HOME | DD

Description
Part One - Setting up the base colours:

Part Three - Shading/Highlights and Blending Colours:

This is Part two. This part will cover the basic steps of shading. Part 3 covers the more detailed/complex side of things.
Just to re-emphasize this fact, I am not a professional. I do not work in the art industry. But I still felt like sharing what I've learned.

Part Two - Shading

1- First image is where we left off in Part one.

2 - First thing I want to do is get rid of the white background. This is a panel for a comic, so I'm going to keep the background really simply and just go with a gradient colour from the primary source of light in this picture, which is going to be Cells' golden halo, (since he's dead). So I just use the golden light blended to black for contrast and use the radial gradient to emenate out from our light source.
TL;DR - Give your picture a background that tells you where the light is.

3- Duplicate your colour layer, twice. The first copy, Press cntrl U in photoshop to bring up the hue/saturation menu, and drag the saturation bar all the way to the left. You want absolutely no color on this layer. Name the layer and lock it.

4- The second duplicate should be on top of the 3 colour layers. Use the drag down menu in the layers pallete, or right click the layer to bring up the blending options, and set this layer to overlay. All those beautiful, vibrant colours are suddenly desaturated.
Why do I do this? Because this way I can shade the entire picture using basically just a dark grey brush rather than having to constantly select different areas and different colours. It is very time efficient and creates some high-contrast results.
You should have 5 layers at this point. Create a new layer and place it underneath the overlay layer, on top of the greyscale.
Keep your layers tidy and organized. Lock layers you aren't working on.

5- I use the path tool to make my selections cleanly. I select the default Airbrush tool, set it to a large size and have the flow at a very low %. For this one, its at only 5%. I make sure the pen sensitivity is disabled for this brush as I want a consistent flow. Choosing the right brush for your image is important. Different brushes give different textures and different styles for your picture. Play around with them.

6- Using the path tool and it's many options, I turn my paths into a selection and using a dark grey brush, I build up shadows inside the selection. The shadows don't have to be solid, I prefer a low opacity that blends well.

7- This is a time consuming process, but it does give a nice shadow. Don't be afraid to overlap shadows. Avoid using black and stick to dark greys, except in high contrast areas, like the glossy shell. If you just use black, the shading becomes too contrasting and looks quite flat.

To be continued in part 3!

Description
Part One - Setting up the base colours:

Part Three - Shading/Highlights and Blending Colours:

This is Part two. This part will cover the basic steps of shading. Part 3 covers the more detailed/complex side of things.
Just to re-emphasize this fact, I am not a professional. I do not work in the art industry. But I still felt like sharing what I've learned.

Part Two - Shading

1- First image is where we left off in Part one.

2 - First thing I want to do is get rid of the white background. This is a panel for a comic, so I'm going to keep the background really simply and just go with a gradient colour from the primary source of light in this picture, which is going to be Cells' golden halo, (since he's dead). So I just use the golden light blended to black for contrast and use the radial gradient to emenate out from our light source.
TL;DR - Give your picture a background that tells you where the light is.

3- Duplicate your colour layer, twice. The first copy, Press cntrl U in photoshop to bring up the hue/saturation menu, and drag the saturation bar all the way to the left. You want absolutely no color on this layer. Name the layer and lock it.

4- The second duplicate should be on top of the 3 colour layers. Use the drag down menu in the layers pallete, or right click the layer to bring up the blending options, and set this layer to overlay. All those beautiful, vibrant colours are suddenly desaturated.
Why do I do this? Because this way I can shade the entire picture using basically just a dark grey brush rather than having to constantly select different areas and different colours. It is very time efficient and creates some high-contrast results.
You should have 5 layers at this point. Create a new layer and place it underneath the overlay layer, on top of the greyscale.
Keep your layers tidy and organized. Lock layers you aren't working on.

5- I use the path tool to make my selections cleanly. I select the default Airbrush tool, set it to a large size and have the flow at a very low %. For this one, its at only 5%. I make sure the pen sensitivity is disabled for this brush as I want a consistent flow. Choosing the right brush for your image is important. Different brushes give different textures and different styles for your picture. Play around with them.

6- Using the path tool and it's many options, I turn my paths into a selection and using a dark grey brush, I build up shadows inside the selection. The shadows don't have to be solid, I prefer a low opacity that blends well.

7- This is a time consuming process, but it does give a nice shadow. Don't be afraid to overlap shadows. Avoid using black and stick to dark greys, except in high contrast areas, like the glossy shell. If you just use black, the shading becomes too contrasting and looks quite flat.

To be continued in part 3!