how to do anime shading

by Prof. Leopoldo Friesen PhD 8 min read
image

How to Shade an Anime Face in Different Lighting

  • General Lighting Anime Face Shading. This shading option is usually suitable to most common lighting conditions where there is no particularly strong one directional light source.
  • Side/Top Lit Anime Face Shading. When the light is coming from above and to one side of the character the shadows will be cast on an angle.
  • Side Lit Anime Face Shading. When the light is coming directly from one side you will pretty much have an evenly split (down the middle) light and a dark side ...
  • Bottom Lit Anime Face Shading
  • Top Lit Anime Face Shading. Top lighting will basically be the reverse of the bottom lighting described above.
  • Back Lit Anime Face Shading. Back lighting will pretty much create a sort of “outline” of light around the character. ...
  • Conclusion. While Cel shading is fairly easy to apply as long as you have a general understanding of where to place the shadows.

Top Lit Anime Face Shading
  1. Forehead – will be completely lit up as it curves towards the above light source.
  2. Nose – the upper side as it faces towards the light.
  3. Cheeks – the upper area of the cheekbones.
  4. Upper Lip – as it sticks out just a little bit and will catch some of the light.

What are different anime shading techniques?

Anime face shading different lighting. Anime and manga generally use a technique known as “Cel” shading which is shading without gradients. Cel shading is generally much faster and easier to apply to a drawing than realistic shading which makes it great for shading quickly shading multiple frames of an animation or many panels of manga.

How to shade in anime?

Shading Your Drawings Like An Anime Movie

  1. INTRODUCTION. Hi everyone, it´s Konart. ...
  2. BRUSHES. In this tutorial I will be using some brushes, but the ones that I use for almost everything tend to be just 3 or 4 of them, and ...
  3. THE SKETCH. ...
  4. LINEART. ...
  5. COLORING THE BACKGROUND. ...
  6. COLORING THE CHARACTER. ...
  7. POSTPRODUCTION. ...
  8. CONCLUSION. ...
  9. THANK YOU. ...

How to shade anime drawings?

Anime and manga generally use a technique known as “Cel” shading which is shading without gradients. Cel shading is generally much faster and easier to apply to a drawing than realistic shading which makes it great for shading quickly shading multiple frames of an animation or many panels of manga.

How to shade anime skin?

Shading and rendering: On the clipped layer, we can finally start shading. All the shading will take place on this layer. I color pick the skin base color and move the hue to a bit reddish tone and choose a darker variation of that color. This will be our medium shade color.

image

How do you shade like an anime?

40:1347:40Drawing and Coloring CEL SHADING Tutorial | ANIME STYLE - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI reduce the opacity I change the blending mode to linear dodge. And now I'm just brushing over theMoreI reduce the opacity I change the blending mode to linear dodge. And now I'm just brushing over the hair. Just like shadows. It doesn't matter.

How do you shade anime digitally?

Shading Anime “Hair Over One” Eye Step by StepStep 1 – Prepare a Line Drawing of the Hair. Anime hair over one eye line drawing. ... Step 2 – Color the Hair. Anime hair over one eye coloring. ... Step 3 – Add the Shading. Anime hair over one eye shading. ... Step 4 – Add the Highlights. Anime hair over one eye highlights drawing.

How do you shade anime shadows?

The simple idea of how to add a shadow is to "attach to the opposite side of the direction in which light exists." If there is light on the left, it will be on the right, and if there is light on the top, it will be on the bottom. If you remember this much, I think it's good for now.

How do you make an anime cell shade?

3:225:22Cel Shading Art Tips - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou can also play around with the opacity of your cell shaded layers to achieve the look you wantMoreYou can also play around with the opacity of your cell shaded layers to achieve the look you want less opacity will make the cell shading more subtle as the base color blends in with the highlights.

What hair color means in anime?

Meaning, in most cases, the color of an anime character's hair does not reflect some natural hair color or a racial stereotype – instead, it is supposed to be a hint towards their personality and their role in the plot.

How do you pencil shade your hair?

2:0214:42How to Draw Realistic Hair with Graphite Pencils - Tutorial - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo the first pencil that I like to use is the b-grade pencil. And so what I'm doing is I'm justMoreSo the first pencil that I like to use is the b-grade pencil. And so what I'm doing is I'm just getting in the basic structures of the hair I'm using more sort of layers on the shadowed.

What is anime shading called?

Anime-style or Cel Shading coloring is a style that mimics how traditional anime was animated. It applied simple shading without blending to make it easier to animate. To enhance this kind of coloring style, you can use other tools like gradients or effects.

How do you do anime lighting?

