Coloring & Rendering

Introduction

Please try mixing the techniques, that is quite common.
I like to mix soft low contrast edge-shading with higher contrast light-source shading.(Kings Quest 5 top inspo)
The noobier you are, the more edge-shading you do.
Also I personally really like high contrast renders, a personal taste.
contrastmaxx lol.

Tips:
The painting frame flattens it out in final display, so a bit of wave doesn't hurt when the painting isn't on display.

Techniques:
* Tools
* No sketch
* Edge Shading
* Haloing
* Solid-Color Shading
* Fur Shading
* Cell Shading
* Light Source Shading
* Pixel Art
Palette website: LOSPEC
Palettes:
* Fantasy 24
* Endesga 32
* Moody

How to have no sketch

One of the biggest mysteries to me is how people get no sketch in traditional media.
In digital media you just have a layer on top, that's easy
In traditional media you have two choice:
* Paint over sketch(means you need thick opaque paint, hard to control)
* make the sketch extremely light(not much pressure), only use same color as object, maybe lighter, and use an eraser to get rid of any residual sketch, should work if you do it lightly.
* Sometimes you can just integrate the sketch through pillowshading. I always pillowshade some so whatever.
* I tend to also remark lost lines with an white invisible pen(only visible at extreme angle of artwork)

Basically I don't get rid of the sketch really ever, I just make it increasingly light/invisible.
I love invisible pressure lines because they mark the underlying construction, which is part of the art piece to me.
SO:
* USE COLOR PEN SUPER LIGTHLY AND ERASE/BLEND/HALO
* USE TRANSPARENT PEN

Tools

I recommend:
* Gouache
* Marker pens
* !!Color pens!!
* Ruler with masking tape on(helps against leaking)

Edge-Shading

(Sometimes called pillow-shading)
Edge Shading is when you darken, or lighten, the object from one or more edges inward with a coloring pen
This is the easiest coloring technique.
Most SNES games utilize edge-shading.
I use this a lot myself.
You have a primary lighter color and a secondary darker shading color.
You want gradience towards the edges.
edge shading is cheap, old trusty that always works.

You can edge shade a 3D object from one direction.
You can use a light shading on one side and a dark shade on one side for extra depth.
Use a light pen in the same hue as the object and use lots of pressure inward outward or outward inward to blend colors.
Blending darker and lighter areas from light to dark is extremely common, you need to learn that.
"Haloing" is the opposite of edge-shading, you add a halo around the object by making a gradient outward of the object outside the edges.




Source: Pixeljoint

Solid Color Shading

Means the object is just one solid color.
Often done in minimalism.

criss-cross-Fur-Shading

You have a primary body color
and a shadow fur edge color.
You first create a criss-cross linework and then a gradience from that.

Cell-shading

You have a line color(usually black)
You have a primary color,
and a shadow color.
these are solid, no gradient.

Light source shading

First you color object, then you lighten and darken based on lights in the scene.
I tend to calculate just one bounce.

Pixel-Art

The only digital art form I respect is pixelart.
I don't like other digital art.