I see this kinda advice passed around all the time here is the thing: shading with black will indeed look bad if you don’t know what you are doing. However, telling people not to do things without explaining why is terrible advice.
Shadows are the opposite of light, this includes in colour.
This means that if you have light in one colour, the shadow will be of the opposing hue, saturation, and value.
Unless the object is white, it has its own local colour -
the object’s true colour, how it would appear if the light were pure white.
The colour of the light influences the local colour of the object. so if you had yourself a brown cube and a blue light, the colours would get bluer and pinker.
now the reason shadows do not tend to be black is because pure white light is hard to find in nature.
the closest you will get to pure white light is during a really overcast day and the sun is filtering through the clouds, but even then
it’ll lean towards yellow so the shadows will be slightly blue.
But! None of this means you are never allowed to use black.
realistically shadows will have a hint of a colour to them, but stylistically you might be going for, say, a film noir look and deep black shadows are needed for impact for example.
The more you know about how light works, the more informed decisions you can make about shading and the more options you have.
If someone tells you that you can’t do something, they’re wrong! you can do what you like!
yes, black is hard to use and if you just mix a colour with black it’ll get muddy, but thats easily resolved by choosing your colours manually - which ideally you want to do regardless bc the computer doesnt have your eyes & cant choose the colours you like
basically if someone gives you some art advice and says you can’t do something, they’re wrong! you can, you just might need to study
a little to figure out how to make things work.
I mean for example, people will say you must make your composition follow the rule of thirds
and never align centrally, but while the rule of thirds makes it easy to create visual interest, Mad Max Fury Road is a testament to the fact
that central composition can and will work if you experiment.
there are no rules in art! there are theories based on reality, this has been a post on colour theory & light theory, but they exist to inform you, not to restrict you.
Do what you like! Trust your eyes, if you think something looks good, then great! If you don’t, then research & experiment until you do.
hey yall its me the Art Mom™ to help you shade pretty
rule 1: DO NOT SHADE WITH BLACK. EVER. IT NEVER LOOKS GOOD.
red- shade with a slightly darker shade of purple
orange- slightly darker and more saturated shade of red
yellow- i think like..a peach could work but make it a really light peach
green- shade with darker and less saturated shade of blue or teal
blue- shade with purple
purple- a shade thats darker than the purple you’re using and maybe a little pink (MAYBE blue)
pink- darker shade of red
white- a really light lavender or blue..or i guess any really light colour??
black- okay listen dont use pure black to colour anything unless you want to leave it with flat colours because you cant really shade black lol
grey- a slightly darker shade of purple or blue (less saturated)
brown- slightly darker and less saturated shade of purple or red
aaaaand thats all i got lol. let me know if there is anything i should add to this list!!
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ THIS!!!! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Coincidentally, I already use these exact techniques. I think these shades really help make colors pop!
As a bonus, I always stray away from coloring with any pure blacks or greys. Heavily desaturated blues, teals, and browns do the job better, IMO.
Save the color black for outlines if you want a real “comic” look. Stay away from coloring with black or grey until you draw something that’s 100% absent of light (black) or 100% absent of color (grey). When you finally use those colors for their intended themes, they’ll have a greater effect.
Just a little guide. It really bugs me when I see people make those mistakes and it irks me even more when I see people make those mistakes even tho they wear glasses themselves :B
Anon wanted to know how I do that light effect like in this picture, so here you go. Like anything else I do, it’s pretty simple! Go forth and use mysterious, extreme light sources.
will this help? it’s just my own way of doing things though, and using references really helps too; it’s hard to draw from memory alone. also, knowing the 7 or 8 head proportion of the body is useful as well
i’ll tag it in my art tag so that you guys can find it easily too!!
i’m going to be reblogging this for the next few days to make sure that everybody who wants these programs can get them because i know they can be damn hard to find, so here you go guys!! ♥
Аноним asked: Since you're on the topic of how to draw haikyuu characters hair, can you explain kuroo's hair to me?? It's looks so simple and yet so hard! It makes me so frustrated uggh
Some tutorials that I’ve come across, organized both for my own viewing pleasure and to hopefully assist others as well. I update this list whenever I come across new, helpful pieces.
