Draw your own illustration. We draw a colorful illustration in Photoshop. Illustrations for the fairy tale “Kolobok” step by step

I have for last days some kind of unprecedented creative and working upsurge. Finally like it own works, made both for customers and for stock. Therefore, it is easy to draw and layout, it’s nice and makes me happy.
I want to reveal the secret of the workflow a little. I’ve been thinking about making a video for a long time about how objects are drawn for stock, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet, so I’ll show it only in pictures and words.

Step 1. Choose a topic
Where does the work begin? From choosing a topic. To be honest, I’m not yet particularly sophisticated about trends, choosing niches (maybe that’s why I have modest numbers in my wallet), I draw what I want. I chose a style for myself, calling it “multi-realism”, that is, realistic enough to convey volume and shadows, but at the same time leave cartoonish fury and gloss. Currently I am working in the “objects” genre, but later I plan to include people and small stories here.

I am never faced with the question “What to draw”, rather “What to draw first”. I am impressed by absolutely everything: food in cafes, store windows, beautiful photos people, the works of other authors. Fortunately, I don’t have to sit at the monitor, dragging different flowers back and forth in the hope that something decent will come out. I completely abandoned creating backgrounds, textures, business cards and other things that were quite popular among other stockers. It just didn’t work out, I didn’t enjoy the process of making them, and accordingly they didn’t sell at all.
When I sit down at the computer, I always already have an idea of ​​what I want to see as a result, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

So, choosing a topic. I always and everywhere carry a diary with me, which, by the way, also really puts me in a creative mood. And as soon as an idea comes to my mind, I add it to the Mind Map. I won't go into detail about what it is, this information I’m calmly googling, I’ll just clarify that the method is really cool. Allows you to structure ideas without squeezing them into a framework, allowing the development of one thought indefinitely.
This is what my cards usually look like.
Ideas are written down on a web, then thought about and analyzed. Something is postponed, and something gets life in the second stage.

Stage 2. Sketches
Everything here is extremely simple and clear; if I choose a topic, then I list which items can relate to it. And then I look for pictures of the necessary items and copy them into my moleskine. It is necessary to copy, stock photos do not allow you to use other people’s photographs as direct references (redrawing of other people’s photos), but if you select several pictures, take something from one, something from another and eventually get your own drawing, then everything is fine, the author’s the right was not affected.
To be honest, I draw so-so, my hand is not put into creation straight lines, but this is not particularly necessary, which is why I love the vector.
The sketches here serve as approximate schematic sketches, from which I will take general shape. Illustrator tools that allow you to draw will later save you from crooked lines. smooth circles and rectangles.




Stage 3. How do others do it?
For myself, I have established the basic principle of working with stock: my pictures should be no worse in quality than those presented on the first pages of popular ones. If the work is not up to par, I will tinker with it until I am satisfied with the result. Naturally, here we are talking about works on the same topic and in the same technique as mine.

Yesterday I decided to draw on the theme of Fast Food. Using this search query I found cute sausages in dough, potatoes, cola. I chose what I would buy myself if I had such an order, and simply what pleased the eye. I directly throw the pictures I find onto the sheet where I am going to work. I don’t take anything from them, neither color, nor shape, nor style. I only need a general impression, everything else will come from my sketches and selected palettes.

Stage 4. Design of basic forms.
Then work with the computer begins. I have graphics tablet, but I use it extremely rarely, I like to boast that all my works were done with a mouse, which, by the way, is absolutely true. Main tool: pen. Those who understand vectors will understand what the essence is. In short, the pen allows you to draw using points and vectors curved lines any forms.
With a pen (for objects that require evenness: mugs, plates, boxes - ellipses, rectangles) I outline the main details, paint them in chaotic colors, just to determine the shape.
As a result, you get such unattractive illustrations, but the general idea is already clear, then only complication.


