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  • 5 Online Courses for Learning How to Illustrate with India Ink
    Illustration

    5 Online Courses for Learning How to Illustrate with India Ink

    Discover how to draw and paint using this centuries-old technique with five Domestika experts India ink, also called Chinese ink, has been an essential material used in calligraphy and art in China, Japan, and Korea for centuries. According to experts, the oldest remains to be discovered are oracle bones used in divination rituals. Thousands of years ago, diviners would paint questions onto animal bones before tossing them into a fire, interpreting the patterns of the cracks, and writing a prognostication. Even back then, India ink consisted of more or less the same mixture that it is today: water and soot.

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  • What Is an Illustrated Life Journal and How to Start One?
    Illustration

    What Is an Illustrated Life Journal and How to Start One?

    Learn all about the wonderful art of illustrated life journals and find some top tips for creating one of your own Life can be hectic. We rush from one place to another with barely a moment’s pause to stop and appreciate the present moment. But our increasingly stressful routines mean we are finally starting to wake up to the need to prioritize mental and emotional wellbeing as a way to combat the fast pace of modern-day living. Life journals and diaries do just that. They are a wonderfully therapeutic way to document your daily thoughts and feelings, and ground yourself in the present moment. Traditionally, this has been done through the medium of writing, but lately a new trend has emerged: illustrated journals.

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  • 435 Free Bird Watercolors from the 19th Century
    Illustration

    435 Free Bird Watercolors from the 19th Century

    Get inspired by these watercolors of North American birds as an introduction to naturalist illustration If you have the opportunity to escape to the mountains or spend some time in a park with your paintbrushes, do not miss it. It’s the best way to make the most of watercolor when painting botanical and naturalist illustration. If, however, what you really like is painting birds, you will need a great deal of patience, as they can spread their wings at any moment, and leave you halfway through your composition. In addition to working from observation, you can use reference images to practice painting birds from other countries, and even from other eras. Birds of America gives you this opportunity: a journey into the natural world of the 19th century. Printed between 1827 and 1838, this free resource contains 435 life-size watercolors of North American birds, all reproduced from hand-etched plates. Its author, John James Audubon, America's first ornithologist, is considered the original wildlife illustrator.

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  • What Is Oil Pastel and How Can It Be Used for Painting?
    Illustration

    What Is Oil Pastel and How Can It Be Used for Painting?

    Discover this drawing and painting technique and why so many artists love oil pastels Oil pastels fall halfway between being a tool for drawing and painting. They are a practical, enjoyable, and very exciting tool that is often recommended for beginners but also used by professionals. In this post, you will discover how to get the most of this tool and learn about its unique qualities for creating paintings and illustrations. You will also learn the fascinating story behind its creation.

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  • 13 Great Illustrated Horoscopes From the Sixties Onwards
    Illustration

    13 Great Illustrated Horoscopes From the Sixties Onwards

    Discover the mysteries of the zodiac and their power to inspire creativity with these original horoscope illustrations Mankind is on a permanent quest for meaning. Throughout history, we have searched for a way to understand the vast mystery we call life. To do so, we have often looked to the stars to tell us more about ourselves, our destiny, our character, and to make sense of an often chaotic world. It is this need for understanding that contributed to the emergence of Western astrology. The Western zodiac, whose signs make up the horoscope we still use to this day, was created in around 1,000 B.C. (some say even earlier, in Mesopotamia). From there it spread to Egypt, where it was taken up by the Greeks, and then the Romans.

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  • 10 Free Illustration Tutorials for Learning New Techniques
    Illustration

    10 Free Illustration Tutorials for Learning New Techniques

    Learn new styles and techniques to enhance your illustrations with tips and advices from great experts In the field of illustration, there is always something new to learn to enhance our practice and grow as artists: be it manga techniques, eastern art, different narrative styles, or tips to achieve perfect anatomical proportions. You will find 10 illustration tutorials below that will help you expand your creative possibilities, under the guidance of some of our top experts. Watch the video, and click on the red title to access the post with a full tutorial explanation. Enjoy! Illustration Tutorial: Tips to Illustrate a Children's Story To illustrate a children’s book, you need to be able to sum up a story in a series of simple images that captivate a reader’s imagination. In her tutorial, illustrator Teresa Martínez (@tereza_mtz) shares her creative process and secrets for turning the adventures and characters of the written pages into beautiful drawings.

