New skills, projects, ideas and fun facts about the world of illustration
How did illustrator Mauro Martins start drawing? Did you know he lives in Brasilia? In this Draw Yourself, Martins recalls moments from his childhood, explains the concept of Brasilia, and defines the essential ingredients of a perfect city.
These are the graphic novels most liked by the Domestika community on Instagram When you mix illustration with extraordinary narratives, you get one of the creative world's most beloved products. Graphic novels can tell complex stories, which is why they have not only achieved worldwide popularity among all kinds of audiences but also serve as an inspiration to new artists. We asked the Domestika community on Instagram what their favorite graphic novels are, and these were the 10 most voted: Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O'Malley (Canada, 2004-2010) This romantic comedy was first published in a six-volume black and white series and later republished in color. It tells the story of a young musician who falls in love while searching for his own identity. It has won the Doug Wright (Best New Artist), Joe Shuster (Best Canadian Cartoonist), Harvey (twice for Best Original Script), and Eisner (Best Comedy) awards.
Learn how to make two different types of gradients (from light to dark, and color to color) with this silk painting technique, with Desedamas Silk is a material that offers numerous artistic possibilities that go beyond sewing: it is also a canvas on which to paint and capture all kinds of illustrations. The textile artist duo Desedamas (@desedamas) teach us how to take advantage of the qualities of silk and master the technique of grading in two different ways. You can see the tutorial here:
Find out what fine art printing, also known as giclée, is and why you should use it in your art projects Fine art printing, also known as giclée printing, is a printing process that allows you to obtain much better image definition in photographs, illustrations, designs, collages, and any other type of graphic representation. A giclée or fine art print is made with an inkjet printer, on cotton or natural fiber paper (such as rice paper, or bamboo), with specially formulated inks. While printers typically compose the images mixing CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), fine art or giclée printers use other colors like light cyan, light magenta, three types of gray, and some less common tones, such as orange or green. The exact mix depends on the type of printer. Like inkjet printers, this printing process deposits the pigment in small drops on the paper, but patterns and shapes are drawn in a much more defined way. This results in a high-quality digitized printout that looks manually produced.
Learn step by step how to redraw, refine, and polish the vignettes that will shape your comic, with Charles Glaubitz Nowadays, practically all comic book artists have to know how to work both in analog, with pencil and paper, and in digital, taking advantage of the drawing tools offered by programs such as Manga Studio or, more recently, the iPad software Procreate. Procreate allows us to import our sketches and work on them with a wide range of brushes that we can customize to our liking. Mastering it is an essential skill for any good comic artist, and the good thing is that its simple interface makes things much easier. In the following video tutorial, comic book creator and multidisciplinary artist Charles Glaubitz (@mrglaubitz) shows us step by step the process to import a sketch on paper to Procreate and start working with it, to get a fully digitized comic book. Watch the video below:
The professional fashion illustrator shares her daily routine and the process behind her unique fashion collages Fashion illustration is part fantasy, part reality. Translating the artistry of high fashion into typically two-dimensional pieces of work, it records the details of actual garments while also infusing them with a dreamy, imaginative quality. Connie Lim (@_connielim_) is a London-based fashion illustrator whose work with fashion collages literally adds new layers to the traditional fashion illustration. Her distinctive style incorporates illustration and mixed-media to create unique textures and details, and her collaborations include work with brands like Louboutin, Bulgari, and L’Oreal. In this Domestika Diary, she shares her routine, gives a tour of her studio, and talks about her creative process and sources of inspiration.
