How I polished my illustrations
Hey guys, here sharing with you a process I followed while creating the illustration below.
People who are self-taught will face a lot of problem in learning tricks quickly. I always thought, “ oh man, How did the artist achieve this style?” There’s always a struggle while learning the tricks. Imagine you are working on something for a very long time and you get this feeling that you’ve been doing it wrong the whole time!.. I know, I got you.
Here are a few basic things to consider which will make your illustrations a lot better, I am not talking like a pro, but as a person who is still learning and improving things. Okie, let’s get into the topic.
Before jumping into some tricks, let’s talk about some basic points to kick-start the process of creating a concept.
Inspiration:
So, First thing you have to do before anything is looking for lots and lots of references, inspiration, which catches your attention or which is apt for your project. I always get inspired by a lot of funny and happy characters.
I love work from artist like Alicia Souza. However, my taste in illustration style has evolved by practicing multiple styles.
Concept :
When you feel that you have curated the right kind of references, you can start scribbling and continue until you get the right sketch. You can make small thumbnails of scenarios, small doodles or anything rough.
Mood :
What kind of mood do you want to create? Calm? crazy? Negative? Happy? The color palette you use plays an important role in mood.
Style :
This is something I want to stress upon, don’t try hard to achieve your own style. It comes with practice and experience. If you are a beginner, focus on practicing all types of style by taking inspiration from any of your favorite artists.
Style includes elements like shapes, highlights, shadows, depth, texture in any given illustrations. Over the years you’ll end up having your own style.
Now that I have mentioned a couple of steps, I will showcase all of those in the process of creating an illustration.
Take some inspiration, just to understand the style and add your own touch. You can also copy the style for the sake of practice. But, I have not copied it here. I have used the reference as an inspiration but have recreated my own style. Start off with something simple.
The very first rule of any illustration is just fill the colors. I am sure I sound silly, but filling colors will let your brain think. It becomes the starting point for your creativity to flourish. You will have a reference point to add more colors or elements and also what not to add or avoid (like shadows, depth or texture).
What color palette to choose?
Color is a vast concept and this blog about this topic will not justify its depth or importance. I will talk about color in my upcoming post. For now, when you’re practicing, you can choose colors from your reference.
Shadows:
Add shadows. Trust me, adding shadows will make the illustration more better looking as it adds depth.
You have to choose between a cast shadow or a form shadow. So that you can add them accordingly.
Cast shadows are formed by another object. Form shadow are formed by light in front.
In my illustration, the shadows are formed by light in front i.e, form shadow.
Check out the shadow formed by the light behind the ears, on the back of the hair, under the chin and on the neck.
I have masked the shadow inside the hand.
Tip: Pick the color of the hand for the shadow and set the ‘blending mode’ to ‘multiply’.
Highlights:
Add lighting wherever necessary. I analyzed my reference and added highlights. You have to think of, which side the light is coming from?
Tip: Make a stroke and use any of the brushes and mask it. This will give a raw feel to the illustration. Explore different brush type.
Add details:
I wanted a similar hairline as my reference and with a charcoal brush, I drew hairline to match it.
Now, the illustration looks a lot better just by adding shadows, highlights, and little details.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
Add more details:
You can always add more details till you are satisfied. As the saying goes, ‘art is never finished, only abandoned’. But learn to stop at a point. I know, as an artist, we always look for perfection which is good, but it can also prove to be bad because your work will never be done.
Okie, I imported my illustration to Photoshop, and added some refinement like pink blush feel to some parts of the body.
Texture:
A lot of artists do texture which makes the illustration look great. You can add texture overlays to background or subject also. It totally depends on your creativity.
I added these overlays:
“You can compare and see the difference after adding texture. You can create texture with brushes too.”
Software:
I started with Adobe illustrator and for more details, I imported the illustration to Photoshop.
The quality and finish of your work depend completely on your creativity and your comfort with the particular software. I remember I started with MS Paint and surprisingly, people still appreciated my painting.
Over the time, you’ll get to know what software to use for multiple purposes. It all comes with practice. I know, the term “practice” sounds boring but, it is a big deal. Trust me, there’s no other way you can achieve perfection, Lol! (and shh, I still need a lot of practice. I am working on it).
Hope you enjoyed the post.
Keep painting…
