trick for highlights also- I've noticed that highlights are typically used sparingly in Neopets art though, so I kind of just go with whatever i think looks right.

For Tyrannian, I decided it looks fine with solid white highlights at a lowered opacity of 70%, so i didn't bother coming up with a unique highlight color for each area. Sometimes I'll make the highlight layer an Overlay layer since that can help the highlights with not looking washed out, but it feels a little inauthentic and loses contrast over certain colors, and in this instance Normal ended up looking better.

I hope this was helpful and not too unclear! I'm not super experienced with making tutorials, but I'm always happy to share what works for me as best I can!

[guppyfish77]

dropping in to let you know that I find your painting style verry pleasant uwu Do you have a technique or is it vibes only?

Thank you very much! Apologies for answering late, I'm happy to hear that you find my style pleasant :]

As for techniques... techniques... hmmmmmmm, my art process is very loose, so I suppose its mainly based on vibes, however there are a few techniques that I do use in my art process!

-Going Dark then Lighter

Its easier for me to figure out where the light hits rather than where the shadows fall, for this reason I often start with a character or background a lot darker that they are supposed to be and then adding light to it, it is quite an effective technique for scenes that have dramatic lighting

Sometimes the "outlines" that appear are just me adding light and not quite allowing the light to touch the edges

like this (not all outlines are because of this tho, some outlines I do add deliberately)

-Checking Values

If you make a layer that is entirely white, put it on the very top, then set that layer's blending mode to Color, you will get a black and white version of your artwork! (blending modes Hue and Saturation also seems to work, I can't tell if there is a difference between the three, but I always usually go for Color) Its a quick way to check values and make sure that no colors are blending together

-The less layers the better!

This is more of a personal preference but I absolutely hate managing a lot of layers, so I try to use as little layers as possible, characters are always rendered on a single layer, colors, shading, and all! If I use any blending modes such as Overlay or Multiply, I simply get the result that I want before combing the layers to continue working on it. The 2 brushes that I use has quite a nice blending to it and when worked on a single layer is what most likely what gives it the painterly quality.

Background layers are a bit more complicated because there are many elements to work with, but works somewhat similarly. Near the end of working on a piece I do an "overpaint" layer where go around the entire piece to touch up a few things, though I have to be careful not to add too many overpaint layers, it gets very chaotic that way

anywhos those are some of my techniques, I hope that you find it interesting or that it helps you! 👍

[bl4z33467]

(Cracks knuckles) Alright folks I remember how to draw

Fat fuck Vulpes by yours truly, Blaze Lander. Inspired by the lovely drawing by @yourmateyoya ,egged on by @legions-top-dog , and because i force you to deal with all my shitty drawings, @noomycatz

Yes, once again, i have put too much effort into a shitpost. Roughly 2 hours as I reused a canvas on ibis paint for a 5th drawing lmao

Yall can burn me at the stake later lol

Process below hehe i like to ramble

And just because i like to talk about my drawing process for characters with complex outfits, this is how my lobotomy brain does it:

First i do silly fun colored sketch. I use different colors to differentiate the "skeleton" from the, euh, fleshy bits, and the clothing. You can see lots of lines that would not be shown in the final product so it makes it confusing to look at.

Next i do a clean sketch.

This is where i clean up everything before doing the final lines. I use one color and a thin brush to make it easier to line over. Here i add any extra bits (like the top football armour) and "render the physics" as i call it, so properly drape cloth and the uhhh squish of stupid fat fuck vulpes' boobs and stomach. I also will balance the drawing here by flipping it and redrawing or using the drag tool.

Next is lining.

