Hello, this is a brief guide for those who want to achieve a double representation of light and shadow in a nighttime or dark environment.

How do I achieve the effect?

Step by step, little friend. First, we must make a drawing, and in this case I will draw Luo Bing Zu, understanding his mysticism and his creation with the system from the new extra of Scum Villain Self-Saving System.

Done, we have the sketch. I think it's necessary to emphasize that we must go to layers, select the opacity and lower it to 75% to make it easier to handle lights and shadows.

Remember to set it to ''Multiply'' mode.

Perfect, now that we have the character sketch ready, it's necessary to color it.

Coloring for Night Lighting

We must keep in mind that the coloring should use opposite colors in terms of saturation, so that the light then comes in according to the illumination perspective factor.

After coloring, we must do shading. I've already placed it over the same sketch, so with dark and opaque colors, I will try to give it those shadows and lights, following the mental perspective of where the nighttime light is coming from.

Once we finish coloring the skin, we move on to the hair and then the clothes. Remember, maintain a dark color palette, because as we will see next, it's necessary to see the light sources.

Depending on the tonality you use for your lights, you must then consider the shadows. I will use neon reds and whites for light, and grays and blues for shadows.

Shadows are important, therefore, it is necessary to use them in several layers. One with shadows over the base color.

As we can see, in the next layer I added shadows in dark blue and reddish grays to create contrast, using the reddish background as an example for the gradient, from the darkest to the light source and where it casts its shadow.

Light Process in Night Lighting Effect

In this part, we must know which lights we will use. We have already seen the possible color variations in our opaque palette, and the chosen lights will increase saturation and brightness.

With the shadows already placed, we must add the main light sources.

It is also ideal to create an outline on a separate layer (a soft light layer), sized according to the canvas size. For example, this illustration is 2500 px x 2500 px, so the inner, outer, and mixed outlines should be 3 px.

Add Light Layers

In this part, with the drawing completely ready, with complete base lights and shadows, and lights and shadows on separate layers to play with adding brightness or multiplying said layer to give more emphasis to the outline of the drawing, we must use the airbrush tool to give those gradient light touches.

Finally, the background will guide us as to where the night light is coming from. Whether it has moonlight, stars, among other factors.

Final Touches

As we can see in this image, when adding the final touches, we must use all the resources that Clip Studio provides us. Outlining with white and erasing the excess is important. Using the airbrush to add brightness in mandatory light spaces on that dark body.

Tools Used

These tools are an important basis for achieving this spatial form of lights and shadows, adding the neon screen.

Without the base drawing, it would look like this with the layer combination in different types: Add (Glow), Soft Light, Color Dodge in the Neon effect using the tool on the layer with the brush and airbrush.

In the shadows, for the different layers, using the colors already mentioned, it is necessary to show the percentage of translucency it should have and how the layer should be combined: Multiply, Darken, etc.

Final Result

It is important to remember that everything on layers provides the necessary detail, ensuring that the light focus on the starry night is not lost and that the shadows and lights stand out in a beautiful dance.

Thank you!