Illustration

New skills, projects, ideas and fun facts about the world of illustration

Illustration
Categories
Popular tags
  • Discovering the Art of Watercolor with Ella Sienna: Painting Realistic Wildlife
    Teacher Illustration

    Discovering the Art of Watercolor with Ella Sienna: Painting Realistic Wildlife

    Immerse yourself in the rich and vibrant world of watercolor with renowned illustrator, Ella Sienna. Her upcoming Domestika course, "Watercolor Illustration of Realistic Wildlife," is a one-of-a-kind experience that will take you on a journey through color, texture, and technique to transform a blank canvas into a lifelike animal portrait. To give you a taste of what's to come, here's a brief tutorial on how to paint realistic fur with watercolor, featuring the majestic parrot. Step 1: Laying the Base Begin by painting the base layers of your subject. Here, Ella has already set down the base for a parrot, with emphasis on the feathered texture. She highlights the variance in tones by using the 'lift' technique in the yellow section and the 'wet wash' in the other parts. This helps in defining the borders between layers of feathers. Step 2: Fine Details Switch to a smaller brush for detailed work, here a size four. The base layer, being pale, represents the lightest value of the feather. As you move to darker colors, ensure they also get warmer to add character to the illustration. Step 3: Understanding Feather Structure Remember that feathers have a central stem or midrib. One half of the feather is usually darker and the other lighter due to different angles and light reflections. Mimic this difference in light and darkness while painting. Add a more saturated color along the edge underneath the red for a realistic shadow effect.

    • 2
    • 0
  • Free PDF Tutorial: How to Draw a Chibi Character
    Illustration

    Free PDF Tutorial: How to Draw a Chibi Character

    Dive into our step-by-step guide and learn how to draw your very own adorable Chibi character. Download your free PDF now and let the artistic journey begin! Hey there, art lovers! Are you ready to embark on an exciting adventure into the enchanting world of Chibi characters? Well, you're in for a treat! We've crafted a delightful tutorial that will guide you through the steps of creating your very own Chibi character. Whether you wield a digital pen or cherish the traditional pencil and paper, this tutorial caters to all creative souls. Get ready to dive in!

    • 3
    • 0
  • Iconic Posters to Celebrate the International Human Rights Day
    Illustration

    Iconic Posters to Celebrate the International Human Rights Day

    In 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights launched an international poster competition. Among the dozens of winners, some stand out for their brilliantly simple, powerful, and urgent messaging: voices united against racism; protection of immigrants; the right to love freely; and the urgent reminder that we all have rights from birth.

    • 1
    • 0
  • 10 Free Websites for Portrait Reference Photos
    Illustration

    10 Free Websites for Portrait Reference Photos

    Discover these free websites offering a range of portrait reference photos and take your illustrations to the next level Studying the shapes, lighting, proportions, and details of real-life models is one of the best ways to practice your drawing skills. We can also rely on photographs, which is often a more convenient way of working with different subjects. This is especially the case when it comes to portrait drawing. If you find good photo references, you’ll have a continuous stream of inspiration that allows you to practice drawing faces with a range of unusual features. We have compiled this list of the best reference photo websites for sourcing different faces so you can become a portrait artist. LIFE Photo Archive If you would like to focus on drawing notable faces from history, this archive created by LIFE magazine (and developed together with Google) offers up millions of photographs. It contains material from key moments in politics and entertainment, all of which have been shot using incredible lighting and interesting angles. This collection is limited to non-commercial use.

    • 60
    • 2
  • Everything You Need to Know About Vector File Formats
    Illustration

    Everything You Need to Know About Vector File Formats

    Learn what a vector file is, discover the most common formats and why it's better to work with these file types Before we dive into categorizing the different vector file formats and discovering when it is more appropriate to use one over another, let’s clarify what a vector file is and why, on some occasions, it is better to work with these file types. Vector files are used for example in Vector illustration, that is a type of graph that represents images or shapes through mathematical formulas.