For this drawing, i used a 9.0 digital pen with a taper. Its my standard :þ. I kept my pen at the same size for this piece. Sometimes i line the outside darker to make the drawing stand out more. I decided not to as i wanted to give the drawing a more "serious" tone. (How serious can this be though lol-)You may notice on the arms little bits of the lines are missing, thats because i gave him some arm hair. I like make little details like that show over the lines. But since the one shading technique i used works with clipping masks, i had to but the arm hairs on a layer lower than the line art. Next is colour:

I colour in the drawing with midtones. Simple as. I tried to stick with warm colours besides his eyes, which are grey blue. Idc if they arent, im too lazy to google it. I mostly use flat colors but i did make his shirt a gradient. Next is do simple cell shading:

Depending on how i feel i shade with or without the colours in the back. I went with a sorta "non decrepit" light source here. Didnt want too much intensity. I used a deep marronish orange on a multiply layer on 45% opacity. Soft shading/lighting next:

I get intense with the soft shading. I use the airbrush with a deep maroon to add dark gradient and airbrush with a light pink to add a bit more depth. I usually use less light and more dark because im evil i like the intensity. I keep the layer the same amount of opacity and multiply it with the darks and soft light for the lights. Next are the shine highlights:

I use the dip pen hard with a taper to add light highlights of white on shiny bits like metal and eyes. I uses pure white, set the layer to 25% opacity, and use normal blending.

I also shade the lines because it makes the lines softer. I use a clipping layer on the line art, set the whole thing to a dark grey, and airbrush in darker and lighter parts. (I felt like a picture wasnt needed cuz its hard to notice.

For the background, i used a dark red i stole from the cell shaded layer, drew a vine pattern with the kaleidoscope ruler, and added a vignette. Vignettes are my cheat code for background hehe~ it makes the subject stand out while keeping suave, seriousness and formality. To make a subject pop out more, put the vignette behind the character but in front of the background. For more intensity but it on top of both.

Also- I usually draw with a level 10 stabilizer (i got shaky hands) but i drew with a 2 stabilizer so im surprised it came out so smoothly-

Also i gave him goggle tan lines because if i have to have them from playing tennis with sunnies, so does he.

[dom1re]

Hi 👋🏽 I so admire your arts too!! If it’s ok, I’d love to know more about your approach to shading and rendering. I always find your use of colour so calming and complementary. 💖💖

Whereas I tend to be over saturated and why I often draw in greyscale

When I read that you liked my arts too I died. I was down on the floor. Crying tears of joy. Then I realized I have a response to draft so I got up.

So here ya go!! I hope you find something interesting here. I organized it into 3 parts for easier reading:

Rendering Overview

Picking Colors

Shading (or winging it and hoping for the best)

Also if anyone has any tips I'm all ears!! I’m always trying to optimize my process, make it quicker + cleaner

Rendering Overview

My current rendering process on Procreate (click and swipe):

1. Rough sketches

This is where I try to get the anatomy and pose right. I can get up to 3 reps in here depending on how refined I want it to be. Yep I care a lot about my lines...

2. Clean line

... coz it's my favorite part!! I get such a dopamine rush seeing the sketches come together into a clean line lol. Here I use the Selection Tool and Liquify to resize and adjust the forms (gotta move away from doing this too much tho)

3. Color

First I create a flat base layer and color over it using Clipping Mask (pretty standard I think). Then I divvy my drawing into as many layers as possible - one each for skin, hair, shirt, waistcoat, trousers, etc - as I color them all. More on this below.

4. Shade

ewww shading... my least favorite part. I use Multiply layers and gray colors, again pretty standard. I usually have 1-3 layers here, stacked on one another, depending on the desired depth. More on this below.

5. Finishing touches

This stage involves a lot of small (but important imo) things, which vary depending on the drawing:

Tinting lines (Because shading makes the colors darker, lines need to get darker too)

Highlights on hair, face, clothes, eyes, etc. I can never make up my mind between Overlay/Hard Light/Soft Light layers for this

Little wisps of hair or lighting effects 

and voila I have something to share with the world. wooo

Picking Colors

Ok about my colors… I wish I had some fancy technique to show but tbh I just eyeball them and try them out a bunch. Now if I’m using a reference I could use the color picker, but I don't like to coz the results are way off for whatever reasons (ex. lighting in the img). Anyways it doesn’t have to be the same color as the reference; as long as the colors “make sense” to me I'm happy.

