E-Man's Sprite R & D

[Gors]

the answer is

you are making a storm in a cup of water. You are worrying and overdetailing a lot for something so small as this, and not only it's annoying, it's unecessary. Look at the other threads, they aren't as gigantic as this and they work fine (maybe in a better steadiness than your topic).

it's not about confusion, it's about -being utterly unecessary-.

Also you are still way too hellbent on finding an optimal style or technique when there is not. I am actaully tired of saying this but it doesn't matter if you want to use 5 shades, 4 or 3. There is no rule saying what's the optimal number of shades. I mean, it even feels like you have no self-awareness at all. Do you really need to post all the steps for the two spheres you just shaded? Really? Maybe it's your way of learning but I just feel it's tacky and not direct to the point.

The balls you shaded are all correct depending on situation. There is a type of shading for each situation (I told you this too) and what matters more is if your current style works for your work. Sometimes you will need more shadows, sometimes you will need to hueshift more. There are no fixed rules for this, there are just guidelines. For example, Starsock's advice is valid, but sometimes you won't use it. And what defines it is the environment and the use of the spheres. (And I think the darkest shade could be a tad more dark and unsaturated).

The rule of thumb for picking colors is if the color you are adding onto the palette WILL CHANGE CONSIDERABLY the art you are doing. If two colors are too similar to each other and don't add anything positive at all, you may cut one of them off.