This 5. Color selection.
Color selection, one of the most important moments, which I categorically don’t trust myself and don’t choose the colors myself. There are many services that allow you to collect beautiful palettes, but this is not quite the same. The main assistant in color selection was the service: shutterstock.labs. It’s an interesting thing, I recommend digging around, even just for the sake of general development. The site allows you to select photographs on topics of interest, taking into account your preferred palette. For example, I know that to draw Fast Food I will most likely need yellow, red, orange, brown and their shades. I create a corresponding search query and the program gives me ready-made photographs with the same hot dogs, potatoes, etc., and even in bright, beautiful colors, which I will later use in my work, thanks to the eyedropper tool.

Stage 6. Subject development.
The rough part of the process is completed, let's start creating. For the rendered details, I select colors from found photographs, then add new details: shadows, highlights, light, texture. As a result, I get a set of individual items that can now be assembled.


Stage 7. Composing compositions.
The items are drawn, it's time to think about how to present them. Even during my short stoker activity, I managed to realize that compositions sell better than just items on a white background (although I also upload them in this form and sometimes they buy them). Therefore, now I simply combine our entire collection into different pictures, with backgrounds, without backgrounds, with inscriptions, without them. The more you can create from one collection of pictures, the better. I especially like it when some items can be taken from past works. For example, I added ice cream from the “Summer” collection to the “Fast Food” set. That’s why I try to draw in the same style so that I can combine everything.


This is what my work on pictures looks like. I discovered that such stages left an imprint on my design work, I began to make products of a different style and of much higher quality, which is also pleasing.

Many parents whose children go to school ask the question “How to draw an illustration for a fairy tale?” At an art lesson in secondary school or at a composition lesson in art school Often asked to draw fragments of fairy tales. The hardest thing is to come up with a plot. Graphic implementation is not a problem. The main thing is to get good at it and design all the illustrations for one work in the same style.

Features of the illustration

The most difficult thing in illustrating is choosing those pieces from the work that will be depicted in the book. Artists usually draw the main parts of novels: the beginning of the story, the climax and the conclusion. But, of course, you can illustrate a memorable and favorite moment.

How to draw an illustration for a fairy tale as detailed and clear as possible? Before creating a sketch, you need to read the work at least twice. The first time a person gets acquainted with the plot, and the second time he remembers details that do not catch the eye upon first reading.

What you need to pay attention to when illustrating a work:

  • Appearance of the heroes. Before portraying antagonistic heroes, you need to remember distinctive features their appearance. A mole on the cheek or a scar on the forehead must be drawn, otherwise main character will lose its individuality.
  • Characters' clothing. It’s strange, but few people remember the description of clothes, even the main ones. characters. Therefore, before sitting down at the drawing table, you need to re-read the passages that describe the clothing.
  • Interiors or exteriors complement any illustration, so descriptions of furniture or woods have great value. It is worth paying attention even to such little things as the bumps under the feet of the main characters or the worn carpet decorating the center of the room.
  • Minor characters need less detailing, but do not forget that the friends of the main characters should be recognizable.

Graphic illustration

How to draw an illustration for a fairy tale in a graphic style? There are several techniques here:

  • using a pencil;
  • using mascara;
  • using soft material (charcoal, pastel, etc.)

Decide what style the illustration will be done in. If you plan to painstakingly draw the smallest details, then take a pencil. If the drawing looks more like a sketch, a soft material will do.

Graphic works are difficult to make as effective as color ones. To achieve a good result, you need to draw an illustration of a fairy tale in stages.

  1. The first step is to make a sketch of the fragment of the fairy tale you like.
  2. The second step is layout. It is needed so that in the future all parts of the drawing fit into the limited space of the canvas.
  3. The next stage is working out the details. This is a responsible mission and if children draw illustrations, parents should supervise this process.
  4. The final part is applying light and shadow to figures and objects. The main thing is not to forget that the foreground with the main characters should be darker than the background.

Illustration using paints

How to draw an illustration for a fairy tale using paints? It's not difficult if you take the whole process step by step. For example, we need to draw an illustration for the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”.

