how to shade anime characters

by Pearlie Mills 10 min read
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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.

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.

Full Answer

How to shade for complete beginners?

Who this course is for:

  • Complete beginners
  • Students with some experience (but who need fundamental drawing skills to progress)
  • Hobby Artists
  • Students setting out on the journey to becoming an artist, illustrator or designer
  • Crafters who want to go beyond pre-made designs
  • Adults and Children (10+)

How to shade an anime face in different lighting?

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 color skin anime?

Table of contents

  1. How do you add color to skin in Photoshop?
  2. What colors make anime skin color?
  3. How do I recolor skin in Photoshop?
  4. Is Adobe Photoshop good for drawing anime?
  5. How do you add skin color?
  6. How do I make all skins the same color in Photoshop?
  7. How can I change the color of my skin in a picture?

How to shade manga hair two ways?

How to apply transparent hair

  1. Apply gloss. Apply gloss with a hair gloss pen. ...
  2. Paint highlights. Create a new layer on the gloss you drew earlier. ...
  3. Apply gradation. Create a new layer on top of the undercoat layer. ...
  4. Fatigue. Lock transparent pixels. ...
  5. Finish. Since the color seems a little light, create a new hue correction layer to darken the color. ...
  6. Complete. It was completed. ...

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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 shading anime style?

10:3515:46Anime Style Coloring Tutorial EXPLAINED - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOr create the spots that you want to have filled. In obviously based off a light source and thenMoreOr create the spots that you want to have filled. In obviously based off a light source and then once you're done you can turn everything. Back. On now at this point for most anime.

How do you colorize anime?

3:5033:00[TUTORIAL] How to Color Anime Hair: THE SEQUEL - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipColor and now what you want to kind of think about is you want to shade in like the same kind of uhMoreColor and now what you want to kind of think about is you want to shade in like the same kind of uh y-axis. So what you want to do what we're going to do is shade.

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.

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 shell shade?

4:1918:10Cell Shading Colouring Tutorial - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd for shapes that you put in with the shading to stand out more it's a good idea to make pastorMoreAnd for shapes that you put in with the shading to stand out more it's a good idea to make pastor Lee kind of colors. Or light colors like if you see these on the color wheel they're.

How do you shade and highlight anime?

1:062:39EASIEST WAY TO COLOR ANIME HAIR - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThere's basically three main areas where shading is applied the first area is the banks. ApplyMoreThere's basically three main areas where shading is applied the first area is the banks. Apply shading at the bank's. Bottom half the second area is the side hair it's basically the same as the banks.

How do you highlight anime?

The most basic type of hair highlight used in anime and manga can just be draw as one simple shape. For this type of hair highlight simply draw two lines to indicate the top and bottom of the hair highlight and then either leave the area white or color it in with a bright color.

How do you color anime abs?

17:1136:48Helping Artist: How To Color Anime/Manga Abs (Pts2) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo you do want to make that Halfmoon type look and keep going down and then finish it off like. SoMoreSo you do want to make that Halfmoon type look and keep going down and then finish it off like. So bring this up just to tap it because he will that will come out more pudge it like you know pudgy.

How can I make my anime look like animated?

2:3014:56How to Make Anime EXPLAINED - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipEven maybe some sketches with different facial expressions. And different poses to really get theMoreEven maybe some sketches with different facial expressions. And different poses to really get the vibe of that character. So that everybody on the team is consistent.How to Make Anime EXPLAINED - YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com › watchhttps://www.youtube.com › watchSearch for: How can I make my anime look like animated?

What does Blue Hair mean in anime?

Blue hair: typically signifies a quiet, soft-spoken, intellectual, sometimes even introverted character – albeit often one with a surprisingly strong will. In addition, such characters tend to get portrayed as refined, tradition-oriented and feminine, quite often even as examples of the Yamato Nadeshiko ideal.Anime Hair Colors: Do They Carry Any Significant Meaning In Japanese ...https://thoughtcatalog.com › martin-schneider › 2015/02https://thoughtcatalog.com › martin-schneider › 2015/02Search for: What does Blue Hair mean in anime?

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 many colors does an object have?

As I said before, each object has 2 colors, one for the light side and one for the shadow side, depending on which side is the main one, that’s the one I will color first. In a scene set in daytime, you usually have a light side that’s a lot bigger than the shadow side, while in night scenes it’s the other way around.

Do you need to color your eyes in Minecraft?

The eyes of the characters, however, tend to have more detail and colors depending on how close the camera is. Of course, you don’t need to use this method to color your character, since you can get the same result with different methods, I personally like to do it this way for 2 main reasons:

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.

What is the anime girl coloring?

Anime girl coloring step by step. The coloring style used in anime is known as “Cel Shading”. Cel shading is a technique generally used in animations and manga/comic book style art as well as 3d renderings where there are no gradients used between the shaded and normal areas.

What are the black areas in anime?

If you are drawing an anime character like the one in the above example the black areas will usually be the eyelashes and pupils of the eyes.

Is cell shading easy?

