So lets say I've made sprites like these:

Is there a certain combination of nodes that could automatically apply shading to sprites?

Like in Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 that I'm using, I achieved the below result by using "Inner bevel" tool and then selected the red color parts with the magic wand selection tool, duplicated them to another layer and applied gaussian blur on them:  VVVV

Could a similar idea be made to generate automatic shading for pixel-art sprites using Pixel Composer?

(Original raw image)

I saw some nodes that can apply light/shadow/bevel and tried playing around with them but since I'm still such a novice with the program I don't really know how to use anything without some guidance.

I think the nodes could use tooltips for beginners like myself that hint at what a node does and say cases where it could be used.

By “shading” you mean the glow effect on red color right? You can do that with node like this.

Another way to do this is by using bloom node with bloom mask.

Thats only one part of it, but super cool nonetheless - helped me understand how to do the glow effect!

Its my fault for making the effect too subtle in the second image. By shading I mean like actual shading/lighting that an artist would do manually to render a sprite to make lighter/darker areas. This animated gif highlights what I meant:

In the image editing program I draw my sprites in I can use effects filters to give the sprites a one-click instant artificial shading as pictured above. I was wondering if Pixel Composer could do something similar or even better.