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Stribs' random drawings....

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Stribs' random drawings....

Hello Awn Forum. Amazing stuff on this place as usual.

I've alwasy enjoyed just randomly doodling little cartoons and such but never know how to take it further with shading and making it basically look better.

I would really like to know how to shade the attached picture, and generally where to darken areas. If there are any tutorials online that guys know of?

Thanks guys!

Stribs

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Hummmm a little Thing i can suggest, is in your minds eye decide where you want the direction of the light to be coming from ...for instance stage left or stage right or actually where ever you want it to come from. An example for you to look at is this pic of mine it was a study in light for myself. i wanted light coming from different directions. hope you can see it? Anyway another way to look at shadowing is to take a toy or object and shine a flashlight on it and you can actually see the detail of what the piece looks like with light and darks. Remember also when you draw shadow lines such as the eyes on the face and the one missing eye. Make sure your shadow line works as in the same direction of lighting from what I can see the shadow line on the button is on the left and the inset line for depth on the missing eye is on the right. that confuses the art a bit. Hope I could be of some help? nice little character though. you should post more of your work I'd love to see it. As far as a book on shadowing .hummmmm? I'll look around and get back to you on that!

cart:D:D

Hi Stribs,

There are a lot of great books and tutorials out there on the subject but maybe try Bridgman's Complete Guide To Drawing From Life. It contains some really good advice on light and shading and one I haven't yet gotten around to reading but looks to have a good section on it is Life Drawing by Robert Barrett. Good luck!

Thank you very much for your replies, I like the idea of shining a torch and taking note of the shaded areas.

My drawings are all very 2d, straight forward... If I try and put a character on an angle I struggle to make anything look in proportion. Obviously practice is key.

The 2 attached are what i mean by my classic 2d, they have no personality and just seem really dull so im not sure how to improve and make them interesting.

Ah, maybe take a look at examples of art that you would like to emulate (maybe the Simpsons, Calvin and Hobbes, etc.) for ideas. I often for inspiration from other artist's work to help me decide on where I want to go with a piece.
Mind you even flat characters will sometimes have loose simplified shadows and highlights applied for mood and I thought Bridgeman's might help because he breaks things down to their basic geometric shapes. It really helps in understanding where to add shadows based on the direction of light. Some other methods I've noticed are: varying line weight (heavier lines for areas in shadow, versus lines facing the light), varying line styles and weights between the foreground and background, or sometimes the character in the foreground will be very flat, while the backgrounds are more elaborate or painterly to make the character pop from the background. Maybe instead of flat colour, try the use of watercolour or pencil crayon? Colour choices also effect the mood.

Btw, I like your character designs. Especially the dude with the glasses. Cheers! :D

I agree everything she said! learn basic shapes and train the eye to the shadows and you will get it. You already have a talent for characters. Practice practice practice:D