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  • What to Do if Your Work Is Plagiarized
    Illustration

    What to Do if Your Work Is Plagiarized

    We consulted an intellectual property expert to know the procedure to follow should your creative work be illegally used At a time when people, companies, and organizations need more and more content, designs, and ideas, the search for resources has become fierce. More so in the visual world, where unauthorized use, theft, and plagiarism of creative material are becoming widespread. To be able to protect their work, illustrators, photographers, and designers must be aware of the legal tools available to enforce their rights against any such infringements. How do you protect your work? What do you do when you discover your idea has been used? We consulted Intellectual Property specialist lawyer Esteban Agatiello, founder of Creativa-Abogados’ (Creative - Lawyers’) studio, who has defended international cases.

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  • Free Visual Reference Guide for Botanical Watercolor
    Teacher Illustration

    Free Visual Reference Guide for Botanical Watercolor

    Learn to use visual references in botanical watercolor with this guide shared by illustrator Luli Reis In botanical illustration, besides observation, it is very important to wisely choose the visual reference you will use in your projects. Whether it's a real plant or a high-resolution photo, some care must be taken so that you can reproduce a fruit, flower or plant with fidelity and details that add layers of realism and meaning.

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  • Character Designer Félicie Haymoz Illustrates Her Inner World in This Draw Yourself
    Teacher Illustration

    Character Designer Félicie Haymoz Illustrates Her Inner World in This Draw Yourself

    Félicie Haymoz answers and illustrates questions about herself and her creative inner world Félicie Haymoz (@feliciehaymoz) is a character designer and illustrator based in Switzerland who specializes in creating fantastical anthropomorphic characters. She’s applied these talents to movies like Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, where she worked as the lead character designer, as well as to his other animated feature “Isle of Dogs.” In this Draw Yourself, Haymoz answers questions about herself using anthropomorphic illustrations. From what happiness means to her, to the animal that best represents her, to her aspiration to be a witch, Haymoz uses these whimsical illustrations to give us a peek into her imaginative inner world.

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  • Essential Materials for Painting in Watercolor and Gouache
    Illustration

    Essential Materials for Painting in Watercolor and Gouache

    Learn about the materials you need to start in watercolor and gouache painting and achieve amazing results Watercolor is one of the most ancient forms of painting, and although you don't need advanced tools and materials to start out, you will require a great deal of confidence and control to achieve the best results. Watercolor lends itself to many applications and has been used through the centuries all over the world. It is a popular technique that has recently enjoyed renewed popularity, thanks to its expressivity, simplicity, and understated charm.

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  • Mixed Media Artist Hanoch Piven in this Domestika Diary
    Teacher Illustration

    Mixed Media Artist Hanoch Piven in this Domestika Diary

    The Jaffa-based mixed media artist shows us his studio and shares a peek into his creative process Even though many of us tend to imagine layered pieces of paper when we think of collage, that doesn’t mean this creative technique has to be flat. Hanoch Piven (@piven) is a mixed media artist best known for his creative portraits, which use three dimensional objects such as toys to suggest the features of different figures. His “collage with everyday objects” approach has won him numerous awards, such as a Gold Medal from The Society of Illustrators of New York, and his work has appeared in publications like Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone. In this Domestika Diary, he shows us around his studio, shares the process behind one of his published pieces, and demonstrates all the creative possibilities you can enjoy with just a few objects and a piece of paper.

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  • What Is an Inspiration Board and How to Create One for Your Bullet Journal
    Illustration

    What Is an Inspiration Board and How to Create One for Your Bullet Journal

    Discover this creative technique for organizing your ideas and defining your bullet journaling style When starting a new bullet journal, it can be difficult to kick your creativity into gear. However, certain techniques can guide you in making creative decisions and help you overcome creative block. Creating an inspiration board is a great way to organize your ideas and gather your reference images, says journalist, expert in creative journaling, and creator of the stationery brand Little Hannah, Chris Bravo (@littlehannah) from Madrid. In this post, she shares tips on how to design your own and get the most out of it.

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  • 10 Free Online Watercolor Classes For improving Your Technique
    Illustration

    10 Free Online Watercolor Classes For improving Your Technique

    Discover the techniques used by watercolor experts that will help you achieve unexpected results Watercolor is one of the most ancient forms of painting, and although you don't need advanced tools and materials to start out in this technique, you will require a great deal of confidence and control to achieve the best results in this medium. Following a watercolor painting course can help you master it and explore the possibilities of this technique, which happen by combining water, pigment, and playing with transparency.

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  • Free E-Book: Patterned Tile Coloring Book
    Illustration

    Free E-Book: Patterned Tile Coloring Book

    Unwind and enjoy coloring in different tile patterns with this free e-coloring book Tiles have been around for thousands of years. In fact, their origins date back to the 27th century BC in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (a historical region that today would include most of Iraq and Kuwait, as well as eastern parts of Syria). In this post, we look back on the history of tiles and share a free e-coloring book filled with Portuguese tile patterns, created by studio Gazete Azulejos (@gazeteazulejos).

