adding shadows to your character

You said ‘add shadows’, but I don’t really know where shadows should go!

Right…but I got you covered.

Shadows can dramatically change the way your character looks at make it more believable, so it is something that you could want to consider..

All you need to do is deciding where your light comes from.(in a 2d game from above is a good choice), then keep in mind how light behaves with spheres and cubes. This will give you a good approximation even with more complex shapes, that you can consider being made with those primitives.

With Mr Raccoon’s head I just shadowed the lower part of the head and the inside of his ears. For the body I shadow the lower part of harms and legs. I put a shadow just under his head because the head prevents the light to reach his shoulders. And then I added some shadow whenever a piece of cloth goes over something: for example a shadow on the hands just where the sleeves end. This must look like a lot of work, but with time it will become automatic to you. If in doubt you can use a simple photograph as a reference.

The annoying part in adding shadows to your character is that when you animate it you must animate them as well. So if he raises his arm you must change the shadow on it and so on. But the final result is really worth it!