My first attempt at shading/shadows

[Jin-roh]

Can be found Here. In my tip 'o the hat to Frank Miller.

How does it look?

[Levi-chan]

Sorry man, but background lighting /has/ to affect the foreground objects (the characters).

[Bohemian]

you're not really 'shading'. Thusly I can't really judge it as such.

[Lei]

Generally, it's a good idea to work your way through shading with midtones, hatching, etc., before you try to do something really stylized, such as a Frank Miller imitation. Start off by figuring out where the shadows are going – determine a direction for your lightsource (I often indicate this with an arrow for reference, then erase it later), then work out where the shadows will be cast. One of the great things about shading is the 3-dimensional look it gives figures. Take advantage of that. I'd recommend starting off by practicing shading on geometric shapes - spheres, cones, cylinders, cubes, etc. Nearly anything can be simplified to geometric forms, and you can translate the way you'd shae a sphere to, say, a breast, a beergut, or the bald top of someone's head.

[LibertyCabbage]

The first step of shading is identifying your light source/s. You can't have shadows without light =P

[Mysticela]

try shading in places where shade generally falls (ex: under the nose, under the jaw line, under the arm, etc) : )

[Chelsee]

As mentioned by others, light source ect could stand for a little attention.

That detail aside, I actually rather like the way the image turned out, especially for a first go. While I wouldn't say it could pass as Frank Miller-esk, I would say it would make an adequate Miller-esk parody. The style is playful anyway, so for a comedic piece it's still successful.

I like the knife'd one flying out of the shadows ^_^.