AuthorTopic: GR#133 - Knight - Metal Shading  (Read 6494 times)

Offline jahasaja

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 120
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

GR#133 - Knight - Metal Shading

on: August 27, 2013, 02:35:03 pm
Trying to make a Knight for my game (original huh). I have read a bunch of tutorials but when I get down to draw it never comes out very well..



Any ideas. I feel like the helmet is kinda okay but for the rest i was just guessing..

Offline Arne

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 431
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Panties.
    • View Profile
    • AndroidArts

Re: First try (help..)

Reply #1 on: August 27, 2013, 05:58:55 pm
I'm just doing my thing here, but maybe there's something for you to use in there:

Metallic: I like to do nonlinear gradients such as (1). Sometimes I pop the highlight, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I don't even go up into the brights. Too many highlights are distracting, so place them at points of focus.

Linear gradients like (2) can be useful but are mostly not useful for describing form and contrast.They're just sort of easy to make (IT'S A TRAP!).

What else. Yes, I often add a dirt and sky color to my silvers. Planes facing down tend to reflect warm colors, and planes facing up tend to reflect cool sky colors. If we're outside playing in dirt that is (knights often were, I suspect).

On a small character like this you generally don't need a whole lot of colors. There's simply no room for elaborate gradients. Each pixel is more likely to play a role in showing some kind of detail or contrast point.

Offline jahasaja

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 120
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: First try (help..)

Reply #2 on: August 27, 2013, 06:36:23 pm
Wow! thanks! I will use a lot of your art.

Damn, it is going to take me a loooooong time to get a hang of this..

I see that you made it a little bit bigger.. I guess the size i started with was a tad too small?? (edit: sorry now I see that you did not make it bigger  :P )

edit 2. I am totally newbie at this (have only started doing this after I need afterwork for my game). But, how do you figure out the non-linear gradients? none of the tutorials i have read said anything about it..


« Last Edit: August 27, 2013, 07:07:05 pm by jahasaja »

Offline Arne

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 431
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Panties.
    • View Profile
    • AndroidArts

Re: First try (help..)

Reply #3 on: August 27, 2013, 08:23:58 pm
Yeah, my edit is exactly the same size, except maybe a pixel extra here and there on the silhouette (skirt and the leg behind).

"Gradient" or "Shading" is not something that's easy to figure out at all. There are so many situations which give rise to different looks. It's however generally effective to decide on a shadow color and a light color, then render the figure mostly with those two, and minor extra dark and extra light regions where needed. However, metal is different since it's gloss so the values (dark to light) can really go crazy.

Some old explainustrations that I did for some other threads at some point:





Offline jahasaja

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 120
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: First try (help..)

Reply #4 on: August 28, 2013, 06:55:49 am
Thanks again, The nonlinear gradiants really make the different feautures of the knight stand out.

(I am trying to make a walk animation now so I can give you a preview when it is done)