And Random Color Palettes Because Slapping Those On Is Always Super Fun - Tumblr Posts

All right, because @babsvibes asked me how I picked colors for my latest Thanksgiving art piece yesterday, I’ve decided to make an official walkthrough of how I do coloring/shading and lighting for my pieces!! This isn’t technically a tutorial, but maybe you can count it as one?? Take everything I say with a grain of salt, though, as I’m just a self-taught artist who still has a lot to learn!!

Usually, the way I start coloring is by taking a screenshot from the show and take the colors directly from there. Having a screenshot is also handy so I can use it as a reference! Is it cheating to take colors directly from the show?? Maybe, but I like doing it so so know the colors are exactly correct.

Using my latest piece of Bob and Gene eating Thanksgiving dinner together, I used this screenshot as both a reference and to take the colors:

Then, to do my shading, I take a shading brush in Procreate and paint in everywhere where there would be a shadow. I’ve trained my eye to look for places where I know light wouldn’t really touch, such as below an arm or neck or directly under a character’s hairline. Then, when I’m done, I just lower the opacity and pick a layer setting that looks the nicest to me. This is what my latest piece’s shadow layer ended up looking like (with the opacity turned up a bit):

Then, once I’m done with shading, I go on to lighting. I use a new technique now where I just paint in everywhere else (AKA everywhere I didn’t put in a shadow). I used to not even do lighting, because I found it complicated, but I feel it adds a nice touch to my pieces now. The way I do it is kind of tedious, but it’s what I’ve found I can help me understand lighting the easiest. Sometimes I also duplicate my lighting layer, use a Gaussian Blur, then turn the layer to “Add” to create a glowy effect. This glowy effect is usually reserved more for things like torches and flashlights, but I feel as if it gives my lighting an extra “oomph”. Here’s what my lighting layers looked like:

And to make my colors pop even more, I use my phone’s edit feature to go through the process of putting on a nice-looking filter and going insane with all of the features! I’ve found it has a really nice effect.

If I want to go even crazier (yes, I actually do this), I might go into this photo editing app I have on my computer and do even more messing around with filters and colors and the like.

It’s called Polarr Pro Photo Editor for anyone who’s curious!! I also put on my signature in here if I forgot to do it in Procreate.

But that is how I do my coloring and shading/lighting!! I’m still learning and I’m sure I’ll continue to improve. I definitely still have a lot to learn when it comes to shading and lighting!! There are honestly so many ways you can tackle this, so my method absolutely isn’t the end all be all!!

I even have a different technique for when I’m doing a simpler piece or just want some shading that has a lot more texture. I duplicate my color layer, lower the saturation, make a mask, and “paint in” the light really quickly with a super textured brush.

Here’s what it looks like before:

And here’s what it looks like after!

I actually find this technique a bit difficult because my brain works in shadows and finding where shadows would hit, so painting in the light is a challenge. But it can be fun too!!

If anyone has any techniques of their own, feel free to share them!!