But what if the colors I chose are too saturated or too dark? I use the Adjustment Tools for this. I can just select the layer (or an area using the Selection Tool) and edit its darkness and saturation. I found this way easier than painting over or color-dropping repeatedly.

This is why I leverage as many layers as possible. It allows a modular control on my rendering - I can change the color of my character’s skin, eyes, or waistcoat patterns and keep all other components unaffected and clean. Sometimes I have like 100+ layers and it drives me batshit crazy but the pros still outweigh the cons. Or so I tell myself

( + I would love to understand grayscale and use it as freely as u do. I watched bunch of vids on it but something about it just hasn’t stuck with me yet 😔)

Shading I guess

Similar to coloring, I create several Multiply layers and stack them together for depth. For example:

This is again for that modular control but honestly I wouldn't be doing this if I was good at shading... I feel so lost every time, I just don't know how it works. But one ‘hack’ I’ve come up with is shading skins and clothes differently. I use reddish gray for skin (and brown/red hair), and just gray for everything else.

The character feels more lively and natural with a bit of red undertones in their skin. I don't think this is the best way to render skins though. Just a little shortcut til I get to study the topic more.

Something else I do to get over my fear of shading is using good references. I’m always lurking on Pinterest for them but alas, I can’t always find that perfect image with perfect lighting and poses. It’s kinda sad funny how the quality of my rendering depends so much on the reference:

(it's not a 'bad' reference per se - I chose it really for the pose, not for shading)

At the end of the day tho I’m just a learning artist so I try not to be too harsh on myself. Someday I'll render shiny shoes and shirt creases without refs. I yearn for that day 

Well on that cheerful note thanks for coming to my Ted Talk your interest in my rendering approach! I’ve been wanting to document it for my own records so this was great.

I picked up digital illustration just last year and self-learning it has been a fun but lonely process. If you have any tips or more questions talk to me ANYONE PLEASE I’m dying to talk about it if you can't tell by the sheer length of this post. For which I'm sorry but hopefully it wasn’t too dense a read ok I’m really done now bye!! 

[superstarzolar]

hey, fritz! I love your art and was wondering how you shaded your art because the lighting and colors are really nice, I also use Procreate and do an overlay with dark purples for shadows, and was wondering how to shade somewhat like you do!

(keep up the incredible work, the fandom page is so cool)

this is a somewhat lengthy tutorial cuz my shading is a multi-step process so……. under the cut it is!!!

i use [what i like to call] grayscale shading, where you block out the shadows/highlights in grayscale. i use this to better differentiate the values in the lighting and get better contrasts [and all that other technical artist mumbo jumbo]

[i’ll also be using a pisspoor sketch of my fnac puppeteer design for this so…… ya]

[colors are also shown on the side as they become relevant]

[THIS IS ALSO VERY UGLY BCUZ ITS A SKETCH AND THE INITIAL DRAWING IS NOT USINF MY USUAL WARM COLORS… but the tutorial still applies]

obviously step number 0 is ur base colors . nothing too outrageous here .

1st , i put a gray overtop the base colors [not on the same layer(s), obviously]. this color acts as the base value in the steps to come, and i usually use a gray in between pure black and pure white.

2nd, i go overtop that other gray layer with another, more darker gray. this one is the closest to pure black out of any other value in the shading .

[these nexts steps assume that you know what angle your lighting is coming from]

3rd, i erase all parts from the dark gray layer that are in the light. [i know jack shit abt lighting and so i just eyeball it and pray, but using references also works].

4th, i take a gray in between the initial midtone-gray and our darkest gray and rim the edges of some of the erased bits and/or scribble in blocks of color on parts that are close to, but not directly in, the light.

5th, i get a gray tone lighter than the initial base color and use it to highlight the parts of the drawing that are nearest to the light source.

