yes it was all in one layer. :( I have been trying to not to do that lately. but in this case, sadly it was all merged. I desaturated it for you so you can see the contrast/light direction easier.

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yes im quite out of my element here. who knew a rug would be so difficult for me :) and thats a good trick. I do that sometimes myself.

Starting off by stating that this is what I consider a shading 'sketch' and is what I typically do when I'm not sure how to shade something, just to give myself an idea of how to do it first. I only really have the time for this right now, but if you need extra help just let me know and I'll have time in the morning. n_n LINK I know for something like this it is very tempting to get super in depth with all the tiny little details and shade each little loop of fibers but, this is something I think you have to take extra care not to overdo it. Keep the darkest shading to one side and the lightest to the other side if that makes sense. It's fine to have them blend through the middle, but you shouldn't have the brightest shading near the far right or the darkest shading near the far left. Another thing to consider is that sometimes minimal line art for this type of thing /may/ be better / make work better if you let the shading give it shape instead. Sometimes all the inner lines make things super dark and somewhat muddy and it's hard to see the shading itself. (I can also offer the working size of the and a breakdown of the layers too if that'd help you, since that's also a rug, albeit a different texture.)

thank you so much for your detailed feedback! That helps a TONNE with the ci as thats what i've had problems with in past attempts.

since that post I reworked the image to make things pop even more with the wig image as I wasn't fully satisfied with the last one.

wig now wig larger

I'm beginning to think the lineart issue may be something to do with the way this version of p-shop saves things. It saves things really crisp which looks great but I think it may be messing up the lineart so I'll fiddle with those settings. But i will get back on that.

I've been messing with said lineart for so long orz

Shot in the dark here, but seeing your working size, it looks like the layer shapes are tearing. This usually means that you've got your finished file with all your layers and then you shrink and save. For something that has a white background that's usually not a problem, but in this case since the item has a transparent one, it can leave gaps and tears. Imagine your layers as a couple different cakes that you're trying to free-hand cut into all the same shape. If you do them one at a time, they won't layer correctly. But if you stack them all up and then carve the cake, it'll layer correctly.

So what you need to do (and if you've never done this before I suggest making a copy / backup of your file first just in case you accidentally save over the psd) is to merge all the layers BEFORE you resize. In Photoshop there should be a 'Merge all' somewhere under 'Layer' I believe, depending on your version. You'd use that, and then resize, and then save. This way all your layers are joined together first. (Alternatively if you cannot figure out how to do this, or if using the merge all part makes you uncomfortable first save your transparent PNG as the working size and then reopen it and resize the PNG format, since it'll all already be merged on one layer for you, and then resave it and you're good to go!)

Let me know if this helps n_n

YOU GENIOUS

AAAAAAAKN:ASD:AD:SADKAD, I cant believe I've been using program for so long and yet didn't know that AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I don't think it's super common knowledge to do that actually. I know when I first learned to do it, it was because of something my husband said and he isn't an artist / doesn't even use photoshop. x'D I do see a lot of people who don't know to do this though, so don't feel bad n_n That looks so much better! I think I've helped with all I personally know how to help you with n_n You're free to wait for other opinions if you want (It's been kind of slow here, I think everyone has just been super busy. I know I just got over being super sick and then incredibly busy myself), or to try and submit and come back if you need more help later! ❤️ (Ps your HA is gorgeous)

Thank you very, very much for the feedback! I'm definitely making the inside lines thiner, and maybe a bit lighter. I really don't want to waste your time with a shading tutorial, but if you do know any page or video that helped you, that would be amazing. I really don't know how to shade properly Thanks again!

It's been quite a while since I focused and learned shading, so I don't honestly remember what tutorials I may have looked at specifically if any. I know most of my learning was from using a lamp and objects similar to what I wanted to shade as well as studying art of a similar subject matter. I looked up this character and this is the best one I could find that I thought would help you for this; LINK

I really don't mind making a mini-tutorial though for you, or I wouldn't have offered n_n sometimes it's easier for me to explain that way, and sometimes it's easier for the person asking for assistance to understand me because I have a tendency to over explain and make things ultra confusing.

If that's the case, I'd really appreciate a tutorial kind of thingy please! You're amazing :)

LINK I didn't do shading help for the item, but I can later if you need it. For now what I've done is just show you that that front V of boards should be a little thicker (below it's the big red V to show exactly where I mean) and that the bottom board there on the inside wouldn't connect right across to that top corner because it's lower than the other board (where I circled in the below image!)

The rest is for the overlay, to give you a rough idea on shading. This is a shading sketch, just so you have an idea to go from, and so you can develop your own style of shading since everyone is different n_n (In order it is shading layer one, shading layer two, highlights layer, and then just showing you with a solid color under it so you can see the shape without any of the lines just in case that helps you!) From here you can use the shading to add depth to the textures, etc. This is a very old tutorial I did on wood texture and how I personally shade it: LINK it may or may not help you, depending on how you like to shade but I thought I'd offer it just in case n_n

Don't hesitate to ask me questions if something I've said is confusing or unclear / etc. n_n

Thank you for the wip of what i should try to do. It does help.

