Any tips on shading advice

Hi,

I usually see this thread flooded with people asking opinions about logos etc. But I was procrastinating from my revision and have coloured in a line art, any tips on where I could improve my shading technique. I'm really not an artist, but like messing around in photoshop.

http://samaravsalma.deviantart.com/...-m-fine-301527736?q=gallery:samaravsalma&qo=0

I will say I'm not quite happy with one of the eyes, and I gave up on the hair. Maybe upping contrast may help it seem less flat :/

Anyway, comments welcome

kevinfulton.ca said:

Overall a great effort! One trick that some people dont think about is the use of Inner Glow instead of using drop shadows, brushes and gradients. They're surprisingly effective at creating depth to the image and I'd suggest utilizing that technique around the eyes. I also notice that the lighting appears inconsistent. It's coming from the top left around the face and bottom right around the hand and shoulder. It's good practice to decide which direction the light is coming from and sticking with it throughout the image. Something that I found that really helped me was when I learned how to light for photography and how the light landed on subjects using different lights and sources. You'll find this will drastically improve your future drawings. Hope this helps and keep it up!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll let you know a bit more my process, incase there is something I could have done better.
So as you can see through the progression, I basically selected the base colours for eye bit (left out the eyes). From there I would use the colour picker and either lighten or darken it and paint it on. After that I used the smudge tool to blend.
I know I could use the drop shadow and that in some cases, but I tend to find more control with this method, however, as you say the lighting is inconsistent and that is probably something that has resulted because of me doing it this way.
I was aware when doing it, that knowing how light falls on different surfaces/shapes is something I really can't visualise (yet). Would a good place to start is find a reference image of someone in a similar position and just studying have the light falls on each bit?

Thanks

kevinfulton.ca said:

Absolutely yes! Not just that, but also do a little research on different lighting setups for Photography. Different set ups will give different results and will help you visualize where all the lights might be located. It makes for a lot of extra thinking, but the results and well worth it.

Click to expand...

OK great thanks

I have now finished my exams so have more free time to try this out

Thanks again

CrickettGrrrl said:

Here is a nice (short) video tutorial on digital shading:
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/home/2012/2/28/form-value-and-light.html

There is a lot of good stuff on this site.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I'll give it a watch