Illustration

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  • The First Steps to Tell Children's Stories
    Illustration

    The First Steps to Tell Children's Stories

    Illustrator and author Estelí Meza presents you with an exercise to create and organize the initial ideas of any story Estelí Meza (@estelimu) is an author and illustrator of children's books, book covers and magazines, working acrossMexico, Spain, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. She is an expert in creating engaging stories and has worked for publishers such as Scholastic, Anaya, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Kalimat, and Penguin Random House. She has created an exercise which will help you learn successful storytelling steps, regardless of where your story is destined for.

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  • What Is Your Worst Creative Nightmare?
    Teacher Illustration

    What Is Your Worst Creative Nightmare?

    5 illustrations of the scariest situations creatives face In this Halloween season, some enjoy horror movies, books or stories that may have to do with supernatural beings or monsters from other worlds. But in the world of creativity, there are everyday situations that are much more terrifying than a classic pop culture horror piece: facing the blank page, not having a backup of your precious information... Spooky! Now five illustrators share their take on some of these fears from the Domestika creative community that will make you tremble:

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  • 10 Websites to Sell Your Art Online
    Illustration

    10 Websites to Sell Your Art Online

    Learn about the pros and cons of popular art selling sites for different creative disciplines If you are an arts, design, illustration or craft professional, you will surely know that it is a good idea to improve your sales method. In addition to having a sales strategy on your social networks, promoting your pieces on a specialized site could be of help to you. We compiled some popular websites that you can explore to decide if they fit your sales needs.

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  • Digital Painting Tutorial: How to Use Light In a Digital Portrait
    Teacher Illustration

    Digital Painting Tutorial: How to Use Light In a Digital Portrait

    Learn how to use light in digital portraits on Photoshop, with Samuel Smith Light is a key element to any painting and it's no different when it comes to digital portraits. Knowing how to apply and control light on Photoshop will give depth and soul to the creations of any digital painter. 3D animator Samuel Smith got his first major job as a digital painter on Klaus, a film that went on to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Here he shares some basic tips and tricks for making an impressive digital portrait on Photoshop.

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  • 5 Free Classes to Learn How to Create Color Palettes for Watercolor Painting
    Teacher Illustration

    5 Free Classes to Learn How to Create Color Palettes for Watercolor Painting

    Discover how to create color palettes that reflect your style with these 5 watercolor experts If you are thinking of getting started in watercolor painting, or if you already practice it and want to perfect your technique, these lessons will be very useful for you. Learn to choose the best colors for your illustration, to change colors, and recreate those that you observe in nature. To watch each class, just click on its red title. Enjoy!

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  • What Is Color Theory?
    Illustration

    What Is Color Theory?

    Learn the basic rules for creating colors so you can create color palettes more easily Color theory is a set of rules that apply to color, regardless of how color is applied. It helps us to understand how different colors are created, and how they complement one another.

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  • 5 Free Classes to Learn How to Vectorize
    Teacher Illustration

    5 Free Classes to Learn How to Vectorize

    Discover the basic tips to master vectorization in Adobe Illustrator Vector illustration is a discipline in which aspects of both graphic design and digital illustration come together. Whether you use Adobe Illustrator or similar vector software, knowing vectorization principles will make your sketches look professional. Join these 5 vector illustration experts to discover easy ways to vectorize your designs. To watch each lesson, just click on its red title. Enjoy!

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  • Adrian Brandon on Creating Art That Starts a Conversation
    Illustration

    Adrian Brandon on Creating Art That Starts a Conversation

    The Brooklyn-based artist talks about the power of art to start a conversation about Black lives and Black culture Adrian Brandon (@ayy.bee) is an artist dedicated to raising awareness of injustice towards Black people, and celebrating and creating an understanding of Black culture, “and the unique joy, swagger, and love that is shared in our community”. For Adrian, creativity has always been a huge part of his identity, “I was that kid in the back of the classroom doodling way too much and not paying attention in class.” Having grown up in a crafty household–in which Mother’s Day called for designing a full brunch menu and pulling flowers from the garden, while his father’s birthday was preceded by making a chessboard and all its pieces out of clay–he credits his parents for fuelling his early interest in art.