Cell shading can on one hand be easier as it’s fairly basic shading but at the same time it can be difficult to find the right areas to shade. As mentioned before the suggested shading areas in this tutorial will generally be the ones that are darker in most normal conditions but you can certainly experiment with different types of lighting.

Do you need to color before applying shadows?

You will also want color in your whole drawing before applying the shadows. If you are going to be drawing on paper be sure to leave the highlighted areas white. If you are going to be coloring digitally you can add the highlights after you color the entire drawing. You may also be interested in:

What is anime shading?

You can shade the parts of the forehead hair tucked under the sides with very thin shadows along their bottoms and some fairly small shadows along the lines of the folds.

Where are the shading steps in anime?

Anime pigtails hair shading steps. At the sides and bottom ends of the clumps of the forehead hair. Along the sides of the head. At the bottom halves of the pigtails. Similar to the ponytail example the pigtails will tends to have a shadow cast on them by their upper part as they get narrower towards the bottom.

How is anime hair drawn?

How Anime Hair is Draw. Anime hair sections breakdown. Anime hair is generally drawn in large clumps with a lot of it based on real hairstyles. When drawing hair it can be helpful to break it down into the front, sides, and back/top sections as shown in the red, green and blue above.

Where are the short pigtails in anime?

Anime short pigtails hair shading steps. On the forehead area of the hair running along the sides and bottoms of of the clumps. Towards the bottoms of the side sections of the hair (again along the sides and bottoms of the hair clumps) Along the short pigtails as already described.

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 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.

Where is the shadow on the neck?

Along the forehead hair clumps. Near the bottoms of the side hair sections. On the back section of the hair around the neck (large area) As already mentioned for the long hair shading example the large shadow around the neck will be created by that part of the hair being largely closed off from the light.

How to make a drawing look sharp?

If you want the drawing to look smooth, use soft brushes. If you want it to look sharp, use hard brushes. Add the highlights on the parts where the light comes from. For this drawing, the light is coming from the left. I put highlights on the nose, cheeks, lips, and neck.

How to make your eyes look soft?

Under the nose. On the lips: I like coloring the lips darker from the middle and brighter toward the edges, this will make the lips look very soft.

Can you use more than one color in drawing?

For shading, it’s always good to use more than one color. It will make your drawing more pleasing to look at and less boring! The colors you choose for shading should be darker than the base color. Usually, I use two tones and sometimes mix between them to create more tones.

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1- Introduction

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 here in particular, I will change between them depending on the element of the drawing. For example, to shade characters in anime, you usually only use hard brushes without texture, while for backgrounds you can use a wid...
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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 …
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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…
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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 object of the background has its own layer. For exam…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Coloring & Shading Order

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When coloring and shading a drawing you want to start with the largest areas of the drawing first and work down to the smaller details. You will also want color in your whole drawing before applying the shadows. If you are going to be drawing on paper be sure to leave the highlighted areas white. If you are going to be coloring …
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Step 1 – Outline Drawing

  • Before you can color you should have a nice and clean line drawing of your anime character. If you need help drawing an anime character you can see the Tutorialssection of the site.
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Step 2 – Black Areas

  • The first areas you will want to fill in are any parts that will be completely black or basically the same color as the lines in the line drawing. If you are drawing an anime character like the one in the above example the black areas will usually be the eyelashes and pupils of the eyes. Again be sure to leave the reflections white when filling in ...
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Step 3 – Body Color

  • As the body will be the one of the major areas of the drawing we will color that in first. At this stage simply fill in the entire area with one solid color
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Step 4 – Clothes Color

  • In this case the clothes are just the shirt which. Fill it in with one solid color just like the body. For drawing anime clothes see: How to Draw Anime & Manga Clothes
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Step 5 – Hair Color

  • When coloring the hair once again leave the highlight area white if drawing on paper. If drawing digitally you can add the highlight in over top of the color. For drawing anime hair see: How to Draw Anime & Manga Male & Female Hair
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Step 6 – Eye Color

  • As the pupils will be black simply color in the iris of the eyes. For drawing anime eyes see: 1. How to Draw Anime Eyes and Eye Expressions 2. How to Draw Different Types of Anime and Manga Eyes 3. 4 Ways to Draw Crying Anime Eyes 4. How to Draw Anime & Manga Eyes – Side View
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Step 7 – Mouth Color

  • Color in the mouth area excluding the teeth. For drawing anime mouths see: 1. How to Draw Anime and Manga Mouth Expressions 2. How to Draw Anime & Manga Mouths – Side View
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Step 8 – Body Shading

  • For the sake of keeping the tutorial fairly easy we will only apply bare minimum shadows to the body shading the most commonly shaded areas. In this case we will add: 1. Shadows on the head from the hair 2. A shadow on one side of the nose 3. Some tiny shadows around the eyelid areas 4. A shadow to the neck cast by the head 5. Shadows to emphasize the collar bones
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Step 9 – Clothes Shading

  • As the clothing for this example is fairly tight with no folds just add a tiny shadow below the chest area. For shading more complex anime clothes you can see: How to Draw an Anime School Girl in 6 Steps
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