DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION
On our previous lesson, we learned about the elements that make up a style guide.
Now, in order to create our own style guide,
we need to digitalize the sketches of the elements we've chosen.
In this lesson, I'll teach you the best way to get that done.
We'll be using Procreate for iPad
and then we'll move on to Adobe Illustrator on our computer
to give it a professional touch.
We'll start by taking a picture of the drafts we've chosen.
I always use our phone to do that.
So I'll just get the whole page into focus
where I even have the list. I like to keep a record of everything.
If I ever lose my sketchbook or if I ever don't have it at hand,
I'll always have these photos saved.
I always take these pictures with my phone.
You can do it with your iPad.
Taking it with the phone is a habit of mine. You do you.
Now I'll send the pictures I took to my iPad.
Once there, I can import them to Procreate.
I'll create a New File on Procreate,
square-shaped, at 300 dpi.
I like my files to be HQ.
That lets me make them bigger or smaller
without it getting any pixelation.
Remember when working with Procreate
you're not working with vectors, but with pixels.
You need to keep that in mind.
Also, on my iPad,
I also use my Apple Pencil, which is great.
The Apple Pencil works with iPad Pro
and with your regular iPad if it's sixth gen or above.
It works with those too.
Not with the iPad Air, though. You need to know that.
Gloves are something else I use.
This drawing glove is really important.
My iPad reads the heat that my hands give off,
so it might count it as an unwanted stroke,
and it also keeps my hand from sticking to the surface.
Since I'm letting off some grease,
I could end up with the whole screen mucked.
With this glove, I can move around my screen just fine.
Since I have my screen here...
It's on RGB Color mode.
You can also work with CMYK.
I like to work my files using RGB from the get-go
because I'm always doing things digitally
and then I'll design my products for print.
I'm changing colors here.
So we'll move here
and insert our photo,
the ones that I already took with my phone.
I'll pick this photo, the one with my little character,
and I'll make it a bit bigger.
Then I'll create an extra layer.
I'm gonna lower the opacity a little here.
I'll create an extra layer
where I'll start working on the linework for my character.
I always start on my iPad
because I love that texture that a hand-drawn sketch has.
I don't like those geometrical, straight lines.
That's why I always work on my tablet.
You can do it directly on Illustrator,
but that's up to you.
This time, since I did the face apart from the body,
since that was how the draft worked, I'll make another draft
where I'll first develop the character's face
to then work and include the body.
I like to choose a green shade that doesn't match the background.
That's the color I like to use for my drafts.
I use any brushes I find available.
I like this one. Dry Ink.
It's like you're writing with a crayon or a pencil.
I love this texture.
I'll start sketching the linework on my character
trying to make them as straight as possible while liking it.
Sometimes I'll fix these things while working on my draft.
In the end, this one isn't the last one I'm working on.
I'm just using it to figure out how to join head and body.
I'll finish up the sketching like so.
Now, the little bow.
This one doesn't need to be all that perfect.
I'll work on her little head and her little hairpin.
Now, on this side, I'll make another layer
to work on the character's body.
I didn't add a bow here
since I already have it on the other side, with the head.
If you find it's hard to see your green linework,
you can get your opacity even lower, and keep working.
Something I love about Procreate
is how you can move your objects between layers.
So I'll completely move this layer where I drew the head.
I'll put it here, with the body. You'll be able to scale it.
I think I'll make it a little smaller
so it'll look perfect.
Once it looks like this, I can erase the sketch underneath.
Let me get a brush that's more vectorized.
If I use Dry Ink again, I'll get that pixelization,
as if you were drawing with crayon.
I chose this one, Script. You can control the thickness,
but you're still getting that even line.
That's what I want for my character design
so when we move it to Adobe Illustrator, it'll be even easier,
and we won't have any trouble with the vectorization.
I'll start sketching.
I can start adding details
or other things I'd like to change right now.
Notice you can still see that particular linework of mine,
just how I like it.
I raised the brush opacity.
I feel like it wasn't strong enough.
You need it to be really precise.
I'll go over the elements wher I want a thicker linework.
I don't want those overlapping points to be visible at all.
Notice that because of the glove, my hand
moves fluidly across the iPad.
Now I'll draw her bangs.
Now we can start with her little bow.
