Shading tutorial for comics using Krita - by David Revoy

[@Zyrkl3]

Why do you fill the layer with mid grey? Can't I just apply the shading without doing that step?

[@DavidRevoy]

Hey, it's a part I had to cut or the video would have been a bit too long. You can skip this part and the rendering will be similar; exept you'll meet a bug as soon as you'll try to color pick a light or shadow only on this layer (with Ctrl+Alt+click to restrict to a single layer). If you use a black brush on a transparent layer at 50% opacity; the shadow will be equal to a 50% gray (in a nutshell) but when you'll color pick the layer; Krita will select black. If you paint the same stroke over this mid-gray layer; krita will pick the midgray because all the color on the layer will be solid. On a comic page, this is very useful because the shading is often consistent accross the same scene. So, color picking was necessary and I had this bug I could solve this way. It also allows to do filter tweak because all the color are solid (color curve filter, to deep the shadows, etc).

[@Zyrkl3]

@@DavidRevoy Thank you very much for the explanation! That makes much sense indeed!

[@deltaixe]

late comment here, but krita now saves your colors so there actually no need for doing this anymore

[@chunkyturtle5001]

@@deltaixe really? Where do I find it? Sorry I'm still new to krita

[@deltaixe]

@@chunkyturtle5001 when you choose a color, and paint on the canvas once, it'll be saved next to the color wheel which after you can then select it to use it again

[@Simrasil_]

I started using krita a while ago because of your videos. It's really a great program and your tutorials and art are amazing. Thank you for promoting free/open source software, especially for beginners it's great to see you can achieve highly professional results with free tools.

[@idea1407]

This video is over a year old, but it has so many great tips and art concepts that I learn so much by coming back to it. I love David's videos.

[@someone-mh1bo]

YES, I've struggling with this for ages.

[@ZkoyllarTube]

Same here!. I just recently started realizing "and what if I start coloring the background to set the color mode" and then I saw this video, proving that's a really good way to do so and it absolutely works. Thanks David!

[@zombie221]

I dont know if you read comments on your old videos, but I wanted to say a big, genuine thank you. The first video of yours I'd ever watched was the tutorial on coloring with the colorize tool, and that was something I'd looked for years ago. Today, this video came across my feed and I watched it, since it looked interesting. This process got me out of a bad art slump I've been in for months. I have been struggling with rendering my lights and shadows lately, nothing really made me happy with how they were coming out and I've been trying all sorts of things. This process has breathed so much life back into my work, thank you. Thank you so much.

[@DavidRevoy]

Oh that's a good news! Thank you for words and feedback and for taking the time to send them to a small creator on Ytb :) I'm doing a video editing of a new tutorial today after a long period of absence, and it gives me energy. Thanks!

[@Cloud_Animation]

Can I just say your a talented artist

[@lairely6208]

Dear David, although this Video is a few months old I really want to thank you! I've startet with digital art a few weeks ago, and your videos made the learning process so much easier and motivating for me! There are so many possibilities and features in Krita, it was overwhelming for me and in some kind of way, that really frightened me. Your videos helped me so much in breaking them down and understand these features. Sure, I'm still int he learning process, but it's much easier for me now. Also, I really enjoy your drawings and comics! They are adorable! Lot's of thanks, the best wishes and greetings from germany! =)

[@abdallah_m]

Amazing tutorial! Especially liked the tip about picking color from the current layer and the "Hard Light" blending mode.

[@muunwulf4706]

This is so helpful! I received a lot of formal traditional art training, but no digital art training, so I had no idea what the hard light layer actually meant. I can see now that I've definitely been under-utilizing it, and I can't wait to experiment with what you've shown me! Digital art has always frustrated me, because I can't afford lessons and I just don't understand what most of the tools do or how to practically apply them. As a result, there's a pretty big difference in quality between my traditional work and my digital work. Your videos are making digital art much more accessible for me, so thank you!

[@DavidRevoy]

Hey, thank you very much for taking the time and let a comment about it; you made my day! :)

[@abrr2000]

this technique merges about 3 techniques and goodness knows how many layers into one beautiful easy to use method. I LOVE IT!

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you :) With time I found two drawback: 1. The saturation; as for a "multiply" classic shading it's impossible with this blending mode to do desaturate type of shadows. It works for anime/comics/cartoon type of shading very well, but for more advanced realism it fails a bit. 2. The way to select colors taking in consideration the mid-gray as transparent and up=brighter and down=darker require a little brain gymnastic and is not the easiest. That's all I found about it. But the Pros are indeed good: keeping a layer stack very short and increasing control.

