could i have the psd so i can see the colors you picked for shading? c:

also, try to stay away from shading with the same colors! usually if you grab purple and just change the brightness of that hue, it ends up looking a bit boring and grayish, especially on the red part!

not 100% the right palette probably, but you have to play around! try to move around on the sliders and play more with the colors c:

Yeah for sure! I think I did this right: Dropbox file here

The shading is kinda in one blob for the red and then the purple, kinda painted it all on. xD But I get what you're saying with using the same colours to shade, I can see that now.

i thiiink the main issue is that you highlighted using white ;-; the shading seems fine to me, idk OTL but the whole image kinda looks grey-ish in the first place, so maybe thats why the shading looks grey-er!

okay so:

1st frame: original

2nd frame: bc it was grey-ish (on my screen), i decided to brighten the whole image. ive no idea how to use that hue/saturation or colour-balance thingy, so i just slapped some pink on it and set it to overlay + opacity 30%. it instantly became brighter! c:

3rd frame: i darkened the dark edge using blue on multiply. its hard to see because didnt darken it much. basically the objective was to add some blue to make it look less grey, but since the difference is so subtle, i guess we can skip :'D

4th frame: i turned the highlights yellow! its really important not to use white unless youre highlighting metals (which im very bad at). i didnt just line the edges, i also threw some yellow here and there using a lower opacity brush.

5th frame: BOUNCE LIGHTING (or backlight, whichever you call it) - i added mint to the edges of the dark side. i set this to overlay + 100% opacity but somehow it doesnt show up properly - you can play around with other modes like normal or screen and play around with the opacity. i also added mint with a soft brush - you can choose to omit this, depending.

my forumset has an example of Really Obvious bounce lighting, see the blue around the darker edges of the cat? this will make the picture more 3d and less dark overall (and also decreases the chance of denials from pillow shading which i used to get a lot). i learned that from observing Tathi's art who also uses a lot of mint backlighting ahaha im such a fail (though somehow i cant make mine as nice as hers even though i tried 23904230 times)

for other examples of bounce lighting, you can check page 17 where Cathii has a GIF shaded of a feather? its like man im cry

yaaa idk its such a long explanation and i hope Tathi can help you better OTL but aaaa all the best! its quite an amazing attempt and im excited to see! v

hi! I totally didnt see that and had replied and did a (similar!) scheme haha

I'd tend to say it's the highlight that looks gray, not the shadows actually! I color-picked your CI and most of the colors hovered towards the desaturated palette whereas they should be more saturated n_n

Thank you all so much for taking time to help! Really appreciate it! Going to fix it up c:

[edit] LOL looking at it again, I never realised how de-saturated the original was. .__.;;

looking a lot better :D

Username --- Link to the overlay(s) --- click click Link to the CI --- click click

What do you need help with --- I think I need a redline and some shading advice? The note says that it still looks like I mirrored the wings, and that it doesn't look right on the 3/4ths base, but I did draw each wing individually. I also didn't get the light source right either. I am not sure if the more transparent layers count as gradient/soft shading? Or if the brush I used for those layers was just not hard enough. This is the second time they have been denied. Honestly, I am considering just giving up on them, because I've already spent over a month reworking them (including a complete redraw), and I feel like my art just isn't good enough for the site. =( If someone would be kind enough to give me some advice, I would really appreciate it. I feel pretty discouraged at the moment, and I am at the point where I almost do not want to draw anything anymore. On the bright side, it seems like the CI is okay now.

Was there a denial --- Yes: Your custom clothing Sparkling Tanzanite Feather was denied for the following reason(s): • OVERLAY: Ambiguous shading/light source unclear • OVERLAY: Gradient or soft shaded instead of cel-shaded • OVERLAY: Overlay perspective conflicts with the 3/4 angle of the avatar base • NOTE: This looks so much better! There are still a few issues - mostly that it still looks really unnaturally centered and the wings still give the illusion of having been drawn on one side and then flipped on the other. This is especially true to the shading, which doesn't really reflect the light source.

Optional Can we take a look at the PSD files --- Yes please. I hope I uploaded it properly, I have never done it before. Also, my layering isn't super organized, sorry! =X Click Can we redline --- Yes please

They look really pretty! I hope you get the help you need.