7:1211:30HOW TO COLOR ANIME LIGHTING | Day and Night - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipWe've got to do this with an airbrush. And this layer is kind of above. Everything it's even aboveMoreWe've got to do this with an airbrush. And this layer is kind of above. Everything it's even above the line art layer. The same way we had that sunlight from above in daytime.

How can I learn cell shading?

0:001:23Learn Digital Cell Shading - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipNext I'll show you how to create an under drawing for your painting by layering rough sketches onMoreNext I'll show you how to create an under drawing for your painting by layering rough sketches on top of each other. Then we'll learn how to create a shape layer for our painting.

How do you know where to put shadows?

2:5316:06How to Add Shadows to a Drawing (& Where to Place Them) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIf you're going to choose one side to add just a little bit of extra tone to it's always going to beMoreIf you're going to choose one side to add just a little bit of extra tone to it's always going to be. This. Left-hand side of each one of the components. Now I'm not going in super dark.

How do you shade a character?

2:1112:35How to Shade Characters With a Pencil [*4 ways] SIMPLE - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipFor the shadow. Start with a thin light strip touching the bottom of her feet. Because the shadowsMoreFor the shadow. Start with a thin light strip touching the bottom of her feet. Because the shadows are on the right side of her body darkening to the right is accurate.

How do you do anime lighting?

7:1211:30HOW TO COLOR ANIME LIGHTING | Day and Night - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAlso coming in with a warm light it's like an extra light source. We've got to do this with anMoreAlso coming in with a warm light it's like an extra light source. We've got to do this with an airbrush. And this layer is kind of above. Everything it's even above the line art layer.

Why do you need to add more detail to drawings?

Usually, the objects that are closer to the camera, have a lot more detail than the objects further back, and that’s because they don’t need to have that much detail , when everything in a drawing has the same level of detail, nothing stands out, so you only need to add more details to the parts that matter the most.

How to avoid white spots in silhouette?

To avoid having and white spots, I tend to turn the silhouette layer on again and fill it with the same color as the lineart by locking the transparent pixels. You could just fix these problems by coloring it better and more carefully, but I feel like doing it that way takes too much time, that’s why I just use the silhouette layer to fix my mistakes. Just keep in mind that this is something I use to save time, and not something you would do if you were to animate it.

How many colors can you add to a character?

Usually, to speed up the production, characters only have 2 values per color, that means, one color for the light side, and one color for the shadow side. You can add more than 2, but keep in mind that the more you add, the longer it will take to color the character, and if you add too much layers of shadow, you run the risk of the character not looking like something from an anime show or movie. The eyes of the characters, however, tend to have more detail and colors depending on how close the camera is.

Can you make corrections with a black silhouette?

It’s possible that even with the black silhouette layer you’ll still need to make some corrections manually, so be careful with that. A tip to avoid that is to set the brush you’re using for the lineart with the anti-aliasing at the minimum, that makes the lines a bit cleaner and it will be easier when you try to color the drawing.

Can you use Clip Studio Paint on single image?

These are adjustments that usually, in animation, would be done with software for video editing, however, Clip Studio Paint has tools that can help you achieve a similar result when working in single images. First, to be safe, save every layer from your drawing in a single folder and then copy that folder.

Can you animate a character?

Animating characters takes a lot of time, so anime studios use just clean lines and flat colors. Sure, you probably won’t animate your drawing, but if you want it to look like the real thing, you will need to draw as if it will be animated.

Do you need to clip correction to character?

And then one for the character. Remember to first clip the correction layer to the character layer so that it only affects that layer, otherwise it will also affect the background layers, so you need to clip the correction layer to the character layer and, after you’re done adjusting it, merge the correction layer with the character layer. Same with the background layers, so every correction layer clipped to another layer, will need to be merged to said layer.

How is anime hair shaded?

How Anime Hair is Shaded. Generally anime and manga hair is shaded without gradients and has hard transition between it’s light and dark areas. This makes the shading process much faster but at the same time a little tricky as it can be difficult to figure out where the boundary between light and dark should be placed.

How to make your hair shiny in anime?

To make the hair look shiny add some highlights. You can draw these as a series of lines with some joined into small zigzags. Sometimes anime hair will be drawn with only one main highlight area but in this case we will add a highlight for each major part of the hairstyle (also common in anime and manga).

What is a pigtail shaded like?

The pigtails will be shaded similar to the pony tail in an earlier example with the hair clumps being shaded similar to most other examples.

How to draw highlights?

Draw the highlights as a series of curved and zigzag lines. Position the first highlight across the forehead area of the hair. Try and draw the lines that comprise it to flow along the shape of the part of the hair that they are on. For example draw the lines on more of an angle to flow along the curved parts of the hair that are tucked under the sides.

