This tutorial is divided into two parts. The first part covers the use of shadows according to the light source and how they adjust to flat colors.

 

The second part focuses on the use of gradients so that you don't have to think about which color palettes are most suitable for the environment your character is in.

 

LET'S BEGIN!

Personally, I like to have color palettes for each of my characters, but it's perfectly acceptable if you want to add shadows to your entire character in a single layer (Multiply) to save time or because you like that type of result.

 

Doing it that way is very common in webcomic creation because it saves time and the result is more than acceptable.

 

However, if you want to go a little further and make your drawings look vibrant without investing too much time, this is your tutorial!

1. Part I: [Basic Shading]

I'm going to show you how to easily add shadows and highlights to your illustrations or drawings for your webcomic using simple techniques of shading using [Multiply] layers and Gradients, and how these effects look at different times of the day, both indoors and outdoors.

 

You can apply this to any drawing or background. I hope this helps you!

You're probably already familiar with the layers that help shade or illuminate your characters, but I believe it's necessary to give a quick overview of that.

 

 

 

 

This is the traditional way we have always done it, but you can always innovate the way you shade your drawings with the new Shading Assist feature in CSP -Ver.2.0-

 

If you want to learn more about this new feature, you can do so here:

 

 

 

Then next, I'm going to show you some shadows that are affected by the direction of the light source.

 

You can always vary the way you shade your drawing, remember that this is just a basic guide on how shadows impact shapes, and always try to paint shadows from all possible angles as a practice exercise!

With colors, it will look something like this:

Pretty nice, right? But you might be thinking, "Hmm, that's good, but I want more. How would my character look in a nighttime scene?"

This is where the most interesting part of this tutorial comes into play: Gradient Maps!

2. Part II: [Gradient Maps]

Gradient Maps are a powerful tool in digital art that allow you to quickly and easily change the colors of your artwork by mapping different colors to the brightness values of your image.

 

This can be particularly useful for creating various lighting effects, such as simulating different times of day or setting a specific mood.

In this part, I will teach you how to create good gradient maps that you can easily use by saving them in folders as effects for each of your panels/illustrations!

Let's create a few scenes at different times of the day!

A. Sunshine

A scene in broad daylight, for tutorial purposes, without adding any gradients.

The reason for doing it this way is that this scene with natural lighting is the easiest to create for any artist. Typically, it is in this environment that most characters are introduced, and it will serve as a base for modifying the lighting as we progress and change the setting.

 

(This approach makes it easier)

I recommend working on your drawing with separate layers, especially for the background elements.

 

In this exercise, I have separated the layers for the SKY, CLOUDS, FIELD, and our MAIN CHARACTER:

Now, let's try adding a gradient that transforms our SUNSHINE illustration (or panel) into a nighttime scene!

 

B. Nighttime

Here are the steps:

 

1. Make sure you have your first illustration or panel ready.

2. Create a new layer above your artwork.

3. Go to the "Layer" menu and choose "New Correction Layer." and select "Gradient Map" from the drop-down menu.

A window will open, showing our gradient maps. You need to select the gradient map you want to use. In this case, choose the "Gradient Set" option and select the "Sky" set. Then, double-click on "Night sky" and click "OK".

This will be the result if you MERGED all the illustration or Panel:

You could reduce the Opacity of the "Gradient Map 1" layer by 50%, but it might not look entirely convincing yet, right?

 

That's because even though gradient maps are very useful, they often require manual adjustments and tweaks to the layers in our panels or illustrations, as well as the use of additional layers to complement the changes and effects.

 

As I mentioned earlier, it is advisable to keep elements separated in your illustrations. This is where we'll start making changes and adjustments to make our illustration look more striking and convincing.

 

So, let's do it!

I have separated the elements that I consider necessary to keep unmerged, in my case, the SKY, the CLOUDS, and the FIELD.

 

We will need to play around with the levels of these layers to make our illustration truly eye-catching!

 

Let's start by selecting the SKY layer and pressing Ctrl + U (Command + U on MacOS)

(We will change every element on the layers to make up our background)

•For the SKY: We simulate a darker nighttime sky by decreasing the Luminosity of SKY by -70%.

 

•For the FIELD: We lower the Luminosity by up to -40%.

 

•For the CLOUDS: Similarly, for the CLOUDS, we will decrease the Luminosity by -50% to simulate nighttime clouds.

 

It's looks like:

Remember that these percentages are NOT absolute values, and you can adjust them according to your preferences and style.

The result of these changes should look something like this:

This already looks better and more resembles a nighttime scene, but there's still some room for improvement to achieve an optimal result.

 

Now, once we re-enable the layer for our MAIN CHARACTER

(We'll leave the main character as is - No changes for this Layer)

 

Let's create a new layer with the Blending mode set to Darken and lower the opacity of this layer to around 20%, like this:

Above that layer, repeat the previous steps for the Gradient Map (Night sky). Change the layer blending mode to Darken and lower the opacity of that layer to 40%.