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  • Jon Berkeley: Illustrations That Tell a Story
    Teacher Illustration

    Jon Berkeley: Illustrations That Tell a Story

    Editorial illustrations complement a text and tell a story without using words Irish illustrator Jon Berkeley (@jon_24) found his call in editorial illustration. While he usually enjoys drawing for younger audiences, he has also found that working for newspapers and magazines is ideal for educating, informing, and entertaining readers, an activity he finds challenging and gratifying in equal parts. Berkeley was born in Dublin, the city that saw him grow and develop into a professional illustrator. He took his first steps in this field when the internet had yet to become the hive of creative opportunities it is nowadays and carved himself a career by knocking on every possible door. This is how he got to collaborate with Time, Newsweek, and The Economist.

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  • 5 Free Classes to Boost Your Procreate Skills
    Teacher Illustration

    5 Free Classes to Boost Your Procreate Skills

    Discover all the secrets of Procreate from illustration experts who work with the app daily The future of digital illustration is without a doubt leaning towards Procreate, the iPad drawing app that has become a favorite of creatives and artists throughout the world. Although it is quite intuitive, this software includes tools that might be new to you and these five free Procreate lessons will help you improve your illustrations. To watch each lesson, just click on the title in red and enjoy!

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  • 7 Questions To Answer Before Every Illustration
    Illustration

    7 Questions To Answer Before Every Illustration

    The 7 questions award-winning illustrator and author Jon Berkeley asks before starting any illustration Jon Berkeley has illustrated over 150 magazine covers during his career for publications including The Economist, Newsweek, and Nature, and has worked on numerous commercial projects for the likes of Vodafone, Smirnoff, and Ted Baker. In this article, Jon, who teaches the course Acrylic Techniques for Creative Illustration, shares the 7 questions that three decades of illustrating have taught him are crucial to answer before embarking on a project. 1. Where’s it going to be? The location of your image is one of its most definitive elements. There are ideas that only work vertically or horizontally and considerations change according to a picture’s position. 2. What’s the page layout? For example, if you are creating a piece for the front cover of a magazine, the design is probably going to have to strictly adhere to an established layout. Elements that will affect your concept and its effectiveness include titles, prices, barcodes and dates.

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  • 10 Apps for Restless Illustrators
    Illustration

    10 Apps for Restless Illustrators

    Inspiration comes in all sorts of places, so best be prepared for it. Here are 10 apps for illustrating on the go A sketchbook and a drawing tool have always been indispensable to artists, needing to be within their reach whenever the opportunity arises. New technologies have relegated paper to second place, favoring smartphones and tablets. Numerous apps are available to allow us to create illustrations with excellent results. Here is a small selection we believe you need to know. Procreate One of the best-known apps around, Procreate's technical and aesthetic features–along with its creative excellence–have earned it an Apple Design Award. It is a comprehensive app that allows us to create digital illustrations to a very high resolution.

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  • Challenge: Turn a Blob Into a Character and Unlock Your Creativity
    Illustration

    Challenge: Turn a Blob Into a Character and Unlock Your Creativity

    Creative director and toy designer Nathan Jurevicius faces the Domestika Challenge Nathan Jurevicius' art is as varied and original as his own career: illustrator, conceptual artist, author, and toy designer, the multifaceted creator has contributed to numerous publications, advertising campaigns and exhibitions around the world. His clients include Nickelodeon, MTV and Ikea. His personal project Scarygirl can be found in comics, toys, video games, and a film is currently in production. In this Domestika Challenge, Nathan shares an exercise to unlock our creativity by combining watercolor spots and drawing as he faces his own Challenge in front of the cameras. Can he transform colored spots into characters and worlds with their own identity? Find out in the following video:

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  • Domestika Projects: Junction - Graphic Novel
    Teacher Illustration

    Domestika Projects: Junction - Graphic Novel

    Nathan Jurevicius talks about the creative process behind one of his latest projects: Junction My name is Nathan Jurevicius and I'm a multidisciplinary artist working in the field of illustration, fine art, animation, games and publishing. It can be hard to limit what I do to one thing but currently I'm focusing on concept art for tv and film. I began my early career as an editorial illustrator for a number of magazines around the world and then shifted direction to interactive storytelling during the early 2000's. It was around this time I was approached by a company based in Hong Kong to develop toys. The first series that came out was based on my Scarygirl designs and from here I started creating comics and games around the brand.