The best way to get a more stable linework is practice.
You need to do it over and over, and if it still won't work,
just erase it and do it again. No problem.
Now let's do the other arm,
the one that's supposed to have more movement.
Moving on to her apron and clothes.
In the end, I chose to add a little face in the apron
and went back to the original design of just one little pocket.
Now her skirt.
And these are like her socks.
I'm going to draw these ribbons that need to go behind here.
That's what our outline looks like.
Now we need to draw these elements that go up here.
New layer, then let's draw her little eyes.
I like to duplicate the eye layer so make them look even,
and then I just move it.
I'll get it closer to get her little eye just where I want it.
I'm sketching her mouth.
And now I'm gonna hit Merge Down to get these lines together.
Now I can get these lines together.
I won't draw her cheeks.
I don't want to outline them. That would look really weird.
I'll just sketch this part with this pin of hers.
Once I have my character completely outlined,
I'll check some things I liked or that I'd like to change.
For instance, here, this pocket actually looks like a mouth,
so it looks really weird.
Let me erase it.
I think I'll sketch a couple of tiny pockets,
one on each side.
Then I'll add like a little fruit here,
something that'll look cute.
Now we're moving on to the color palette we chose
using what we saved on our Pinterest mood board.
I saved it as an image,
I moved it to my tablet, just like the rest of my pictures.
I have it here, hidden within a layer.
I inserted it as is so I could use
the same colors I have for my character.
I'll put it aside before creating another layer.
Touching the screen, you can choose the color
that your finger's touching.
In this case, that's how I'll get my color palette
to look exactly the same.
For your color palette, you should always get inspired
in the unexpected. I'll never get tired of repeating that.
That way,
you can create a palette of your own so people will recognize your work.
It won't look like a reference,
like a duplicate of another artist's work.
It's hidden there. I have my color palette here.
I'll start adding some color to my character.
Let me create another outline underneath the whole outline.
I can hide my part of the sketch here.
I'll start adding color now.
I tend to work with the same color palette.
Aside for the character-specific colors that I chose,
I have the skintones I like, the ones I always use.
Some blues for the sky, some pinks for the cheeks.
You can store your base colors in Procreate.
I'm using the skin color
and I'll start filling this up with my brush.
Procreate is really simple. It gives you all these tools
so your illustrating becomes really simple.
For instance, I just need to close up this element.
I can pull on this circle towards the closing point,
which will be a little face. When I drop it, if just fills it out.
But there's always a pixel that doesn make it.
I'll just go over this again. No need to fill out the whole thing
so the Apple Pencil tip won't get as worn out.
I'll do the exact same thing
with every point where you can see my character's skin.
And I'll start filling this out.
We need to make sure everything's airtight.
I'll keep on adding color all over my illustration.
Right now, I'm only working with solids,
I'm not adding any shadows, any lightplay.
We need to sketch over that pixel that's hanging out there,
the one that's being marked in a weird way.
And we need to go over those parts where we colored over the line.
I'll finish up adding color and I'll show you the end result.
This is what my character looks like in color.
Notice I added more elements and more effects here.
Let me show you how I did it.
If I hide this layer where I have all my lights and shadows,
my character will look like this, completely falt,
but I always like to add shadows on one side, highlights on the other.
You can see it here.
I'll just pick the same color
and here, in the color disc,
I'll nudge this a little until I find a darker color
to add more depth and volume to our characters.
I opened a new file that's identical to our previous one
where I'll add the pictures
of the supporting elements I want to add
so they'll surround my character.
I got my second draft here.
To avoid any confusion,
I'll create a new layer and start sketching,
same as I did with my main character.
I'll keep sketching my outline for these elements
and then I'll show you what they look like before adding color.
As you can see, this is what my supporting elements look like.
I put some distance between them
since I'll be needing them to be like that to work them on Illustrator.
I have here my color palette again.
I expanded this one a bit. We have more pinks, more blues,
so I can add more shadows, more finishing touches here.
I'll start adding some color and I'll show you the end result.
So I'm done adding color to all my elements.
I did the exact same thing I did with my main character.
I added some shadows, some highlights, more detail.
For instance, what I said about the bunny cookie
about wanting to add more texture, a more clump-like texture.
The sprinkles for my doughnut.
I really love that shiny, plastic-like finish.