Alex Hillkurtz, a storyboard artist fascinated by urban watercolor, shows us his personal vision of Madrid When it comes to the art of urban watercolor, there’s a magical mix of two elements: the unique vision of the illustrator who executes it, ensuring that no two watercolors are ever the same, and the personality of the buildings, people, and streets of the city that they’re capturing. This combination makes urban watercolor a fleeting reflection of the observer’s senses and an ever-changing environment, its results defined by the viewpoint of the artist and the location that they are seeking to capture. Few have a viewpoint as unique as that of Alex Hillkurtz. A storyboard artist with a passion for urban watercolor, he has an innate talent for reinterpreting the cities he visits through striking splashes of color and fascinating perspectives. Because of this, we jumped at the chance to accompany him during one of his drawing sessions set in the streets of Madrid. Find out more in the following Domestika Diary:
Learn how the scribbles we make when daydreaming can become art from a master in the craft: Mauro Martins Illustrator Mauro Martins (@mauromartins) stood out as an art director in advertising and later established himself as a creator, applying a refined and personal version of doodle style artwork. His characterful work has secured him commissions from companies like Absolut, Domino’s Pizza, Amarula, and many more. He believes in the ability to tell small narratives through a style of drawing we typically call doodling, drawings that can grow in complexity as we improve. Below, he explains the characteristics of this playful and attractive style of illustration.
Learn to invert color by hand with this technique from Amadeo Gonzales Amadeo Gonzales (@amadeog77) is an illustrator, drawer, lecturer, and self-taught musician. He is the creator of Carboncito, a magazine filled with graphic arts and comic strips that, since 2001, has published the work of a wide range of contemporary Latin American artists. Amadeo has also published a variety of fanzines, including Tránsito intestinal, Actitú records, Bandas inexistentes records, Frustrazine and Nervenzusammenbruch.
Pablo Velasco Bertolotto takes on the challenge set by Domestika to reproduce in detail the iconic character from the Star Trek saga Hair, eyes, clothes, hands, reflections, and textures... all in pink: the challenge proposed to the illustrator and graphic designer Pablo Velasco Bertolotto (@bertolotto) in this edition of the Domestika Challenge. He will have to play with different shades of pink to obtain the necessary contrasts and variations to give life to the character. The figure that this creative artist has chosen for this purpose is the mythical Captain Spock, from the Star Trek saga. Will he be able to perfectly reproduce, with hardly any variation in color, the creator of the 'live long and prosper' greeting? Find out in the video:
Learn how to draw a human head and body using the correct proportions Although the human body is probably the figure we know best, many of us would find it difficult to correctly draw its proportions from memory. The length of the arms, the width of the shoulders and hips, where the wrists hit the body... and the same goes for the head and face. The relationship between all these body parts, which we have seen so many times, becomes a little less obvious when we sit in front of a blank piece of paper with a pencil in hand. This guide to anatomical proportions, shared with Domestika by Brazilian comic artist and illustrator Marcio Takara (@marciotakara), will help make the task of drawing people much easier.
Learn what to include in your portfolio, on Instagram and other formats, to sell your work to art directors and publishers
Storyboard artist Pablo Buratti talks us through the difference between these key pre-production tools If you are both an illustrator and a cinema aficionado, storyboarding might be your calling. A vital tool in the pre-production stage of any audiovisual project, a storyboard depicts a film sequence, breaking down situations and actions into individual panels to show how they will unfold. Pablo Buratti (@pabloburatti) is an illustrator working in the film industry. He is a storyboard artist working across character design, set design, concept design, and more. Pablo landed his first storyboarding job over fifteen years ago for Luis Sepúlveda’s film, Nowhere. It was after this that he became determined to make a career out of this way of fusing illustration and film. Since then, Pablo has worked on numerous projects, including Pedro Almodóvar’s four most recent feature films, from Broken Hugs (2009) up to Julieta (2016). He has also worked with directors Álex de la Iglesia on the film Witching & Bitching and JA Bayona on The Impossible. Pablo has collaborated with Daniel Calparsoro for more than 10 years–beginning with a film called Ausentes (2005) and most recently working on To Steal from a Thief (2016). Here he explains the differences between a storyboard and a shooting board.
Add depth and dynamism to an illustration with this step-by-step technique
Editorial is just one of the many fields in which José Rosero feels comfortable working as an illustrator José Rosero (@rosero) is a Colombian visual artist whose graphic talents are so varied, it’s impossible to list them all. While he has worked as a painter, in theater, teaching, management, and research, it is as an illustrator that he has achieved his highest levels of success and built up an impressive career. This choice of career path has never narrowed his work opportunities, in fact, it has done the opposite. He considers being an illustrator a bit like being a platypus–in that it's made up of different parts of other animals–since you have to be able to speak different languages, all at the same time. Here’s how Rosero has used illustration across different mediums:
Discover seven of the most talented artists to illustrate our childhoods Kids are a demanding bunch and illustrating for them isn’t as simple as you might think. There are masters of the craft whose hands have created visual worlds that have captivated and calmed young minds for decades. Here is a look at seven of the most celebrated children’s illustrators and their wonderful artwork. Quentin Blake The scrawling illustrations of Quentin Blake are inseparable from Roald Dahl and the stories he wrote, ostensibly, for children. In 2008, David Walliams, of Little Britain fame, managed to persuade Blake to use his inimitable style to illustrate his book The Boy in the Dress, the story about a young boy who likes to crossdress and the reactions this provokes in his friends and family.
Learn the basics of how to enrich an architectural illustration by including different elements like urban objects and people, with Carlo Stanga Creating an architectural illustration is more than just mastering straight lines and buildings. Being able to fill these compositions with local details, through distinctive objects and people from that place, is key to being able to capture a location’s atmosphere. In this video, architectural illustrator Carlo Stanga (@carlo_stanga) explains how to prepare and sketch urban people and objects, which you can later include in your final composition. From how to use them to create depth, to why they’re so key in giving life to your illustrations, here he shares his own process for how to create these studies of objects and people to create engaging and unique architectural illustrations.
Spanish illustrator Elena Pancorbo gives a quick tutorial for portraiture in Photoshop
Learn how she discovered her illustration side after collaborating on social projects and ended up working with big international clients
The urban sketcher visits Madrid’s Retiro Park to share his process and capture the Palacio de Cristal Art, at its core, is a form of expression and observation, filtering the outside world to create something that reflects an individual’s own unique viewpoint. Urban sketching is a popular format for those looking to capture and enjoy their surroundings, jotting down everything from travels to faraway lands to scenes of everyday life. A vibrant community of artists, urban sketchers create pieces that offer a unique blend of observation and personal reflection. A pioneer in the online urban sketching community, Lapin (@lapinbarcelona) has published over 30 books, many of which illustrate his travels across the world. In this Domestika Diary, he visits Madrid’s Retiro park to sketch the Palacio de Cristal and talk about his process and why he believes urban sketching is such a powerful format.
Learn to use illustration as a narrative tool from these experts today Illustration can be as powerful as the written word. Used alongside common narrative forms, it can become an essential tool to reinforce a story and give it nuance and intention. It can also be the absolute protagonist in a narrative. Learn how to visually tell stories with help from 5 experts in the field of illustrated storytelling. They will guide you through the theory and give you practical exercises that will unlock your creativity and help you convey personal emotions and feelings using environments, characters, and worlds. Visual Storytelling with Graphite for Beginners, a course by Siamés Escalante In this course, illustrator Siamés Escalante will share with you the essence of her style. Full of innocence and melancholy, it has propelled her to work with brands such as Vans, Izzi, Telecom, or Disney, among others. Learn with her how to tell stories without using words and build your own visual narrative.
Samuel Smith shares a collection of his favorite brushes for digital illustration The possibilities of digital painting are only getting better and more exciting. Visual Development Artist Samuel Smith (@samuelsmith), after some years of hard work and dedication, achieved an understanding of this creative discipline, and he started to work on important animation projects and was hired by SPA, Spain, as a color artist. He has worked on many commercials, TV shows, and two feature films: Klaus for SPA Studios and another upcoming animated film for Illumination Studios.
Illustrated portraits, spectacular photomontages, and character design are some of the things Photoshop allows you to do You know it as the go-to app for photo retouching, but Adobe Photoshop offers endless possibilities that are impossible to cover at first glance. In this compilation of timelapses, you will discover some of the most incredible uses of this unmatched design and retouching program, which most professional illustrators and photo editors choose to work with. Drawing Grimes with Felixantos (@felixantos) Starting with a photograph of the famous singer and a blank canvas, illustrator Felixantos shows us the complete process of drawing a real-life character. Beginning with the main lines and then adding color, highlights, and shadows using the tools Photoshop offers, he finishes a portrait with caricaturesque touches that highlight Grimes's most striking features.
Seven powerful images exploring our relationships with screens and technology Screens. We have a love/hate relationship with them. While they are a window to an infinite world of information, tools, possibilities, and interactions, being dependent on our device can be harmful to our quality of life. While certain apps might make life easier and unlock a vault of creative potential, being bombarded by messages and alerts has been proven to increase stress. During lockdown, our dependency on our screens became even more intense. They provided tools to combat loneliness and stay connected to the world, while churning out overwhelming information and monopolizing our attention. Life events were shared over webcam–birthdays, bachelorette parties, even funerals–and cultural events were live-streamed to audiences watching from the comfort of their own sofas. Here we round up seven artworks that explore our relationships with screens, reflecting on both the good and the bad.
Turn your intuition into a creative tool to give substance to your ideas and emotions with Fito Espinosa Fito Espinosa (@fitoespinosa) is a painter, illustrator, and ceramicist. During a career that spans 20 years, he has managed to create a fantastical universe of characters, mixing his ingenious style with his own ideas and philosophical reflections.
For centuries, we have known that geometry plays a fundamental role in the composition of an image Throughout history, the golden number has been heralded and, in most visual and aesthetic terms, it can embody an almost mystical perfection. The Ancient Greeks explained everything sacred through geometry, art, and mathematics, using the golden ratio as a symbol of excellence and divinity; this ratio is constantly repeated in nature and has been replicated in art over the centuries.
Painter Ale Casanova teaches us how to create interesting effects with watercolor paints and masking fluid Leaving areas blank when painting with watercolors can be very complicated–just a drop too much water and the paint will run all over your page. This is where masking fluid comes in–it’s a liquid that enables you to protect areas of your drawing so that they stay clean and dry. Painter and teacher Ale Casanova (@alecasanova) shows us how to use this tool in our watercolor paintings so that we can achieve original effects, textures, and styles that enhance our final piece. Learn more below: To carry out this exercise, we will need: –masking fluid –an old toothbrush –a nib pen –watercolor paints, brushes, water, paper towels, a portrait to paint
Learn the basics of how to draw over your original sketch using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, with Nathan Jurevicius Making the jump from a sketch to a digital illustration doesn’t have to be as daunting, or require as many tools, as you might think. Using just a mouse and the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, multidisciplinary artist Nathan Jurevicius (@nathanjurevicius) demonstrates how to create shapes which will serve as the building blocks for your vector drawings. In this video, learn how to add detail to your illustration using the pen tool, how to keep your workflow organized, and how to build on your original reference sketch.
We spoke with this talented Mexican illustrator about how she got her children's book published Flavia Z Drago (@flavia_zdrago) studied Graphic Design but specialized in illustration and children's books. She has illustrated more than ten books, a Hermès carré (scarf), a Frida Kahlo coffee pot, and cups for Chocolate Abuelita, among many other things. This year, Walker Books published her first book as an author and illustrator, titled Gustavo, the Shy Ghost, a dream that has haunted her for over a decade. We talked with her about her passion for storytelling, her influences, and the experience of preparing her first book.
Meet the French illustrator and urban sketch artist with a passion for dinosaurs, planes, and travel