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  • What Is Urban Sketching?
    Illustration

    What Is Urban Sketching?

    Lapin, urban sketcher, explains what this discipline that arises from everyday life consists of What is your main source of inspiration? For urban sketches, inspiration is everywhere and in all situations of everyday life. This is the case of Lapin (@lapinbarcelona), an expert in telling stories with his drawings based on observation, which has led him to work with clients such as Air France, Le Parisien Magazine, Peugeot, Porsche, and many more. If you like to observe everything around you and want to discover a new style to express yourself graphically, as well as to explore architectural illustration, learn more about urban sketching below.

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  • Illustration Tutorial: Exercises to Learn How to Draw Animals
    Teacher Illustration

    Illustration Tutorial: Exercises to Learn How to Draw Animals

    Learn the technique to draw animals with basic shapes from scratch with Puño, illustrator and teacher The good thing about drawing is that it gives us infinite possibilities: we can follow all the rules, or break them to let ourselves be carried away by our intuition and imagination. Regardless of whether we have a better or worse style, the important thing about drawing is that it allows us to express ourselves to have a lot of fun. In the following video tutorial, the illustrator and teacher Puño (@ puño) invites us to put aside embarrassment to learn how to create animals with simple geometric shapes, just with a marker and a sheet of paper or cardboard. Based on his advice, we can begin to realize that drawing is available to anyone. Discover it below

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  • Domestika Diary: Alfonso de Anda
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Alfonso de Anda

    Mexican illustrator Alfonso de Anda tells us about his creative routine and sources of inspiration during confinement Confinement can undermine the inspiration of even the most creative people. Alfonso de Anda (@deandaalfonso), a multifaceted Mexican illustrator who has working on projects in areas as varied as editorial illustration, animation, advertising, mural design, fashion design and gallery exhibits, has not been immune to this effect. However, he has found ways to stay creative and productive. In this Domestika Diary, the illustrator opens the doors of his home, his routine, and his studio to share his daily life with us and the strategies with which he has fought the feared creative block during the pandemic. Discover it below:

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  • Free Download: Perspective Guide for Urban Sketching
    Illustration

    Free Download: Perspective Guide for Urban Sketching

    Download Lapin's perspective guide to add soul and personality to your urban sketches One of the advantages of urban sketching is that it allows us to represent the reality of a city, but from our own perspective. Unlike what we would achieve with a camera, we have the possibility of instilling soul by adding details that would otherwise go unnoticed. In this case, perspective also plays in our favor: we can create a realistic illustration that fits everything we see including angles a camera could never capture.

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  • Domestika Projects: Greetings From Ha Tachana
    Teacher Illustration

    Domestika Projects: Greetings From Ha Tachana

    The Ink Bad Company's founder tells us about one of his most exotic illustrated projects: postcards from Tel Aviv My name is Juan Carlos, and I manage a one-person studio devoted to illustration: Ink Bad Company. I was born in a small town in Jaén (Andalucía, Spain), where I learned to harvest olives the traditional way, by shaking the trees. I made my mother happy choosing to study in Granada instead and ended up moving to Valencia, where I'll happily draw anything in exchange for financial compensation. My field of expertise is adult, commercial, and media illustration. And even though I have worked for important clients and agencies in pretty awesome projects, I want to believe that I really draw for myself at the end of the day. I love to dig into my brain, extract things that I have seen out there, mix them as well as possible, and try to make the result drinkable and tasty. Basically, this is how I work.

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  • Turn Your Designs Into Products You Can Sell
    Illustration

    Turn Your Designs Into Products You Can Sell

    Mike Sandoval shares some tips that will help you turn your designs into products people want to buy Whether you are thinking of creating a line of T-shirts with your illustrations or just want your designs to flood the streets as stickers, these tips are for you. Mexican illustrator and graphic designer Mike Sandoval (@mike_sandoval_) has transformed his work into silkscreen prints, T-shirts, prints, bags, pins, skateboards, stickers and any other product you can imagine. These years of experience have helped him realize what any creative should consider if he wants to turn his designs into successful merchandising. Define your style We are not talking only in terms of aesthetics, but also about the themes you focus on, as well as the causes you support with your designs or illustrations. In order to market products with your design in them, it is highly recommended that potential buyers recognize your work as yours. Having a clearly defined style is essential.

