How to Shade Like Japanese Artists - The 1/2/3 Shadow system【TUTORIAL】

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Fubuki PSD pack - oridays.com/fubukipack
In this video, I will be going through the 1/2/3 shadow system that you’ll often find Japanese artists use and reference often when creating anime style art. Enjoy :)
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⌚️Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:08 The 1, 2, 3 Shadow system
01:46 The First Shadow
02:40 Studying from Anime
04:29 The Second Shadow
04:56 The Third Shadow
05:28 The 1.5 Shadow
05:42 How to add in the shadows
06:25 2nd method of adding in shadows
06:52 Adding Lighting Nuances
08:47 How to start practicing shading
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[@oridays]

Update: The video is up now! You can watch it here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5bJonRtmtWEsM0 ***** Hey friends 👋 just a note that I've temporarily taken down the "Draw-Reflect-Learn" video I mentioned at the end as I'm planning to make an updated version of it that's going to be more actionable! So make sure to subscribe so you don't miss it when it comes out 💪 (EDIT: I've trimmed out the part I mentioned it in for now to create a better viewing experience.)

[@Nightoyl]

Ty so so much!

[@silenthunter1794]

Oridays , can you guide on ibispaint X too, pretty please?

[@justanotherwolf9222]

Could you make a video explaining the layers for shading more slowly? I became very lost there

[@Macalaka]

this is a really interesting topic. especially when you think historically, European art tends to be more about realism, capturing forms through lighting. And in Japan they seemed to be more interested in shapes, like in wood cuts or scrolls. personally i think the 123 shadow method is easier to learn and wrap your head around. But obviously learning about the theory of light and all that is a must, when you see an artist combine the two the result is amazing.

[@pupleon]

i think that has everything to do with it, like cel-shading is really what's being depicted with the 1-2-3 system (in anime cel-shading might only be 1 or 2 shadows though) so it makes sense that drawing in an anime style, they're going to use cel-shading techniques but can add more depth to the shadow and rendering since it's an illustration

[@DistantDeadWorlds]

Another fun fact, a lot of the ukiyo -e is inspired by European art and vice versa. If you see any fundimentals in perspective in ukiyo-e art, it’s because of western art as perspective is a western discovery. It’s mostly because the edo period started when japan open up trade to the west Also impressionist, were inspired by Japanese art.

[@DG_Toti]

@@DistantDeadWorldsyeah, I remember going to see Monet’s estate when I visited France, dude had so many old Japanese illustrations plastered around his home, it was honestly really cool! Also his garden still has the water lilies in it!

[@DistantDeadWorlds]

@@DG_Toti that’s pretty cool. Would love to see his estate.

[@crafteariee]

That explains the philosophy I heard from an artist who encouraged studying the concepts of both “notan” and “chiaroscuro” in her painting course (concept artist Airi Pan in her Schoolism course) when composing one’s pieces. There’s groups of really cool illustrators from around the world who I admire who love to play with both concepts in the ways they do the lighting of their pieces and it’s wonderful seeing the different ways they combine these influences into their own works as well. Art history keeps learning from each other! 🥰

[@Sofisasam]

This honestly helps me so much. Recently all my shading has been a big mess and this is a great guideline that i can follow along!!

[@oridays]

Happy to help!

[@iotaku]

Saaame, like I've been been drawing cell shading and stuff like an average anime so my hair looks like a hard shell instead silky smooth

[@SaltedMallows]

@@oridays fr bro, thanks to you my shading is finna get me ALL, the Hoes bro. Fr Fr

[@urlocalimu]

I read that as sibling 💀💀💀💀

[@pawble]

would like but dont wanna ruin the 666

[@undeuxtois]

as an artist who avoids rendering.... this just gave me the motivation honestly i'm doing a fanart of Kafka from Star Rail rn, and i want to do her justice. thank you so much for your help and willingness to share information that's limited to others, your videos really helped and i've subscribed! i hope you know there are people out there like me who appreciate you and a bunch of other artists a lot :)))

[@Quinqyincy]

Mommy Kafka

[@wishtopublish]

​​@@Quinqyincy this is way funnier if someone reading this comment thinks we're talking about the author of the Metamorphosis

[@massimoparecchini1400]

@@wishtopublish It's literally what I tought and I just did that book for school

[@art.strings]

Where are you going to post the artwork? I would love to see!

