Tutorial: Coloring Technique - Lines Flats Shading

The wait is over, you can now watch the zombie clown tutorial below!

Watch the Full Video Tutorial HERE

Tutorial: Lines, Flats, Shading

Artist: Tim Von Rueden (vonn)

In this Citizen tutorial Tim Von Rueden takes you through the standard ways artists go about their process in coloring and shading their pieces! The first of this series is the “Lines, Flat Colors, and Shading” tutorial with the Zombie Clown bust. Stay tuned for more as we develop this series.

What you’ll learn in this tutorial

Below are the major 4 techniques artists use to go about creating their digital art pieces! The processes are vastly different but they have some similarities in able to produce similar results.

1. Lines, Flat Colors, Shading

The most well known technique is the first one on the list. In this technique we take a sketch, clean it up with a solid lineart and then lay base colors as the foundations. From there we take a look at how lighting would interact with the subject matter and shade it appropriately.

2. Greyscale

The second most known technique builds foundations that are purely focused on value and how lighting affects the different materials and textures of the subject matter. This technique is great for building accuracy but the trick is knowing how to take this and add color onto the greyscale.

3. Blocking it Out

This represents starting from silhouettes or just blocking out the different shapes that represent what you are trying to create. This focuses on the idea that everything can be broken down into the fundamentals to create your subject matter through the process of detailing.

4. Organizing Chaos

The final process is the most free and open to interpretation. When you’re creating your pieces you have to start visualizing and create form out of the chaos you’ve laid out before you. You pull shapes and subject matters out of the mess and slowly but surely a piece will come alive!