Sheik-San

[Rei-San]

Link (http://kenta-san.deviantart.com/art/Sheik-San-108469809)

I'm back from the Dead. : D Though I doubt some of you remember me...

I started a new account, and this is the pic I chose to upload first. To a while but if I can I might go back and White out some of the left arm, to make it look more anatomically authentic.

[HUnewearl_Meira]

Yeah, that left arm is really the only thing that is apparently out of place. It'd be down to her knee, no question.

[AlexCraig]

Not bad. I agree with Meira about the left arm, though. Other than that, not bad.

[qoxolg]

What I'de like to add about the knees, is that they look like baseballs. Try to search up some pictures of real knees and you'll see the allmost disappear in the rest of the leg.

Now my main issue (and the only thing I actually do know shit about) is the shading.
• First: The shading looks overal flat. It looks like a flat plate with some kind of bumbmap applied to it. The reason why I use multiple layers to shade, is because you have to shade the big shapes of the body and the small stuff. If you don't shape the big shapes the picture will look completly flat. When I look at the picture I can't really place where the light is comming from.
• Second: You follow your linework when shading, which is pretty much wrong. You can see this at the cape thing of Sheik. You only shade as far as you've drawn the lines.. but this is very wrong with clothing. You really have to think out how the fold flow and why they actually appear. Also the shading is to harsh, since I can acutally see the brushstrokes you made, which is not a good thing.
With anime the shading also goes beyond the linework. Try to figure out how stuff in anime/mange gets shaded to get a better idea of where the shades should be placed.

• Third: It's hard for me to understand what kind of shading style you are after. Are you going for a personal CG look or for some type of anime/manga cellshading? I might be able to give some tips on how to improve your coloring.

I am sorry for the bad english and for sounding like an ass.. :wacko: it's overal not a bad picture at all!

Goodluck :wacko: hope you keep active here now :P

[Rei-San]

The type of shading I'm after is really that of a manga artist. At least in terms of the illustration books that they make. I can probably send you links for examples. But the left arm is really the only problem I see... I try to follow their shading style but shading always seems to blend in some way with the line art.

[Sayara]

your shade style would look EXTREME if you did some over exaggerated shadows. In the spots where the body is blocking over parts, make it a good deal darker, I'd like to see how that would look with your EXTREME Lighting you have too.

i hate watermarks over imagesimagesimages

[qoxolg]

@Ray:
You can either PM them or post them here. I will see i I can think of something.
The way your 'blending' looks now, is as if I dunno.. it doesn't look like shading.. it looks like dark undynamic brushstrokes.
Make sure that you have photoshop setup, that the size of the brush reacts to the pressure of your Wacom pen.

Yeah.. and ditch the watermarks. I've never marked any of my pictures, and I always post full resolution versions. Till now I've never seen any of my own art flying around.

EDIT:
Don't forget to make your flats cleaned up. I can see a lot of holes in the fullres version, which can easily be prevented. Also when shading use the flats layer to select your stuff with the wand, and not the lineart layer.

[Rei-San]

I've already sent Q these links, but I'll put these here for all to see if anyone wants to help. A few galleries of Manga illustrations from the artbooks that the artists made. Its the style I want. Manga illustration.

Here's Guilty Gear (http://gallery.digik.net/gallery/290)

Then there's Bleach (http://gallery.digik.net/gallery/368)

Then there's Full Metal Alchemist (http://gallery.digik.net/gallery/10)

I'm also gonna start looking at some more tutorials on deviant art, primarily that of my idol(s). I looked at them and realized/remembered how much help they could be.

[qoxolg]

Well the main thing with those pictures is: The are not digitally colored, but traditionally. To get this exact same look with photoshop can be a bit of a challenge, but there are plenty beautifull digitall anime/manga coloring styles out there.

I just made an example of what I meant with the shading of the cape. I just took your picture from dA and re-lined the part I wanted to color. I pretty much didn't try to change any of your line art.
The difference with my version and your original, is that my shading lines are actually going somewhere without stopping at the edge of a line. it will give a lot more natural look to the clothing. How did I do? simple! use multiple layers and a very low opactiy brush! eventually one additional burn layer to give it an overal shadow on one side, and a dodge layer to light it some up. I also added a simple dropshadow layer that give a darker shadow that is casted by other objects.

looks like this (don't worry, my domain hosting is not findeble on google):
http://jojo.sappusx.com/ok81a.jpg (http://kenta-san.deviantart.com/art/Sheik-San-108469809)
I also gave you credit just in case someone would misunderstand.

I know this is not your coloringstyle, but it should give you an idea of how to shade clothing.
if your shading is solic enough, you can even erase some of the inner lines like this (http://jojo.sappusx.com/ok81b.jpg)

EDIT:
oh and you can post your DA links like this:
[devart=username]picturenumber[/devart

In your case it would be like:
[devart=kenta-san]xxxxxxxxx[/devart

At the place of the xxxxxxxxx you put the number of your art, so in Sheiks case it would be 108469809

Don't forget to close the last /devart with a bracet

[Rei-San]

That's exactly how I want my shading to look. :( Ok I think I see what I need to do, thanks.

[qoxolg]

I can send you my PSD file if you wanna look into it :) probably only the burn layer won't work completly on your version of photoshop. If you want it, I'll upload it for you (I'll PM the link this time).

If you wanna know how I do it:
This text/video tutorial I made explains it very detailed! http://Sappel.deviantart.com/art/Qreal-Coloring-Tutorial-104958743