Look, Ma! I’m arting! (Patreon)

An illustration starts with an idea and sometimes, if we’re lucky, the end result is somewhat close to what we have in our head.

Most things begin, after the initial spark, with a gathering of information. For illustrators, that is usually finding the lines we need in a scribbled mess.

In that tangled monstrosity of what could be spaghetti, the artist can start mapping out the skeletal foundation of our piece.

This is where we illustrators get excited and may drool a little on ourselves!

Once we hammer out those dents and sand down the splinters, what’s left is a lovely base illustration!

This is when we pause, possibly consider doing laundry or perhaps that YouTube Tabata for Abs that we promised we’d start tomorrow for three years. This pause is necessary. For without this pause we may begin the COLORING PHASE when we aren’t truly committed yet.

And if we start coloring when not committed yet, there’s a high probability this piece will end up in WIP LIMBO. (It’s not a fun dance, it’s where art goes to die.)

So let it rest like a pie and if the need overwhelms us, THEN we can start laying out base colors.

Seasoned illustrators will already have a palette picked out and thusly begin applying them in peace. Goblin illustrators who have no country go full chaos demon and start slapping whatever they want down. (Me, I’m goblin.)

Either process is fine, just as long as EVENTUALLY we have the background, midground and foreground blocked in with the colors that match the feel of the illustration. (YES ILLUSTRATIONS HAVE FEELINGS. Not…not REAL feelings, they don’t get sad if you call them a name. More like they evoke mood or atmosphere. Anyways!)

There we are! All blocked in and we only erased and deleted 86 layers and screamed into a pillow thrice.

Now!!!! NOOOOOOW comes the delicious and fun part! SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS!

There are rules of course. Warm colors go to the foreground, cool colors push things back, yada yada yada. But we can play with that depending on the scene. I DIGRESS.

I prefer doing shadows first. Usually a layer above the flat colors on multiply. I block in large areas, determining where I’ll put the highlights while doing this. Then I’ll take the smudge tool and start softening hard lines.

This part is soothing. It’s like rolling out a nice comfy duvet that we’re looking forward to napping on! Artists love napping.

Ah! Look at that! All shaded! And for the finale, HIGHLIGHTS!

We grab another layer and start adding highlights with either a brighter value of said base color or perhaps white. You can try layer settings like Vivid Light or Color Overlay.

See what tickles your pickle! (Ew. Sorry.)

Once we’re happy we can zoom in and fix any loose lines, overspray of colors and adjust hues and saturation if it needs a bit of a punch up.

Ta-Da!

We’re done with the illustration. Now save it and put away. DO NOT LOOK AT IT FOR AT LEAST A DAY OR TWO or we will be tempted to Tweak it.

Just a little tweak! A little fix! One more thing! Just! Just! Just!

Until it’s RUINED and we have to wrap ourselves up in a towel and cry in the broom closet.

Also? Share in friendly communities first. For validation. We need that. Artists NEED IT!!!! GIVE IT TO ME NOWWW…ahem…once shared and feeling brave, throw it out there for the world to see if one so chooses.

Ah! Being an illustrator is a lush and enriching life!