1. Rough sketches
▼This is my finished illustration.
・ Artist profile: irorico
I like to draw colorful and warm illustrations. I mainly draw for books and illustrations. I participate in events for handmade art too.
[1] Preparations
■1. Creating the canvas
First, I open a new canvas from the [File] menu > [New].
I set the unit to mm and make an A4 size canvas with a resolution of 350 dpi.
■2. Preparing the tools
I’m going to make a custom brush based on the [Brush] tool > [Watercolor] > [Dense watercolor] sub tool.
Because I like to layer lots of colors with the pen and brush tools, I don’t want the colors to mix, but instead have a slightly transparent effect.
To start with, I will duplicate the brush that I’m using as a foundation for my custom brush.
In the [Sub Tool] palette, I select the [Dense watercolor] and then click the icon at the bottom right of the palette to open the [Duplicate sub tool] dialog box.
In this dialog box, I change the name of the tool to “Rough lines” then click OK.
Now my custom brush “Rough lines” will appear in the [Sub Tool] palette.
While selecting the “Rough lines” brush, I click the tool icon at the bottom right to open the [Sub Tool Detail] palette and adjust the advanced settings.
・ Advanced setting 1: Set brush size to 21.8
・ Advanced setting 2:
In the [Ink] category, turn off [Mix ground color] and reduce [Opacity] from 100 to 70.
・ Advanced setting 3:
Because [Mix ground color] is turned off, I go to the [Effect source settings] of opacity and change the settings so that pen pressure determines opacity. I check the box marked [Pen pressure].
Now I’ve finished adjusting the settings.
With these settings, I can draw with a faint or heavy color, and I can use it for thin and thick lines.
Because I will draw my rough lines quite sketchily, I made the brush size a little bit big.
■3. Allocating shortcut keys
I also check and adjust the shortcut keys from [File] > [Shortcut Settings] to improve my workflow.
・ Setting [Main menu] > [Duplicate Layer]: Cmd + K (Ctrl + K for Windows)
・ Setting [Tool] > [Brush]: B (same as default settings)
・ Setting [Tool] > [Pencil]: P (same as default settings)
I also use the following two tools a lot, so I change the shortcut key to one that is easily reached by my right hand.
・ Setting [Tool] > [Eyedropper]: Changed from I to R
・ Setting [Tool] > [Move layer]: Changed from K to V
[2] Sketching ideas
Once I’ve finished preparing the software, I start sketching my ideas.
I often note down any themes or words that inspire me in my sketchbook so that I can get a lot of ideas for drawing.
For this illustration, I want a watercolor effect, so I want something with a feeling of transparency. I decide to choose an underwater theme.
I sketch out a few different compositions of a human of about the same size with a telescope.
While drawing my sketches, I think about the overall feeling of the illustration.
I also struggled to choose a pose for the person, so I tried out a few different poses.
[3] Rough draft
I use the brush I made in step [1] and paint a rough draft.
I chose three compositions that I tried out in my sketches.
At this rough draft stage, I don’t draw any details, but just work out how big I want everything to be and try to find a good balance.
I’ll decide things like the face at the line art stage, so for now I paint just enough to get a sense of the final piece.
[4] Setting up composition
I decide to go with the middle composition from the rough drafts in step [3].
Hint: Draw people and other objects on different layers to make drawing easier.
If you aren’t sure where to place something while deciding the composition, it’s helpful to draw it on a different layer so you can move it around.
In this example, I wasn’t sure where I would place the telescope, so I made a layer for the telescope and tried out a few different locations.
Once you’ve finished the rough draft, you can make a “Draft” folder and move all the layers there.
In the next part, I’ll show you how I did the inking for the person.
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