Welcome to this Fundamental tutorial covering building values through shading.
In this tutorial, Tim Von Rueden takes you through shading the four basic objects: sphere, box, cone, and cylinder. Using only the basic hard and soft edged brushes we build up our forms to create objects that look as if they were in a 3 dimensional space.
DOWNLOAD PRACTICE SHEETS
Taking a closer look at value shading
Shading values comes directly from the lighting. The light source will indicate where the values should take form from.
- Create a Light Source: Create a light source in your scene and stick with it! Always keep it in mind where it is and how it will fall upon your object and how to respond in shading it accordingly.
- Object’s Surface: Will the object reflect or absorb light? Will it glisten or will it scatter the light? Make sure the object corresponds with the lighting.
- Shadows: Lighting the object is only half the task, make sure you remember to include the shadows to indicate the light source.
Tip: Observe lighting in everyday life, and how it affects the object it lands upon. Then when you are digitally painting you can refer back to it from your memory banks to shade it correctly.
Value Shading in Digital Art
This fundamental tutorial on value shading is a great practice to familiarize yourself with the tablet’s pressure sensitivity and learning how to work with your tablet. I use only two brushes to break it down to the basics and showcase how to use the basic two brushes to create forms through value shading.
- Use the brushes to blend the different values together harmoniously. Choose the correct brush and size to complete the shaping.
- Work your brushstrokes with the direction of the shape.
- Choose your colors accordingly, I recommend working in either your mid-tones or darks first then building your lighter values on top.
Included in the resource download is the practice sheet including the four shapes in 3 different lighting situations with spaces left blank next to them for you to re-create in your own style. Focus on building the form through the different values from light to dark and don’t forget bounce lighting and cast shadow.
Thanks Tim
I will definitely try this out today!
Thanks for this! I have been looking for basics in digital painting for awhile now. This is perfect! Anyway you can do more of these fundamentals that teach how to go from stick figure to SICK figure? My problem is a) I haven’t taken a drawing class for 10+ years and b) I understand simple shading like this, but clothes and more organic shapes are hard for me to imagine where the light would be hitting/bouncing. Again, thanks!
Of course, glad this could help! There are more fundamental tutorials in the works, so stay tuned!
i found the longer ive done art the more i love warm up sessions like these. my fav thing to tackle when learning a new medium charcoal, conte crayon, or dif digital art program is to render out a “ball” with dif light sources. in fact i tend doodle these all the time. thanks for thia!
Me too, especially when creating new materials and textures, I end up practicing on spheres.
This is really timely for me! Thanks!
I just gained a valuable piece of knowledge I am very grateful for. I opened your practice sheets in GIMP, and learned, finally, how to make layer folders there.
PS: I would think the fancier Photoshop would let you make on the fly adjustment to your brushes, like aspect, hardness, and opacity. Having only used it ages ago in college, I can’t say I would know that.
Thank you very much Tim!
Hey there Von,
Great tutorial, it Will help me Alot.
p.s
theres is a realy easy way to color inside the object you drawing without the need of creating an layers. you can use the layer transparency lock icon located right above the layers section. it allows you to paint only inside the object that is current on yore layer.
Hope it make sence,
Cheers From Israel ^-^
Thanks! Yeah I often use masking when creating any type of concept art but since this was a fundamental tutorial, I decided to stick with more of the basic terminology and skill set.
Get It! Thanks
Спасибо Тим!
Tim,
Is this the first in a Fundamentals series? Such a terrific resource, hope you have more lined up!
You bet, I plan to periodically create more and more of these fundamental tutorials and eventually lead it into a full series!
thanks i was finding it……..
Thanks for this. I’ll be using your worksheet for my computer art students (elementary/middle school), and then have them combine the basic shapes to create a robot.
Really looking forward to more fundamentals tutorials.
That’s great! I would love to see some of the final robots that are created =]
Can’t get the shadows right
http://i3.minus.com/ibx2ajjjFKqSlx.jpg
Almost there! You have the sphere looking good with the shading, but the shadow underneath should be more on the left side underneath of this sphere to represent that the light is coming from the top right direction and is casting a cast shadow underneath of it. Hope this helps =]