Excellence in Illustration: From Intuition to Method

Excellence in Illustration: From Intuition to Method

“During the lessons I taught you all the secrets to illustrate a cover, now it's your turn! Follow these basic steps to complete your project. Don't just copy my example, but experiment and invent something new. In this way, you will learn to independently apply the techniques I have taught you and you will give more space to creativity. Choose the book for which you want to make an illustration cover. Research the book's themes and settings and create an inspirational board to use as a reference for your illustration.

Read the text and begin to underline scenes and phrases that strike you and that seem suitable to be represented through a drawing. Then make quick sketches of the scenes you have selected. Decide which are the most representative sketches and define them better to present them to the client. When the client has chosen the final idea, draw all the details of the image with precise lines and add volumes and monochromatic shadows. Then, think about the palette that best suits your story and color the illustration. When you are done, look at the result and make changes if there are elements that do not convince you. You have to get to the best version possible! After the publication of your cover, remember that it is also important to participate in the promotional process, for example by creating content on social media or by participating in events organized by the publisher in bookstores. We are the first sponsor of ourselves! Now share your project in the forum! Show everyone both the final result and the processing steps, documenting each step with an image and describing what you did with a brief explanation. As soon as possible, I will be happy to comment on your work. If, in addition to sharing your project with the Domestika community, you want to show your work on social media, create a reel on Instagram and tag me with the hashtag #EmilianoPonziDomestika! Look at the projects of colleagues and encourage them by commenting on what they have shared: do not miss the precious opportunity to interact with the creative community. Thanks again for making this journey with me!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project We are reaching the end of this Domestika course. Thanks for following along up to here. I hope you're now encouraged to create the best version of your illustration. I started drawing knowing that to succeed I would need to dedicate 100% of myself to this work. I've always known that it wasn't just talent. Writer David Foster Wallace used to say that talent is just a tool. It's like having a pen that writes instead of a pen that doesn't. And I think so, too. Talent is exercise and experience. That’s why I suggest that you work hard on each of your products. The final project ...”

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

Course summary for: Excellence in Illustration: From Intuition to Method

• Level: Beginner
• 99% positive reviews (104)
• 2811 students
• 4 units
• 15 lessons (2h 46m)
• 2 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Digital Illustration, Drawing, Editorial Illustration, Fine Arts, Storytelling, Traditional illustration