[@abrr2000]

@@DavidRevoy I've been using multiply for years, so I found this method an easy natural progression. The thing I like about it most is that light blends naturally into shadows without overlapping awkwardly. It also makes colour selecting easier and more natural. As for more realistic shading... I'm not there yet, so that doesn't bother me. I just threw on a single layer set to "add glow" (I use Clip Studio) on top, with a bit of light air brushing for the more intensely illuminated areas, and boom! done!

[@Bans14]

You did a great job bro. Both, your artwork and your tutorial. Thanks for your videos. This is underrated channel

[@DavidRevoy]

Thanks!

[@anwardaud]

At first i was searching on how to use mask in krita and then find this channel. I am really glad stumble upon this channel

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you!

[@whispercat56235]

You are one of my main art gurus! Thank you SO much for all you do for the Krita community, you are invaluable!

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you for your comment! 💜

[@cresdc8481]

I'm struggling with digital art + coloring and noticed that to have such nice result, there are a lot of options to go through! This makes it easier! Thank you so much!

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you for the feedback! :-)

[@arsom5552]

This is very useful video i've waited. Thank you David Revoy for making this video.

[@Bakamatsu-GojiFanArchive]

This technique you show in the video has helped the art style of my comics a great deal. Thank you for sharing it with us!

[@joaulooo]

Thank you for this tutorial, I've been searching for something like this for a long time!

[@AlirezaBakhshi-uw7ky]

Watching this 5 years later, I think it saved my sanity !

[@thoth8349]

This is the first time a video has looked easy and actually WAS easy for me! Your instruction and techniques were very easy to follow and thank you for showing all the steps instead of assuming I know anything(because I did not).

[@DavidRevoy]

Hey, thank you for the feedback! I'll try to keep the same approach then for my next one: about perspective. A propos perspective, can you tell me how familiar you are with it?

[@thoth8349]

@@DavidRevoy Gladly, but do you mean your channel or perspective? If your channel I specifically was looking for videos on shading with Krita and your video was top on Google(so your SEO is doing good!) If you mean perspective I would love a video on it because I have no idea how to use it efficiently. If you have any other questions I am happy to answer as an almost 0 experience user.

[@DavidRevoy]

@@thoth8349 Thanks! It's a video tutorial about making perspective grid in Krita. I'll write a script this week, I'll try to cover the basics and if it is too long, I'll split the video in two. Thanks for your proposition, I'll keep it.

[@lukemendonsa4624]

You are a great teacher and mentor. Love watching your videos which are precise, so very easy to watch and learn from.

[@deltaixe]

Thank the lords! I was struggling to find a tutorial for coloring and shading ( colorize masks are great, but i didnt know how to shade ) and this was my saving grace right now! I really love your art, keep going, good vibes from belgium

[@leeroby4824]

This was such a huge help! I started using Krita recently and this tutorial has definitely saved me a bunch of confusion and frustration. Thank you! Also your art is amazing :)

[@ziviliuke132465]

Thank you so much, there aren't many artists who would help to learn to use Krita program and your tutorials are so well made and it is easy to understand.

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you for your feedback! I wish I had time to do more !

[@LolitaWLAND]

I just need to write a comment in here because your tutorials are amazing!!! I have been taking some online courses on colouring, most of them for PS or different programs to Krita, so I had to managed myself to apply what I learnt to this program, since I prefer using Krita at home. Thank you a lot for this amazing tutorial!! It has been very useful, well-explained and interesting!!! It's difficult to believed that I learnt so much in only 20 min! hahaha so thank you a lot!!

[@RogerioPereiradaSilva77]

Another amazing tutorial. Thanks a bunch, David!

[@rsl-ck4qx]

i come to this video everyday because i forget how to set up the shading thanks david XD

[@megmaplesart]

I am just getting started with digital art and your tutorials are exactly what I was looking for! I love your characters too! They are so cute!

[@dinyo.cartoonsandcomics]

I am a Krita beginner user and find out your video is really helpful. Greetings from Indonesia :)

[@Uradamus]

Great video, going to have to give this approach a try! One small correction through; the color that passes through a surface, such as flesh, isn't due to the color of the blood, but because of the wave length of the light that can manage to pass through. Red is at the longer end of the spectrum, so it just happens to be the color of light that is least likely to get absorbed or bounced back.

[@DavidRevoy]

Oh thank you! that's good to know!

[@masonmason22]

Thank you for making krita tutorials!

[@stumpyboi8350]

Just wanted to say this video has been really helpful, I have been doing all of my art on Procreate on the iPad up until recently and I just started using krita so i was looking for the most effective way to shade, I'm glad i found this video as it helped me out a bunch! keep up the good work!

