If ya want some pointers
I can prob let you know some for this practice specifically.

shading is important. adding dark to crevises mostly or where a part overlaps another. but when this happens you want light as well. meaning adding a lighter color os lets say grey to the top of her shoulders and blending it when the light is like right bove her or pointing at her shoulders

Yeah that is the thing

I want to get better, but also dont want to do a LOT of work because I dont think it's worth the time and effort for what i'm getting out of it

I just go with 1 color/layer for shading and move on, with more time I could learn more and make it better with blending and such
I just like cell shading more than soft shading, that feels like an easy way to do it, but a mix of both has its appeal certainly

Just that this is all for personal stuff so... spending more time than needed doesnt sit well with me on stuff like this

well i hope it goes well with you anyhow.

if ya need any tips i can try my best to give some. shading is EXTREMELY important in pictures so i hope it all goes well for you

it makes the picture real. and if not shows that you put effort forth

GL with your practice and I Hop you continue. I really suggest trying to do your very best. work is hard but soft shading is actually INCREDABLY easy

Yeah, it's because it's easy that I find it off putting x3 makes the pic look a bit more 3D than I like, it's why I prefer cell shading instead

I do try to implement more of it in the future, and i think it's gone better, but still, while it DOES look great, I don't feel it's worth the time and effort I put in since it really doesn't amount to anything other than 1-2 more views

may i as kthe program you use? if it has a pen tool i suggest trying it for your cell shading. CRISP perfect lines

photoshop <<<

I use CSP

I used to use the airbrush tool for max hardness and just go with that and erase when needed

Sometimes even throw a random patch of shadows and erase on that too

Lately i started using the pen tool yes to outline where i want the shadows and bucket fill them in

whenever i shade like that i use that as well.

if you wished tor a possible soft shade MIX

then in the pen tool you should get the option to change the pixels in it when using fill on it. meaning the ends of it will go out of the line and be less sharp. making it still pixel shadin g but mixign a bit of soft shading.

fun stuff but requires to erase and a few more layers than you might want

i'll have to look into that, would help on areas that arent meant to be hard shadowed in

my folly is whenever i try to mix both, i use the blend/blur tool on those areas, but that fucks it up more

theoretically, i could just do that, then go over it again with the pen and fix the mistakes

if you use a larger airbrush and lightly go iover the shadings edges. you will get anew color. grab that color with the eyedropper tool and then airbrush that new color agaisnt the edge of the shading line and the normal color she usually is.

it will blend it for oyu. if there are still determined lines where it didnt shade well you do it again with a smaller airbrush tha's stil ldecently large

blending with this mid color range blends into two colors of the same type easily and smoothly