How to Create a Body Shading Without Failing

June 15, 2020

Finding a body shading could possibly be one of the hardest parts of skinning. How do you make it look realistic? How can you do it yourself? In the article below, you can learn all about what finding a body shading really means.

Before I go more in-depth with shading, I want to thank all of the amazing skinners that contributed to this blog! They supplied shadings and ideas, making this post unique and creative.

Please do not use these shadings shown! Some are their own shadings, some are variations or other examples. They are simply for reference, NOT for others to use. The purpose of this blog is to teach how shading on skins works. If I find that a skinner has copied an exact shading style, I will not hesitate to report it. Please keep this in mind, as it is very important to know!

Like always, explained below is what I will go over in this post.

1. What is shading? Why is it important to do?

2. How can you see shading in real life with light sources? (Examples included)

3. Simple vs. complex shadings

4. Examples of shadings on Skindex.

Complex shadings

Simple shadings

5. What to NOT do when shading!

6. Some accounts that are good for shading inspiration!

I'd also like to explain the title - you aren't going to fail at shading. It's not possible! As long as you put a variation of colors and pixel designs, you will be shading! No matter what! Don't give up on it - remember: everything takes practice to make it look good!

What is a shading?

A shading is what you design on a skin to make it realistic. A combination of lighter and darker pixels from the original color make up a shading. You can look at any of the skins on the Top Page, and most likely, they will be shaded!

Unshaded skins are simple blocks of color. Shaded - on the other hand - have detail and precision.

Why is it important?

Shading your skins will greatly improve your skinning talents. Other people will become more interested in what you create. Some might even use your skins in-game. If you're looking for likes and follows, you will probably gain more!

Shading in real life is basically how light hits a person. Where the light comes from can be called a light source. Dark areas can be called shadows.

Here's an image of Jimin from BTS. Look carefully at the light and dark areas.

There are light and dark areas - the purple showing the area where the light source is hitting it, and the yellow showing the area that doesn't have as much light.

You're probably a bit worried on how this relates to to skin making - it does! But don't worry, it's not that tough!

My point is to show that the light source will always affect your skins' shading. It is very important to think about that!

Here are two examples of full skins with shading, from CandyBandi and Meiolki. They both include light and dark parts - just like the picture!

There are two basic categories of shading on Skindex - simple and complex.

Simple shadings tend to use less colors and have larger blocks of color, when complex shadings use many different colors and pixels. Creating a simple shading is definitely easier, but making a complex will be more eye-catching!

Here are some examples. Please take inspiration, credit if so, and pay attention to how each skinner adds highlights and darker areas!

Complex shadings are next. Please don't feel overwhelmed; as these skinners probably spent a very long time perfecting their shading!

Hopefully you can take inspiration from the examples above! If you pay close attention, you can see the different shapes the skinners made with the pixels, but also the different ways they used darker and lighter colors to create shadows and highlights.

It's okay if you still don't know how to make a shading of your own! It doesn't come instantly to you - you need to practice and take time to look at your work.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when shading your skins:

1. Remember to keep your dark and light areas!

2. Dark areas normally do not go on the outside, and light areas do not normally go on the inside! If you reverse them, your skin will look like it is a bit messed up, and it isn't the prettiest to look at.

3. Do not gradient each pixel! That looks very very bad. (As seen below)

4. Do not use the paint tool! This is the most common mistake people make when trying to shade a skin!

That is what your skin will look like if you use the paint tool - don't do it!

5. This is the last and it isn't as important. Using 2 colors on your skin isn't exactly shading. It looks boring and doesn't show a lot of creativity.

Please don't forget these things! They are to help you - but if you want to experiment differently, do what you want, not what others say.

Last but not least, here are some accounts that either raffle shadings or create examples to learn from. PLEASE do not beg them for shadings or steal shadings that are for other people. If you would like a shading from them, please make sure that they are okay with it!

borqx creates shading examples: https://www.minecraftskins.com/profile/4276800/borqx

wishingwxll creates shadings too!: https://www.minecraftskins.com/profile/4326596/wishingwxll

ElesBasesAndAdoptables puts up shadings for adoption! If they create one, you might get a chance to adopt it first! : https://www.minecraftskins.com/profile/3518587/elesbasesandadoptables

Thank you very much for reading all of this post! I hope you learned something about shading skins, or maybe just got inspired. If you have further questions about this, you can contact me on Skindex!