1. Rough sketches

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▼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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