Shading?

[AnarchyAo2]

I've been doing "fine arts" for about 1 year now. Mainly drawing from photographs and still lifes (lives?). I think I've pretty much gotten to a fairly high level of line art. I can draw people and objects so it looks like them (not exactly but you could tell who it was easily). Line art is a skill i still want to perfect but I've been reading-up about shading. Most people think that you should start once you've become good in line art. But, I don't know my shading style. I've tried it on a bunch of pictures, and all i end up doing is butchering the line art. I'm just wondering if you guys picked your style of shading or did you just fall into it (ie hatching, cross hatching, smooth shading etc)?

[gekitsu]

id say the most useful thing you can do is abandon the idea of certain "styles".
dont get caught up in anything, dont let style issues dictate you anything. its the style that has to subordinate to YOU. do what you feel is right.
some things will look right done with the flat side of the pencil lead with next to no mark showing. some things will look right if scribbled, some will look best when done with hatching that follows the form, some things might want a completely different treatment...

also, dont bother seeing "shading" as a discipline apart from line drawing.
if a line drawing can stand on its own and has a sense of mass without you putting values in it, its fine, too.
i think it was loomis who said "there is no such thing as shading, there just is modelling"

if you want to do the values thing, just put them where you think they are appropriate. sooner or later, you will find techniques that appeal more to you and some that you like less.

i find it more important that you dont end up doing lineart first and place values afterwards but that the values are an integral part of the whole thing.
if you are used to lines, it will be a bit strange to think "without lines" and in areas instead. the problem of edges will suddenly arise and as a good line artist, you probably didn't develop proper edge control at all. at least that is what i am struggling with. :)

[AnarchyAo2]

Thanks a ton for the advice. I have been focusing on styles from the start of the art career. I started with "anime" then to "fine arts", i should just do whatever the hell i feel like. And, I know that I'm going to butcher my drawing with my crappy shading techniques but, what the hell, I can't be afraid of my own pencil.

[Form]

2.5 hours - quickest enlightenment ever :D

[gekitsu]

do i get a custom title for that? :D

[Form]

no but anarchy gets to change his to "enlightened one" or possibly "I dont give a fuck"

[AnarchyAo2]

Do I? How do I do that ,form?

[Form]

lol XD! i dunno. If i knew, do you think od hab Moderator????

I think its an admin thing, but im not sure.

Har har sorry to disappoint you buddy!

[AnarchyAo2]

Whats XD? And od? I think hab is have. But that whole first line doesn't make any sense to me.

Disappoint me? Its okay, man.

[Form]

lol. XD = laughing (tightly shut eyes) od= i'd and hab = have

lol

[AnarchyAo2]

Yeah sorry. I don't really catch onto the new online lingo very fast. XD I get now. Hab, I sorta get. But I don't know where the hell you get od to be I'd. :confused:

[Matt Elder]

I once thought in a similar sort of way and that quote of loomis I think is really appropriate. Go the other way and think of what is it that you are trying to achieve. In this case you are trying to make a 3d object appear convincingly on a 2d surface - it is an intellectual exercise to trick the mind. How is this achieved? Through 'modeling'.

Each 'style' is just the particular way of tricking the eye/mind into believing that it is a 3d form. Think about objects in terms of light - what is the brightest part of the object, what is the lightest part, how does it vary in between?

Draw a circle. How do you make that look like a sphere? By using various amounts of tone/value/shading. Try it - grab a tennis ball (or other type of ball), but it under a light and try to draw it the way you see it. It might seem like a simple and somewhat pointless exercise, but once you are able to 'see' what it is that you are drawing, it might make it alot easier.

A friend of mine at art school has this theory that people start off as either artists of line or tone. I think there is something to this so in your case, you might initially be an artist of line, in time the tone will come.

[amphex]

so i take it you have never made a typing error anarchy...

and yah screw style, make your own

[AnarchyAo2]

Matt: Thanks for the info. I guess I've been worrying about my style and shading lately because of making a portfolio for college. I'll just practice the way that comes natural to me.

amphex: You took it right.:D

[Form]

od was a typo of i'd. try to avoid those in your portfolio XD