Simple Lighting for Procreate Illustration

You've learnt how to sketch, you're quite happy with the shape and line of your characters, BUT... you feel lost when it comes to effective lighting and shading? This is a common issue for many beginner and intermediate artists!

Lighting and shading may take up only about 20% of the time you put into a drawing, but they will impact 80% of how that drawing is perceived! Good lighting can draw the viewer's eye to certain areas of your artwork and make your colours and artwork pop, really turning an average work into a piece of art!

These two steps may seem incredibly intimidating to tackle in your creative workflow, and many people feel confused by colour and light theory… truth is, once you get hold of a few basic rules, a lot of it has to do with your own curiosity and experimentation.

If you were looking for an in-depth class focusing solely on lighting and shading, look no further: this is it!

In this class you'll learn: 

• How to use the Harmony Colour tools in Procreate
• How to choose a colour palette
• The basics of Lighting and Shading theory
• How to set-up 2 and 3 point lighting for character illustration
• How to use layers and blending settings to achieve different lighting effects (daytime, sunset, night)

I will show you practical examples using Procreate app on iPad Pro, but the general rules are applicable to any digital painting software and tablet. If you guys want me to do a similar course in Photoshop, please let me know in the community comments and I shall provide.

So for now, grab your iPad, your tablet, your phone and let’s get started!

To follow this class you should be reasonably familiar with other aspects of digital drawing (sketching, flat colouring, layers) and tools (Procreate app) - if you need brushing up on that please follow my previous classes beforehand and come back when you feel ready!

Sign up for this basic class using Photoshop → Turn a Photo into a Cartoony Artwork (in 3 easy steps!)
Or this basic class using Procreate → Turn a Photo into a Cartoony Artwork with Procreate App!

If you want to get even more exclusive content, join my Patreon to gain access to unpublished monthly tutorials and a Patron-only Discord where we share out work in progress and get feedback on a daily basis!

*EDIT* I've recently changed my Instagram handle - you can find me here as @art_bymemo