Pixel Art Tutorials

[RoconzaArt]

Part 2: Shading and coloring.

Now for part two we will look at shading and coloring your pixel art. Let's assume your done with your line art and want to color now. Let me explain some basics of shading.



Shading:

Now it's a basic concept and important to adding depth to any work of art. I assume you all have a working knowledge of light sources. In which before you do any thing you most establish were the light is hitting your object.

Basically you most decide were your like light sources is and the best way to do this is to draw a sun and lines.


You must determine were the lights rays hit and bounce off objects. Now I'm not going in to detail about light sources because I'm not the best person to explain it.


Pillow shading:
Why you want to avoid it like the plague and why.

The greatest evil that has ever been know. We pixel artists have given it a name that is pillow shading! *thunder clap*

If you don't know what it is then let me enlighten you. Pillow shading is the act of putting the light source at the center of your pixel art. This is the most common mistake new pixel artists can make.

I don't care what any one tells you pillow shading will make your work seem ugly. In short to be blunt you'll be laughed out of any respectable pixel art community. There are some very rare moments you will ever want to use it and there few and far between.

Now the only times pillow shading is common is in smiles and emotes. In these cases it works and looks pretty ok.


Gradient Shading:
Shading over kill and why you should use dithering.

The second most common mistake is adding to many shades to the point of being over kill. You do not need many colors in your shading. For most work you will not need more then three maybe four shades in you art work including high lights. If you add to many shades it add awkwardness not depth your work.


This artist added way to many shades making it a shading mess.


The Magic of Dithering!:

Remember this:

Think of your self a magician, a person uses techniques to make the impossible seem real. There some things that are imposable for pixel art to so your job is to give the illusion that it is possible.

Let's say you only have three color in you shade and you want to add another color to make it blend...WHOA WHOA WHOA STOP! Ya NO! you do not need to go adding and more colors in your pixel art. Time for the magic trick know as dithering. Wait but what is dithering any way?

Think of dithering like cross-hatching in that it gives the illusion there is another shade there but your really only using one color! Let's say your making a roof and you have two colors for your shade. Well it looks kinda flat but instead of adding a new color use dithering to blend the two colors. you want to play around with different pattern and arrangements.

Originally Posted by derekyu.com

Thede images will give you a idea of what I'm talking about.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1295641849

Dithering is like a spice, you do not want to add to much of it or you will over power your dish. I my self don't use it very often in my own art. If you want to use and pull it off you have to practice to find that perfect balance.

Softening Outlines by Coloring them.

After shading you should color your line art/outline to soften and blend your final picture. This is a nice final touch to you art work that will get it more depth then a just black outline.