What is anime hair?

Anime hair is generally drawn in large clumps with a lot of it based on real hairstyles.

Where to draw shadows on hair?

Draw the shadows running along the sides of the various hair clumps towards the bottom portions of the different section of the hair.

What happens if you draw shadows too dark?

If you make them too dark they will look unnatural and if you make them too light they may not be visible.

How to make a skin tone?

First, make sure your line art or sketch is done. Then create a new layer and place it underneath your line art/sketch layer and use the bucket tool to fill your base skin tone in that layer (use the magic wand tool to make sure that the base color is only covering the skin and not spreading to the hair etc.) Demonstration: ...

How to make your lips not flat?

To prevent the lips from looking too flat, I used the same technique of shading and highlighting the cheeks on the lips. I used the same tool " lighter pencil" for adding a slight tint of lipstick and shadow under the lips. Then I used the G-pen to add oval shaped highlights with an off-white color. (Tip: These small highlights when added together make the drawing look way more polished and skin like).

What tool do you use to draw anime?

If you want more of a hand-drawn look, it’s best to use a pencil tool. But if you want it to be sharp like in anime, the G-Pen will help you achieve that effect.

What is anime style coloring?

Anime-style or Cel Shading coloring is a style that mimics how traditional anime was animated. It applied simple shading without blending to make it easier to animate. To enhance this kind of coloring style, you can use other tools like gradients or effects.

How to soften a Gaussian blur?

By applying Gaussian blur on the top layer (spend some time playing with the settings to find the right level for your illustration) and decreasing the opacity by about 20 – 40%, you can soften the illustration even more.

What type of layer do you use for line art?

For the line art, let’s use a vector layer. Vector layers are different from raster layers. See this article for a good explanation about how they’re different: https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/600 You can use whatever pen, pencil, or brush you like to do line art. This time I used the G-pen and Real Pencil.

What does "all layers" mean in art?

All layers: will refer to all layers on the canvas.

How are Clip Studio tools organized?

In Clip Studio Paint, tools are organized by type. Each Tool has sub tool categories. The drawing tools are all in the same category in the sub tool palette.

When you add a background, do you need to adjust the color?

Instead of recoloring the whole background, you can make use of Correction Layers.

image

1- Introduction

2- Brushes

3- The Sketch

  • If you want to make it look authentic, I recommend to start by drawing the character with a background. In anime shows or movies, the characters are almost never just standing there with nothing in the background, they’re usually in a room, in the street, or at school, and as we will see soon, the way you shade the background is one of the main elements to consider if you’re going …
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

4- Lineart

  • Now, if you want your drawing to look like something from an anime show or movie, you need to follow the same steps that are used to make anime, and that means, for starters, to have a clean lineart. When you’re working in a more painterly style, you might not need a clean lineart, or even a sketch, but that’s not the case here. Animating characters takes a lot of time, so anime studios u…
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

5- Coloring The Background

  • For the coloring stage of the background, I don’t clean up the sketch. This may be different in some anime, but usually, backgrounds have no lineart, they tend to be a bit more realistic, so they don’t need it. So instead of cleaning up the sketch, I lower its opacity and start adding flat colors in a layer behind. Try to make it so that every obje...
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

6- Coloring The Character

  • Now we will color the character. First, in another layer, I will draw the lines that indicate where the shadows go. The color for these lines doesn’t matter, however, it’s a good idea to use very vibrant and saturated colors to make them look different from the lineart. Also, to avoid getting confused, you can use different colors depending on the parts of the characters, for example, red for the s…
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

7- Postproduction

  • We’re almost done, now we just need to add the postproduction adjustments. These are adjustments that usually, in animation, would be done with software for video editing, however, Clip Studio Paint has tools that can help you achieve a similar result when working in single images. First, to be safe, save every layer from your drawing in a single folder and then copy tha…
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

8- Conclusion

  • If I had to explain it with the least amount of words possible, it would be like this: “if you want your drawing to look like something from an anime show or movie, draw like they do and follow the same process” Obviously, there are differences since this is a single drawing and those are animations, but my point is that you need to imitate the process if you want it to look similar. Se…
See more on tips.clip-studio.com

9- Thank You

  • I’m still kind of new to giving tutorials, so I hope I was able to explain it well enough. Also, English is not my first language, so if there are some grammatical errors feel free to tell me in the comments. Thank you for reading to the very end, I really hope this tutorial was of some help to you, if it did, feel free to give it a heart and leave a comment. Also, you can check out my stuff o…
See more on tips.clip-studio.com