Picturebook Illustration: Explore Color and Composition

Picturebook Illustration: Explore Color and Composition

“Thank you so much for joining me on this course. I really hope you have enjoyed learning how to create an illustration for your very own children's picture book! It's such an amazing feeling to make an illustrated story of a world you have created from scratch. Remember to use the tools as well as the devices and the compositional and colour techniques you have learned to build a world totally your own. It's your chance to make something completely unique. You have already seen how varied picture books can be! As a reminder, I have summarized the main steps you should follow to complete your project: Inspiration and Design Find a story (an existing story or one of your own) and then choose or write a short text that will be what your final illustration will be designed from. Once you have your idea set, start to develop the setting and the primary character.

The Composition Make at least three rough designs to define the final arrangement of your double-page illustration, and then choose one. Consider all the key things of the design: the composition, the colour palette, and how the image interacts with the text and the overall personality of your piece. Drawing the Layers I recommend you draw your illustration in three separate layers, each layer on a separate piece of paper. But you can also draw or paint your illustration as a whole on a single piece of paper. The Digital Illustration Scan and transfer each layer of your illustration onto Photoshop, and then add colour to all three layers. Composite the image together and merge the colours before polishing it up. Last Touches Apply some final adjustments to your artwork. Play with saturation and levels on each layer to get them bright and impactful. Then, clean each layer and merge them. Please share your final illustration in the forum; I would absolutely love to see it! You can do so by clicking on 'Create your project'. Remember to share both the final result and the steps that have led you to it. It would be great if you showed a picture of each step and added a brief explanation about what you have done in each one. Domestika has a great community where we are all looking to grow and learn. So join in, share your process, ideas, and doubts, and comment on others' work. I will be more than happy to answer any of the questions you might have along the way! I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. See you soon!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Thank you for joining me on my course. I hope you've enjoyed it and enjoyed making your very own illustration for a picture book. It's such an amazing feeling, being able to create an illustrated story of a world you've created from scratch. Let's quickly recap what you've learned. We started by looking at the anatomy of what makes a picture book. Before looking at the visual devices that help to tell a story and how colour and composition are key, we then started to develop our own book, starting with the story. And then once we had an idea, we started to develop the setting ...”

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

Course summary for: Picturebook Illustration: Explore Color and Composition

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (141)
• 5737 students
• 5 units
• 16 lessons (3h 35m)
• 7 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Children's Illustration, Color Theory, Digital Illustration, Drawing, Pencil Drawing, Picturebook, Traditional illustration