Crafting an illustration style — step by step
Want to see how you can craft an illustration style that is consistent and recognisable? Or just curious about life and want to see how I made some drawings? Either way, welcome to this article. I will show you, step by step, how I start with a simple story, do some stuff, and end up with an illustration style.
If you would like to see how the illustrations are used in real life, you can check out clarify.us straight away.
Are you ready? Steady? Spaghetti? Let’s go!
Step 1 — Find a story you want to tell
First of all, what is your story about? In my case, I wanted to tell a story about people and data. Simple as that. Or maybe it’s a bit more complicated. But the moral of the story is this: given the right tool, everyone can use data as a natural part of their everyday work. No matter who they are or what they do.
The story is good to go. On to the next one.
But wait, what about tone of voice?
I want to be personal, yet professional. I want to be clear and concise. A bit of humour is allowed, as long as it helps convey something important in the story.
Step 2 — Describe the main characters
Who are the characters in this story, and what do they do?
In my case, that would be people, and data. Okay, data is a very broad category, and not really a character. And people can be many different characters… I guess this step is more of a guideline than a rule.
That wasn’t too hard. Lunch time already?
Step 3 — Find your perspective
And yes, I literally mean perspective. In my case, I will be using an isometric perspective. Which is not how our eyes see the world, but convenient if you don’t want to worry about foreshortening or vanishing points. Which I don’t.
Right on. Now what?
Step 4 — Choose your colour palette
Did you know that colours are good for guiding interpretation and creating emotional cues in the observer? And indigo is, like, really good for you?
Or something like that. Luckily, I had a head start with existing brand colours.
But what if you need to make it from scratch? I tend to think of making a colour palette, and compositions in general, in terms of dominant-subdominant-subordinate.
What is the most dominant element? In my case, a dark blue with a touch of violet.
Now what are the subdominant elements that have to adhere to the dominant one? In my case, lighter variations of blue.
What are the subordinate elements that go well with both, adding contrast while harmonising with the overall composition? I experimented my way to the secondary colours seen above. They share a similar saturation and contrast relative to the background colour, and are used for highlighting elements of interest.
Colours are subjective, and notoriously hard to get right. Painters can spend a lifetime exploring this mysterious world, and a lot of them have. It really depends on what your goal is. I made a deliberate decision on a limited colour palette, and some clear, simple rules on how to apply them. This allowed me to focus on the content of the illustrations.
Less is more. Necessity is the mother of invention. Bla bla bla. If you have a profound quote, you can justify your decision and appear smart at the same time. But in all seriousness, having limits or guiding principles is often helpful for creative work and problem solving.
Congrats. If you came this far, the hardest part is done.
Step 5 — What are you waiting for? Start drawing!
It’s time to hide away that Pinterest board you’ve been babysitting, because it’s about to get messy. No more relying on what everybody else is doing. Time to get original. Well, maybe not that original. Just remember to be loyal to the story you want to tell.
Below I’ve tried to document the creative process, along with some reflections.
An attempt to show how Clarify connects several functions into one platform. It turned out to be a bit too generic and forgettable. But the concept of representing objects on connected platforms was developed and refined.
One of the concept drawings that served as an inspiration throughout the process. Data is represented as a three-dimensional timeline, while people move around and interact with it.
Data is a bit hard to illustrate. I found myself drawing objects from real life, to take advantage of existing associations. Machines, vehicles and tools can all be sources of data.
People represent social collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving. Industry data is more about vast amounts of information, statistical modelling and computational prowess. What could possibly go wrong?
To go well with the Clarify brand, the illustrations have to work both on light and dark backgrounds. I eventually found a colour palette that worked well on light as well as dark background.
Adding objects that people interact with makes the composition more dynamic. Hopefully, it also gives you a pretty good idea about what they’re doing. Some might argue that drop shadows are a bit 1997, but I would argue that they create a sense of depth and dimensionality.
Part of the exploration was trying to represent different industries in one illustration. This is surprisingly difficult to pull off without being either too generic or too specific. So I apologise if you are an aquaculture person and feel offended right now.
Above is an illustration where a real life object (a boat) sends data (position and weather) that is made accessible to people (in their smartphone). I’m happy with how a few elements are used in a deliberate way to underline one message.
On another note, playing with the proportions of things can be used to great effect. It’s kind of like a charicature, where you take a few representative elements and blow them out of (or shrink them into) proportion. So there’s a tip, you can use that one for free.
Commenting on top of data is one of the things you can do in Clarify. So I decided to illustrate this by creating comments on top of data. Sometimes, you don’t have to think outside the box. Sometimes, the box is a good thing.
This is just a drawing of some of the icons from the user interface. I don’t really have a good reason for putting it here. It doesn’t add anything that I haven’t already said. It was fun to make, though.
At some point I settled on a level of detail that resembles a hand drawn blueprint, which in itself became an important part of the style. This was a result of hours of experimentation with different brushes and techniques. For those interested, all drawings were done in ProCreate on an iPad with an Apple pen.
Colour is an important element in the Clarify brand. Being able to manipulate the illustrations to match different backgrounds results in more creative freedom when applying the illustrations in different media, be it websites, presentations, prints or business cards — if anyone is still using those.
Conclusion — Want freedom? You need to have discipline
Making a drawing is visual storytelling. Just like writing, it takes practice. I’m not saying this is the definitive guide to make an illustration style. I’m not saying I’m that good at drawing, either. I’m not even saying that kittens aren’t cute, because they are. But by establishing a set of principles for your illustration style, you can focus on telling visual stories and communicating the things that matter.
In case you missed it, here’s a short summary:
- Decide what story you want to tell (theme, moral, characters)
- Set creative boundaries (perspective, tone, colour palette)
- Just start drawing! Focus on ways to communicate the story
There are, of course, other ways to go about this. What works for me, may not work for you. Perhaps you just want to start sketching and make sense of it in an organic way? I’m not gonna judge you. That may work just as well, if not better.
But in my experience, preparing the foundation (developing the illustration style), makes it easier to build the house (communicate the visual story). Okay, you got me, I really like analogies. That’s just how I make sense of the world.
Hope you enjoyed these words. As a parting gift, here’s another drawing.
Want to know more about Clarify?
Or just want to see more illustrations?
Then check out clarify.us.