6th, i take another gray tone, one that’s now in between our darkest gray and the one we picked in step 4, and scribble it around the edges of areas completely in shadow. this is supposed to be some sort of reflective light, but honestly idfk what im doing.

[these next steps use the gradient map feature on procreate, but im sure manually picking colors is fine too]

7th, i use the gradient map feature on procreate to automatically assign colors to the previously gray values. for this example im using the present Mocha gradient, but any other gradient will do

8th, after settling on a gradient that matches the mood/color scheme/setting of the image, i set the layer to multiply and fuck around with the opacity until im satisfied with how it looks.

additionally, you can add an overlay layer and airbrush the lightest areas with a similarly light color/the darkest areas with a similarly dark color.

aaaaaaaand that’s it for a shading tutorial. being so fr i don’t like how some of my shading looks sometimes and im working to improve it but this is how i do it currently !!!!!

[meandtheyeehaws]

hi!!! i’m not sure if this is something you’re willing to answer but what’s your process like? how do you get your art to look the way it does?? its just SO pleasing to look at omg

sth that rlly helps me with colors are gradient maps! theyre rlly easy to use on csp and can help get the right color mood and lighting in a piece :] my process is pretty simple, sketch, lineart, flat colors and blush on any skin parts. i either color some of the lineart or dont,but i always add red to any lineart parts where there would be blush just to makw it softer. then optional shading with a multiply layer maybe and some gradients if i know theres a specific light source. for more detailed pieces i add some light with an add/glow layer and brush too. my finishing touches are usually add chromatic aberration (theres tutorials on how to do that online), a gradient map and perlin noise effect.

hope this made sense haha maybe ill record my process sometime when i can:]

[seirindono]

How do you happen to do your shading id you don't mind sharing? Its so subtle and soft that you can't tell its there but it really helps highlight the characters

Phew, finally got some time on my hand to answer this one! It's a fairly simple/fast process so I figured I'd make a tuto once I'd get started on the shading for the next part, and here we are!

Alright so, we've got the panel (lazy screenshots cuz I'll never finish this if I have to export everytime ahah)

The advantage of digital art is that I don't have to think about color harmonies right from the start, I can always add filters and fiddle with the hues at any stage, so I just apply base colors at first and draw the background (it will help me build up a palette for the shadows later).

Okay, now the fun really begins. First I need to know which direction my shadows are likely to go and what atmosphere I want for the panel (which element I want to highlight? palette idea? etc). A sketch is enough to establish your intentions. Sometimes I'll mess up the lighting but it's okay to cheat if it looks coherent enough xD

(Patreons exclusive, shhh)

Now to create palette and apply the said shadows. I have a hand made one for TMS, but I had to make a special one for Ebott since there's a lot bg and kinda heavier atmosphere (I'll prbly have to make one for each part frow now on too hm). It's mostly made up of blues and greens (no black or greys here, but it can be fun to use in other styles! Purple too, so have fun!)

(My configuration - Produit=multiply?)

There, cast shadows (clothes, faces, folds, etc.) are roughly in place and looking sharp! Maybe a little bit too sharp actually... Let's smooth all that up

I use an airbrush eraser to soften a few shadows. Not necessarily all of them or the whole shape, you have to find the right balance of soft/sharp.

Now to spice things up a bit-

On a layer linked to the shadow layer, I add a lighter color that matches my light source or the environnement. Here it's a light blue, but in part VII I used a lot of orange (sun)! It makes the shadow much richer and the whole palette more vibrant!

(Again, you don't have to do it on all of them)

(not sure if you can see it lol but there's orange!)

And last but not least: Global shadow and filters (? never had to name or translate it bwahaha)

It's a lot of fiddling to achieve a result where the character looks more or less rooted in the background (=blue layers and filters to harmonize colors) and where I draw the last shadows. They're often the biggest ones (=on Axe's body+ leaf/tree shadows etc.).