[@Quinqyincy]

I also appreciate this :)))

[@swisdom9117]

I’m so glad to find smaller creator like you who go through this kinda stuff. I need someone to spoon feed this info to me so this is much appreciated! Hope I a get some value out of this

[@kawaiiPASTA]

I accidentally figured this out myself while working on a fanart a few years ago. I was making fanart of a character from pokemon and while looking at the Ken Sugimori artwork of her, I noticed how he shaded and tried it myself. Basically, instead of doing what I had watched digital artists do for years, which was shading each area individually (skin, hair, clothes, etc), it was clear he was using one or two layers to shade the whole piece cohesively. This was a game changer for me. Since then, I use multiply layers to shade my whole drawings in 2-3 layers (main shadow, darker shadows, deepest shadows) and then finishing the piece with various lighting layers and final touches. I feel as though shading this way makes the most sense when working digitally as it really helps me think of the piece as a whole and keep the colors and shadows feeling cohesive.

[@annie5725]

THANK YOU! I , myself was too scared of trying it. But with your explanation , it doesnt seem that bad to try anymore!

[@lucif3r520]

i used to do the same when studying another artist who's a friend of mine, honestly it's way better than just shading 1 part slowly LOL

[@Foervraengd]

I'd like to point out that the 1st Shadow is more common in modern anime art, I've noticed that when compared to anime art from 90s and older. We are currently in a trend where rim light and semi-backlight is used to make more dynamic rendering. When I was a young artist it was more common to have the light source in front of the character or to the side, you would see noses have cast shadows instead of a lit up-area like in your artwork.

[@shuryou-obhr]

This is awesome, thanks for breaking the fundamentals of this style down. I've been trying to find out what style is used by Blue Archive and this is the closest I could find.

[@oridays]

Happy to help! I love BA myself so I've also done a lot of studies of their art (so my art style definitely has some influence from them too!) and I can tell you it's somewhere in between simple anime shading and the one used for a more complex illustration. The in game art mainly just uses 1~2 shadows, and the way to approach it would be to start off from an anime shading base (you can take a look at the free Anime PSD I put up for how to) and then layering some more shading/lighting complexity on top of that

[@smerci]

ngl, you should do reviews on japanese artist tutorials and provide information on the tips they give as most of us don't know japanese :( Probably the only reason I would learn Japanese is not for anime, but to study from these masters

[@staryxz2610]

Exactly what I needed recently and you posted a tutorial on it much appreciated Ori-sama 🙏🙏

[@oridays]

Glad I could help! 😄

[@grindlord064]

You are doing god's work man, really appreciate these tutorials

[@AmazingRoni]

i've been working on making a vtuber model for a while and just have not been able to get satisfied with my shading! my japanese is very minimal and there aren't nearly enough resources for english-speaking artists out there, thank you so much for making these tutorials. they're amazing!

[@vanguardangel6912]

You’re an angel! I’ve been struggling with sharing and lighting so much this is so helpful!

[@Cainmak]

I have actually been using two shadows inherently, but adding the first, biggest shadow would actually make my art more visible. Also thank you for explaining what warmth is, that would be really useful.

[@AlphaArt11423]

Finally, been waiting for this, thank you

[@tt6983]

123 shadow comes from the animation production process,but other side comes from the drawing method of oil painting. The edges of light and shadow are blurred, and the edges of 123 shadows are also blurred, so no one mentions it

[@peroron_]

but in oil painting we usually work from dark to light, instead of the other way around.

[@user-li6uo1ft3n]

動画助かりました、各々の影の役割やプロセスについての説明がされていて非常に分かり易かったです。参考にして練習します…！

[@Yuunarichu]

Aiooou as an anime artist myself I've been looking for a pro artist to go in-depth on anime shading. I learnt most of this myself from observation but having a pro's perspective on how they do it is something I've been looking for since I started drawing. 😄 I might click on every tutorial commenting that I wanted to do similar tutorials by accident though 😂 I'm just too amazed!!! I'm looking forward to see what you might teach in the future. Can you perhaps teach how to do anime face proportions? After all these years mine are always way off, I can never draw eyes and nose in the correct position. 😅

[@oridays]

Glad you found it helpful! Sure, don't know when but I've added that to my video ideas list :)

[@blux_cross]

I've accidentally learnt 1 and 2 by myself, but never thought about making the 1.5 one since I usually just mix them with the 1, I'll try this method next time. Thanks for the amazing guide

[@okamichamploo]

Working in Japan I often got work that was actually catagorized by how many shadow layers the client expected. This job is a 2 shadow job so it should be done in 2 days, This one is 3 shadow plus gurade (gradiation) so you can have a work week for this one, etc.

[@PenroseGarden]

great video! super nice that you show how you organize your layers!

[@chirimoyan]

thanks so much! i've seen this way of painting around in many digital anime art pieces, i always found it very interesting how they all have this similar kind of shadow to them. my japanese is not very good so i couldn't learn it very deeply, until this video :) thanks again.

