Banding (This is a child topic of Shading)
Banding is a faulty shading method where the shades stick to the outline, without real consideration to the volume. Banding makes the sprite look like a sticker instead of a real object. This is a mistake commonly made by starters who recently learned to avoid pillowshading, which is another faulty shading method.
![[Image: vW9XAzo.png]](http://i.imgur.com/vW9XAzo.png)
Examples of shading. Fig. 1: Pillowshading. Fig. 2: Gradient shading. Fig. 3: Banding. Fig. 4: Properly shaded sphere. They all use the same outline and colors.
When shading an object that is supposed to be 3D, think about how light and shadow would interact with it, and shade it accordingly. Simply adding colors into the pixelart isn't synonymous with quality, after all.
Banding is a faulty shading method where the shades stick to the outline, without real consideration to the volume. Banding makes the sprite look like a sticker instead of a real object. This is a mistake commonly made by starters who recently learned to avoid pillowshading, which is another faulty shading method.
Examples of shading. Fig. 1: Pillowshading. Fig. 2: Gradient shading. Fig. 3: Banding. Fig. 4: Properly shaded sphere. They all use the same outline and colors.
When shading an object that is supposed to be 3D, think about how light and shadow would interact with it, and shade it accordingly. Simply adding colors into the pixelart isn't synonymous with quality, after all.