[Talk] Any advice on shading armor?

So I've been drawing/spriting for as long as I can remember, and there just... has to be something wrong with me lol. I still can't shade to save my life, and it's the only thing hindering me from going farther that the level I'm currently at. Is there any advice anyone can give me besides "observe other objects", because I personally get nowhere from looking at a lamp or ball while trying to shade a fictional character.


Also, specifically, please give me a little input on this backsprite, specifically where the shine would look best, etc.

Hey there! I know this isn't what you want to hear, but honest to goodness observing objects and how light reflects off of them is how you learn how materials and textures react to light. But, that's like the whole "draw a circle - draw the owl" advice. It's just something you can take stock of to store for any future pieces.

With metals, you're looking at high reflectivivity. So light shining on it is going to be super sharp, bright, and vibrant. In contrast, the shadows are going to be dark and deep. Here's a small chart (specifically of pixel art) textures that might give you an idea:

The metal would be in second row, second to the right. So you see how dark the shadows are and how bright the highlights are? That's the contrast you need to create in order to accurately simulate metal and really make it pop. Also take a look at the lowlights, and how it's almost the same color as the base shade. Using techniques like this will make for a more believable metal texture.

For your sprite (which is adorable, by the way. Dogs in armor represent!), my first suggestion is to identify the light source. And according to your existing shading, that would be in the upper lefthand corner. I hope you don't mind but I did a small edit on your sprite to show you what I'm talking about.

So as you can see, I've placed a small light source indicator in the corner just to help me as I shade. Much like the textured spheres from above, I've used the same principle of high and low lighting to add a metallic contrast to the armor itself (very basically, mind you). I've used a dark grey-blue to define the outer-shaded edge, and high light grey-blues to make it stand out. I can see where you're having issues though, because your armor in this case isn't contoured out accurately, and that's going to make it harder to give it realistic texturing. I recommend looking at pictures of armor to help shape the body plates, since I didn't change any of the core design that you made, and I did find it difficult to give it that true metal feel. Go back in, shape things up nicely, and use the texturing techniques I suggested. I guarantee that'll give you the results you're looking for! :)

I hope this was a little bit helpful. Please post any future results so we can see your progress!

Thank you for the advice! I have a hard time registering shading if im not looking at the exact shape I'm shading. But sadly, this is for a FireRed rom hack so I cannot shade as in depth as I usually do because of the 15 color limit,,, The base sprites you see here are already at their limit and I don't know how effectively I could use antialasting,,

Edit: This is a pokemon conversion of the lesser dog from undertale. Have a look at the armor on the original sprite and feel my pain.

That.. is exactly what I was worried about. :[ Honestly, in that case, you're just going to have to get creative. Use your outlining color for the dark shading and lesser dog's fur color for the highlighting. You can still get the depth of color you're looking for even with 15 colors, it's just going to require a more mindful touch.