I need a little help with the shadowing in her clothes

[fierce crown]

Hello there, I am not so sure on how to approach shadowing in clothing. could you please help?
Fore refrence, the light is coming from her left and semi-close to her face.

[median copper]

Heres how id go about it ^^
I gotta go but ill be back in like an hour to explain in depth

[fierce crown]

@median copper ?

[median copper]

OH thanks for bringing me back man XD
Got distracted sorry

Alright then lets go!

First thing I do when shading like this is obviously pick a light source, you got that done already ^^
Make a new layer, pick some saturated but dark color of your preference and lay down some harsh shadows in the most important areas that need shading. In this case it was the left side of the character which isnt being lit by the light source, as well as some elements that are further back to give them dimension (hair, the thing on her back)
You wanna focus on getting three dimensionality to your shapes. You can imagine the thigh as an oval, one side is being lit while the other (since there’s only one light source) is in shadow.
After placing all the shadows down I go back in with an airbrush eraser to soften some edges where the shape is more circular or where you stylistically see fit.

After that I do another layer of shadows to deepen them and create more volume with softer transitions. These are more broad and lighter shadows.

Then I do a quick “add” mode layer for light. Highlighting the areas that would be directly hit w light such as the chest, tights, shoulder and snout :)

Then two broad airbrush layer of shadow and light just to give it that slight gradient effect thats barely visible haha

Lastly I do a touchup layer, adding bounce lights, extra hue shifts, the red shadow edge effect etc.

Again, this is a REALLY quick example of that, you should focus more on the shapes, folds, textures etc.

I also use quiet saturated colors when shading but thats up to you :)
Same with the layer mode you use, how many layers you do, how intense you make the shadows etc.

Although ofc thats not the only way to shade,
Heres another technique I use.

A greyscale drawing focusing on really rough lights and shadows, converted into color via gradient maps and then touched up with extra layer and liquify haha

Or ANOTHER option! Haha sorry to spam but i wanna show how versatile shading can be :)

The flats are done first, tho they already feature some shading on the legs, purple fabric and neck to emphasize volume. Most if it done with accidental hue shifts (i have hue jitter active on my brush).
Then the extra effects are added, glitter and shine mainly.
After that I do touchups by cleaning up the lineart and rendering smaller details
And finally some extra shadows on the dress to show the folds and volume while keeping the simple look of the drawing :)

[median copper]

And in case this isnt clear ^^

[fierce crown]

Thank you for the detailed explenation, but one question for some reason you have some blue spots and I don't understand why

[median copper]

Thats just a personal preference to add some variety and visual interest :)
I use it very subtly in some of my art or very pronounced in other :D

You, of course, dont have to! Just ended up doing it out of habit haha

[fierce crown]

understandable

[fierce crown]

@median copper Hallo again, I just want you to tell me if i starting in the right foot ( I have started with the darker parts )

[median copper]

For the chest, think about it like two balls XDD
As weird as that sounds lol

If the light is in the top right there is no reason for the right boob to be so dark on the right side. Especially not so high :0

[fierce crown]

Understood

[fierce crown]

Some I tried it a litte bit more and IDK if it got it better or not. As you see I was scared to touch the boobs, because shading the sphere is the most difficult thing for me.

[fierce crown]

undate

[median copper]

What layer mode are you using? :0

[fierce crown]

Multiply by 69%

[median copper]

The red areas are places in which the shading doesn't really make sense

And the blue is just a suggestion like, where do you think the shadow from her head falls :0

Just ask yourself like, WHAT is dropping that shadow? What is creating it?

[fierce crown]

I thought that possibly her head and hair would effect the shadow

Also for the boob shadow, I thought that because its in front and in her left, then possibly there would be a shadow too

[median copper]

Which one? :0
The one on her arm going up and contouring her boob isn't close to the hair and head to be affected :)
The boob one is understandable at the top but the specific shadow following her shirt doesn't really fit :0
Same with bottom one :)

[fierce crown]

So, few questions before I continue, 1) What did I do right? and 2):

@median copper

Also, 3) I have no Idea how the shadow of the hand will fall and if it will indeed fall on her thighs

[median copper]

Maybe try something like magic poser, get the pose and adjust the lighting :0

Then reference the shading

[fierce crown]

can you give me one more tip @median copper ? how can I add the lighting of a torch? Cause I tried it and I don't know what did I did wrong

[median copper]

Think about the light source :)
It's warmth and strength and how it hits the different materials on the character.
Look at references on Google and Pinterest of artists drawing torch lit scenes :0

You maybe shouldve implemented that a bit earlier to match the shadows but that's okay.
In the future maybe do a small mockup of the drawing with very rough shading and lighting so you can thumbnail the general idea of a scene :)

[fierce crown]

Indeed, I hope using the gradient tool did something overall

[median copper]

Just some refs :)