You can use the techniques I've described above, or just go for it, it's completely freewheeling from here, ahem. Just make sure to step back regularly to see where you're at and stop.

(You can also add lights layers and spots if it's too dark but in this example, I use the base color as a light layer + their skulls are such a bright white already xD )

A bit of blur and ta-da~

Pretty easy, right?

[hiding-in-the-vault]

Hello!! The prison break but it's cold looks so good, I love you art sm oh my god! Question, how did you choose your colors for that? And what else did you do to convey that feeling of cold?

Thank you!! :D I will do my best to explain a bit of my process here! Hopefully it helps someone out

TLDR: De-saturated cold colors, lots of layers of shading, and heavy heavy contrast

Here's an example of some of the base colors, without any of the shading.

Usually, I pick the literal colors and let the shading do all the work, but for this one, I de-saturated and cooled all of the base colors to help get that colder feeling. Normally Techno would be a brighter pink, and the prison outfit would be a brighter orange, and I normally would make the fur on the cloaks (and technos tusks) be white. But white feels more like a hot color, so i try to avoid it entirely. Even the snow will always at least be a light grey like in that top corner. Even with the text!

(You can also see here how a lot of my snowflakes are actually a medium/dark grey, but that layer is on top of the shading, so it makes them feel brighter and easier to see in comparison without being too bright.)

On top of that, I add a lot of layers of shading and overlays.

I had several layers of multiply shading, all in a variation of dark greyish blue or purple. Here's a little thing I whipped up-- the first image there has 1 layer of shadow just on the guys at about 60% opacity, then I filled a whole layer with the same color at 100%, and erase the small areas i want to be brighter. I tend to just add more as I need them.

Then the Add layer with any bright orange light goes on top of that.

Lastly is my overlay noise layer. it doesnt do much for the color or darkness because its so dull, but i like the texture. feels Gritty

I think the contrast really helps sell the feeling of Cold.

Contrast in both value And color is important!!!

Sometimes I add a layer of shading, decide its not enough, and duplicate it and merge the two to double the darkness. I Loooovveee dramatic lighting, which is all about going a little further than you think you need to with shadow. And very stark, eye catching brights.

I think there's some color theory rule about picking one dominant saturated color to use sparingly, and making all the others much duller.

This scene here, I tried to give it a foggy appearance. Obviously there's the snowflakes, but over the background panel, I had multiple layers of texture and airbrush and Stuff to make it feel fuzzier, harder to see. I did the same thing when I drew a desert scene ages ago, so that's not really a Cold specific thing, but it does help build the feeling of being stranded and fighting the elements.

Anyway thats all I can think to say rn :')

[vtuberconfessions]

i am so tired of being nice i just want to go apeshit PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD VTUBER ARTISTS WHO HAVE NEVER RIGGED BEFORE: ASK A RIGGER FOR ADVICE ABOUT SEPARATION AND LISTEN TO IT!!!! as a rigger and artist i am so fucking tired of having to spend 8+ hours re-separating and fixing all of the bullshit with your artwork that makes rigging a nightmare. AS A BASIC RULE PLEASE...

1: NEVER USE A SPACE IN LAYER NAMES!!! if you use a space in the name of any layers ( i.e. "leg l" "part 1") the name will be switched in live2D to "artmesh" and your rigger will have to RENAME EVERYTHING. if you do this for every layer THIS IS A NIGHTMARE. it's not easy to fix PLEASE use underscores instead of spaces.

2: have ANY KIND of naming system. it literally doesnt matter, as long as it exists and is consistent the rigger will figure it out. don't name one thing "left_arm_1" and another thing "Bang>SidePart" and expect me to be able to easily work with your file.

3: KEEP. LAYERS. ORGANIZED. please please PLEASE understand basic rigging hierarchy and stick to it. If the left eye folder is ten thousand layers below the right eye folder this will be extremely confusing. also make sure the limbs are ordered properly. if the shoulder is in the layer for the jacket and the hand is somewhere floating in the ether i now have to spend time to reorganize the psd.