Our illustration has improved significantly, and we can confidently say that it depicts a believable and visually pleasing nighttime scene.

Extra: Now, let's imagine that the lights from a vehicle or something are illuminating our scene.

 

We will determine the type of lighting, taking into consideration what we learned earlier about shadows and how they are reflected on objects based on the light source.

 

We will use a light that comes from the left side and is almost frontal to the position of our character:

Remember and keep in mind that adding LIGHTS is like a reverse process to the basic one of adding SHADOWS to our figures.

 

Finally, let's emphasize the lighting a bit more by adding a light source coming from the left.

 

Create a new layer with Soft light blending mode. Use a soft brush and with the same color as the previous light paint a big light source, and set the layer opacity to 100%.

Our nighttime scene is ready!

 

At this point, we have achieved a beautiful nighttime image. However, the possibilities offered by gradient maps are endless. Remember to try various maps and play with the levels of the layers and the lighting and shadow effects.

 

Your illustration can always look even better!

All those layers may seem unnecessary or even excessive to you, but that's what it's all about – adjusting and arranging things to your own style and taste. So don't hesitate to play around with each effect until you achieve a result that you personally like!

 

Then, now that we know how to use gradients and adjust the layers according to each scene, let's continue with two other types of environments: Dawn and Dusk.

B. Sunset

During SUNSET, colors are intense and warm, which translates to saturated tones in our illustration.

 

Below, I will show you the layer order to achieve this scene, as well as the changes that some elements have here, unlike the SUNSHINE illustration:

These are all the necessary layers to achieve this scene.

 

In the layer list, you can see the corresponding percentages for each layer, as well as the blending modes and colors I used to make some changes. For example, the SKY was colored in a pink hue (or you can use purple, depending on your preference), the FIELD remained unchanged (just like the MAIN CHARACTER layer), and the CLOUDS were colored with a soft yellow tone.

 

Note that for this scene, the levels of these layers were not changed and remained the same as the first scene (SUNSHINE). However, if you want the scene to be more intense, darker, or lighter, feel free to adjust the levels to your liking!

Above the layer of our MAIN CHARACTER, I added a gradient with the following parameters:

Next, I created two layers:

The first layer is set to Hard Light mode (5% Opacity), and the second layer is set to Overlay mode (15% Opacity)

 

 

I've also added a second gradient map:

 

Last Layer is a simple Gray color for all the illustration / Panel, in Overlay mode at 30% Opacity.

 

The colors I used for this can be seen in the thumbnails. If you want to use those colors, you can copy them using the eyedropper tool. >Press the "I" key to activate the eyedropper tool, place it over the color you want to use, and click once. Now you have the same color that I used!

 

THAT'S ALL!

 

C. Early Day

Personally, it's my favorite scene.

(This atmosphere can be perfectly used for that brief moment of the day when the sun has just set and gives way to the night.)

 

Let's see how the scene is composed and what changes were made to each background layer:

 

The color of the sky has been painted again, this time in a desaturated bluish-gray tone. It's a fitting color for this scene.

 

(If you're having trouble choosing the color, remember that you can use the eyedropper tool to directly copy the color).

 

Another option is to lower the brightness of the SUNSHINE sky. You can lower it between 40% to 60%.

 

Next, I created a new layer above the sky layer. This layer is intended to add some warm color to the farthest part of the sky. Remember that the sun is about to rise on the horizon, so it's necessary to add those details.

•For the FIELD: We lower the Luminosity by up to -40%.

 

•For the CLOUDS: We will decrease the Luminosity by -50%.

 

•The MAIN CHARACTER are same. Adjustments are not necessary.

 

Next, above the MAIN CHARACTER layer, we add a gradient.

Select Sky > Sunrise (bright), press OK, and then change the layer mode to Brightness. Finally, lower the opacity to around 25%:

Lastly, we create three layers, each with its respective blending mode, following the order and mode specified here:

THAT'S ALL!

 

Now, we will use everything we have done to add it to the panels or illustrations we want!

3. How to use each gradient that we have created in the desired panel or illustration!

The way to do it is as follows:

 

•Select any scene (you need to do this for every scene)

•Go to top layer and create a new Folder here.

•Now change this new folder to Through mode:

•Click on the layer that contains the gradient.

•Press and hold Shift.

•Go to the top Overlay layer and click again.

•Now drag all the selected layers into the folder. A red box will appear, release the layers there.

•Rename your new folder as « SUNSET GRADIENTS »

• Then, select the Folder and press Ctrl+C (Copy) and Paste (Ctrl+V) in any other illustration file:

We have finished.

 

I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you.

 

Until next time!