To do this, let's break the work into parts:

  • First of all, we find the point that needs to be illustrated. Let's take the plot as an example: The Snow Queen sits on the throne, and Kai plays at her feet.
  • Decide on the appearance of the characters: will they have long or short hair, will they have snub noses, what color will their eyes be? It is advisable to re-read the description of the heroes in the fairy tale.
  • Let's draw a sketch. Choose the poses in which the Snow Queen and Kai will sit.
  • Now the fun part: think about the clothes the main characters are wearing.
  • The last stage of the sketch is drawing the interior. Flip through the fairy tale, be inspired by the atmosphere of the cold palace, find clues.
  • After the sketch is made, transfer it to the final copy. Remember that there will be paint on top of the pencil. This is important if the illustration will be done in watercolor, so sketch out the final sketch with watercolor pencils.
  • The final stage is coloring.

Combined technique

If you want to paint with several materials, you will have to combine several techniques. How to draw an illustration for the fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling”?

First you need to do everything by analogy with the plan for creating an illustration for “ To the Snow Queen" When the drawing with paints is ready, draw in the details and shadows with ink. Special attention give it to the foreground. If the fairy tale is illustrated by children, then it is better to leave the faces of the characters undrawn.

See how to draw an illustration for the fairy tale “The Silver Hoof”, “Kolobok”, “The Goat-Dereza”, “The Golden Key” and others. Learn how to draw Father Frost, Snow Maiden, Baba Yaga.

Thanks to parents and educators, fairy tales become children's first books. It will be interesting for children to learn how to portray the characters of their favorite fairy tale or scene from a magical story.

How to draw an illustration for the fairy tale “The Silver Hoof”?

If you need winter tales, then “Silver Hoof” is ideal. See how to draw a scene from this interesting story Bazhova.

First draw a house. Draw two parallel vertical lines that will soon become the corners of the house. Draw two lines on top that will turn into the roof.

Since the fairy tale “The Silver Hoof” is winter, draw a roof and snow on it. Then draw walls and windows. One will have shutters. Explain to the children why these elements are needed.

To show the presence of snow, draw a wavy line near the bottom of the house.

There will be a silver hoof goat on the roof of the house. First it needs to be depicted schematically. To do this, draw three slightly uneven circles. The top one will soon become the head, the second will turn into the front, and the third will become the back of the animal. Connect the pieces and then draw around this diagram to define the character more clearly.

Draw in the missing details. Erase the auxiliary lines. Don't forget to draw one of the front hooves so that it is raised. Draw horns, eyes, ears, nose, legs with hooves. Mark several points on the roof of the house. Soon they will turn into precious stones.

Now you need to draw the Christmas trees. After all, the house is located in the forest. Draw a few lines to show how fluffy the snow is. Draw stars and a month in the sky.

Here's how to draw the fairy tale "The Silver Hoof" with a pencil. If you wish, then color your masterpiece. Draw snowdrifts and snow on the fir trees using white, blue, and gray paint. Then you will see where the shadow is. Behind one of the snowdrifts you can draw a girl who is watching such a miracle. Make the house and characters more colorful, and add color to the surroundings. The painting is complete.

  • See also

Illustrations for the fairy tale “Kolobok” step by step

Show your child how to draw the characters in the story.

  1. First you need to draw a circle in the lower left corner. Inside it draw eyebrows, eyes, mouth and nose. This is the main character of the fairy tale “Kolobok”.
  2. On the right, draw a hare, but first, a schematic representation of it. To do this, draw an oval large size, which will become the torso.
  3. The head is pear-shaped as it is positioned in profile. Ears, hind legs, tail oval. And the front paw consists of two small ovals, so you can see that it is bent.
  4. At the next stage they are removed extra lines. Then add strokes to the hare to show what kind of coat it has. In some places, leave lighter spots so that it can be seen that there is less shadow here.
  5. Kolobok yellow. Color it this way, make the mouth red, and indicate the blush orange. You can draw grass and a forest landscape.
  6. For the next illustration for the fairy tale “Kolobok”, you will first need to depict two details. The upper one is pear-shaped with a snub nose, and the lower one is oval.
  7. Now draw two round ears at the top, and four paws below. At the third stage, outline the features of the muzzle, claws, and erase the excess. At the end, draw the Bear with a brown pencil, and his tummy and inner part ear - yellow.

