I really need to shade things more! It's really fun when you get into it, but starting is the hardest part

I can usually get myself into shading by putting on some jams and making myself pick the colours I wanna shade with. Start with the simple things and get that motivation going! Once I start, I can keep going for hours lmao. I like watching videos while I draw too, but I tend to get distracted by them. : P
There's a lot of different shading styles out there, and I haven't quite figured mine out yet, so I just gotta keep practicing!!

Ah!! I usually start with the second darkest colour? I'll put the layer on multiply and block in the biggest parts. I tend to use separate shading layers for every colour, so it can get a little messy. Then I'll take the darkest colour on a second multiply layer and shade inside the first layer to give it more depth! And I repeat the process the same way with the lighting and bounce lighting on a luminosity layer. (I use PaintTool SAI, so I'm not sure how well the layer styles translate to the program you use.) If it doesn't look dramatic enough I might repeat the process a second time on top of everything else combined with a really big airbrush. Lmao sorry if I explained this badly??

Not gonna lie, I used to use a pirated version of SAI, and I still use a pirated version of Photoshop. : P I don't have the money for Adobe's monthly subscriptions. I tend to use Photoshop for making textures with special brushes (Especially freckles!), since it has a much more dynamic brush system, and for some of its cool layer effects!

Oh yeah, they're fairly easy to make! I used to have a bunch, but I recently noticed they've disappeared?? And I don't have backups, but I didn't use them very often so *shrug*

I would definitely recommend keeping a backup folder somewhere safe! I have one for all of the textures I use and my Photoshop brushes to make sure I never lose them like my SAI brushes.