Shipbucket

Could someone please help me in determining the shading lines for this ship part I'm working on? I'm bad at shading round/ellipsoid shapes.



Need some help since this has an ellipsoidal shape.

There is no "one and only" way of shading round shapes (although there are "no ways" - ways that must not be used, like gradients), but these days the 45-degree rule is becoming more and more common, and in fact becomes something of unofficial standard.
Basically, typical for Shipbucket would be use of just 3 shades for such simple shape (more could be used if there were some overhangs and the like, but let's leave it for now - and some artists insist on using bit more shades, like 4-5, but that's a bit of gray area - the original style would use just 3).

An object with circular cross-section shaded according to 45-degree rule, would have approximately rear 1/6th shaded, front 1/6th highlighted, and middle 4/6th in the base shade.
For something with ellipsoid cross-section these proportions would be different, and it would depend on actual shape of that ellipsis, but as a rule of thumb I'd suggest shading and highlighting approx. 1/8th each of the object's "length".

There is not a perfect rule/solution to shading round form. But on general SB-style rule, it is more or less shading at 45-degree, but we can be a bit flexible there, if we can make it so good that we can lett it pass. What we have to remember is to work after the "thumb of rule": it must be drawn and colored it such way, that it easy for the next person using that drawing, to recolor the drawing, without having to go trough 1000's of different shades.

Round shapes is very hard to shade, we have two alternatives, following the common 45-degree rule, or think about how light hit a round shape. For example turn of the light in your room and have the light from your mobile hit your coffee/tea-mug from on direction and see how the light and shade play on it and try to draw that with only 3-4 types of shades

Simple is best, but if we are confident in what we do, we can expand on the style, so long it doesn't bend to far out of the "parameter" of SB-style

I for example, I do a small modification to the SB-style, to try to make it a little more lively, without making it look like a cartoon-drawing: