Once you understand the basics of using PaintTool SAI’s brushes and layer modes to blend in your shading, you can play with your technique and develop your own shading style.

Use the Oil Water brush to blend the edges if necessary.ĭevelop your own shading style in PaintTool SAI – You can also add thin dabs of white to make glossy or metallic surfaces shine. – Pick a thin brush size and a bright color to touch up the areas where the light hits your character. – Add a new layer above your shading layer, and use a lightening mode like Screen or Luminosity. Overlay and Lumi&Shade work both ways, allowing you to make shaded areas darker and highlights lighter at the same time.Īnother great way to improve your visual dynamics is to add highlights in PaintTool SAI. The Multiply, Shade, Screen, and Luminosity modes are popular options to darken or lighten your characters. Normal Mode will completely cover the layer beneath it, but almost any other blending mode will work, depending on your shading style. – Above the opacity meter, you can set your layer’s mode, which is how this shading layer will blend with your outline layer. Anywhere from 10% to 50% opacity will let you see the outlines below clearly. – Right above the Preserve Opacity box that you left unchecked, you can set the transparency of this shading layer. That will clip your shading layer to the outline layer below so it can act as a mask when you shade. Leave Preserve Opacity off for this layer, but click the Clipping Group box right below it. This layer is where you’ll draw your shading, so make sure it’s above your outline layer. – Click on the New Layer icon at the top left of the Layers Panel, which shows a blank piece of paper. Here’s how to create new shading layers in PaintTool SAI.

In general, more layers will give you more control over your shading.

Paint tool sai blending brush