What i was confused when i read what you wrote. I know example you made how to improve it, it was in one solid color(3-5 layers of the shading) but since this is multi colored( I have four shades. does that mean I have 3-5 layers of shading per color?)

So I have two options: Keep current as is but adjust it or redo it completely the way you suggest.

So I choose the first one and if it fails, i will have to redo it.

So what I did was: I took the current(but toned down the inner lineart) and duplicated it. The duplicate was made -20 darker and -10 desaturated. I used a vector mask on the darker version so the original underneath will show through. I made sure the erased parts of the darker version was the correct position. Then I added some texture with some layer effects on top of it all. I added some additional shading and had some subtle highlights.

I also added some scratching on the rug and also coming off the lineart to give it a rough texture.

I did a preview with the base and w/o in both working and sized down.

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This is old rug vs new rug animation (ignore the pixelated fuzzy lineart)

Basically is this better? will this method work? is the highlights too bright?

I am honestly not sure if this would work. The shading is still very soft instead of cell shaded and the light is very harsh, going from almost bright yellow to a super dark brown on the other end. I'm not sure this remedies the problem. Your shading style is definitely a lot different than mine. I think most of what I would suggest would require a redo and that's really unfair to you, so I'm kind of at a loss. I may need to ask for you to ping for help again, just because I don't know how to assist with this further since it's outside my knowledge :C

Thank you! Im sorry I couldnt understand it completely. I most likely will have to redo it and even if im still confused atm, im sure your tips will help.

i will try to ping again. Thank you for doing all you could. I appreciate all you do <3

I need to ping this again. I'm sorry. I'm still confused on how to fix this rug. the client wants a multi colored braided rug. So im confused because you need 3-5 layers of shading but since I have to do a pattern of reddish,orangish,browns and creams/yellows. so do i need to have 3/5 layers of shading per color? How can i make my shading appear more cel shaded? I'm using a hard brush, I am trying to make it look braided and at the same time trying to have a light source. Is this item completely impossible? is there a way to do that correctly?

I feel such a bad artist for not getting this right. I can do detailed backgrounds yet this rug has been so difficult. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again. Here are the quotes below:

How does this look?

Awe you're not a bad artist. Everyone has things they struggle with, it's a part of growing. hugs

I think that's looking much better! I would suggest adding a darker color to the orange and yellow feather though, as they're very light compared to the others. And the other thing I'd suggest is making the part of the brows on the outside black, so there is black line art all the way around your item n_n

Hey buddy! Don't get discouraged! Despite its simplicity, this is a complicated item to conquer. But you will do it!

Unfortunate, I think you biggest problem is the very dark, soft shading over the top of the rug and lack of definition around the rounded edges of the rug/interior braids. Look at this rug, it's in a lit room, but the light source isn't strong enough to cast a strong shadow like yours has. I think the high detail of the braids, with all the many colors and the layers of shading you tried to emphasize for each color, ends up obscuring the overall shading for the rug. I've put together a gif to try and rectify these points and show you what I mean. It's rough and I'm sure you could execute it better in your PSD, but I hope it gets the points across! I've added description of what I've done, as well as the color I used for each layer.

The first two stages, using Soft Light layers, are more to lighten the color of the rug and lessen the impact of the soft, overly dark shadow that you're getting the soft shading denial for. I know you said earlier that your shading is all on one layer, and I'd hate for you to have to start from scratch, but I do think removing or sharply lessening that shadow will help tremendously.

The remainding stages emphasize shading the rug as if it is one long rope coiled together to form the rug. If you were shading a coil of rope, you would focus your shadows only along the outer edge away from the light source, right? That's what I've done here. I also added a bit of extra highlight to bring out the form of the braids in the darkest area. The last step is to bring some lineart into the interior of the rug, your version really only has black around the edges. Pulling the black lineart in, especially in the darkest areas of the rug, creates even more depth and emphasizes the shapes/texture of the rug.

Anyway, sorry for writing a novel! I hope this helps a bit, and I am happy to explain more if you have any questions! Stay strong girl!!!

wow! Thank you for that. You made some good points. Thank you for preview too. I used similar colors with those layer effects and some filters at the end. I have done a preview. Let me know if this is better.

and its okay, i needed a novel. Thanks for the encouragement as well. <3

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toggling between the new and the previous, I can see how i over did it with shadows.

I think it's muched improved! And you incorporated the new shading/highlights very smoothly. I hope this version works! It's always SO FRUSTRATING getting denied over and over. But you'll get there! Sometimes it's just impossible to know what staff will or won't approve on the first go around.

Username --- Link to the overlay(s) --- fullsize here Link to the CI --- N/A

What do you need help with --- I know that there's color bleed and it lacks any polish but I wanted to check on anatomy before continuing clean-lining and shading. I want opinions on whether the perspective is correct on this piece. It is meant to appear like skinny jeans on a heavier frame than the default HA. I'm not sure I've gotten the perspective right with respect to the added volume.

Was there a denial --- No

Optional Can we take a look at the PSD files --- yes Can we redline --- Absolutely

Also, it may be helpful to see the jeans without the hand cut out for this one so I'll include it: here

looks really good to me so far o