Soft Material Styles, With a Prompt for Each

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Soft materials

The surfaces that make a hard form soft, and the wording for each one.

A renderer makes everything hard by default, so every entry here is a way of refusing that. Ten surfaces, and the thing that separates them is almost always the silhouette: fibre dissolves an edge, a knit steps it, an inflatable rounds it, and a beaded surface breaks it into dots. Say what the edge does and the material follows. The whole family shares one lighting requirement, a strong light behind the subject, because a soft surface is only soft when the light passes through it.

Fibre

4

Four surfaces made of standing threads, told apart by how long the thread is and what holds it.

Flocked Velvet: Very short dense fibre standing straight up, so the surface absorbs light and has no highlight.
Flocked Velvet
Very short dense fibre standing straight up, so the surface absorbs light and has no highlight.
Tufted Carpet: Dense cut pile with a flat trimmed top, so the surface looks mown rather than furry.
Tufted Carpet
Dense cut pile with a flat trimmed top, so the surface looks mown rather than furry.
Long Pile Fur: Long soft strands with the ends uncut, so the silhouette dissolves into a halo.
Long Pile Fur
Long soft strands with the ends uncut, so the silhouette dissolves into a halo.
Beaded Scatter: Thousands of tiny spheres covering a surface, so every form is built from dots.
Beaded Scatter
Thousands of tiny spheres covering a surface, so every form is built from dots.

Made from yarn and thread

4

Four surfaces where the structure is visible, because a loop or a stitch is the smallest unit.

Knitted: A surface of interlocking loops, so every form is stepped by the stitch grid.
Knitted
A surface of interlocking loops, so every form is stepped by the stitch grid.
Crochet: Chained loops worked in spirals, so forms are round, chunky and slightly lumpy.
Crochet
Chained loops worked in spirals, so forms are round, chunky and slightly lumpy.
Embroidered Patch: Raised thread laid in one direction, with a rolled edge that ends the shape.
Embroidered Patch
Raised thread laid in one direction, with a rolled edge that ends the shape.
Quilted: Padding held down by a grid of stitch lines, so the surface puffs between them.
Quilted
Padding held down by a grid of stitch lines, so the surface puffs between them.

Soft and sealed

2

Two surfaces with nothing woven about them, held soft by air or by their own material.

Inflatable: A sealed skin under air pressure, rounded everywhere and pinched at the seams.
Inflatable
A sealed skin under air pressure, rounded everywhere and pinched at the seams.
Jelly: A soft translucent solid, wobbling slightly and glowing where the light passes through.
Jelly
A soft translucent solid, wobbling slightly and glowing where the light passes through.

Draw one of them

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Other style groups

Drawn traditionsHow a character is drawn by hand, and the wording that gets each tradition.9 drawn stylesAnime and mangaThe looks from Japanese animation and comics, and the wording for each one.8 anime and manga stylesPaintedThe painting media, and the wording that gets each one out of a model.7 painting mediaMade by handStyles built from real material, and the wording that gets each one.10 handmade stylesRendered in 3DHow a computer model is made to look like something, and the wording.11 render stylesGradient and noiseHow a colour transition is handled, and the wording for each one.5 gradient stylesApplied overStyles that put one thing on top of another, and the wording for each.4 layered stylesCharacter shapesHow a figure is built and finished, and the wording for each decision.12 character stylesStudio looksThe looks asked for by studio name, described by what is on the screen.8 studio looksTechnical drawingHow a thing is specified rather than depicted, and the wording for each.7 technical styles
Print stylesPrinting a sheet rather than drawing a character? The same reference, for ink on paper.

The silhouette. A renderer gives everything a hard edge, and each of these breaks it a different way: fibre dissolves it, a stitch steps it, air rounds it, beads make it bumpy. Say what the edge does and the material follows.