The next illustration for the fairy tale “Kolobok” is visible in the picture.

The image begins with drawing geometric shapes. This is an oval that will soon become a body. Place it horizontally. A little higher and to the left, draw a slightly elongated circle, which you will turn into a muzzle. To do this, draw a sharp nose and two triangular ears.

Then draw the tail and paws. In the third stage, outline the chest, tummy, eyes and tip of the tail. Don't forget to erase the extra lines. Then all that remains is to paint the fox red, leaving a little white around the chest, belly and tip of the tail. And make the bottom of some paws darker.

  • See also how to organize

“The Gray Neck” - illustrations for the fairy tale

Introduce children to this fairy tale. After all, this story awakens the best feelings and instills kindness in children. Drawing a duck is not difficult, especially since this skill will certainly be useful to kids in the future. After all, sometimes they will need to portray this bird.

Drawing step by step is not difficult. First you need to draw a small circle and a figure that looks like a horizontal drop. Now add a beak to the head, which is shown to the left. The wing almost follows the shape of the body. Draw an openwork edge on it, just like on the tail, to show that these are feathers. Then draw the nostrils, eyes, make the feathers on the chest more ribbed.

In the next step, this will allow you to color this part, to make it clear, this is a Gray Neck duck. The breast and wing are the same color. Draw the beak and paws in orange, and the head and body of the bird in light brown.

  • See also

Illustration for the fairy tale “Dereza Goat”

This skill will also come in handy when you need to draw a mother from a fairy tale.« Seven kids." As you can see, this character's head is oval and slightly turned down. An elongated triangle with a beveled top emerges from it.

Since the arms lie on the chest, at this stage you need to make them oval. Next you will add the tassels and outline the sleeves. Draw the lower and upper skirt, apron. Then draw the horns, ears and the base of the headdress. Don't forget to draw the hooves.

  • How to do

How to draw the Little Mermaid - step-by-step illustrations for the fairy tale

This skill will definitely come in handy when you start reading the fairy tale of the same name to your child. To draw the Little Mermaid, use the step-by-step photos provided.

First draw a rounded head. To then maintain symmetry when drawing facial features, draw a vertical stripe, but not all the way. At this stage draw the neck and body up to the waist. On the next one, using the previously drawn line, draw symmetrical eyes, and below - the nose and mouth. Draw the tail. Then remove the extra features and make your face more expressive. Draw the hair and scales on the tail. Show your child how to color the mermaid so that she turns out so bright.

How to draw the fairy tale “The Golden Key”?

This is also easy to do. Draw a round head, in the place where the shoulder will be located - a small circle. Mark the line of the body. This curve will help create the back and the leg that is slightly behind. Draw the second one at a short distance.

Draw this character's cap. To draw Pinocchio further, draw his eye and ear. Draw hair that looks like shavings. Dress this character in shorts and a jacket. Give him the golden key. All that remains is to add colors, after which the picture is completed.

The second character in the fairy tale The Golden Key is Karabas Barabas. To draw it, first draw a round head, with a powerful body located just below. We don’t draw a neck, then the figure of Karabas Barabas will appear even more massive.

Draw a semicircular line in the belly area so that you can see where the shirt ends and the trousers begin.

Draw the arms, legs, then the beard and face of this negative character. All that remains is to decorate it.

Here's how to draw a fairy tale« Golden key."

How to draw Father Frost and Snow Maiden step by step?

In anticipation New Year's holidays this skill will be very relevant. After all, children at school will probably be given such a task. They can portray Father Frost and Snow Maiden to make a card and give to parents or friends.