[@o4sis]

your explanations are SOOOO good!! I’m finally understanding the process, thank you so so much! I was having a hard time getting into digital art

[@crcyclone3110]

Dude this sped up my time shading exponentially!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@HonestTampa]

Amazing tutorial. just what I was looking for, this was so helpful.

[@averyreese7708]

This was a very informative and helpful tutorial! I love that you demonstrated shading and lighting techniques in a variety of environments. Thank you!

[@bertoancila1721]

Don't worry, David. Your explanation was pretty understandable. Even though I'm still bad at putting values in my drawing, this tutorial give me a bit of push to do experiments. Thank you.

[@LinkCoral66]

i was doing wrong a lot of things.. this makes it more faster and easier!! thank you so much!! :D

[@exoswithjdubyuh7621]

Loved this tutorial. The best shading one I've come across so far. it was a big help. Thank you very much and your artwork is baller.

[@MixedSuupuu]

Wow excellent. Ça aide vraiment même pour ceux qui n'utilisent pas Krita. Merci pour cette vidéo.

[@ianzhang975]

Maria j'utilisais Krita mais j'ai évolué à clip studio paint. C'est meileur que animation et c'est ce que je faite. Mais je trouve ses vidéo vraiment utiles même

[@MixedSuupuu]

Pareille je suis suis Photoshop et j'essaye de bouger vers Clip Studio Paint.

[@animefreak1313]

Thank you for your videos! Your videos and blog posts are very informative!

[@Yomaaii]

The tutorial is amazing and very simple that I *who is a very very beginner at digital drawing* could understand it...thank you so so so much it's very helpful and useful and thank u again!🤩

[@snoadog]

Thanks a ton for this tutorial, I have been messing with a single shading layer in Krita a lot lately but I didn't have a good plan so I got lost a lot. This helped me SOO much!!

[@ryn.7933]

The one layer hard light work is genius, my dude!! I haven't seen anyone on KZbin yet working quite this way, it's really interesting!!! Instant subscription from me, and good job 😁

[@peshal0]

i just use krita to do random doodles but your tutorials are so fun to watch and it makes me learn art.

[@camillathomas61]

Thank you so, so much! Your tutorials are exactly what I've been looking for. Also, kudos for doing this in a non-native language, that's not easy. I have trouble understanding some accents, but I understand you perfectly :-)

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you very much Camilla for the feedback about my accent and your nice comment. 👍

[@privacytest9126]

Thank you so much for this fantastic tutorial - it's wonderful to see you at work!

[@wiktoriaolesen5985]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this tutorial! It was extremely helpful to a beginner digital artist such as myself, and I'm completing my first digital painting using this technique :)

[@isabelamaues4509]

i'm trying it myself, i'm speachless

[@ricardoguzmanmesen397]

Bravo, David. Gracias a ti he posido desarrollar mi historieta. Eres un maestro!

[@pas0003]

Thanks for a fantastic tutorial! I've been struggling quite a lot with basic shading in Krita and this helps in answering a lot of the questions I had and didn't think I have!

[@riccardoleone4265]

Knowing that there's a function like the special color picker blew my mind

[@Phemmy19]

i just discovered your channel today and this is amazing. subscribed, and turned notifications on. no doubt a ton of material here to help me up my krita game

[@darrenklutz3930]

This was really helpful, will definitely be watching more of your videos!! Thanks

[@mizwenn81]

Thank you so much for this detailed yet short(ish) video all you tutorials are so helpful! ^_^

[@hourglass8057]

A "before and after" at the end to see how big the difference is, would have been nice. I love your videos!

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you for the feedback, I'll try to remember about it if I reuse a format like that.

[@kurogiza]

Super helpful, thank you very much. The artwork is very cool too!

[@dazzothegreat]

Thank you for your tutorials, There are so impressive and fascinating to watch. Your an inspiration , love your artwork

[@LuvCroissant]

Thank you! This was very helpful. Krita is a new program for me and this made a lot of sense on how to navigate the application. Also beautiful example used and nice music :)

[@noanimezone3149]

This literally solves all my problem. Thank you so much. Plus your art is so beautiful 🥺🥺

[@OliverWallaceStories]

thankyou for such a generous and clear tutorial!

[@hermanmarkovich809]

Your tutorials are simply fantastic. Thanks a lot.

[@WikiSnapper]

Thank you for this tutorial. It was fantastic to watch you paint in that program. I am thinking I might want to switch from Photoshop because it is just too expensive. Your workflow is awesome. I like the speed that you produce the shading. Your technique is great. Thank you.

