Potions
Step-by-Step Shading Tutorial
This was requested, but tbh I have no idea what Iβm doing when I shade. For pixel art, I shade to separate same-color objects that touch, so Iβm going to show you guys what I mean by that.
1. Flat colors! The skirt is off-white, so weβll use tannish/brownish/i-never-learned-my-colors pale brown to separate the bow, the belt, and the skirt pleats.
2. If you look at the mannequin, youβll kinda notice that ACNH does this smoothing thing where lines start to blend and smush together, making it difficult to define shapes. Take a color a shade or two darker than your outline and mark where you want to differentiate your shapes. In this case, the bow sits on the very top, then the belt, then the pleats.
3. Take a color a shade or two lighter than your outline and start shading the white parts of the outfit. So here I shaded a line under the belt, under the bow, then I defined the bow and pleats. Using a reference helps!
4. Other ways to shade white!
For a pure white outfit, my go-to color is usually a pale grayish-blue. For monocromatic palettes, I choose a shade color that matches the main color scheme. Or I pick a shade color that complements the main color. Either way, my shade colors will be pretty low on the vividness scale.
The usually only use grey on white is if the main color of the outfit is black or grey. (Iβm a sucker for pastels you see)
And thatβs how I shade!