4: LIVE 2D DOES NOT WORK LIKE A DRAWING PROGRAM. it only allows for multiply, add, and normal layers. no overlay, no screen light, just add and multiply. if I have to clip a layer to more than five other layers the program WILL lag for both you and the person who ends up using the model. Do not just leave a massive multiply layer over the entire model it doesn't work that way. 5: oh my fucking god PLEASE draw EVERYTHING even if it isnt in view. if you have a separate layer for the bang's shading, for example, in normal illustration you just draw what's visible and call it a day. I'M TURNING THE HEAD, MEANING IT WILL JUST CUT OFF. if i have to fix this for every single instance of shading i am taking time away from my work, my whole process takes longer. as a rule of thumb, always draw more than what you think you need.

6: separate more than you need, but not everything. sometimes I work with models that have not enough things separated, and its a pain to work with. sometimes i work with models that feel like the artist just sent me their work file with every tiny brushstroke on a different layer and then I have to spend a day merging and checking everything. use your head while you are drawing, think to yourself "is the thing I'm drawing something that will need to move independently?" try to imagine the model in 3D space as your working, and if you can't do that perhaps study an object in real life and see how turning it in space interacts with the lighting or whatever idk. also: if there are too many separations the model will come out looking blurrier. live2D doesn't just read the photoshop file, it creates a new texture file. imagine the model like a paper doll, it takes every piece of paper and spreads each piece down flat. this takes up much more space and many more pixels then the photoshop document, and the bigger i have to make the texture file, the laggier things become. if i don't want it to lag, everything has to be shrinked down to fit, and thus everything becomes blurry. if I don't want it all blurry, I basically have to spend hours upon hours manually placing every "piece of paper" on another piece of paper essentially playing the worlds most annoying jigsaw puzzle.

I feel like I'm working on a group project and doing half of your work. please, stop making my job much harder than it needs to be.

.

[lemon-sugarcoats-nothing]

How do you decide what to draw, and when it's done?

Text: "This is a great question! I usually "wing it" when it comes to deciding when my drawing is done. (More below)" "Finding ideas...? It kind of depends! Sometimes I'll get a strong picture form in my head while I'm doing something else. Other times I just sit and draw whatever."

Now to elaborate on my process for deciding when to stop, how far to go with shading, etc. Most of it has to do with how I feel about drawing something, but also to do with keeping things visually appealing. Here I've laid out each general step of my drawing process from start to finish:

1. Sketch, Meant to be quick and generally convey the subject. I will sometimes draw and post things just as cleaned up sketches if just adding visuals to a text post, for shit-posting, or just if I'm not too interested in what I'm drawing.

2. Line art, I almost never post *just* line art, but i will occasionally post line art with one color to fill in the silhouette to help with contrast and character recognizability.

3. Flat color, I often post ask responses at this stage (maybe with simple hard-edged shadows here or there), but outside of ask responses I only leave character reference art at this stage just because the colors are purest for the character. I don't usually leave it without simple shading because it can be hard to read the subject's form, and its not my cup of tea. I lightly airbrush a warm color over the line art so that the harsh black doesn't contrast too much with the bright colors.

4. Shaded, a step up from simple hard edge shading I'll layer more than one shading color (layer set to multiply and lowered opacity) and blend out the edges in some places to soften the form. Then I add lighting and highlights - first using a textured soft airbrush over a large area, then use a round airbrush with hard edges for the highlights, blending out the edges in some areas to soften the form. This is usually where i stop for simpler character pieces, either for ask responses or for personal art. (Highlight layers are set to "add-glow")

5. Atmosphere, or adding additional shading elements to engage the subject with an environment or specific lighting condition. Here I've done a sunset lighting condition - I put a purple color over the whole subject set to multiply and opacity lowered, then airbrushed a reddish orange tone (on a separate layer, set to add-glow and opacity lowered) over the highlighted areas to bring warmth back to the lit spots. Then deepened the shadows using the hard edge airbrush again, a dark blue color (multiply layer, lower opacity), and then blending some of the edges out to show the form better. This is where I'll merge the line-art layer with what i now have of the coloring and shading, if i didn't already do so prior. Last I went back over the highlights with the orangey color (add glow, lower opacity). Once I get to rendering like this, I don't often stop here because by this point I'm likely hyper fixated and will keep pushing the values and adding details until I get to 6.

