I thought a blog post would be a nice way to share my illustration process. In this tutorial, I will be using Adobe Photoshop, but this information can be applied to any program.
I’m happy to be able to share what I know with anyone that might learn from this. Here we go!
Step 1: Analyze
Analyze the assignment. Figure out what you want to convey to the viewer. I tend to think about what sort of mood I wish to convey; something lighthearted, serious, silly, ominous etc.
Step 2: Thumbnail Sketch
Sketch a few iterations of your concepts. It’s good to have three strong thumbnails for a final illustration if it is for an assignment. Composition tends to be my priority at this step; think about how the viewer’s eyes will move through the piece. Sketch until you have sketched enough to continue to the next step. I like sketching out ideas in a physical sketchbook initially, but I also sketch directly in Photoshop.
Here are my sketchbook sketches! I had a few different moods/ concept options.
Step 3: Values
I used Adobe Photoshop for this illustration, but there are many digital art programs out there that can be used for digital illustration such as Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Procreate etc. At this point, I open my sketches in Photoshop to create value sketches. For this piece, I created my value studies digitally. It’s good to think about the values of the foreground, middle ground, and background to establish depth.
I was trying to decide between two of my sketches that communicated slightly different moods. I decided to go with the sketch on the right, but I did make changes to the figures on the final piece.
Step 4: Color Sketch
Most of the time, I have a color concept for the piece in my head at the sketch phase of the illustration, but it does evolve and change as I progress through the piece. I would recommend studying color theory and studying different artists, painters, photographers, filmmakers etc on how they use color to direct the viewer. Using colors that make other colors pop or recede is important to think about so that they can be used as compositional guides as well.
I lay out the rough color sketch I had in my head. The piece can change the more I work on it, but most of the time I'd say the color sketch is what the final will roughly end up looking like.
Step 5: Painting the Background
For this illustration, I wanted to create a painted/ more impressionistic background. I really enjoy painting, and I try to paint the way I would traditionally. The main difference is that for digital art, I separate different elements of the background into their own layers so that the piece is easier to edit if I need to make changes to a specific section of the piece. I like to lay down flat colors (ex. the mountains) and then build the paintings up by using several layer masks.
When I start to render details (ex. the water) I keep the types of textures I want to use in mind. Painting and rendering is the part of the piece that can easily get me in the flow state. I render and render until I feel like the background is nearly done.
Here is what this piece looked like during the painting process.
Here are more detailed sections with added textures.
Step 6: Figures
So for this piece, I kept changing how I wanted to pose the figures as well as how I wanted to render the figures.
Originally, I had them posed how I had them in the sketch and they were painted in a similar way to the background, without lines. Here is what the piece looked like before I took a long break with it. I went on vacation in June, worked on a lot of other work in July, and finally came back to this piece to figure out what I wanted the figures to look like in August. Once I decided on how I wanted the finished figures to look like, the rest of the process went by pretty quickly.
I quickly sketched the updated figures. I decided I wanted the figures to look stylistically different from the way the background was painted. I wanted to show expression and emotion as well as add line art, so that's what I did. I'm glad that I made the changes that I did with this piece. Sometimes taking a break from a piece is the best thing for the piece!
Here are the steps I take when working on the figures.
It's a similar process to how I paint backgrounds, but in this case I wanted the figures to be in a 2D style.
After finishing the figures and establishing where I wanted the reflection to be, I went back to painting background elements to finish the rocks in the foreground, the water, and ripple effects on the reflection of the piece.
Step 7: Glazes and finishing touches
This is usually my last step. I play around color glazes and with layer blend modes (overlay, soft light, hard light) and layer adjustments (hue/ saturation, brightness/ contrast) until I think the piece has enough punch to it. In this case I airbrushed saturated blue and dark blue hues onto certain areas and applied the layer blend mode linear light at 65%.
Step 8: Congratulate yourself!
This step is a step I tend to easily overlook, but it's probably one of the more important steps. It's good to celebrate what you have achieved. Your piece may have turned into something very different than you had imagined, but it's good to acknowledge the work that you put in and that you stuck with it and kept at it. I'm slowly getting better at celebrating my wins. It's a process!
So there is! My quick guide on how I create my digital illustration pieces in Photoshop. I hope this was helpful! Thanks very much for getting to the end of this post if you did!
Until next time!
Kat Flores