All Right, Because @babsvibes Asked Me How I Picked Colors For My Latest Thanksgiving Art Piece Yesterday,

All right, because @babsvibes asked me how I picked colors for my latest Thanksgiving art piece yesterday, I’ve decided to make an official walkthrough of how I do coloring/shading and lighting for my pieces!! This isn’t technically a tutorial, but maybe you can count it as one?? Take everything I say with a grain of salt, though, as I’m just a self-taught artist who still has a lot to learn!!

Usually, the way I start coloring is by taking a screenshot from the show and take the colors directly from there. Having a screenshot is also handy so I can use it as a reference! Is it cheating to take colors directly from the show?? Maybe, but I like doing it so so know the colors are exactly correct.

Using my latest piece of Bob and Gene eating Thanksgiving dinner together, I used this screenshot as both a reference and to take the colors:

Then, to do my shading, I take a shading brush in Procreate and paint in everywhere where there would be a shadow. I’ve trained my eye to look for places where I know light wouldn’t really touch, such as below an arm or neck or directly under a character’s hairline. Then, when I’m done, I just lower the opacity and pick a layer setting that looks the nicest to me. This is what my latest piece’s shadow layer ended up looking like (with the opacity turned up a bit):

Then, once I’m done with shading, I go on to lighting. I use a new technique now where I just paint in everywhere else (AKA everywhere I didn’t put in a shadow). I used to not even do lighting, because I found it complicated, but I feel it adds a nice touch to my pieces now. The way I do it is kind of tedious, but it’s what I’ve found I can help me understand lighting the easiest. Sometimes I also duplicate my lighting layer, use a Gaussian Blur, then turn the layer to “Add” to create a glowy effect. This glowy effect is usually reserved more for things like torches and flashlights, but I feel as if it gives my lighting an extra “oomph”. Here’s what my lighting layers looked like:

And to make my colors pop even more, I use my phone’s edit feature to go through the process of putting on a nice-looking filter and going insane with all of the features! I’ve found it has a really nice effect.

If I want to go even crazier (yes, I actually do this), I might go into this photo editing app I have on my computer and do even more messing around with filters and colors and the like.

It’s called Polarr Pro Photo Editor for anyone who’s curious!! I also put on my signature in here if I forgot to do it in Procreate.

But that is how I do my coloring and shading/lighting!! I’m still learning and I’m sure I’ll continue to improve. I definitely still have a lot to learn when it comes to shading and lighting!! There are honestly so many ways you can tackle this, so my method absolutely isn’t the end all be all!!

I even have a different technique for when I’m doing a simpler piece or just want some shading that has a lot more texture. I duplicate my color layer, lower the saturation, make a mask, and “paint in” the light really quickly with a super textured brush.

Here’s what it looks like before:

And here’s what it looks like after!

I actually find this technique a bit difficult because my brain works in shadows and finding where shadows would hit, so painting in the light is a challenge. But it can be fun too!!

If anyone has any techniques of their own, feel free to share them!!

Here's mine on Gene!! I'm not great with editing, so ignore all of the mistakes please--

Character Spotlight! 🎥✨

You know those “get to know my ship in five minutes” sheets? I thought it would be neat if there was one for characters that were a little less ship-focused. The incredibly talented @drawthethingdoppelganger helped put this cute sheet together! Feel free to interpret the questions however you like, I promise you won’t be graded. People could do the same character and have completely different answers after all. Mostly though have fun!

underrated how in every single picture of him before the age of five or six gene is absolutely SOBBING his eyes out screaming at the top of his lungs completely miserable

This is from a scrapped sketch for @roudiseshipweek I decided to go a different direction with one of the prompts but I still had this fully complete sketch so it was easy enough to ink and color. So this is a hype piece I guess? Participate in #roudiseweek2023 !

It’s aged up Rudy and Louise. Probably about teenagers. Rudy became a tall boy who likes engineering and vehicles thus the cozy NASA sweater and acid wash jeans. Louise stayed “small and bossy” and exclusively shops in hot topic’s anime section. They’re going in for a completely platonic hand shake.

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[ID:

Digital fan art on an aged-up Rudy Stieblitz and Louise Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. Louise stands in front of Rudy and looks up at him fondly with one hand outstretched for a handshake and her other arm at her side. She wears a large lime green sweater with a large light-colored outline of Kuchi Kopi on the right and Kuchi Kopi written in hiragana on the left. She also wears a knee length skirt with waves in different shakes of blue and green tentacles meant to be reminiscent of akkoro kamui. Rudy is dressed in a classic gray NASA sweat shirt with a white dress shirt underneath. He is also wearing acid wash jeans in a looser cut. He stands at about a head taller than Louise and looks down at her with a smile. He has a hand outstretched towards her palm down as if to either hold her hand or shake it.

/end ID]

Here are a few of the nicknames I can remember that all of the Burger Babies have been given 🥰

Tina: Teeny Tina (By Linda 🥺), T, T-Bird (By Zeke)

Gene: Geney Weney, Geney Zuchinni, Geney Beany (All by Linda, pfffffft), the “Good Daughter” (By Louise 😜)

Louise: Louisey Peasy Over Easy (By Linda! This one might be my favorite it’s so cute 😭), Lou Lou (by Millie), Loosey Goosey (I don’t know if this was an actual one or if I gaslit myself, but I’m pretty sure someone’s called her this once!)

a baby tinimmy fic inspired by the first chapter of "Beach Glaze" by @babsvibes and also that episode of modern family where they put lily on a leash. hope you like it!