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Serio555 — Tutorial - cel shading
Published: 2008-05-25 14:08:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 16265; Favourites: 234; Downloads: 334
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Description
This is mainly how I'd do cel shading, and I need to say that this is the method I like to use, so it's definitely not the only or the best method out that's there. Plus, it's by no mean a standalone method, as to get a better result it often pays to combine cel shading with "normal" painting. But for a simple cel-shaded anime look, this is the basis of the method I use.This tutorial was done in Photoshop CS2, but should work with other software that has blending modes.
Frankly, I don't expect this to be all that helpful, but since there's no one way to colour a picture I find it difficult to write a meaningful colouring tutorial. Hence I'm simply showing some of my basic methods, if anyone's interested.
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Comments: 32
Well, I have learnt the techniques but does cel shading by chance looks better via soft shading?
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This is pretty cool, I will try this when I get better ^W^
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This comes really handy to me!!! (I am terrible at shading T_T) I'm gonna try it!!!!
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Question: Maybe I should already know this by now, but how do you select more than one thing with the lasso tool at the same time (like in the picture of hair at the bottom)?
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You set the selection type to "add to selection" [link]
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Woaw!
this great! :B
You did a nice job on making this tutorial.
Can't wait to see more real soon.
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It's good to see the different methods people use to colour their art. In Photoshop you have SO many different ways of working! I'm not keen on your method though, as I think there are better ways to work. I prefer to work with color fills and adjustment layers (for shading), and keep everything seperate (in layer groups). And, I use this method on any style of drawing that I'm doing. If you're interested I could upload a PSD example.
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That's alright, I use a lot of different ways for colouring myself. This is simply the method I find quickest personally since it's basically blocking in the colours and adding some manga-style toning (which I'm reasonably proficient in), but it's definitely not for everyone. I also keeps everything separate, so in practice I will work on the colours a bit more before adding the cel-shading.
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I guess it's about finding what works best for yourself. I think I've found a good way of working in Photoshop that fits me very well and leaves everything individually editable without magic-wanding or fiddling. (Although, I need to work on my brushes). A similar set-up doesn't really work well in Painter, but I'm still learning that!
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Yeah, I know other people who work in greyscale then add the colours using a gradient adjustment layer, but working that way I often ended up with too many layers as I need an adjustment layer for each element.
Nowadays most of the time I simply use the brush tool and paint the colours, so I actually use painter more than photoshop for colouring. I try to keep minimum layers because I find it improves my techniques more and I don't rely on the software as much, but that's just me.
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I don't get on with that greyscale first method either. It seems forced when I try it and it doesn't really change how it turns out, it just takes longer! Maybe I'm doing it wrong... I don't mind having loads of layers though, as long as you manage them well it's not a problem.
There's something about Painter that almost forces you to REDUCE the amount of layers you use. Probably a good thing!
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Great tutorial. It's interesting to see how different artists work 
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Yep, that's why drawing is fun.
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thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks
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Sorry, but I don't quite understand what you say there
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excuse me i wrtite in italian!
GREAT TUTORIAL!
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Very useful! And also a new technique to me, I've always done cel shading (and most shading) by painting in darker colours on the same layer. I shall definitely try these sometime.
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That's pretty much how I do most of my shading these days, I just paint directly on it. But for cel shading I use this method as the greyscale picture makes it easier for me to define and edit the shades (kind of like manga styled toning). But of course, the result is a pretty simple, "standard" look, but it's quicker for me since I can shade the entire figure at once without distraction from the colours.
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another possible pro I can see is colour balance.. when I pick my colours separately sometimes it turns out weird because I get different lighting on each piece of my picture xD
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Well, in this case every colour is simply darkened by an equal amount of grey
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