[@bobalover703]

This helps so much and I love how much he loves anime and linking them it actually helps

[@619gh8]

Thanks for this really and nice for pointing out that most of western artist just point the light and shadow of a ball it's really nice to know what other thinks especially the language barrier it's really hard to know and most of the great artist nowadays are Japanese, Koreans and Chinese

[@CorralSummer]

If you look at anime shading tutorials specifically they'll mention this layering thing even in English. I think they word it differently than the Japanese tho. Most English guides are focused more on realistic drawing so they pretty much exclusively talk about the physical way light works. Japanese anime styles just kinda seem to be the default so if you look up "how to shade" they'll tell you how to shade like anime which is typically more stylized.

[@basewho5230]

In English: 1. First pass/simple cel shade 2. Cast shadow 3. Ambient Occlusion

[@ThiccThresher]

quickest sub !!!!

[@HealyHQ]

Good stuff!

[@LuminInk443]

duuuude i really needed this one- i been stumped and Im tryna make art a fulltime thing for myself. thank you so much fam

[@ponluxime]

i'm an anime artist-in-training, and holy crap i've just discovered this channel recently. this will DEFINITELY help me out alot with my anime art (along with the other videos)!! i'll keep these videos in mind, thank you for making these tutorials, as it's kinda hard to find similar tutorials lol

[@extremesubtlety]

Really comprehensives guide! Thanks!❤

[@CupCollectors]

色んな絵師さんのお絵かき配信見てきたけど123影初めて見たかも〜 めっちゃわかりやすかったわ

[@munooro]

this was exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

[@donphildraws1357]

This is truly gold. I subscribed

[@NyraLunaEXE]

Your videos have REALLY helped. I'm going to implement this system into my next art piece!

[@GabePlaysYT]

Thank you so much!! I'm determined to be the best anime artist I can be and this - in tandem with Coloso tutorials and other inspirations out there -- are sure to help me level up!!

[@shinonomecitrus]

hey, this is really cool! recently got this video on my recommended and i'm happy i decided to watch. i watched a tutorial this helpful in a while, and i like your vibe :]

[@Popcatata]

i mainly do watercolour art and these 1,,2,3 shadows make perfect sense to me. Its the same technique we do in watercolour. Loved how straightforward the video is!

[@meteorshowerz_]

this actually helped so much! thank goodness

[@tisa37bokun57]

This is actually so helpful thank you so much ❤

[@armagedonthe1gamer]

Glad that there's content that helps relate what ambient, hard, and soft shadows are better. struggled with this until I got into college, as a lot of the time rendering isn't fully explained in highschool classes. They kind of just point at a picture and are like "here you go!" with no real demos of what it is.

[@saberkite]

After watching this video, I realized that I learned this method by copying a lot of anime art but never really knew how it works, so I never really managed to utilize it. It just works. Thank you so much for explaining this!

[@cami-kd2xt]

love ur vids bro keep up the great work 🙇‍♂🙇‍♂🙇‍♂

[@CuteDemonShiro]

Ty men, is so good

[@pillowo]

I absolutely thank you. Thank you!!

[@wolfie1001]

Great stuff, love it

[@Mysterye]

Such an underrated channel!!

[@yampolskie]

Thank you very much for this! You are great at explaining things

[@monyetguru]

why didnt i find this channel sooner subbed!

[@coke3128]

you are an actual GOD SEND my guy, thank you so much. definitely subscribing 🙏

[@rafa1096]

This helped me a lot, thank you!

[@goshybears]

Thank you. I like seekng the differences between how eastern and western artists do art.

[@nowe614]

Fubukiiii!!!

[@jgkage727]

Thanks you for PSD!!!

[@cyanara5523]

While watching this I always thought there are around 3 shadings. While I only do pixel art and only have a slight knowledge of shading and traditional art. Its really insightful to see what my preconceptions about shading is pretty accurate and made it more clear just by watching this video. Its very insightful and very easy to understand by separating shadows in 1/2/3 sections.

[@syedshujja6543]

I'm finding this type of video alot. Hopefully I get it. Thanks for the good Tutorials.

[@lounirs]

It's the second video feom you that I get recommended, and they both were so well explained, I had to sub

[@keylalia]

Oh my sense, I really respect you🙏🎉

[@zinzolin14]

I must've picked up this tip from somewhere, as I shade with a similar system with my understanding of shading/lighting we use here in the west. Thanks for sharing this tip with us, as now I have a better understanding of the three shadows 👍

[@500_]

you are a godsend, thank you very much for your explanations!