    • 6
    • 0
  • Watercolor Tutorial: how to paint with the sponge technique
    Illustration

    Watercolor Tutorial: how to paint with the sponge technique

    Learn step by step this key technique to apply lights, shadows and textures with watercolor, with Berta Llonch Berta Llonch is a plastic artist and illustrator specialized in watercolor, a technique that she has understood 100%: far from wanting to master it, she gives herself over to the unexpected and uses the water stain sometimes without control to her advantage. She paints her works vertically and upside down, focusing on basic shapes and proportions, and she employs alternative techniques, such as using sponges to spread paint on paper. Discover the keys to the technique in this tutorial.

    • 6
    • 0
  • Drawing Tutorial: basic shapes in children's illustration
    Illustration

    Drawing Tutorial: basic shapes in children's illustration

    Learn the keys to drawing characters in Procreate through basic shapes, with Jimena S. Sarquiz Although there is a lot of creativity and imagination behind artistic creations, it is also true that creative people have been developing formulas to facilitate their production process. In illustration, the basic figures – circles, squares, triangles, among many others – play a very important role in determining the bases of a character, of a scene. Illustrator Jimena S. Sarquiz, creator of the monitosbonitos project (@monitosbonitos), has children's editorial illustration projects for clients such as Editorial Norma, Edebé, Santillana, Macmillan Education, Cambridge University Press or Editorial Televisa. She teaches us simple proportion tips, as well as how to transform basic shapes into characters for your creations. Discover more in the video:

    • 2
    • 0
  • Illustration Tutorial: exercises to learn to draw animals
    Teacher Illustration

    Illustration Tutorial: exercises to learn to draw animals

    Learn the Fist technique to draw animals with basic shapes from scratch The good thing about drawing is that it gives us infinite possibilities: we can follow all the rules, or break them to let ourselves be carried away by our intuition and imagination. Regardless of whether we have a better or worse style, the important thing about drawing is that it allows us to express ourselves to have a good time of fun. In the following video tutorial, illustrator and educator Puño (@puño) invites us to put aside shame to learn how to create animals with simple geometric shapes, just with a marker and a sheet of paper or cardboard. Based on his advice, we can begin to realize that drawing is within everyone's reach. Discover them below:

    • 1
    • 0
  • Photoshop Tutorial: 6 Great Brushes for Digital Illustration
    Illustration

    Photoshop Tutorial: 6 Great Brushes for Digital Illustration

    Discover the favorite Photoshop brushes of illustrator Joel Santana, specialized in character design Using Adobe Photoshop for digital illustration is one of the most common uses of this software, which allows artists, creatives and designers of any level to build characters, settings and objects from their imagination. The use of custom brushes can also give extra personality to our drawings and illustrations. In the following video tutorial, character designer Joel Santana (@themaddhattr) shares his favorite brushes for digital illustration in Adobe Photoshop. Santana uses them for creative tasks ranging from sketching to color application, and they are a very good example of the wide variety of textures that custom Photoshop brushes offer. Discover them below:

    • 1
    • 0
  • Watercolor tutorial: tips to get started and lose your fear of water
    Teacher Illustration

    Watercolor tutorial: tips to get started and lose your fear of water

    Learn with Canela Studio how to paint with two basic techniques in watercolor: dry base and wet base According to Paulina Maciel, designer and illustrator and founder of Canela studio – which teaches the course at Domestika Botanical illustration with watercolor–, watercolor is more than a technique, it is an attitude. Mastering it is not always easy, since the balance between the amount of water and pigment will always define the final result and only experience will teach you how to master it. So that you lose your fear of water and enjoy watercolor, the illustrator gives you the keys to know her basic watercolor techniques with wet base and dry base, through different methodologies and practices with water, color and the brushes.

    • 1
    • 0
  • Illustration Tutorial: 3 exercises to warm up your hand
    Illustration

    Illustration Tutorial: 3 exercises to warm up your hand

    Learn with Fist the best dynamics to warm up your hand before facing any drawing If you are looking for a teacher to start drawing without fear, that is, without a doubt, Puño (@puno). He has been drawing since he can remember and, in addition to attending film school and studying audiovisual communication, he makes a living in two ways that he is passionate about: as a children's writer and illustrator, and as a creative educator in Holland, Spain and Colombia . If what you are looking for is someone who will make you lose your fear of the blank page and help you grab the pencil with will, he is your man. And in these three exercises he is going to demonstrate it to you, don't miss the following video:

    • 6
    • 0