Gradients

Gradients are an important part of the Anime Studio drawing tools, this tutorials shows one way to use them to enhance your Anime Studio art.

You can find the files for this tutorial here.

First, lets have a look at the different ways to add gradients to your vector drawings...

Gradient effect, for the fills or strokes in the styles editor.

To make a fill or stroke gradient is easy, You use the select shape tool (q), select the shape You want to add a gradient to, click on either effect 1 or 2 under the fill options or click effect under the stroke options, then select gradient from the drop-down menu.

Gradient offers You a few option...

Type - Linear, radial, reflected, angle.

Allow transparency - Activate if You want your gradient to use transparency.

Color - A color picker for the selected color marker.

Gradient markers - Little squares under the gradient preview that allows You to select the different colors of the gradient. You need at least two markers to create a gradient, otherwise You end up with a solid color. You can add additional markers by clicking just underneath the gradient preview, You can also copy an existing marker by holding ALT, then click and drag an existing marker.

Shaded effect for the fills and strokes in the styles editor, or as a layer effect, under the layers settings.

The fills and strokes effects offer the following options...

Light angle - The angle at which light affect the shading effect.

Offset - Basically this is the thickness of the shading effect.

Blur - How smooth the effect will be.

Shadow color - Color picker to choose the color of the shading effect.

Shadow only - Gets rid of the fill color and shows only the shading effect.

The layer settings (under the shadows tab) has a few more options.

Shading on - Turn on shading for the whole layer.

Contraction - Which pulls the shading further into the center of the layer.

Inverted - Which inverts the shading and gives a rim highlight effect.

Halo effect for the fills and strokes in the styles editor.

The halo effect has the following options.

Inset radius - The size of the halo.

Blur radius - The smoothness of the effect.

Halo color - the color of the halo.

Halo only - Turns off the fill to show only the halo.

Soft Edge effect for the fills and strokes in the styles editor.

The soft edge effect has the following options.

Blur radius - The size of the effect.

Now that We add a quick round up of the different ways We can apply gradients, lets put that knowledge into practice.

First We start with a flat art, in this case a character's head.

First We will add a gradient to the hair of Our character.

Select the hair layer in the layers list, then select the hair shape with the shape selector tool (q).

Next, click of the effect 1 dropdown menu in the styles palette, then select gradient from the list, the option dialogue appears, enter the following values.

Type - Linear.

Allow transparency - Unchecked.

Click the color marker on the left, enter # 322402 as color value in the larger color square, click ok.

Then enter # 56400C in the color marker on the right of the gradient preview, then click ok, then close the gradient option window.

Next, with your shape select tool still active, grab and move the gradient handles so they look something close to this.

Our hair now looks something like this...

Next we'll work on the eyes, so select the eyes layer.

First, We will create an outline for the white of the eyes, then We will apply a soft edge effect to it.

Select the outline of one eye white with the select point tool (g), copy (ctrl-c) and paste (ctrl-v) the selection, with the new outline still selected, press (s) to select the scale tool, then enter 1.05 in both x and y then press modify, this will scale the outline slightly.

Next, use the shape select tool (q) to select the shape of the new outline, go in the styles option, and change its fill color to # BD927D.

Then, click the effect 1 drop-down list in the fill options of the styles palette, pick soft edge from the list, and enter 10 in the field, click ok.

If the new outline is in front of the white of the eye, just go to the draw menu at the top of the interface, then select lower to back, it will put the new shape behind everything else in the eyes layer.

You eyes should now have a darker outline, like this...

Next We will create another outline for the eyes, to give them some depth, so follow the same procedure as before, but this time enter 1.1 for both x and y, and enter # C39E8B for the fill color. Then, select the top points and move them up, so that the new outlines are elongated. With the fill selected, click on effect 1 in the fill options in the styles palette, pick soft edge in the list, and enter 10 in the field, click ok to close the window.

Again, if the new shapes are in front of the rest of the eyes, just go in the draw menu and click on lower to back.

You should now have something similar to this...

Lets now work of the eyes themselves...

Select the white reflection of both eyes with the shape selection tool (q), click on effect 1 in the styles palette, choose soft edge from the list and enter a value of 2 in the field, then click ok.

Next, select both blue shapes and click on effect 1 from the styles palette, select gradient from the list then enter the following values...

Click on the left color marker then drag it a little after the middle of the gradient preview, then click the color picker and enter # 4B62CF then click ok. Click on the color marker on the right, then enter # 0000FF, then click ok to close the window. Close the gradient option window.

Now, click on effect 2 in the styles palette, choose soft edge from the list, enter 5 in the field, then close the window.

Your character should now look like this...

Time to had some shading to the head, so select the head layer, click on the effect 1 in the styles palette, the option window opens, enter these values...

Inset radius - 20

Blur radius - 50

Halo color - # D2AE9C

Click ok to close the window.

Our character should look like this.

We're almost done, the only parts left are the nose and ears, so lets get on to the nose. Select the nose layer in the layer list, select the nose shape with the select shape tool (q), click on the effect one drop down list in the styles palette and choose shaded, then enter the following values in the option window...

Light angle - 135

Offset - 5

Blur - 36

Shadow color - # A87054

Click ok to close the window.

Now the ears, select the ears layer, select the left ear shape with the shape selection tool (q), click on effect 1 in the styles palette, choose gradient from the list.

Enter linear as type, then add 2 more color markers under the gradient preview then enter these values for the markers colors, from left to right.

# C29B88

# E2C3B4

# E2C3B4

# F7E8E1

then close the gradient property window.

Click on copy, at the bottom of the styles palette, then select the shape of the right ear, then click on paste, at the bottom of the styles palette, now both ears have the same style.

Next, select both ears shape and adjust the gradient manipulators as follow, one ear at a time.

We now have a fully textured 2D character, as seen in the following image.

Although not as powerful as the gradients in other drawing packages, those available in Anime Studio still allow You to add some depth and details to your drawings.

I encourage You to experiment, as much more can be done with gradients in Anime Studio.