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Hello! This is my first blog, so please leave some feedback. I'm not a new member, however; my old PMC account was xCynder. So if you're bored, go check that out. It's inactive, though, so I'd recommend not subscribing to it.

Secondly, if you see your skin on here, I'm not criticizing it in any way. I love the way all skins are shaded, and I appreciate how skinners put so much time into their work so others can enjoy it.

Now that's all said and done, let's get started.

Have you ever noticed that some PMC skinners shade their skins in different ways? Have you ever had a word come to mind on how you'd describe the skin?

I know I have! Many skinners have different methods on shading their skins to their liking. Shading is when you put different tints and hues on specific areas of a skin or piece of artwork for emphasis, or to make it seem more realistic.

In this blog, I’m going to focus on teen-oriented skins, primarily girl skins. I’ll give some examples by big-name skinners.

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Blocky - This type of shading is new. Popular teen skinners such as Panya, FennecFox, and Oceanelle. Blocky shading is primarily used on 1.8 skins, and will most likely have smaller palettes due to the smooth shading used.

Oceanelle's OC, "Luane"

Panya's Cartoon Hangover skin, "Bee"

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Gradient - A type of shading that proportionizes and spaces out colors with contrasting similar ones. Gradient shading was the most popular shading used by most skinners up until 2013, when blocky shading soon emerged. Retired members like CheekehPanda, Sugarbun, PonyGoggles, and Daddy_Yankee14 used this method in their days, but users such as Saydee, mintcherry, and HannahLikesCats still use it today.

The difference between soft gradient shading and saturated-gradient shading: Soft gradient shading almost makes it look like there's no shading at all, but when viewed ingame from a closer perspective it is very detailed and well-done. Saturated-gradient shading emphasizes the amount of shading used and is mostly used for male skins, but a few female skinners step out of the box and make some pretty awesome saturated-gradient skins.

A soft-gradient skin, "Best Mistake", by Saydie.

A saturated-gradient skin by mintcherry.

(Note how detailed and well-done the hair and body is.)

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Limb shading - Similar to blocky shading with a hint of saturated-gradient shading, limb shading gives the most detail of the three methods. It will emphasize where specific body parts are located, and will make a shaded line to show where the forearm meets the upper arm, etc. Users such as Ene, Kalyrii, and LaurenAngels20 (older skins) have established this shading type with their skins.

"Water Lily" by Ene (note the distinguishing shading between forearm and arm).

"That Thorn Crown Tho" by LaurenAngels20.

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I hope you enjoyed my first blog! Just let me know if it was too short or vague. This was my first blog, so hopefully it wasn't too bad :c Constructive criticism is highly appreciated and recommended!

All skins belong to their rightful owners - subscribe to them! They've worked really hard.

Thanks for reading!

- Surreal


Edit: I was browsing on the blogs page and saw that this has reached the pop reel! Thank you all so much <3 I never expected this from my first blog!