[@theodosius8003]

thank you this video is very helpful! I have always struggled with mood lighting in my drawings. this tutorial is helping me take my art the next level :)

[@theodosius8003]

Also I'm subscribing!! all your videos look great

[@DavidRevoy]

@@theodosius8003 Thank you very much for the feedback!

[@wafflearea868]

thank you!! ive been trying to find a shading tutorial that i can follow and this video does it for me!

[@DavidRevoy]

Ha, I'm glad this video still works. Next version of Krita (5.2) will have a new blending mode with a better experience for shading. It will be named "Lambert" and I gave back feedback about this one. I'll probably update the video with a new one after that.

[@perseohernandez755]

What a nice way to enjance those flat images. I suscribe right now.

[@Atezian]

awesome drawings and very insightful. thankyou

[@berendtuin5488]

Great Video Master David!

[@mariopichardo376]

This was wonderful insight, thanks for sharing.

[@aiscuke]

Very helpful and well made tutorial. Thanks a lot!

[@sionilopez]

Thank you so much for your videos. I've started using Krita long ago (I followed your work too) but cause I'm using my own way I miss some amazing things about Krita so I like watch how other artist use it. Your shadding technique is really useful and I'll try next time because I already use multiply and screen for shadding so knowing that hard-light is like working with both of them it's really good.

[@ChrisSanBrei]

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial! I feel my shading has improved thanks to this video. And also, amazing drawings!

[@melonnara]

Hi! I just recently switched from other drawing program to Krita, and your tutorials are very useful and easy to understand! Thank you very much for making tutorial videos! And btw I really love your art style!

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you very much Melon Pie for sharing your feedback! I had a little down this morning while sketching and reading it, did add a bit of sunshine to my day. Thanks again.

[@melonnara]

David Revoy you’re welcome! And I’m glad I can cheer your day a bit! Have a nice day David! ✨

[@ahfierofi]

Very useful! Can't wait to practice it at home! :D

[@Snow-sf1nh]

Merci beacoup monsieur David vous expliquer comme un chef

[@raxxie]

you've taught me everything I need to know about Krita!

[@vanvaleryart]

I liked very much your tutorials...Its very helpful. Thank you very much.

[@BOMBLATUR2]

Your tutorials are really helpful and instructive, keep up the good work and thank you! Also your style is such a joy for the eyes :O

[@Aomegeus]

So cool! I loved it! Thanks to you my drawing will get a lot better. Thanks!

[@olivierRH]

Thank you so much! I just started getting into Krita and you're just what I needed!

[@calogiga]

Tout simplement un grand merci de partager ainsi votre connaissance de Krita.

[@nicirochi0]

Amazing! You work remind me so much the old Squaresoft! Thanks for the video

[@generaljb2760]

Another Godsend of a tutorial, thank you.

[@juiceski30]

Excellent tutorial!

[@mordekaidc]

What a useful tutorial, thanks!

[@PandoraNH]

Always helpful. Thank you David for all you have shared. ❤️

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you for the feedback!

[@shellfish6078]

You are awesome! I love your videos and your art!!

[@kelliris5056]

Love your tutorials! Thank you ❤

[@PurpleHillsRPG]

Merci David. Tuto excellent!

[@ArteValor]

Congratulations, nice work!

[@monochiha831]

Its almost like magic, nice! I will put this into practice when I get home from work. Very helpful, thanks! 👏🤘

[@aysatsana2743]

i cant belive your channel is free😭

[@alifrangga5156]

Great Lesson as always... love you sir... from Indonesia

[@isabelamaues4509]

oh my god, i didn't even know it was possible, thank you so much

[@gelpatlu]

hello, I have a question, how you choose the flat color? I think that the flat color can change a lot than final ilustration, how you plane this? (I don´t writte well english, sorry)

[@DavidRevoy]

Hi! That's indeed THE very good question. Thanks for asking. I had no time to detail this part while recording the previous video and I had to do choice in the shading video to not be too long. For a good choice with this technic; you have to consider the 'hard-light' blending mode helps at increasing saturation but can't decrease it. So the color must be slightly desaturated and bright. It's easy to build up saturation at shading and contrast with darkening and lightening areas. When I color, I imagine the character being surrounded by white (colored neutral) neons. That's how I pick the base flat colors.

[@goldenkiwi8235]

thankyou so much for making this video! It was absolutely helpful!!

[@thehatter0319]

YES! This is what I need! Thank you!

[@yvesmolina]

Super cool, merci David

[@felixurot5311]

Good job on that Open animation by Blender! i recognized the girl instantly.

[@DavidRevoy]

Thank you :) I really liked how they 3Dified the character design.

[@berendtuin5488]

Perfect David, very helpfull!! Thank You!!

[@UTPTU]

Nice! You make it look easy!