  1. Let's start with Santa Claus. Draw a narrow triangle, which will soon turn into his fur coat.
  2. At the top, instead of a point, draw a semicircle, which will soon become a face. Draw a vertical line in the middle so that the facial features are symmetrical. From above, draw the edge of the cap and itself. Draw the collar, sleeves, staff and beard.
  3. To draw Santa Claus further, in the second stage add his facial features, mittens, and make his beard more fluffy. Mark the places where the felt boots and belt will be.
  4. In the third picture this character becomes more and more realistic. Show that the edge of the fur coat is fluffy. To do this, you need to make the lines more intermittent in these places. Modify your beard in the same way. All that remains is to paint Santa Claus's robe and paint his pink cheeks. Now we move on to the image of his granddaughter.
  5. To draw the Snow Maiden, first also draw a triangle, but at the top instead of acute angle draw the neck, head and schematically depict the hat. Since the face of Santa Claus's granddaughter is turned to left side, move the vertical line here too, which will help make it more symmetrical.
  6. Then draw a horizontal line to get an idea of ​​where the eyes will be located. Below draw the nose and mouth. Draw the girl's hands and muff. Make this accessory more fluffy, as well as the edges on your fur coat and hat.
  7. Draw a hairstyle and facial features. To draw the Snow Maiden further, all that remains is to decorate her. Usually this girl sports a fur coat and a blue hat.

How to draw Baba Yaga?

When a child draws an illustration for a fairy tale, he may need to depict this character as well.

  1. First, sketch this granny. The circle will become the head, the oval will become the hunched back. Draw it a little lower long skirt, and at the top draw a hooked nose.
  2. Grandma's chin is elongated. This will be visible in the second picture. Draw her hand, slippers, eyes, this will need to be done in the second stage.
  3. On the third draw the hair, a scarf with ties at the top. Mark where the apron and sleeves are. At the next stage, draw Baba Yaga’s lower tooth, apply the design to the slippers, and outline the fingers.
  4. All that remains is to decorate this character. You can draw a mortar with a broom, as well as a stick and a wooden plate.

How to draw a knight, a princess - step-by-step illustrations for a fairy tale

  • There are magical stories where these characters appear. To draw a fairy tale with their participation, let's start with an image of a girl.
  • Draw her round head, thin neck, body and bell-like skirt. To depict facial features, first draw auxiliary lines.
  • Draw hands and hair. In the next step, add a dress pattern. You can steal it with bows. Make your hair voluminous and your eyes more expressive.

If a child draws, then he can “dress” the princess at his own discretion. After all, girls love to come up with outfits.

All that remains is to draw a crown and a fan and you can start drawing a knight.

Draw two figures that will become his ammunition. The top rectangle is the helmet. In the next picture you can see that you need to finish drawing the arm and legs. Gradually add new touches. Draw protection for the knees and elbows. All that remains is to decorate this hero and rejoice at how quickly you were able to draw a knight.

Often based on fairy tales animated films. This also applies to the next hero.

How to draw Winnie the Pooh step by step?

Draw an oval. He will repeat the figure of this character. Divide it in half with a horizontal line. Draw a semicircle at the top, and right below it draw two eyes and a nose. Also draw a characteristic pattern here, which you will then use to mark the areas around the eyes. Draw ears and paws.

This is how to draw an illustration for this fairy tale with a pencil step by step. You see what needs to be highlighted with a simple pencil, and which areas should be left white.

It's very interesting to do this creative work. You can add other features to your drawings, draw heroes of magical stories against the backdrop of a forest or palace.

See how to draw an illustration for the fairy tale “The Frog Princess.”

And if you need to draw the heroes of the fairy tale “Turnip”, then watch the second master class.

