Illustration Fundamentals


Illustration, by hand or on the computer, is the translation of form, space, and light into a picture. Do you remember your first black-and-white pencil sketches as a child? Childhood doodles are the essence of drawing, which is the attempt to capture exactly how things look in a simple, recognizable form.

In our first drawings, we often sketch the outline of an object: a house or flower, for example. But look closely at most objects in the world, and you'll see that there are no outlines that go all the way around an object. Instead, you'll see contours: lines and shapes formed by contrasts in texture or color on an object and by the light that falls on it.

Figure 5.2. Illustrations like "California" by Chris Varricchione can combine surrealism and creativity with great attention to realistic contours. The result is a piece of art that makes a viewer stop and stare.


If you could see the world in black-and-white (imagine your television was broken), you would see contours everywhere: on some edges of an object, around areas of empty space, or as lines on the surface of an object, such as craters or wrinkles.

Some illustrators attempt to capture every detail in a shape. Others stylize and simplify their drawings, capturing the boldest contours and hinting at tones, shapes, and lighting without trying to capture every little nuance. This approach can be really effective in digital illustration, where illustrations can be created by either using a digital pen on a Wacom drawing tablet or using your trusty mouse to create simple shapes and colors in Illustrator.

Before we dive into the hands-on part of the chapter, I want to mention some techniques that I find helpful for digital illustration. First, perspective is importantsome type of depth is required to keep things from looking flat. Simply varying the thickness of my contours can give the drawing much more volume and life. Second, to make sure you're thinking about contour, you may want to limit your colors initially to two tones, dark and light.

But don't stop thereonce your basic composition is coming together, the use of color can also contribute to the dimension of your work. Flat color can be quite beautiful in drawingsjust simple fills of outlined shapesor you can use gradients to mimic the lighting and depth of real life. Darker shapes can form shadows, lighter shapes can become highlights, and less saturated (less intense) shapes can represent areas that are farther away. Keeping it simple, you'll want to tweak your design so that the finished work has naturalism and charm.

Creating Visual Concepts

One important item to mention is the the need to brainstorm before you draw. When you're hired to create an illustration for a graphic design project, the primary goal is to communicate the client's message. Because illustrators are often called upon to communicate abstract concepts (technological change, say, or job satisfaction, or the rising stock market), the brief from the client can be a little vaguesometimes nothing more than an idea.

This leaves the illustrator to brainstorm the conceptto come up with a visual idea and carry it out. A conceptual illustration can be handled very literallyfor example, if the client wants to convey the flavor of a product, you may want to draw a juicy strawberry. But often the illustration goes in a less literal direction. Editorial graphics for an advertisement or a magazine article, for example, must give the viewer something to think about and draw conclusions from.

Try to sketch or write down as many different ideas as you can before you start drawing. One of my magazine clients needed an illustration on the topic of email security and how easily hackers can snatch email messages. I started by brainstorming, writing down everything I could think of related to email and theft. I thought awhile about using an image of Sherlock Holmes, but realized that would be too complicated and some people might not recognize him. Then I thought, "Why not draw the computer as an email thief, and represent the email message as a letter?" The client loved it because it was very clear without being too literal. I was certainly glad I had taken the time to brainstorm various options before beginning to draw.

Figure 5.3. Lots of brainstorming and sketching leads to creative concepts that clients love.





Sessions. edu Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder(c) Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
ISBN: 0321336585
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 103
Authors: Sessions.edu

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