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Flat shading vs cel shading in my latest character piece
I spent my whole last spring break working on a digital portrait series for school, and I tried flat shading on the first one then switched to cel shading for the second. The flat shaded version just looked kinda dead no matter how much I played with the colors, but the cel shaded piece with hard shadows and a rim light on her hair actually gave it that pop I wanted. I did a side by side comparison in Procreate on my iPad and the cel shaded one got way more engagement on Instagram too. Has anyone else noticed one style just works better for certain subjects or is it more about the vibes you're going for?
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elliot_harris253mo ago
Tried cel shading on a cat portrait and it looked like a video game villain.
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willow_anderson853mo ago
Hold up, I gotta push back on this a little. Cel shading is usually about bold, flat colors and dark outlines, which can absolutely make a cat look like they're plotting world domination if you push the shadows too hard. But your mileage may vary on what "too hard" means. I'd say try backing off the black outlines and using a dark grey or even a warm brown instead, that softens the "villain" vibe a ton. Also, cel shading works best when you keep the light source really simple and don't try to shade every single strand of fur. Just pick one or two big shadow shapes on the face and body and leave the rest flat. That should stop your cat from looking like they're about to monologue about their evil plan.
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