Spot Illustration: Depicting Freelance Life
A course by Francesco Poroli, Freelance Illustrator and Art Director
Discover the essentials of spot illustration and learn to create an original series of images based on a brief
Illustration is a versatile art form with a broad range of uses, such as depicting reality, telling a story, and conveying ideas or feelings that you might otherwise not know how to express. In other words, it's a therapeutic creative process. Freelance illustrator and art director Francesco Poroli, who has worked with brands like Apple, Zalando, and Campari, is a firm believer in this concept.
In this course, Francesco teaches you the essentials of spot illustration and how to create a series of original images based on a brief. He gives you a behind-the-scenes look at freelance life to show you how to design engaging illustrations around a central theme and bring them together with a coherent style.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 12 downloads
What's included in this course?
Meet your teacher for the course, Francesco Poroli, and get to know him a bit better. He tells you about his professional career as a freelance illustrator and the people who inspire him and his work, from artists to basketball players.
Start with the essentials and discover what a spot illustration is and its defining characteristics. Then, look at specific graphic elements and learn how to use them to create coherency within your illustration series.
Find out how to come up with the right idea for your project and simplify it on a graphic level. Now grab a pencil and get to work on your illustrations. Analyze the brief, translate the concepts into a preliminary sketch, and clean it up before presenting it to the client.
Once you've completed your series of sketches, refine them into illustrations using your favorite digital or analog tool. Then, put together a color palette that matches your concept and apply it to your drawings.
Finally, Francesco shows you how to arrange your illustrations in a single layout to tell a coherent story with a clear message. He also gives you some advice on how to value your work and shares the most valuable lessons he's learned throughout his freelance career.
- 100% positive reviews (22)
- 519 students
- 15 lessons (2h 25m)
- 12 additional resources (2 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Italian
- Italian · Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software & tools for this course
Adobe IllustratorWhat is this course's project?
Create a series of six spot illustrations based on a brief.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in learning the art of spot illustration from scratch.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is necessary for this course. As for materials, you need paper and colored pencils, as well as a computer with the illustration program of your choice, such as Adobe Illustrator or Procreate, if you'd like to finish your images digitally.
Reviews
Francesco Poroli
A course by Francesco Poroli
Francesco Poroli is a freelance illustrator and art director who lives in his hometown of Milan. After secondary school, he went on to study a modern literature degree at university, although he didn't finish the program. His true passion has always been drawing, an art form that he taught himself, and mastered, through daily practice since he was a child.
Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with brands like Facebook, Apple, Zalando, and Campari, and his illustrations have been featured in magazines and newspapers such as Wired, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Il Sole 24 Ore, and la Repubblica.
Content
-
U1
Introduction
-
About Me
-
Influences
-
-
U2
Spot illustration: seriality, concept and style
-
Main features
-
The series: how to create coherence
-
The search for ideas
-
Simplify an idea graphically
-
-
U3
From brief to illustration
-
Analyze the brief
-
The first sketch
-
The sketch for the client
-
The final drawings 1
-
The final drawings 2
-
Colors
-
-
U4
Finalization and advice
-
Create a composition
-
Valuing your work
-
Five things I've learned
-
-
FP
Final project
-
Spot Illustration: Depicting Freelance Life
-
What to expect from a Domestika course
-
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
-
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
-
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
-
Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
-
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
-
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
-
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
-
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
A spot illustration is a small image used to enhance articles, magazines, or ads, adding visual interest and helping tell the story in a clear and effective way.
The course is designed for those who already have basic drawing skills and want to deepen their knowledge of techniques and workflows specific to spot illustration and digital art.
To follow the course, it's recommended to have a computer, vector graphic software like Adobe Illustrator, and sketching tools such as pencils or a graphics tablet.
You'll learn how to develop ideas, create sketches, turn them into digital illustrations, design cohesive series, compose professional layouts, and promote your portfolio as a freelance illustrator.
The course guides you step-by-step from sketching, digitizing with Illustrator, to coloring and refining your spot illustration ready for publication.
Yes, the course includes dedicated lessons on graphic simplification, reducing detail, and visual synthesis to create clear, communicative spot illustrations.
You'll learn to use color palettes, recurring shapes, and a consistent graphic style to keep your series visually coherent and recognizable.
Adobe Illustrator
Francesco un nome una garanzia, corso molto specifico per fortuna e ben riuscito
BUEN CURSO
Great course!
Un grande illustratore e un bravissimo insegnante: efficace, chiaro ed immediato come le sue illustrazioni. È stato davvero interessante e utile seguire questo corso. Ho apprezzato moltissimo anche i suoi consigli personali. Grazie davvero!
Ottimo corso. Interessante e ben spiegato.