Skip to main content
shading

shading

11 3.1
Marks made in a drawing to show light and shadow and make it look three-dimensional
  • noun
  • /ˈʃeɪdɪŋ/
translation icon : sombreado
  • The artist used gentle shading to create a lifelike effect in the portrait.
  • gray shading
  • sculptural shading
  • shading effect

Maybe guys will wear like that shading, like contouring, but I feel like that's about it.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • See, the shading on the burnt umber is all wrong.

  • Mona Lisa We can see what a master of the spumato he was when we look at the shading around Mona Lisa's eyes.

  • Really nice work on the shading, Daniel.

  • I add depth and shading to give the image more definition.

  • This shading here is very good, Beatrix.

  • In their paintings of figures or architecture, everything has shading, and their use of color or brushwork is completely different from Chinese practice.

    Academic text (2013)
  • They're really neat and they provide nice examples of shading and our ability to interpret shading.

  • When the outline was good, I worked on shading and strokes for fur and whiskers.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The shading and the thickness of the lines moving over the bison's hump.

  • This drawing shows excellent shading, making the objects appear three-dimensional.

Synonyms

crosshatching
vsshading
  • Specialized
1 6.4

A drawing method using crossed lines to make shading and texture

uses graded marks generally to show light and shadow rather than only crossed lines
hatching
vsshading
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A way of making light and shadow using many short crossing lines

uses varied marks to indicate light and shadow instead of focused line sets
hachure
vsshading
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A way of shading using many short parallel or crossed lines to show slope and depth

is about showing light and shadow with graded marks not mapping depth

Antonyms

A bright area in a picture that makes a part look shiny

How Subtle

blending
3.7
shading
11 3.1
hatching
  • Specialized
1 6.7
line drawing
3 3.6

Surface Forms

shading singular
shadings plural

Morphology

shading = shade (transparent) = shade + ing

A straightforward nominalization/gerund of the verb 'shade' meaning the act or result of applying gradations of tone.

Etymology

Shading comes from the old English word shade, which meant 'shadow'. In drawing, shading is literally making shadows or darker areas to show where the light is, so it helps flat pictures look three-dimensional.