Shading Style 01 – My Realistic Technique (Patreon)

Series about some shading techniques I use and other tips. Two images above and a .psd version below if you want to check layer by layer. Examples in the images are very "rough" so you can see better the strokes I made in each.

PSD layered version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zxzctz5ria9hn6k/Rendering%20Technique%20A%20Example%2001%20%28small%20version%29.psd?dl=0

The airbrush look.

I took the chance and also made this image in a comparison format about why you should avoid using the Airbrush tool in the long term. Most beginner artists (I did it too) start using the Airbrush to render lights and shadows in a similar fashion to the process shown on the left.

But... using the airbrush makes value transitions too smooth and perfect, making the result look too digital or fake, add to this the fact that you cannot make hard edges with it...

How to prevent it.

On the contrary, the main method I use to prevent an artificial look (aside from not using airbrush) is using either a personalized or default painting brush and making a series of  strokes in a same direction to build volumes, changing direction depending on the shape. First very rough, then paint over them again to refine the shape, then again and again until it looks smooth.

This is similar to painting or rendering value with traditional non-digital tools, and this is not easy to make at first if you have no practice rendering traditionally. That's one the motives why I recommend people to practice rendering with pencil, charcoal, etc at the same time to digital, it will help learn quicker some concepts and techniques like rendering volumes.

Another thing to note is that I alternate between sampling intermediate colors and painting to make smooth blends, so you could say this is a combination of the Color Pick tool and Brushes. Also this painting method can be done either on separated layers or in a single layer.

There are other methods of rendering to prevent the Airbrush look of course, but this technique is my favorite since is fun to do and the one I used on my most complex paintings, like Secret Spring, Spa Massage, etc. I will put those or other examples of it in a following series post.

__

Related post, My Shading Style 02: https://www.patreon.com/posts/shading-style-02-48759705