Working with an illustrator can be so much fun, but is also a new area for many inexperienced in the creative field.
In this blog post, I will take you through my workflow, and show you how I go from an idea or concept to a rough sketch to a finished illustration.
Step 1: the idea/ concept
The first thing that is useful for me to know is the idea or concept.
What is the story?
How many illustrations do you need?
What type of illustrations?
What has to be in the illustration?
Any specific colours in mind?
What kind of style would suit the idea?
When these questions have been answered as thoroughly as possible, I start sketching a rough sketch
Step 2: the rough sketch
I sketch out the rough sketch to understand the idea or concept better. Sometimes I show it to the customer, and sometimes I go straight to showing the cleaned up sketch.
Whether I show it or not depends on how used to looking at sketches the customer is. Sometimes it can be more confusing than helpful.
Step 3: the cleaned up sketch
After I have made the rough sketch, I start tidying or cleaning it up a bit, so that it is more clear to me and to the client what the idea is.
I send this to the client, to get some feedback and to see if I am on the right track.
An example of a cleaned up sketch
Step four: colour-blocking
This is when I go and figure out the colours - in this case, it was in two steps.
First I did a colour thumbnail, where I explored the colours and also the light and shadow in the illustration.
Then I go and start to block out the base colours - these are the colours used, without influence from light and shadow. So they tend to look a bit differently than the final result.
Step 5: details
After I have done the colour blocking, I go and start drawing the details - this takes almost half the time, because the real good stuff and what makes the illustration look super yummy, are the details.
Step 6: light and shadows
After the details are in place, I go and add the light and shadows. I use the colour thumbnail that I did in the previous step.
Depending on the style, I sometimes skip this step, if I am going for a more simplified look.
Step 7: the final details
After the details and shadow and light have been added, I adjust the last details, and then the illustration is finished.
I hope this gave you a better insight into my workflow, and how much work and thought goes into creating an illustration like this.
I will be talking more about my working process and workflow on this blog, so I hope you enjoyed this content.
Best
Anne
In this blog post, I will take you through my workflow, and show you how I go from an idea or concept to a rough sketch to a finished illustration.