  • Article

This tutorial will help you learn how to draw a 2D illustration using standard Photoshop brushes. We will go through all the stages of creating an illustration, from sketch to background, gradually working through and drawing all the details. You can successfully apply all these methods to other illustrations, as well as in the design of other types of projects, such as logos, for example - drawing and painting skills always come in handy. The author used Photoshop CS3 and Wacom Graphire 3 to create this illustration.

1. Sketch

I started with a sketch. Having decided on the shapes, I paid attention to the color scheme, highlighting the main and background colors. To do this, try to imagine the picture as accurately as possible. On blank slate Photoshop I sketched out the color spots. I don’t like working on a flat filled canvas—color transitions help give the right mood to the work. I added a general background fill. You see, there is a lot of green grass - the good old song comes to mind about “...we dream of grass, grass near the house...” Try to imagine yourself in such a place: next to the house grows that oak tree that you often climbed as a child ...

2. Customizing brushes

We will add details using a brush. In this illustration I'm using only standard Photoshop brushes. If you want, you can download others and work with them. Let's set them up for work. Here are the brushes I will use:

3. Color selection

Let's determine the main colors we will work with. Here is my palette for this illustration. As usual, I want to draw something brighter. For the background I chose shades of yellow and blue. The remaining colors are for the landscape. Save your palette as a separate file. And while you draw, keep it open at hand.

4. We work on objects

I decided to remove the old car that was originally parked near the house. She doesn't look that good there. The car is an optional object in this illustration. So, I erased the car and drew my oak tree - and maybe you can draw another tree. To do this, I applied the main spots of paint with a hard round brush, and then schematically drew the details with the same brush, but smaller. You also need to create a separate layer for the grass and draw it in general terms as well.

5. Meadow

We continue to draw the grass in more detail, using both a small hard brush and smoothing out the transitions with a soft one. Later I can change the grass, add flowers - red, blue or yellow. I'm not thinking about it yet, but the green grass will definitely come in handy in this illustration.

6. Working with the palette

When choosing a color, I usually do this:

7. Wood

Watch how I paint wooden fence boards. In this lesson I don't draw different types wood, there are only 2 types - for the door and for the fence.

8. Canvas size

To draw details well, you need a large canvas. If you see that the size you have chosen is clearly not enough, at this stage you can still increase it. For our work we need a canvas of at least 2000 or 2600 pixels.

9. Drawing with a small brush

Draw the details with a small brush. Take a look at how I work with the roof detailing:

10. Grass

Now I'll create a couple more new grass layers. I fill the areas again with the main color and then work in the shadows with shades of it. I also paint bunches of grass blades in separate layers. Why draw grass in different layers? To make it easier to make changes that you later have to make. It is much easier to correct mistakes if the main elements of the work are in separate layers. In addition, in some cases you can save time and effort by duplicating successful layers with blades of grass in different places of work.
How to draw grass, you ask? Just take a brush, pick up some color, and paint a blade of grass. Then change the color and draw the next one, just like in my example. And so many times.

11. Clouds

It's time to start detailing the clouds. To draw the cloud, I outlined its shape on a separate layer and then set the layer to overlay to achieve the effect you see in this picture.
My sky consists of two layers: one contains the main colors, and the other contains all the bright places and gaps. Try to achieve harmony by changing the shape of the brush and painting the clouds with different strokes.

We need to set shadows and light. If in doubt, look at pictures of clouds. Check Google to check different types and cloud shapes.

12. Clouds

I also want to add bright sun rays and gaps in the clouds, reminiscent of lightning. After going through several options, I settled on the following. The light spots are still pretty rough for now, but I'll finish with them later. I note that each of the elements is on a separate layer, which allowed me to quickly select them and easily carry out all the manipulations with shades, brightness, etc. : Ctrl + clicking on the desired object selects the corresponding layer, and Ctrl + clicking on the preview of this layer in the layers panel gives us a selection in the form of a layer object.

13. Adjustments Settings

That's what really matters. By choosing the appropriate shade, you can change the entire atmosphere of the illustration. Now I change the colors in Color Balance. Then I'll adjust the brightness and contrast. As you can see, the result is obvious.

