Wildlife Illustration for Children's Books

Wildlife Illustration for Children's Books

“We have already reached the end of our course. But you won't get rid of me that quickly. Before we say goodbye, let's summarize what we have talked about in this course. In the beginning, I told you about my career and my influences. Now it's time for you to go your way. You may ask yourself: Will I ever develop my style, and how does it even happen? Finding a style is not a magical thing that happens overnight. It takes years, sometimes decades, to find it. And in fact, it is a process that never really ends. You might imitate others when you start breaking your teeth, although you might do things a little differently and add a little twist. That is how a style evolves. Just try as much as you can. It doesn't matter if something doesn't work out from the get-go. That is normal. Just try to do your thing in your final project, which brings us to the next point. Which technique should I use for my art? At this point, my advice for you is to try out as many techniques as possible. Nowadays, young illustrators seem very keen to start directly with the iPad or the computer. But maybe you don't like all that digital stuff, and you love to work with scissors and paper or paint large formats on cheap paper. Then I would do just that and see where it takes me. For me, by the way, it was the other way round. I painted, crafted, and printed without end. Computers enabled me to bring my ideas to life the way I had envisioned them in my head. So choose the tool that works for your final project. I hope all my teachings and tasks prepared well for the final project. To do this, we chose a theme and researched for references. To complete mine, I did the following: I thought about a possible format for the project and considered the color palette. After that, I gathered the necessary tools for the project and started sketching. At first, I very roughly put ideas on paper or the iPad. Having picked out the best composition from the rough drafts, I have sketched it out a little more precisely. You can, of course, define the level of accuracy of the sketch, how close to the reference you want it to be. I'm a bit lazy myself and often leave it as it is.

At later stages of the course, I have taken care of the final touches. We have seen how the sketches turn into final vector illustrations: remember the illustrations of the African serval. From Adobe Illustrator, I switched to Photoshop and made the artwork rounder and smoother to give it a more organic feel. To do this, I added gradients. I showed you how I use my magic sprinkles. Finally, I combined the individual elements into a complete double-page spread. Now it's up to you. I'm very excited to see what your unique page will look like. Feel free to include the milestones of your final project when submitting it. If there's anything else that you want to share, use the forum to keep us posted. These can be sketches or color drafts. If you work with Illustrator, please show us your vector composition. Perhaps it is already so in tune that no further editing is needed. I hope very much that I could inspire you to create nature-inspired illustrations in children's books. You might even think a little further and consider what it would be like to work on an entire book. Feel free to think about it loudly in the forum. As long as my freelance work allows it, I will always try to respond to your posts. Now it's time to say goodbye. Thank you very much for your trust and interest in my course! I hope you enjoyed it. I now have to return to the jungle …”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Hello, this is our final project video. These are the steps you have to prepare for your final project. We choose a theme and research references. Think of a possible format for your project. Consider the color palette. Firstly, put ideas on paper or the iPad. We have seen how the sketches became vector illustrations. From Adobe Illustrator, we switched to Photoshop and made the artwork rounder and smoother to give it a more organic feel. To do this, we added gradients and I showed you how I use my magic sprinkles. Finally, we combined all the elements into a complete double-p...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Wildlife Illustration for Children's Books

• Level: Beginner
• 99% positive reviews (223)
• 4807 students
• 4 units
• 21 lessons (3h 42m)
• 2 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Children's Illustration, Digital Illustration, Vector Illustration