Difference between revisions of "Pillow shading"

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[[File:Pillowed _Circle.png|thumb|Right|A pillow shaded square.]]
[[Image:Pillowed _Circle.png|thumb|left|A pillow-shaded circle]] '''Pillow shading''' is a habit of novice [[spriter]]s who lack the experience to shade sprites properly.
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'''Pillow shading''' is method of "shading" artwork, typically employed by novice pixel artists. It adds lighting to an image, though as seen by many, the "wrong sort" of lighting.
  
Pillow-shading is the act of shading dark on all the edges and light on all the inside of a sprite while disregarding all other possible light behavior, giving the sprite the appearance of a fat pillow with no further depth or shape.
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Pillow shading generally involves creating a gradient leading from the outer edges of the image to the center. Though it can be dark-to-light, light-to-dark variations are the most common, giving the impression of a "pillow" - a flat, unrealistic interpretation of the object, in which the light appears to be coming from its center.  
  
Although pillow-shading can work just fine for bursts of energy, such as energy projectiles in action shooters e.g. ''Mega Man'', for most objects it is extremely rare for pillow shading to be even remotely acceptable, and it is also quite easy and lazy - as such, most spriters or pixel artists react strongly and angrily to the practice.
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It is a common misconception that pillow shading is a concept not used in video games, however, most rounded lights employ pillow shading such as energy projectiles in action [[game genre|shooters]] (e.g. ''Mega Man''). However, if the light is not coming from the center of the object (or being shone at the object from the Z direction), it is usually frowned upon by artists.
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==

Latest revision as of 19:48, 6 May 2015

A pillow shaded square.

Pillow shading is method of "shading" artwork, typically employed by novice pixel artists. It adds lighting to an image, though as seen by many, the "wrong sort" of lighting.

Pillow shading generally involves creating a gradient leading from the outer edges of the image to the center. Though it can be dark-to-light, light-to-dark variations are the most common, giving the impression of a "pillow" - a flat, unrealistic interpretation of the object, in which the light appears to be coming from its center.

It is a common misconception that pillow shading is a concept not used in video games, however, most rounded lights employ pillow shading such as energy projectiles in action shooters (e.g. Mega Man). However, if the light is not coming from the center of the object (or being shone at the object from the Z direction), it is usually frowned upon by artists.

See Also

Sprite