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getty — Tutorial for soft cell shading
Published: 2006-01-11 13:48:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 728766; Favourites: 16130; Downloads: 157228
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Description
As I promised to some of the people here, I'm releasing the first tutorial here.This is the tutorial for how to do soft cell shading on Photoshop, based on my experience.
The version of Photoshop used in the tutorial is 6. If you use later versions, names of tools/modes and/or allocation of shortcut keys might be different.
I'm working on Windows, so if you use Mac please change these notations as: Ctrl to Command, Alt to Option.
I just hope it helps you.
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Comments: 2665
Excellent tutorial I'll be sure to follow this one! -fav-
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Great efford putten in and so many times to be read through to comprehend your style and adding it to the knowledge of my backbone.
Big thanks for this one.
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I was always trying to make shading so complicated! ur tutorial showed me how to make simple shading (not in the sense that it's easy) look great! thx a million!
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Very welcome, I'm glad it helped you.
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Like everyone else is saying, thanks a ton for this tutorial. It is very detailed and explains your style very well. In particular, I love your last sentence: "And one day, you feel this tutorial sucks, it means you have established your own style".
I just love how you put that, I can't explain it but it just made me smile and have some hope. Thanks a million. Great job.
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wow i took a screenshot and used ur lineart 2 practise and it was the best i ever did and if i post it ill giv u credit i hope u dont mind i wont post it if u dont want
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wow, that makes a hell of a lot more sese than the way i've been shading, awesome tutorial, it really helps!
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thanks so much!!!!!! its great!
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Also a 
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Thanks for the fav and hope it helps!!
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Wow, this tutorial is incredible! I've been looking for some tips on how to improve my shading and such, and this is the most detailed, well-explained tutorial I've found! I'm sure it will help me tons! Thanks a lot!!
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Thank you very much, and hope it helps!!
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is this done in photoshop? pls reply A.s.a.p
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I can't even get pass step one...My line art is on the background layer...and I don't know how to move it...
This is a problem...when I color it covers the line...
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Then check some tutorials for Photoshop on the net, that's the first thing you should do.
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Select the BackGround layer and duplicate it, an option right underneath "create new layer". This will copy the lines and then you can move them around wherever. You can also copy just the lines without the white BG, but that's another story.
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Wow thanks! I figured out another way, I just set the layer to 'multiply', it did its job.
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I do that to... but for some reason it makes me feel like i'm cheating for some reason...X] Plus, It might be just me, but I think it messes with the rest of the picture as well...
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Damnnn!!! i can't get the stage 6, i can't just get it i'm so pissed off and sad
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Question: when doing the glow thing, could I use either color dodge or linear dodge as the layer mode? Cuz I dont have just dodge. Also, what version of photoshop are you using here?
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I'm afraid I don't know the answer because the version I use is 6.0, which is described in the description box.
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Question: when doing the glow thing, could I use either color dodge or linear dodge as the layer mode? Cuz I dont have just dodge. Also, what version of photoshop are you using here?
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Brilliant! Interesting and very detailed..
Great job again! I think
I'm gonna try this If I have time..
Thanks for sharing another
Awesome tutorial!
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You are welcome, and hope it'll help you in the future.
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This had some very helpful tips! I might try some of these...
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I hope it does too!
Also, a suggestion from me is to get rid of the edge noise easier by going to Select>Modify>Expand and then expanding the selection by 1 px. It helps me.
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hi getty san, i've a question to ask, about shading on cloth, i often face problems on that matter >___< Erm, the shading on cloth, izzit depends on the fold of clothes or jz merely the shadow that drop/ opposite from light source, and we can jz made any type of shape of shading according to it? o_O [i dun hv tablet so i rely on pen tool ^^] And erm, next thing is, i'm owes lost between the dark shading, which enchance more '3D' style into the character, sigh... i owes felt my characters quite erm, flat? LOL, anyway, i reli hope u can give me sum tips on it ^^ thk u very much in advance, i post my art link at here, so hope u can tell me wats my error >___< [i hardly find sumone tat can point out my mistake, cz i owes felt weird when looking at my art as if i've missed sumtin out o_o]
here's the link --> [link]
Once again, i reli appreciate ur help and thx a lots again~! ^^
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About shading of folds, easier way is to shade acoording to the real folds of clothes. However, as you get skilled you'll learn that it's not enough. That's what art is. Think about it: when you see a photo, then draw exactly the same as it is ( about the folds for example ) it usually doesn't look impressive. To make it more attractive, you'll have to "distort" the reality, with your artistic sensibility. This, could be an answer for your second question. When things look flat, it's because they contain only low frequencies, as your link shows. In other words, they need more details. Then how to put details? It depends on your artistic sensibility. Check out some good works of good deviants, and you'll figure out that they tend to put, say, shades on even flat surfaces where no folds could exist. It might be for putting the feel of materials, or could be just for putting higher frequencies, that is, change of colors/brightness. Again, it depends on your artistic sensibility. Training it is not easy, you'll need time. But when you feel something's needed for a plain surface, then one solution is to put changes of colors/brightness on it, by means of folds, shades, or just changes of colors ( it may sound ridiculous but artists often do it without any reasons, perhaps because they just followed their artistic sensibility )
Hope it helps.
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ic... wow... currently i'm owes practicing 3 primary colors, as like =light,base,dark
i think using one color for shade is not enuf XD As i observe many ppl works, esp tat enchance more 3D feels, they use more darker color for shading while the light source is more brighter, i'm beginning to understand, and i'll do my best to research more methods and practice more~! ^^ Thk u so much getty san~!! 
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i have a question where do you go to do it
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wow this is really helpful. and a lot easier and better looking than what i was doing. thanks for the tutorial
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