How to draw highlights in paintings

I’ve finished my illustrations, but something seems to be missing… Have you ever had this thought?

If that’s the case, you can improve the quality by adding highlights!

In this tutorial I will show you how to add highlights to increase the quality of your work!

Where to add highlights

1. Add highlights where the light hits

Highlights are created where the light hits, so assume there is a light source in your picture, such as the sun, and add highlights to illuminated areas.

2. Add highlights to the edges of line drawings

Until you get used to it, you may not be sure where to put the highlights.

Try adding them to the edges of line drawings.

Also, adding too many highlights will result in a cluttered illustration that lacks coherence. Try to remember “add a little highlight where the light only hits”.

As you get more comfortable, you can start adding highlights by concentrating on the faces of objects, such as curved areas.

1. Add highlights where the light hits

2. Add highlights to the edges of line drawings

 

Keep these two points in mind and add the highlights!

 

How to add highlights

This time we will add highlights using the process below.

1. Add a new layer for highlights
2. Use the eyedropper tool to extract the color around where you want to add the highlights
3. Lighten the extracted color a little to add highlights

1. Add a new layer for highlights

On a layer for shadows, add a new layer for highlights and use the Clipping function to clip the highlights to the base layer so that you don’t paint unwanted areas.

▼Learn more about the Clipping

The clipping function

 

2. Use the Eyedropper tool to extract the color around where you want to add the highlights

Extract colors from the canvas using the Eyedropper tool.

▼Learn more about the Eyedropper tool

Eyedropper Tool Helpful Tips – Difference between Canvas and Layer –

 

3. Lighten the extracted color a little to add highlights

On the color wheel, move the extracted color a little to the top left to make it lighter (look more white), and add the highlights with the new color.

Since we are drawing an animated picture, use the Pen brush this time.

▼Learn more about “animated paint”

【Easy Steps 123】Painting Brushes and their Characteristics

Easy! How to color like an Anime.

In the same way, you can highlight other areas.

For areas of pale color, like the hair in this image, you can use white to highlight the areas.

If you want to add highlights that overlap the line art, add a new highlights layer on top of the line art layer.

Now we’ve finished adding all the highlights.

Can you see how the highlights have made the picture more attractive?

 

Applications: add highlights with the Add Layer Blending

If you set the layer blending to “Add”, you can highlight with a color as if it were glowing.

In the example below, I’m using the Watercolor (Soft) brush.

When you draw a line, release the pressure at the end of the line. This allows you to add a color gradient between white and the base colors.

▼Download the Watercolor (Soft) for free

Download the brush

 

How do you like this tutorial?

There are many ways to add highlights.

I hope you will refer to this process!