My project for course: Colorful Digital Illustration in Procreate

I began this project by choosing subject of my illustration - my friend Lou. You could choose someone you know personally, or someone you admire - perhaps a favourite artist, author or musician. One of the reasons I chose Lou is she has a very distinct style and personality so I knew there were be lots of elements I could reference in my piece!

I spent some time thinking about how I depict my subject's personality visually - for example, Lou is a fashion stylist so I included a sewing machine. I did some research for reference images and created a moodboard.

Next I created some loose thumbnail sketches to figure out the composition - this is good opportunity to experiment and see what works and what doesn't. I've included three sketches here but sometimes it takes me a few more tries before I'm happy with the composition! You can see I haven't included any detail here as I'm going to add that in later.

I find making rough colour sketches really helps me figure out a colour scheme. Just changing the colour of a few elements can have quite an impact to the overall atmosphere of a piece!

I use the thumbnail sketch as a guide to develop a more detailed sketch. This can be one of the most time-consuming parts, but it's also fun thinking of which little details to include!

Now it's time to start on the final artwork! I started with the character before moving on to the background and other details.

I build each element using the same process that I show you in Unit 2 of the course.

I added a few little final touches and the piece is complete!

I can't wait to see what you create!