Guys... I really want to learn how to start cartoony BLENDING but I just fuck it up.
Guys like koki do it really well.
90% of this look is in the drawing and not the blending.
Post some of your attempts and maybe I can help steer you in the right direction.
Hey OP,
What you're looking for here is 1. the style of the drawing itself (the cartoony exaggeration and the flow of the forms, etc) and the smooth color choices used here. The blending isn't what makes that style, it's mostly the way they chose the colors and also the way they didn't really define a really hard single light source (not that it's a bad thing, I think it looks good too)
A lot of it is actually the tool. Specifically, paint tool sai.
That's not to say you can't do it in other programs with enough effort, but it's a lot easier to replicate in the original program.
>>2300169
Similarly, note how the borders of the shadows are often in fact very slightly darker than the shadow proper. It's a visual trick that mimics how eyes perceive shadows, usually used in hard surface rendering - which fits the big, simple shapes of this style.
>>2300171
What? The "borders" of the shadows are slightly darker because of reflected light. It's not a visual trick, it's how light works.
>>2300169
I'd disagree entirely. There aren't any fancy took tricks going on here. It's pretty straightforward process using even more standard tools.
>>2300171
I don't think this is right. What it does look like they're doing. I think it's just a characteristic of some of the look to the surfaces they were trying to make. You can't say that for every one of the drawings. I just don't think it's a style thing, is what i mean.
>>2300175
I think you've confused the border with the core shadow, mate.
>>2300183
But there are no darker shadow borders in that image. There are hardly any hard cast shadows to begin with.
Using darker lines for cast shadows is a technique used to enhance the sharpness of the shadow edge by increasing the contrast. The image in question has soft lighting and hardly any strong cast shadows, none of the cast shadow edges there are made to look darker.
>>2300133
study clouds and marshmellows for that super soft surface feel, and then also do a shit ton of applied color theory practice about picking hues, balancing the amount of each in a piece/design (this is all assuming you already have a strong fundamental understanding of drawing to imitate 3d forms already)
>>2300133
It's just flat colours with a soft round brush taken over to put in some low contrast shadows. Mostly it's sort of an ambient occlusion type thing, but even in a direct light case like the very bottom right one the contrast is kept pretty low. The local colour/value is the main important thing in these, and then soft forms are added within each.
>>2300133
Its done using a couple of soft brushes with varying softness.
If you want these results you first need to draw really well. The colouring is easy.
You guys are literal pleb tier if you dont think koki does a huge ammount of blending and advanced painting techniques.
>>2301158
It skillful yes, but technique and tool-wise it is about as simple as you can get. You can do it all on two layers with a hard and soft round brush.
>>2301162
Not trying to be a smartass or anything here.
Could you do a quick demonstration how to blend it like that without everything turning into a smudged mess?
Would be appreciated, because blending seems so easy in theory when it's actually quite hard to pull off without warping all the shapes.
>>2301162
Post your work then
>>2301165
tone it down mate
>>2301163
If you're having trouble keeping your shapes clean then try having the flat colours on a separate layer and then use clipping masks for when you airbrush in shadows or lights. I'm not going to make a tutorial for you, it's fairly simple. If you really want to see it in action though then buy Zedig's gumroad. It's only $5 and he covers a very similar process from line to final for a character. He's pretty anal about getting each stage set up properly so it is very thorough. You probably don't need to go that extreme, but for a learning tool his video is still good.
>>2301165
I can't wait for this meme to end. I've seriously been told to post my work probably 5 times in the last two days here. It's like people only want to believe a statement if it comes from someone who's name they know. If that's the case, maybe an anonymous board isn't the place for you.
>>2301175
>buy Zedig's gumroad
self-promoting, aren't we?
>>2301185
Yes clearly I am a famous artist who needs to spend free time posting on a mongolian image board to try to sneakily self promote so I can hopefully trick you into giving me a couple dollars and afford lunch today
>>2301188
post your work then
>>2301175
That looks nothing like koki.
Stop trying to promote your own tutorials.
>>2301192
WHERES DA BLENDING AT
>>2301211
His older stuff has more airbrushed blending, but he's sort of lost interest in that recently and has been painting with opaque hard edges everywhere. Personally I prefer his new direction.
>>2301213
You don't need to talk in the third person about yourself.
>>2303781
You can check a version of their coloring style on their drawr page. Click the pictures to get a replay, needs Flash though.
http://drawr.net/kokikun
>>2301158
but that arm...
>>2304776
You realize her upper arm is pressed against her body right?
>>2304776
>muh anatomy
If the arm were in any other position it wouldn't have works as well with her overall gesture
on first read it's fine, artistic liberties and all that jazz.
