Soft Shading workflow guide

• Create a background layer of 50% grey.

• Create a foreground layer for Value Check:

• Fill it in black.

• Set the layer mode to Saturation.

Note: try to keep every section in each stage on its own layer. E.g. Skin colour layer, Skin lighting layer, Skin highlights layer, etc. This will help you make colour modifications at the end of the workflow (e.g. change hair to a different hue, make the skin lighter, etc.).

• Clear up any lines (rough and scrappy edges).

• If you haven’t done it on drawing stage, apply gaussian blur on lines.

• Use the Inker Flatter brush.

• One layer per each part (skin, hair, etc) that shares the same colour.

• Don’t go to too high or low values – go more to the middle so you have enough flexibility to add highlights and shadows.

• Use the Value Check to allow enough contrast between colours picked.

• Remember the Rule of 3 for colour harmony (Primary 50% + Secondary 30% + Accent 20%).

• After painting, check with a very saturated colour with hue contrast to check for missing painted bits.

• Don't paint the lips.

• Use the Soft Brush.

• Colour pick the original colour and slightly change the hue (even, a very small bit, the value).

• Paint just a few subtle sprays in different places to add a surface variation.

• Paint the colour variation in the colour layer (not a different layer).

• Here also paint the lips using the Soft Brush.

• Use the Soft Brush in low hardness and 70-80% density.

• The forms must read well at this stage (reasonably 3D).

• Select the base colour, move the value down ~30% and warm up the hue.

  • Test: check that there’s enough good contrast by panting a hard spot and checking the Value Check layer.

• Define where the main light is coming from and start painting the shadows:

1. General big shadows

• Use big brush (e.g. ~400px).

• Make big soft shadows by pressing very lightly.

2. Ambient occlusion shadows

• Use small brush (e.g. ~60px).

• Spray a bit darker and play with the brush sensitivity to give a smooth gradient fading.

• Painted at the edges of the shapes.

3. Form shadows

• Press even harder than the previous shadows.

• Paint areas of the form where the light isn’t touching. E.g. eyes sockets, side of nose, under the nose, side of the face.

4. Occlusion Cast shadows

• Darken the value a little bit.

• Paint areas that would be very dark due to cast shadows. E.g. Nostril, most inner parts of the eye sockets, areas under the hair, under the ear lobe, side of breasts.

• Pick the lighter value of the section you will be painting, do a hue up and decrease the value ~60%

• Light any areas that need additional light, usually not in shadowed areas.

• Use the Soft Brush and press softly to avoid harsh edges.

• Careful not to eliminate the ambient occlusion shadows.

• "Light that bounces over on the ground where the character is standing and hits each surface".

• Pick an aqua-green grey-ish colour (HEX: ~#C0CBCB) and use the Soft Brush.

• Appears on the shadows.

• Don’t be shy with the painted value but make a smooth gradient (no sharp edges).

• This light is casted from below (from the floor) and lightens the bottom planes. E.g. bottom of chin, under the ear, under the nose, under the bottom lip, etc

• Appear in the lit areas.

• Pick the lightest colour for the surface and hue it up a bit and decrease the value ~80% and use the soft brush.

• Don’t abuse it – just highlight the areas where the light hits the most. E.g. forehead, nose, cheek, eyelids.

• Make surfaces have a reflective appearance.

• The harder the lighting colour edges of a surface is, the more reflective it looks.

• The extreme situation would be a mirror reflection where other surfaces appear reflected on the surface.

• Use the Soft Brush in a small size (which will create sharper edges).

• For a non-mirror reflection, pick the lightest colour.

• “The brightest point of light”.

• There’s usually up to 1 specular highlight per zone/surface.

• Place the Specular Highlights layer on top of the Lines layer.

• Delete any lines used to reference specular highlights.

• Use Inka Flatter brush and

• If it’s very reflective, choose full White. E.g. Eyes, lips.

• If it’s not very reflective, choose the lightest colour of that surface and hue up a bit and move the value down to almost white. E.g. Nose.

• In combination with reflective surfaces, you can choose the lightest colour, hue it up and choose an almost white value, and:

1. Paint a thick line using the Inka Flatter brush

2. Change to the eraser using the Soft Brush and delete the edges.

3. Light a bit the whole stroke by passing the eraser once or twice.

• Choose a light direction for the new source of light

• Approach this stage in the same way approached in the Reflected Light stage.