6. Details and bounce light. I texture-airbrushed a blue bounce light color, erased some hard edges in using that hard edged airbrush and then blending some of the edges out. This then gave me a guide to add in bounce-highlights with a hard pen, that i blended out in some places. I then further pushed the main highlights using a hard pen and again, blended out the edges. All layers set to add glow and opacity lowered. This is where I'll usually stop for finished rendered pieces, because I struggle to find other things to add or change, and the hyperfixation is thinning out and caving into my hunger/sleepiness. Might add hard white highlight details, but those are the finishing touches.

7. Wtf details. Added in hair strand details and fly-aways, blades of grass, I'm up way too late and struggling to end the drawing process - Or im just enjoying rendering the hair. I almost never add in stray hairs like this, but it's something i enjoy visually.

Again, a lot of where I stop comes down to my energy, time, and the vibes I'm going for. Hope this answers your question!

[funtergeist]

Hi! I LOVE your colors and I was wondering how you pick them? Like is there a certain process?

aah thank you so much!! im honestly not sure,, most of it is just balling but i can try to explain lol

for one i never use blending layers for shading unless theres a character with multiple markings i cant use a solid color over, i find multiply/overlay really limiting color wise, but i sometimes use them with a slight darker/lighter gradient over certain parts or the whole drawing to make it less flat :) shading is usually just a darker and slightly color shifted (sometimes less saturated) version of the original flat, i honestly cant tell u why i pick specific colors its mostly just random vibes lol most of the color pazazz comes from gradient maps tho! if ur not sure what they are i suggest looking into it but basically its a color gradient you can slap on the drawing to change the colors. i always do a rlly low opacity one at color or sometimes multiply/soft light but it can really bring ur colors together if it feels unharmonious or make it more colorful if it looks too bland. if you use clip studio you can find lots of gradient maps on the store thing heres an image to kinda convey what im talking about skdjsk

i hoap that explains things :] if not feel free to throw me into a volcano as sacrifice

[00vk]

how do you nail the enstars style so well... what are your ways... (only if you want to ofc im just curious if you have any tips)

hi!!

i dont know if i have anything that could be helpful, but heres my process!

first, i get the pose down

i either use a picture of myself as reference or a persons pose from pinterest ( i used multiple references for this one)

lineart:

i make the canvas huge, so i dont stress too much abt the lineart being clean enough

i heavily reference official cards, especially 3* because they have less angles and dynamic posing than 5*

i try to make it thinner and cleaner than my usual style but not too thin

outer lines are thicker than inner ones if that makes sense

i make it a dark brown instead of pure black and set it on multiply instead of normal

edges of the eyelashes are redder and softer, blush lines are always a subtle pink/peach shade

sometimes i make a second cleaner sketch before jumping to lineart, depends on how confident im feeling though

then the flats, pretty straightforward step

rendering:

i try to replicate the rendering on official cards as much as possible by keeping the references in front of me and color picking

i always make the contrast between shaded and non-shaded areas higher than im comfortable with usually because its what often makes the pieces pop (to me) and i make sure to add reflected light

i use gradients a lot, especially for hair

i make the lineart lighter in areas where the light is hitting like this

what i generally do for the eyes:

another tip is that i duplicate the lineart layer, make that duplicate into the "add" layer mode and glaussian blur it to give that lineart glow effect you find in cards:

i also noticed this is how nails tend to be drawn and i kind of adopted that into my own artstyle because i love how it looks:

-lastly for the background, i used the ingame dressing room as a reference, did some blocks of color to express it and blurred it so i dont have to bother with any details because im lazy <33

-i lastly added some sparkles and stipples and a white blur around the edges to make it look more finished.

thats pretty much it! ofc take all of this with a grain of salt because im no expert HAHA this is just what i learned works from trying my hand at fake cards over and over again, so its practice too <3 i hope this was somehow helpful!!

