Matthew | Drawing Tutorials Online Blog

Rough Sketches – Working Out The Details

by Matthew | Mar 8, 2018 | Illustration

Okay so you’ve taken the time to find some really good background reference. What next? Well it’s time to crank out some rough sketches.

When working with an Art Director on an illustration project it’s appropriate to provide them with at least three rough sketches. It helps to get a dialogue going concerning the details of the scene. This in turn will help when working with a model during the photoshoot.

The model you are photographing for your illustration project will really appreciate seeing a rough sketch. It will most definitely help them visualize how they should be acting out the pose.

Working on rough sketches is a great time to plan and think. You can certainly use a multitude of techniques when composing your scene. I like using a grid, I also like to use big compositional shapes. Compositional shapes are big areas of light and shade.

You can also use compositional shapes to help organize very complicated areas of your image. Grouping things or people together in similar values is a great way to think about compositional shapes.

There should be a method to the madness of creating quality illustrations time and time again.

So far my method is inspiration, thumbnail sketches, background reference and now rough sketches.

Remember every artist’s process should be unique and different. There is no one size fits all to process. The point of this Illustration Process course at Drawing Tutorials Online is to get you thinking about how you go about creating images.

Are you flying by the seat of your pants? If so you need to start thinking about a process that gets you consistently good results. The main difference between a professional artist and an amateur is consistency.

That’s why I’ve created this course for you. I want you to understand and master your personal process for creating great art.

Thanks for watching.

Background Reference – Setting The Scene

by Matthew | Mar 8, 2018 | Illustration, The Blog

Okay so you have completed your thumbnail sketches, now what? You most likely have some real questions like, how is my background going to look? What time of day does my scene take place? I’m really not sure how to draw that tree in the background.

That’s where this lesson comes into play. Finding background reference helps you to figure out all of the nitty gritty details in your scene. It helps to take the guess work out of your image making process. Even if you work only from your imagination I encourage you to use background reference.

It’s not about copying pictures exactly. It’s about filling in empty gaps. These gaps of uncertainty usually lead to an inconsistent image making process.

In the illustration I am creating over at Drawing Tutorials Online I stress to members the importance of background reference. For myself I’ve always looked for background reference right after I finished my thumbnail sketches.

Background reference enabled me to visualize my figure within a scene. It helped me to visualize my entire illustration.

It was also a huge part of my creative process. I really enjoyed going out into the field to photograph my own reference. When that was not possible I usually looked to the stock photography sites.

In the case of this illustration I used istockphoto to purchase the rights to use a photographers image. It really did save me a lot of time. Plus I do not live out west so I couldn’t possibly have photographed for the scene.

If you would like to gain access to our full Illustration Process course today take a peek our our subscription options.

Thanks so much for reading!

Helen’s Sketchbook – 70’s Character – Marker – Gesture

by Matthew | Mar 3, 2018 | Sketchbook Videos | 4 comments

Helen sketchbook is pretty amazing. Helen is a super quiet student who arrives to class each week ready to draw. She methodically creates very beautiful drawings time and time again. Her life drawings and sketchbook drawings are both quintessential Helen.

Lot’s of bold shapes combined with strong line. Looking through Helen’s sketchbook was a great experience. I absolutely love the twists and turns her sketchbook took me through. I trust it will take you for a twisty ride as well.

The character design towards the end of the sketchbook is pretty unique. I really loved all of the intricate details, diverse shapes and interesting costume design.

Something tells me Helen is going to move onto a great career in the arts. She has a wonderful sense of design and creativity unique to Helen.

To see more of Helen’s artwork visit https://www.instagram.com/lenmonyfresh/

To find out more about how DTO can help you visit https://members.drawing-tutorials-online.com/members-login/

Get Your Ideas Onto Paper Fast

by Matthew | Feb 22, 2018 | Illustration, The Blog | 2 comments

I’m still amazed by the fact that many artists do absolutely no prep work before starting on their final illustration. Seriously. They just sit down and start working on their final piece with no concept concerning the structure of their image.

Ultimately as they continue to work, the flaws in their image making start to creep in. That’s why I’m creating this “Illustration Process” course at Drawing Tutorials Online. This new course is all about having you take a step back, analyzing your image making process. It’s about making sure you have a system.

System is not really an artistic type of word. However if you want to create consistently good artwork you need a system, or process.

Getting your ideas out onto the paper is a very important step in the image making process. That is where thumbnail sketches come into play.

Thumbnail sketches are meant to be created in five minutes for less. Personally I love to draw them in an impressionistic tonal sort of way. I like to block in big areas of tone with a really soft pencil drawing more like a painter.

Consider thumbnail sketches a visual brain dump.

It’s important that you take some time to draw your concepts out on paper before you start to work on your final illustration. With your first thumbnail drawn you immediately start to question it. Wait maybe if I draw another, this way, it will make more sense. That’s the beauty of creating thumbnail sketches.

They are a no risk way to loosely compose an image with tone, perspective and texture.

I highly recommend that you start to incorporate using thumbnail sketches in your image making process. Remember they are not for drawing details. As you can see in my thumbnail sketches there are not many details at all. Just big shapes of tone placed within the scene.

Do your best to incorporate a dark, middle tone and light into the mix. Placing a horizon line is a good habit to get into as well.

Thumbail sketches work well when combined with your inpirational sentence or image. Try a few, you’ll find they are start to becomne addicting. In short they provide you with many options visually right out of the gate.

Joie’s Sketchbook – Fast Crayola

by Matthew | Feb 17, 2018 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog | 2 comments

Joie is a student currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class a the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan New York. Joie is an incredibly hard working student with a ton of drive.

Joie is really into drawing fast in a very bold way. Using crayola markers and crayon’s she has the uncanny ability to create very strong looking images that pop right off of the page.

What inspires me about Joie is that even though she truly dislikes doing quote, long tedious type drawings, she understands the importance of striving to learn new techniques.

The takeaway from Joie’s sketchbook, try new things. Don’t just do the same old same old.

This is especially important as a first year student in college. It’s really important to make experimentation a big part of your sketchbook.

Thanks Joie for sharing your work!