• Choose any colour in any value that works best from your colour scheme/theme.

• Use the Soft Brush and lightly paint any surface/plane that would be affected by the light direction.

1. Use a bigger size brush first to paint the glow.

2. Use a smaller size brush then to paint the brightest point of that secondary lights.

• You can have as many secondary lights as you wish.

• You may add a Specular highlight from each new source of secondary light.

• Shadows very close/touching other surfaces, so dark that are getting almost black.

• Create a new layer between the lines layer and the specular highlights layer and set it to Multiply mode.

• Choose the black colour and use the Soft Brush.

• E.g. Just under the hair, under arm pits, under eyes.

• If you haven’t done it in the Stage 3 - Step 4 - Occlusion Cast shadows, here is the opportunity to paint them.

• They are quite transparent, and the edges strength depends on the type of light (if it’s very bright or dull)

• Create a new layer on top of all the other layers (but below the value check) and set it to Multiply mode.

• Use the Inka Flatter brush on Black and paint the cast shadows over the different surfaces.

• Then change to the Soft Brush and lightly erase the general transparency.

• You would also erase the edges depending if the light is bright or dull.

• E.g. Nose casting shadows, neck, breasts, hair.

• Merge the Base Colour and the Lightings layers of each of the different surfaces into a new layer (e.g. Hair colour with hair shadows and hair lighting).

• Select one of the layers and go to the Tonal Correction (or similar depending on the software).

• Hue: to change the colour hue.

• Levels: to change the contrast and luminosity.

• Always check your modifications against the Value Check layer.

• Take this opportunity to make any of the other layers' corrections.

• “Light going through object and enhancing a particular colour and giving some sort of a glow.” E.g. light going through your fingers make give a red-ish colour.

• Helps making the character look more alive.

• Create a new layer above the lighting layers and set it to Soft Light mode.

• Select a very bright cherry red (#FF0000) and use the Soft Brush.

• Paint very lightly on the areas that would be affected. E.g. cheeks, nose, ears, corner of the eye lids, fingers, joints of knees and elbows,

• Use this layer to include additional colours such as makeup.

• Play with the layer’s alpha value (opacity) to make it more subtle.

• Create 2 new layers above the lighting layers, one for Lightings and one for Shadows.

• For each of these layers:

1. Pick the Shadow/Light colour (depending on the layer) move the value down/up

2. Select the Sketcher brush (pressure determines opacity and size) and create hair strokes.

3. Change the brush sizes to give more variety to those strokes.

4. Select the Eraser in Soft Brush and lightly erase the tips.

• Create a layer above the lines layer.

• Select the Soft Brush

• Select a dark shadow value of the selected area and paint on top of the lines (lines only).

• Alternatively, you can choose a light value to paint the lines (depends on your own style).

• You would probably not colour the eyes lines or use a dark value for the eyes.

• Create a new layer on top of all the other layers (but below the value check).

• Select the Soft Brush and paint all the gaps that are white or haven’t been painted during the process. Select the closest colour to the gap.

• You can also make some adjustments in readability by painting on top of lines or other surfaces.

• Start by merging everything into a single layer.

• Create a new layer on top for the Shadow Gradient and set it to Multiply mode.

• Select the Soft Brush in Black.

• Do a Selection in the merged layer, and very softly brush the bottom part. This will help the viewer focus on the head and hands.

• Create a new layer on top of all the other layers (but below the value check).

• Select the Inka Flatter brush and choose any colour (E.g. fully saturated blue)

• Do a Selection in the merged layer and paint everything with that colour.

• Then set the layer mode into Overlay and bring the Opacity (alpha) down to 5-10%.

• Start by merging everything into a single layer (including the previous Optional effects if any).

• If the software supports Channels, go there.

• If not, create 2 more copies of the merged layer (ending up with a total of 3) and in Edit > Tonal Correction > Level Correction and for each layer leave only Red/Blue/Green at full and leave the other colours in 0. You should end up with a layer where your drawing is looking Green, another looking Blue and another looking Red (if you hide the other ones). Finally, set the layer mode to the 2 top layers into Add, leaving the bottom one in Normal mode. The result should be the original colours.

• Go to each of the channels (or layers) and move them 1 pixel, each channel in a different direction. E.g. Blue channel 1 px up, Green channel 1 px left, Red channel 1 px right.