Thank you, dear. <3 I hope I can get them to where they fit in well enough with the site art. I was hoping to do recolors that would compliment some of the sparklies you released. ;)

I just woke up, so I am not in the capacity to help just yet (If you still have not been helped by the time I'm awake and have returned from errands this afternoon, I for sure will take the time to assist you n_n). But what I did want to say is that... I know denials can be discouraging at times, especially when you're new to CWs, and especially when they seem like super be-all-end-all type denials. I know I've had my share of having to redraw things from scratch, and back when CWs first started I had item denials that were so frustrating to me I was tempted to quit CWs all together. You've already successfully gotten an item on site though, which means your art IS good enough to make it onto Subeta. And staff knows that. So while this denial seems completely infuriating and maybe it's more work than you feel it's worth right now, Staff just wants you to be able to submit your BEST work because you cannot fix it later once it's onsite. It is my belief that this denial is them saying you've done really great, and we know you can do better so they'd like to give you the chance to do just that.

That's okay, thank you. :D I guess I am feeling like I was too ambitious with this one, like maybe I am trying to work past my abilities. Cathii gave me lots of awesome help before I submitted this time, and I still managed to mess it up. xD I definitely want it to be as good as it can be, I am just hoping that I am capable of making it that way. Thanks for the words of encouragement! <3

Challenging yourself is the way to improve and move forward! It's only biting off more than you can chew if you're not willing to keep trying. And I definitely don't think you're that far off from getting this approved, honestly.

So the first thing I'm noticing is, make sure you're shading the item AS A WHOLE, and not specifically 'each feather'. When you shade, don't think of the parts that make the wing, think of it as one item "A wing." and shade from there.

This help is really messy, because I'm still kind of sick and have had the same migraine for a few days now, but hopefully it gives the right idea. (Because I am sick, some of my shading / redline may be off, so please take it at face value and work from there on your own edits, in your own style!) http://sta.sh/01siz2ayyk7v

1. This is just to show a potentially proposed fix to that wing there. Right now it's coming more out of the arm than the middle of the back of the HA. Moving it slightly inward, and then possibly fixing up a few of the curves / feather lengths may help you out there C: 2-5. This is showing how I shade + shading as a whole, rather than each individual feather. The last step is adding a little bit of backlighting on the tips of the feathers since the light would probably catch them there. Again, this is how I shade! Your shading will probably look different, bit it's just to give you an idea!
2. Shading as a whole vs shading individually. While adding extra gradients and filters can sometimes help, it can also muddy the outcome of the shading, or make it look really soft. In the case of your finished product, I think it'd really help to see more detail on the outermost long feathers, since your detailing on the smaller feathers at the top of the wings is already really great. n_n

If you have ANY questions, need any clarification, or even just want to show me what you're going to submit next, please ping me! C: I'm more than happy to continue to assist! Also, you're more than welcome to get more than one artists advice. Someone else may see something I didn't, or have a different opinion on something that may help you more C: GL! You can doooo ittttt.

This is really helpful, thank you so much! :D I hope you feel better soon too, migraines are the worst. =( I will probably take a little break tonight, since my husband and I are going to see a movie, but I am going to start reworking things tomorrow. Is it okay if I ping you once I have adjusted the lineart? That way I won't waste time shading, in case the lines have to be reworked more. =) Thanks so much again for your help and encouragement!

Absolutely! Even if you don't get to it for a month =P or the update is minor, feel free to ping and ask questions / get a second eyeball on it n_n

I adjusted the lineart, and I was wondering if you would mind looking it over for me, please? =) I feel like something might be off, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Thanks so much for your help and patience. :D

The feathers on the fixed side, close to the arm should be just a little bit longer! Right now that wing looks a little bit smaller than the other because of that C:

Oh, I see what you mean, thank you for pointing that out. ;) Do you think that this looks better? Feel free to let me know if I goofed up anything else in the process of tweaking that, too. xD

I wasn't sure how to describe this specifically, so I did a redline! I think this part could come out a little too: LINK I am not 100% sure, but looking at it from each direction that part of the feathers looks very slightly off, so I think bringing it out / moving it around just a little bit so it looks a little rounder helps? Again, I may be wrong, I am not 100% sure on this x'D

I think you are right, and I wouldn't know what to call that part either. xD Thanks very much for the redline, here is what I came up with, I do think it needed to come out a little bit. Thanks for being so patient, I hope this isn't frustrating for you. =X

Much better! I think the lines look really great now n_n It's no problem btw, I am glad to be able to help! If I didn't have the time to help or something like that, I'd tell you so! ❤️