#ask chiru

For the sake of brevity (jk, the tutorial’s still long and boring anyway, suckers 8D), I’ll assume you already know the basics of inking and coloring a drawing (although, I’m always happy to explain that if anyone needs it!). That being said…

Some final notes:

- Your color choice, your shadow placement, and even the way that you’ve drawn the hair are all things that affect the look of your shading. If one of these is off, it can mess up the whole drawing!

If you’re ever stuck on a drawing, try using the Hue/Saturation slider (Ctrl U) to tweak your base color and/or shading color. Or, if you’re really stuck, feel free to use the Eyedropper tool to steal some of my colors! If that doesn’t help, then it may be your shadow placement.

…And, if you’re really, REALLY stuck, you can always practice shading with my drawing!

Her hair is transparent in this version, so all you need to do is Save Image, then open it up in your art program of choice. I recommend zooming out and using big brushes while you shade her hair, instead of working at 100%.

- I try to shade hair with only three colors max (Base, Dark, Darker -OR- Base, Dark, Light). But if you’re a beginner, I recommend only using TWO total colors (Base Color and Shadow Color). If you can figure out how to shade hair well with only two colors, then you probably have a good understanding of shadow placement!

- Try not to overshade your drawing! A few well-placed shadows should be enough to get the effect you want. You can always create a new layer and test different methods of shading if something isn’t working out.

- Sometimes it’s easier to start with the SHADOW color first, and then ‘highlighting’ that with your base color (instead of the other way around).

- There are many ways to shade and color hair! For example…

When I reduced the shaded areas, colored some interior lines, and added a few dots of a lighter color, I was able to get a completely different effect for the same drawing! So, don’t be afraid to try something different if a drawing isn’t working out.

- When you see a drawing that you really like, STUDY IT. Figure out why the drawing looks the way that it does, and try to incorporate that into your own drawings.

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I hope that was helpful! I’m happy to answer any followup questions if something wasn’t clear, or if you just want to know how to do something specific. I know there are a lot of skills at play here, which can be overwhelming to people who might be new to drawing. So, if you need me to break down an explanation further, just ask. :D