Illustration for Picture Books: Combine Digital and Analog Techniques

Start the course by meeting Maguma, who tells you about his professional career and the artists who have influenced his work. He also shows you a small collection of his illustrations and picturebooks and some of his main sources of inspiration.

Maguma walks you through his creative process and gives you an outline of the final project. Learn about the importance of visual communication for this type of work given that your illustration must be equally communicative as it is captivating. Then, discover what materials you need to transform your project into a unique piece of art.

Now it's time to work on your illustration starting with a pair of sketches. Create a conceptual version where you draw the main characters from the formal perspective and then design a more expressive version where emotions take center stage. Combine both approaches to solidify your final design.

Discover why Maguma works with limited color palettes. Learn what spot color is and how to use this technique as well as how to create your own color swatches in Photoshop. Lastly, hand draw the definitive shapes from your design and transfer them to the computer to create your final composition digitally.