Flat shading vs cell shading in my last character piece

I spent a week trying to get flat shading to pop on a fantasy character and it just looked muddy. Switched to cell shading with hard shadows and the whole thing came alive in under 2 hours. Anyone else find cell shading way more forgiving for non-photorealistic work?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan1513d ago

Switched from flat to cell shading mid project on a knight character last year and it saved the whole thing. The hard shadows just define the forms way cleaner without needing perfect gradients. Dark outlines on the armor plates helped too, made it read like a comic panel instead of a mess.

thomas_young3d ago

Tbh I used to think cell shading was just a crutch for people who couldn't do proper lighting. But I tried it on a robot character last month when the colors were getting muddy and you're right, the hard shadows just locked everything in place. Throwing some dark lines around the joints made it pop way more than I expected. Sold me on it completely.