AuthorTopic: Shading opinion?  (Read 7526 times)

Offline Xenon02

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Shading opinion?

on: April 04, 2020, 09:11:39 pm
Hi guys!

Finally (or maybe not) I have some free time to spend.

What do you guys think about this shading/adding shadows?



It's still WIP but I'm working on with shadows a bit.

Offline Chonky Pixel

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #1 on: April 05, 2020, 11:14:52 am
Where do you want the light to be coming from? A common light source location is lop-left. If you haven't already, choosing a definite light source location can help when deciding where to place shadows and shading.

It might help to think about the shape of the building as seen from above. What's the shape of the roof? Do any bits jut out? How about the large vertical element in the middle? Does it jut out or is it going in? Why is it casting a shadow? Are windows recessed or do they stick out too? Having this in mind can help make decisions about where to place your light and dark pixels, as you track your imaginary beams of light.

With the kind of perspective-free projection you have here, you might find you have to try harder to convey the idea of a 3D space, as you don't have the ability to push things in or out of the top or bottom edges to help sell the 3D effect. You might make life a bit easier on yourself if you imagine you're looking at the house from the front and a bit from above, as it seems you are for the sidewalk. Then you can make it very clear which edges are on the front and which are on the side of the building. It's a pretty radical style change though.

Offline Xenon02

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #2 on: April 05, 2020, 01:35:20 pm
So I've change a bit colors, and indicated the source of light.
The problem is with the colors it self to make it suit the building (kind a though one)

How do you think about that. Oh and about the perspective (I've imagined it I have even a good sight from here to a large 10 flat buildings) So that's how I see them.

Offline Chonky Pixel

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #3 on: April 05, 2020, 02:53:53 pm
That feels like quite an improvement to me. I immediately had more of an impression of the shape of the buildings, so that's great.

Right now I'm not sure if there's a gap between the buildings that we can't see because of the projection, or if the one on the right is set a bit further back than the one on the left (but touching). I'm trying to think how you would make that distinction obvious. I suppose either add an actual gap, or make the plant at the top follow the inside corner around a bit onto the other building?

The doors on the right really help make things feel solid by jutting out a bit.

I actually quite like the palette you've chosen for the building. It's fresh, and gives the impression of the front face of the building being in the sun. There are a few edges and and lines that need tidying up though. Some of your thin horizontal lines are different distances apart, and some of the shaded horizontal lines in the middle need tidying up on the right to bring them in line with the vertical shaded block.

A few small observations:

The large plant on the roof is casting a shadow to the left, but the light is also coming from the left. You could remove some of that shadow on the left.

Now you've got a light source coming from above-left, you can make shadows appear to the right AND below objects, rather than just to the right. That might make things look a bit more 3D.

You've chosen different kinds of brown for the wood around the windows and the wood around the doors. I think it's quite likely that a building would use the same wood for both, so you could settle on one and make it more consistent.

Let me know if you'd like to see examples of anything.

Offline Xenon02

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #4 on: April 05, 2020, 05:16:01 pm
It is supposed to look something like that (perspective from above)



Here is another edit



I addded some shadows to wirrings, air conditioner.
The entrace isn't made of wood.

I was thinking how to create a perspective like the 1st picture, I was also thinking about adding some shadows to the doors but I couldn't find the fitting colors for that

Offline Chonky Pixel

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #5 on: April 06, 2020, 05:05:14 pm
This is really taking shape. Despite the limitations of your projection I'm getting a real impression of the 3D shape of your building.

I assume the dangling vines on the right are a darker shade of green because they are a different species. I feel that if the rightmost one was darker still than the rest, it would add to the idea of the rightmost wall being in shade.

You could add shadows for your vines, too.

Offline Xenon02

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #6 on: April 09, 2020, 09:15:39 am
I think that is a final version of this building.
So it's time to add more buildings that will suit this world I guess

Offline Chonky Pixel

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #7 on: April 10, 2020, 05:39:02 pm
Nice work, that's a big improvement from the original.

Offline Xenon02

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #8 on: April 11, 2020, 10:58:40 am
By the way guys, do you have an idea how to add here roof ?
It's hard to keep this building have a foggy pallete ...
I was thinking a lot how to add colors to make it look more 3D



Small edit

« Last Edit: April 11, 2020, 01:02:29 pm by Xenon02 »

Offline eishiya

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Re: Shading opinion?

Reply #9 on: April 11, 2020, 01:16:54 pm
Roofs aren't usually paper-thin. The tiles (or sheets, boards, or whatever else you plan to draw) have thickness, as does the (wooden/metal/plastic) understructure that they sit on. Thinking about the major parts that make up this roof should help you see where the lights and shadows can go.

I highly recommend looking at some reference photos for this sort of thing. Roofs aren't something you can draw well without having a basic understanding of how they work IRL.


Unrelated nitpicks, if you're interested:
The upper right part of the wall looks like it's at an angle because of the darker colours, but everything else suggests it's part of the same surface as the upper left.
The vending machine (?) seems to be facing in a different direction (mostly down to its width/depth ratio and the far side's white bit being much thinner than the near side's), but its stadow suggests that it's flat against the wall. The shadow of its legs also suggests the back of it is narrower than the front.
The air conditioning unit seems to be sitting a distance away from the wall because of where on the overhang it is. If it's meant to be attached to the house, it should probably be flush against the wall. If it's meant to be separated, then it could use a cast shadow to disambiguate this.
Speaking of cast shadows, that aircon pipe(?) looks pretty thick and should probably cast a shadow on the wall.
For an extra touch of realism, consider setting the doors and windows a little into the house rather than flush with the exterior wall, and perhaps raising the bottoms of the doors by a couple of pixels to show the threshold.