Don't make these shading mistakes

I genuinely thought I was ready to teach people how to render, but uh, I think I'll need to study a bit more before I can give better tips. Digital painting is really hard!

Anyway, I decided to paint Frieren from an anime I've been enjoying recently, and the fanart was long overdue.

00:00 - Intro
00:29 - Determining the Light Source/Cel Shading
01:38 - Core shadow
02:08 - Ambient Occlusion
02:33 - Mistake #1: Double shadows
03:53 - What color are shadows?
04:36 - Mistake #2: Wrong shadow colors
06:51 - Mistake #3: I messed up her face
08:33 - Mistake #4: I draw hands like AI
09:20 - Mistake #5: Double shadows, again
10:09 - Subsurface scattering
11:08 - Final touches
12:02 - Finished, but there are things to improve on
13:49 - secret

Paintovers By

Edited by @chashuu0

BGM
too much work by VeryGoodMan

日曜の午後 by KK

[KaosNoKamisama]

Honestly, this is actually better than a "real" tutorial. Not only do you go trough real issues that can arise during the process, but it also helps to dissipate the aura of perfection that tends to surround artists.

[CrashBandicootFan]

I think it's rare to see a full on "oh, mistake" struggles* *someone helps, showcase. Honestly neat.

[IwilldanceOnlyifthebeatisfunky]

The "too much contrast" was an eye opener for me. I used to do way to subtle shading and I think over the years I overcorrected it by shading everything with a lot of contrast between the lightest light and the darkest dark. Never occurred to me that that could be what was hindering my art until now.

[renx]

You may feel like you are not "qualified" to teach art but I think you are qualified to teach about how to think about the process of creating art. Taking all your mistakes for what they are: learning opportunities. I love your attitude about the process of art and this is the lesson I'm learning from you above all else.

[why.do.I.even.try.]

The "noise filter is too strong, unpost unpost" thing is easily the most relatable thing I've heard😂

[ssoffia._.t]

For the skin colour, you didnt "not follow your advice". You actually followed your advice but you forgot to add something to the explanation and your thought process. The shade should be blue BUT, we need to combine the shade colour with the base colour of the object we are painting the shadows on. Which in your case, is pink/red/pale skin tone. Pink/red + blue = purple. So your shading is pretty much on point and it is why it looks natural! Remeber that if you paint every shadow blue, then its like ignoring the base colour of the item that the shadow falls onto, and everything will be monochromatic, because you have basically changed your base colour to white! Great artwork🥹 I love Frieren🥹

[azure-mist]

Honestly, looking at the finished piece by itself, I would have felt sooo jealous and like I could never aspire to paint something like that. (Not a healthy art habit I know — I’m working on it.) But honestly, you pointing out your mistakes in your process instead of doing the Twitter artist thing of pretending it comes easily and naturally to you makes the whole thing seem so much more approachable and is encouraging!

[saden-]

This is the coolest kind of video! No straight answers but a full journey through the painting with all thinking process behind. It's incredibly useful and relatable. Would love to watch more vids like those!

[gokey]

not gonna lie seeing someone make mistakes while giving art tips feels more helpful then just being told add color to the shadow and then they already have the perfect color for it. Thanks for the tips have a draw opposing characters assignment and was looking for stuff to help with my shading. This channel is a subscribe for me.

[DizzyHotSauce]

I think you're better of a teacher than you give yourself credit for. Acknowledging that you make mistakes, and showing how you got past them during your art process is better than someone that just gives straight forward tips. It assures beginner artists that art isn't as easy as it seems on social media, and how a lot of understanding art comes from making mistakes and experimenting.

[EphemeralPseudonym]

I love it when artists make videos documenting the *actual* process rather than the *image* of the process, as it were.

Theory is so so so important for learning if you don't have the time + energy to just hammer it in through practice

[BingBangPoe]

And then people wonder why artists are always tired. It's a lot to go through. Lots of studies, always. Your art is amazing, by the way, and I loved this video format, pinpointing your own mistakes to help others (and yourself) improve.

[sezenn.]

This was extremely helpful!!! I usually struggle with understanding "tutorials" because of the lack of context, and seeing the whole shading process with your commentary made your points so much easier to understand. Subscribed!

[ayamaruyana]

You've answered alot of my unanswered questions about art! There are many things that often made me feel confused on why my drawings would look too much or messy, This video honestly explains it perfectly!

[nueiart]

Dear god this video was anxiety inducing because it called out to my own mistakes so deeply, and for once I could tell exactly what was going on and how to fix it because you walked us through your mistakes! I went on Photoshop and lowered the contrast a lot on your drawing and it threw a bit of an overlay light on the dark parts and I think I got what you aimed at (or at least what i would be aiming at). This was one hell of an eye opening video, absolutely loved it and thank you for sharing such candid content! I never realised how much I needed a tutorial talking about imperfection instead of unrelatably perfect speedpaints!

[cringesuperhell]

god the second you mentioned the perceptual brightness of colors i got a thousand yard stare; every time i try to do value work or painting i have a small personal crisis about how all the different colors have different value scales and whether or not turning on greyscale to check is actually reflecting that 😭

(also, pointing out the shadows within shadows mistake is so helpful- that's something i've always struggled with, to where i stopped trying to do nuanced shadows and only do one cel layer! i feel a little more prepared now haha)

[donutyue]

I have never been able to sit through an entire video about lighting but your video was such a joy to watch! Also I love your Frieren art so much! Thank you for sharing so many helpful tips <3

[alphix__]

i like when the brush strokes are visible because thats how i look for humanity in work (to spot ai and stuff) idk if it works like that but i generally like seeing it

[rixiant]

Every artist needs an artistic frog friend

[DmtrArcane]

Honestly, Seeing your struggles as an artist is super inspiring.