13. Let's summarize

Merge all layers into one. You can add the finishing touch by applying the Smart Sharpen filter to the resulting image to sharpen the details. This helps a lot in bringing out small details like highlights.
Time to close Photoshop I hope you enjoyed it!

This lesson was translated for you by Hatice Bayramoglu. We will be glad if you dare to show off your results)) Good luck in your studies!

Comments

  1. DeVeL
    December 9, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    Somehow not quite a lesson. Rather just making of, and not the most detailed one.

  2. Islam
    December 17, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    But I think it can still be called a lesson, just follow the logic and everything will be ok.))

  3. Vladislav
    March 25, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    I am a project manager at charitable foundation"Children and parents against cancer." www.deti-lipetska.ru

    Our foundation is starting to publish a newspaper where I want to publish my fairy tale. Here is a link to the first three chapters:

    lipetskblog.ru/blogs/blog...ste-glava-tretya

    The fairy tale is unusual because it is written for children who have fallen under the heavy millstones of a serious and painful illness. Therefore, the fairy tale is a little sad but with powerful life motivation.

    Need illustrations! But since we have a charitable foundation and the newspaper is free, I ask you to show complicity and offer your own illustrations for free. We, in turn, will definitely indicate this in each printed chapter of the fairy tale. Thank you!..

    Write to us by email [email protected]

    Katya Answer:
    November 5, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    I can try) =)

Leave a reply

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I still receive letters with the same consistency with questions: “I want to become an illustrator, where to start?”, “How can I learn to draw?”, “What should I do if I can’t draw, do I have a chance to become an illustrator?”

At first glance, the questions are quite strange. If you don’t know how to draw, you don’t want to start and try, you don’t even want to learn how to draw - what kind of illustrator are you? Why do you need this? But everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

I recently came across a higher private school in Hamburg online that trains illustrators only. On the very first pages of "About Me" they say that an illustrator is a designer who knows how to draw.

I felt funny because I am a graphic designer and I received, without false modesty, good education. For for many years During our training, we were constantly told that any designer must be able to draw, handle a camera, understand typography and understand art.

Along with such subjects as typography, we were taught drawing and photography - things that were reflected in my ideas about illustration. I devoted several sections to the influence of photography on illustration in my book “Profession - Illustrator. Learning to think creatively.”

The statement that an illustrator is a designer who knows how to draw seemed very strange to me. At first I decided that people simply did not know what modern designers were teaching. But then I seemed to understand what they were talking about. Namely, that the illustrator is a professional who has a wide variety of skills and image techniques, which can often be called more like design ones.

Indeed, the modern illustrator is no longer tied to traditional visual techniques: he does not have to work only with paints or pencils on paper. He doesn't even have to be able to draw very well. It is enough to be able to handle paper and scissors, wood and a chisel, fabrics and a sewing machine, to be able to draw only at the level of contours and sketches and at the same time be no less successful and a selling illustrator than colleagues working in traditional techniques.

Today I would like to draw your attention to the techniques of modern illustrations.

To questions like “Where should a future illustrator start?” I already answered, and below you can follow the link to my answer. And to the question whether someone will turn out to be an illustrator if he has not learned to draw traditionally, academically, I will say yes. Because if paper and light and shade are not given, it’s worth trying yourself in some unconventional technology, if, despite everything, you want to do illustration professionally.

For inspiration, I will show you a beautiful book - a collection of works by illustrators and artists working in non-traditional illustration techniques.

Book on American Amazon:
Book on German Amazon: Illustration Play: Craving for the Extraordinary



The cover is made on very beautiful, textured paper with real stickers.

And this is what the content looks like - a list of featured illustrators.

Illustrations made using a burner. Author: Genevieve Dionne

Installation illustrations from various materials. Posted by Stephanie Dotson

Illustrations-installations made of paper and wood. Author: Aj Fosik

Illustrations on old packaging, envelopes, etc. Posted by Melvin Galapon