Step 4
Now we add shading. First step is to add a new layer to the art. We usually call this layer “shading,” although that’s not really key, now is it!
We take into account the lighting sources in our scene and using a solid black brush (or a slightly transparent black brush) we brush shadows onto the character. We sometimes use this step to add texture to the previous art, if the texture is simple. Something with more complex texture will usually get a separate texture layer.
Our earlier comics used solid black for a more hard edged look; later comics allow for lighter shading inside the pixely edges.
Now, your first thought may be… SOLID BLACK?! That must look horrible! And in fact it does… until we tone down the shadows a bit! Using the transparency slider in GIMP, we can decide how shadowed the scene should be. If a character is too dark, we tone down the shadows; too light and we pull it up. This way we can easily tweak the final output until we are happy with what we see!
| This Step: | Final Product (so far!): |
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