[@SaiTeadvuse]

Thank you so so much!

[@Be727z]

1 minute in. I've been learning japanese on and off for about.. Half a year now? Recently took a break and just couldn't bring myself to study. Hearing about how art techniques vary and how japan has its own techniques gave me the motive I was completely lacking to continue. I now know what I want to learn it for - so I can follow art books and use Japanese as a stepping stone to level up my art - then when I'm proficient enough from reading Japanese art books and continuing to add on to my knowledge with classes, I could try to make some Japanese friends as that was my original motive. Booking a class for next weekend. Ori, tysm! All i needed was a little push, and you gave me a big one.

[@anggy8912]

subscribed! bcs i found your channel really useful for myself

[@Oniichanmomo]

You’re the best 😭😭😭

[@rinalee9751]

Thankyou so much sensei Oridays! hahaha

[@S0REZ]

This is god tier knowledge just slapped into a short video

[@jackiehonda]

A must-watch video to anyone producing digital stuff. Very helpful, God bless ya!

[@raketa_tut]

Thanks for the tutorial) Very good video)🙂

[@mallowskycotl]

3:53 this made me laugh 😂😂 props to you since I don't usually laugh when I'm watching tutorial videos LOL

[@Luxflux777]

This is the best art channel I've found, amazing tips for a committed hobbyist like myself. Thank you

[@Linuxfy]

This is amzing.

[@user-le6dc7vi2y]

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCHHH

[@kingz9778]

Very interesting, thank you so much for sharing that. Your explanations are very clear and your art is so good, I subbed instant. Thanks again

[@lecama46]

thx. this'll help a lot.

[@Cookiechipz13]

Wow This Tutorial Helped A Lot, I'm not even close to drawing anime but People who do Just Inspire Me to keep trying

[@uramakibanana]

omg you are a blessing! thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

[@spoon9141]

Thank you for the video!

[@t4rtee819]

THIS IS SO USEFUL OMG THANK YOU i am mostly trying to speed up my drawing process bc of my mental health and troubles with consentration and this is very useful! also it is all for free... thank you.. you are a life savior...

[@md.boujee]

This was very helpfull ! Thanks

[@solyun2683]

Great video, many thanks and subbed

[@HeartCubic]

Thank you for the good clip. It really helped me to learn more.❤

[@SukonbuAttack]

Thank you friend ! Very useful

[@_________7235]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@NECO.Anime.]

Very cool

[@hell2864]

Thank you or this tutorial!! Such quality tutorials are rare for free :)

[@oridays]

😊👍

[@user-of3fg4ng8z]

Instant sub

[@dkdkdnffjxjdj6019]

Thank youuuuu

[@hontoudesuka2000yen]

truly thank you very much Ori-sensei 🙏 truly thank you very much to you for sharing this technique to us as you said we can usually learn abt this technique by spending money 🙏

[@Ishitnadaako]

thank you for your hard work you amazing legend

[@Jima45]

thank you so much! have a nice day!

[@UnderAvg]

FINALLY SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN THIS. I WAS ALWAYS SO CONFUSED BY ENGLISH TUTORIALS WHICH ALWAYS FOCUSED ON REALISM

[@DanySan550]

I kinda already knew this, but this video explains everything very clearly

[@Chvbbykat]

thank you to share your knowledge, very appreciate 🙏

[@tamaki1710]

thanks man really struggle with shanding thank you for the tips

[@bewdeyeswhitedragon]

Subbed. Thank you for sharing this valuable information.

[@SussyJoe_08]

Just found out this channel from my friend, this is really helpful!

[@Descart330]

heavily underrated

[@heistrawberry7578]

I used to do a ton of traditional drawing years ago when I didn't have much access to computers and internet, it was a cheaper hobby to fill the time. I haven't really done drawing in quite a few years because of interest in other things (competitive gaming and hiking). Now trying to get back to learning art again except I'm trying to transition to digital. Been dipping my hand into different styles of digital works like water colour painting, objects, pixel art and sprite animation, ect ect. So many options with digital. My one friend thinks its easy to do digital art *eyeroll*. I also am not super motivated to get back into it which is why I am having slow progress, self learning. I have heard of this 3 layer shadow term before, I thought it was common knowledge and was surprised to hear you say it was considered a paid learning topic. Thanks for the refresh and lesson. Some people just have a higher art skill level these days ig.

[@disruptive_innovator]

Been trying to do some 3D render code stuff. This helped very much. thanks.

[@BusinessWolf1]

I used this system on accident quite a few times lol thanks, I'm rewatching this for the 2nd time for a piece

[@csfnoodle]

god damn! that is very helpful, i'll start practicing doing this.