A lot of these are hosted on my personal Tumblr, but I don’t change my url so it’s pretty safe to bookmark them there (and not have to worry about the url changing) if you don’t wish to reblog them yourself for whatever reason.
Feline tutorials:
The domestic cat body
Improving upon (lion) anatomy
Realistic lion faces tips
Big cat paw tips
Canine vs. feline - paws and legs
Guide to big cats
Feline comparison
Canine vs. feline - facial anatomy
Canine vs. feline - chest anatomy
Guide to little cats
Big cat eyes (could work for other eyes)
Spot variation in big cats
Big cat studies
Feline feet
Extremely helpful big cat references
Domestic cat references
Canine tutorials:
Basic wolf anatomy
Skeleton notes on wolf legs
The wolf skeleton as a whole
The wolf skull and teeth
Wolf paw tips
Basic canine poses
Canine ears and chest
Drawing realistic wolves
Basic wolf tutorial
Wolf paw tutorial
Paw pad tips
Canine vs. feline - paws and legs
Canine vs. feline - facial anatomy
Canine vs. feline - chest anatomy
And this is just an excellent DA for wolf reference images
Fluid greyhound studies
Detailed canine nose tutorial
Avian tutorials:
Bird wing anatomy applied on humanoids
Bird wing tutorial (lots of underrated tips)
Varying bird wing structure
Basic owl anatomy
Bird wing vs. bat wing vs. pterodactyl wing vs. human arm
Bird wings and flight
Various bird wings
Eagle facts sheet
Bird muscular and skeletal anatomy
Some great photograph bird (wing) references
Dorsal anatomy of a bird wing
Winged people anatomy
Don’t forget the secondaries
Human(oid) tutorials:
Facial features:
Excellent expressions tut
Altalamatox face tutorial
Profile proportions
Expression tutorial
Virtual lighting studio
Various facial and body shapes reference
Drawing the nose
Human mouths
Breaking down the human nose
How to draw the ear
Jawline and kissing tip
The human head at various angles
Advice on eyes
Nose shapes
The human skull and face
Facial features
Portrait lighting cheat sheet
Animating dialogue (mouth movement)
A kissing tutorial
Expressions photo references
Semi-realistic eye tutorial
Painting a realistic eye
The face in profile
The human head at various angles
Muscles in the neck and face
Breakdown of lips
Blocked out human faces
Average feminine faces of the world
Expressive eye reference
Excellent ear anatomy tutorial
Constraining the face
The face at various angles
Human faces
Excellent teeth tutorial. Animalistic, but it works
Tips on teeth
Colours of the face
Photographic mouth/teeth reference
Stylized noses and ears
Neck, shoulders, arms, back, and torso:
A masculine shoulder study
Muscles in the neck and face
Neck and torso tut
Masculine torso anatomy in use
Arm shape and muscles
Breaking up the masculine torso
Feminine anatomy patterns
Masculine torso photo reference
Over the shoulder poses
Shoulder structure (masculine)
Masculine torso in motion
A neat arm trick
Detailed arm muscle drawings
Masculine muscle reference
Human back tips
Movement and muscles of the neck, torso, and arms
Simplifying a muscular masculine torso
Drawing boobs
Feminine vs masculine arms and shoulders
Making sure feminine people have room for organs and realistic boobs
Shoulders vs hips
Hands on hips poses
Muscles of the arms and shoulders (in motion)
Varied masculine and feminine torso references
Legs, hips, and feet:
Masculine vs. feminine waist
Feminine anatomy patterns
The human hips
Masculine legs reference
A beginner’s guide to knees
Feet and shoes tutorial
Simplifying the human foot
Feet reference drawings
Feet, ankles, and shoes
Shoulders vs hips
Bent legs yes and no’s (feminine)
Hands and feet from cone shapes
Hands:
Hand tips and reference
Simplifying hands
The human hand
More hand(y) tips
Yet another hands tutorial
The fist
The hand in motion
Hand and feet tips
Excellent hand and feet studies
How hands grip a sword
Hand poses
Boxing out the hand
Hello more hand refs
Hand angle references
Correct grip on a pistol
Various hand references (with object holding poses)
Simple hands, fingers, and nails
Hands and feet from cone shapes
Full body and poses:
Simplifying human anatomy
Understanding anatomy part 1 (follow desc. links for more)
A guide to movement: flexibility
Pose tutorial
Varying the feminine figure
