Fabric Shading

I’m working on the blanket in the top right corner and I start by filling it all with pure white on a big brush and circling it in so that it’s not too thick in any one spot (first photo). Then I paint in the shadows in with a light grey (second photo), and finally I smooth it all with my fingers (third photo). Yesterday you may have been wondering why I painstakingly painted in all the lines on the blanket if I were going to paint it anyway, but it’s because I knew they would show through white and be my reference lines for the stripes.