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  • 12 Free Watercolor Photoshop Brushes
    Teacher Illustration

    12 Free Watercolor Photoshop Brushes

    Explore watercolor and illustration techniques in the popular imaging software using these free downloadable brushes When we think of watercolor, we tend to imagine an artist using paintbrushes. However, there is no limit to creativity, and nowadays, it is more and more common to combine traditional with digital techniques. The magic of watercolor traditionally happens through playing with water, pigment, and transparency. You can also master volume, light, and color through digital programs such as Photoshop. Illustrator and print designer Camino López (@caminolopez) admits that watercolor is a discipline that does not allow for mistakes. You need to be very skillful, and although this is a challenge she likes to take on, she works digitally, as this will enable her to achieve impressive results.

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  • Photoshop Tutorial: Essential Shortcuts to Create Textures
    Teacher Illustration

    Photoshop Tutorial: Essential Shortcuts to Create Textures

    Discover how to use basic keyboard shortcuts to create textures in Adobe Photoshop, with Nicholas Stevenson Adding textures to your illustrations and designs is a great way to give them more personality and depth, and it’s an easy way to take your work to the next level. While the end results are impressive, the process to get there is surprisingly simple once you've mastered a few basic tricks and keyboard shortcuts in Adobe Photoshop. Nicholas Stevenson (@nicholasstevenson) is an illustrator, animator, and university lecturer who is known for creating highly textured and layered illustrations. In this tutorial, he shows you step by step how to use shortcuts in Photoshop to create and manipulate textures.

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  • 18 Free Photoshop and Procreate Drawing Brushes
    Teacher Illustration

    18 Free Photoshop and Procreate Drawing Brushes

    Draw on a daily basis to define your style and unlock creativity with the help of these digital brushes When you start to draw it is as if you are learning a new language but with your hands. Each stroke, line or color is a reflection of your creativity. The best thing is that everyone can venture into this challenge with just a sketchbook or notebook and a little practice every day. For the illustrator Catalina Bustos Mendoza, better known as Catalina Bu (@catalinabu), drawing is a kind of personal manifesto. It's not just perfection or beauty that matters, but the ideas you express through it. In addition, nowadays, it is also important to bring your style to the digital world. This will allow you to refine the results and experiment without limits in the language of your drawing. At the bottom of this post, she shares eighteen digital brushes to experiment with your style.

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  • What Is a Comic Book and What Are Its Main Features?
    Illustration

    What Is a Comic Book and What Are Its Main Features?

    We look at the features and uses of this popular narrative format made up of pictures and words If you want to tell a story, you can be really experimental using a comic format. You can write humor, social commentary, or fantasy, and even tell secrets. You can fit all sorts of genres and ideas into a comic if you know how to exploit it. To evaluate all these possibilities, it is important to understand what exactly is a comic, and what are the main elements it consists of. Once we know this, we can start to structure and organize our messages on the strips. Illustrator and artist Sol Díaz Castillo (@soldiazcastillo) is an expert and explains some of the essential technical notions.

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  • What Is Kawaii art, Japan’s Culture of Cuteness?
    Illustration

    What Is Kawaii art, Japan’s Culture of Cuteness?

    Discover the power of cute and the secret formula behind Japanese kawaii adorable illustration characters The concept of kawaii was born in Japan during the 60s. In just a couple of decades, this idea of "adorability" has spread to all corners of the world, attracting legions of fans. It is difficult to resist smiling at the perfectly designed features of a kawaii illustration but, what does kawaii exactly mean? We spoke to Azul Piñeiro and Carlos Higuera, two designers and illustrators specialized in kawaii illustration and founders of Estudio Kudasai (@estudiokudasai), to learn more about the origin of this term and above all, what is the formula to create kawaii —or extremely lovable— characters.

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  • 21 Free Photoshop Illustration Brushes
    Teacher Illustration

    21 Free Photoshop Illustration Brushes

    Gain speed and ease in illustration by practicing with this series of brushes in different types of exercises In illustration, the first years are essential to gain ease and confidence. The illustrator Del Hambre (@del_hambre) knows this well. He has spent more than 15 years professionally dedicated to this world. Practicing so that your works are unique is the most important thing. Del Hambre, who draws every Sunday in El País newspaper, recommends you put on daily routines with exercises of all kinds. In addition, he also provides you with a series of 21 brushes for Photoshop. The goal is for you to learn to draw immediately and without thinking too much, something that is only achieved when you feel confident illustrating.

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