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  • Challenge: Pixel Art in Procreate
    Illustration

    Challenge: Pixel Art in Procreate

    Illustrator Samuel Rodriguez takes on the Domestika Challenge Through his work, illustrator Samuel Rodriguez (@samrodriguezart) offers a new perspective in today's cultural landscape, creating striking portraits that incorporate graphic design and unusual visual elements. With clients that range from public art commissioners and non-profit organizations to brands and corporations, his pieces are both playful and powerful. In this Domestika Challenge, for the first time ever, Rodriguez tries to recreate one of his portrait illustrations in a pixel art style. How will it turn out? Find out in the video below:

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  • 5 Free Classes to Explore New Watercolor Techniques: From Beginner to Advanced
    Teacher Illustration

    5 Free Classes to Explore New Watercolor Techniques: From Beginner to Advanced

    Practice with simple exercises to perfect your watercolor painting and illustration techniques Watercolor painting is one of the best ways to get into both illustration and painting, due to the nobility of the material. Unlike other methods, learning to expect unexpected results will mitigate your fear of making mistakes and encourage you to practice more and more. Learn from these 5 expert watercolor illustrators and painters with exercises that will improve your technique right away. To watch each lesson, just click on its title in red. Enjoy!

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  • Exercise: How to Add Realistic Lighting to Your Illustrations
    Illustration

    Exercise: How to Add Realistic Lighting to Your Illustrations

    Learn how to add realism and volume to your illustrations with this simple exercise by Óscar Lloréns Light is, without a doubt, one of the most essential elements of any illustration. Understanding how it behaves in nature will make your creations look more realistic and professional. Illustrator Óscar Lloréns (@ollorens) shares some tips that you can use to play with the different light sources in your illustrations, so you can give the desired volume and depth to the objects you draw.

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  • Domestika Diary: Mike Sandoval
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Mike Sandoval

    Art director and illustrator Mike Sandoval opens the doors of his studio and explains his creative routine during the confinement A creative workspace is always important, no more so than during a situation like confinement. Art director and illustrator Mike Sandoval (@mike_sandoval_) has made sure to create an environment that helps him in his work and allows him to continue to express his creativity in his professional and personal projects. This visual artist opens the doors of his home and studio in Mexico and explains how he works day to day as a freelance illustrator in the current situation and how he has created a space and a routine that encourages his productivity. Discover it below:

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  • How to Create Shapes using the Shape Builder Tool in Illustrator
    Illustration

    How to Create Shapes using the Shape Builder Tool in Illustrator

    Learn to use the Shape Builder tool in Adobe Illustrator and make your workflow easier While it might not be the most well-known tool that you Adobe Illustrator has to offer, it is very useful for working with vectors. The Shape Builder tool allows you to create complex figures using basic geometric shapes and work quickly with different design types. This tool is very straight-forward and easy to use. Once you get to grips with how it works, you’ll be able to work out how to create perfect shapes very quickly using the tools offered by Adobe Illustrator. Here we explain how to use the Shape Builder tool to create shapes in Adobe Illustrator:

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  • Character Design Tutorial: How to Draw Comic-Style Female Hair
    Teacher Illustration

    Character Design Tutorial: How to Draw Comic-Style Female Hair

    Learn how to draw different types of hair to add movement and personality to your characters, with Marcio Takara Hair is notoriously difficult to draw, and because it’s such an important element of any character, that can make it seem even more daunting. But as with everything, a little practice makes perfect, and professional comic book artist Marcio Takara (@marciotakara) has a few simple tips for conquering this drawing challenge. With experience working with major publishers like Marvel and DC, in this video Takara shows the process he uses to draw hair and explains how it can be used as a powerful storytelling tool to convey your character’s personality and movement.

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