shifty eyes I might have to try that XD. I just gotta find out where I hid the PSDs since i never seem to remember. But either way, I know they're on my other HD! :D

aaa i thought i was forgot to put in my two cents for someone! ;-; do you still want any halp? :3

if hamlet agrees to it, feel free to send me the overlay file at .de">tathila.de :) i can add some more layers of shading and show you how i do it!

:D I can do that ^^ <3 <3 <3 I did happen to ask that in the message I sent them, so hopefully they get back to me soon (maybe in the morning? Who knows!).

I DID just notice that theres the base color, then 4 shading layers on top of that, or I think Mesmer said it as 3 shading layers and a highlight? Meh...Whoever denied it for that reason knows more than me about this sort of thing, so Im not gonna be all RAWR about it

the issue is that sometimes, even if there are 4 layers of shading, visually you can't see them due to the colors you pick for the shade itself! so in this case you'd need to give it more contrast :)

The only thing to me that seems kinda 'flat' and not really shaded is the top trim part. BUt beyond that, I have no idea

i believe that a bit more of contrast between the colors will help; also a brighter layer of highlight!

I had to google what contrast meant, because I went DERP and had no idea what it meant for a minute...But I think I get what you mean. I came up with that as a recolor for the main part, and it looks kinda nice to me but since it wasn't specified as to what part needs the change, Im not sure what to do really. I got a bunch of different color palettes saved, and trying to go from these. But I don't know how much of a contrast there should be really D:

oh no, i didnt mean changing the base color; contrast is pretty much the difference you have between your light and your dark colors! so in this case you'd need to darken the shading a bit but leave the base color as it is;;

Im really bad at shading, so Im not sure how to go about "Ok, this is the base color, then this needs to be the first shade, then this the next..." Any ideas on how I can figure that out (like a 'how to do this for dummies' link? XD)

i'm gonna use my own cw as an illustrative method (or try to LOL)

this would be the overlay you have now; there's not much difference between the shading and the base color. it's really faint. you'd need to darken the shading and add highlight

now compare to this:

i can't say much how you should fix it, because i'm not seeing the .psd file so i don't know how the layers are arranged :/

I use Paint Tool SAI for this, and I dont know what you use so maybe it'll look different.

But the bottom is obviously the base color, then the first layer of shading, second, third and then the highlight. Same thing goes for the trim colors.

yes, so you can just lock the shading layers, and maybe try to set them as multiply. if it looks too dark, reduce the opacity!

for the highlight layer, set it as "screen"

Took me a minute to figure out how to do what you were talking about, but I think I got it. The layers are already locked (not sure what that does), but the multiply and opacity thing was easy enough. Now to mess around with it to see what happens i guess?

But for the colors, should I just pick one 'set', and then mess around with the opacity/multiply stuff?

when you lock the layers, if you paint over with with any other shade, it will only color what is on that layer :)

and yes, play around and see what looks better!

Makes sense :D. Im going to be up for a few more hours at least, so I have plenty of time to see what happens :D

sure thing :)

Should the base layer be set to multiply too?

nope! leave it as normal hehe

I shall! goes to do so So this is the first thing that looks mildly decent to me, but I dont know if its 'good'