Excellent action and couple references
Various athletic builds
Proportional height of different positions
The human body in perspective
Body type diversity
Another feminine body tutorial
Fullbody proportions tutorial
Guide to human types
Couple pose photo references
Practice figure drawing (animals as well)
How weight sits on different (feminine) bodies
Kneeling and sitting stock references
Constructing poses and the line of action
Varying your body types (feminine)
Large source of feminine anatomy references
Hair and skin:
Various types of hair
Drawing hair
Skintone palettes
Variation of colour throughout the skin
Painting skin
Skin tutorial
Skin undertones (masculine examples)
Drawing freckles
Drawing different types of hair
Other:
Bird wing anatomy applied on humanoids
Animal feet on a human figure
Various human bone studies
Interesting mythical creature skeletons with humanoid anatomy
Winged people anatomy
Dragon tutorials (and bat wings):
Anatomy of the Western dragon
Dragon wing tips
Dragon wing tutorial
Dragon anatomy
Dragon tutorial
Bat wing anatomy tutorial
Equine tutorials:
Basic horse (back) reference
The equine skeleton
A good, large collection of horse stock references
Skeleton of a horse and its rider
Horse hooves
Skeletal and fluid horse studies
Cervine tutorials:
Basic deer anatomy
Deer skeleton drawing
Deer musculature
Deer skeleton
Fluid deer studies
The Big Book of Drawing: deer
Reindeer noses
Ursine tutorials:
Fantastic bear anatomy/poses references
Basic bear structure
Bear anatomy tutorial
Miscellaneous animal tutorials:
Sheep vs. goats
Anteater studies
Chimp studies
Asian elephant skeletal drawing
Animating four legged creatures
Various animal studies from an animation aspect
Drawing rats
A tutorial on creature design
Snake mouths
Amazing teeth tutorial
Background and objects tutorials:
Griffsnuff background tut part 1 (second in desc.)
Tree tutorial
Realistic gems tut
Water tutorial
General water tutorial
Drawing crystals
Drawing bows
Painting rocks
Parts of a saber (other swords linked in desc.)
Analyzing key and contrast/time of day/etc
Corner-pin perspective distortion
Using three cubes to make a street view
Cloud tutorial
A beautiful flower tutorial
A simple but effective tree tutorial
Drawing mechanical objects
Multiple tree tutorials
Perspective tricks
Weapon and shield accessory tutorial
Background painting tips (blocks and angular objects)
Clothing tutorials:
Fabric tutorial
Clothing folds part 1 (second in desc.)
Drawing hoods
Drawing jeans
Hat on human figure reference
Armor
More hat on figure references
Different shirt collars
Collars, sport backs, vests, and pants
Draperies and costumes
Making colourful fabric patterns
Baseball cap reference
A ton of clothing references
A boatload of well-organized clothing refs
Feet and shoes tutorial
Dressing Rosalind Lutece (older female clothing)
Feet, ankles, and shoes
Hats and how to draw them
Clothing folds tutorial
Drawing clothing wrinkles
A breakdown of medieval armor
Drawing hoods
General painting, drawing, and style tips:
Altalamatox digital painting walkthrough
Simple fur tutorial
Realism painting tutorial (human subject)
Excellent colour tutorial
Painting a wolf (good fur painting visual)
Photoshop brushes tut
Basics of Photoshop tutorial
Another digital painting tutorial
Common digital painting mistakes
Colour and light
Soft cel-shading tutorial
Various types of hair
Colour tips and the mood it expresses
Composition tips
Lighting and colour tips
Shadows
Another composition tut
Simple colouring via overlay
From paper to digital
Painting gold
Colour palette turtles
Excellent fur painting tutorial
Skin painting tips
Colouring black and white pictures
Creating a colour palette with MS Paint
Obeying screen direction
Analyzing key and contrast/time of day/etc
The coil technique
Colour adjustment tips
Making flat colour pieces look gorgeous
Blending with hard brushes
Outlining in SAI
Uncommon information regarding colours
Compositional balance
Visual algorithms
Gesture over anatomy
Disney Chris Sanders’ style tips
Design, colour, and value
Decent art without lining or shading
Varied shots of the human figure
Cinematography of the Incredibles
Giving characters personality with poses and expressions