[pinkpuppp]

I just wanted to let you know that your art fills a hole in my heart with pink, glittery microplastic 😊 I genuinely smile every time I see a nice drawing you did on my dash. How do you pick colors for your art? cause I swear, no matter the mood I'm trying to get for a drawing, I always pick the most muted sad colors as a force of habit. Which like works as a style thing, but when you're trying to set the mood for a piece sometimes the colors you usually lean to just don't work as well, y'know?

Hello! I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT MY ART MAKES YOU HAPPY THAT IS SO SWEET?!?!? CRYING! Honestly love the phrase "pink, glittery, microplastic". For color picking I shade clothes with only variations of red on multiply! That is a big thing for me! I will also add a layer of blue shading to everything! Hair, skin, clothes, doesn't matter the lighting there will be blue shading! My rendering process takes a bit and I break everything into pieces- hair, skin, clothes, etc. all get its own layers and folder for rendering. My render process typically means the final piece is anywhere around 100 to even 800 layers sometimes. I also work in 550 DPI, idk if that changes anything but yeah. If I ever think a color doesn't look bright enough I will add a layer above and overlay it with a slightly brighter color and turn down the opacity slightly! I understand the mood thing totally too! For my color palette I just always try to include pinks, reds, and blues to keep everything consistent but still have a brighter feel to it!

[desklamper]

ive been meaning to ask for a while. but HOW DO YOU MAKE SUCH GOOD ASSETS????? HUH?????? YOUR ASSETS ARE DIVINE. ELYSIAN. LITERALLY GODLY

First I get a reference. For this example I'll use this gel deoderant

Next i make a rough outline. When i choose an outline color, I make sure it's not totally gray. I like to stick with a general color theme. Learned that from my pal @therekinperson!! For this guy, we are gonna use a grayish blue for the transparent container part and a dark blue for the blue parts! For smooth shapes, i increase the stabilizer value on my brush, so that it does not look jittery I typically stick with a 30-40 when making smooth outlines. 10-25 on faces.

I needed the reference for the top part i swear!!! (that curve was so fucking difficult to make) Anyways,I have my outlines, and a li'l guy as a size reference! I don't want a huge or small dood! also, Its cut in half so that i can mirror it (it's a symmetrical object i can do that!) Notice how i make sure the mirror points are flat? That guarantees a smooth mirroring! it avoids weird mirroring things like gaps and overlaps!

Now that that's done, its time for the basic color fills! I make sure to use colors that aren't darker than the outlines! As for shading, i look for other shades of the same color! TIPP!! Set the shading layer to clipping, so that it wont exceed the boundaries of the flat color!

that too wayy to long!!!! anyways, it's time for the translucent/transparent part!! Im going to choose the outline color for the main color and set the Opacity to 40% (i lowered it to 10% in the end)

Another thing to note is understanding the object's mechanics. These deodorant bars have a weird little spinning thing in the center, So imma add it. Next, imma add a layer of gray blue qith 56% ofacity for the gel

I'l finally add bubbles on a clip layer and shading! For this style of shading, i'm going to use a foreground only gradient, so that it becomes a white to transparency gradient. this will give it that shiny look!

(it looks like the fog lol)

Now imma cut out the parts i don't want and lower the opacity!

then i add shading by using ANOTHER clipping mask with a dark color, blending se to multiply (sometimes overlay if im being smart with my colors)

then i add somplified stickers and logos and BOOM

thats how i do assets!!