Procreate Tutorial: “The Birdie Bunch” by Jutta Schneider

"For this illustration, I wanted to capture a sense of humor and charm by depicting five colorful chicks perched on a roost at bedtime. Each chick has its own unique personality and quirks, adding a playful narrative to the piece.

The first chick, for instance, is peacefully sleeping while sitting down, embodying a sense of calm amidst the chaos.

The second chick, however, takes a different approach and sleeps standing on exaggerated long legs.

The third chick adds to the fun by playfully tickling the second one, creating a lighthearted interaction between the characters.

Meanwhile, the fourth chick is completely absorbed in reading a newspaper, which adds an unexpected twist to the scene.

Finally, the fifth chick, my favorite, is sleeping soundly with its thumb in its beak, reminiscent of a child’s comfort gesture.

In my illustrations, I love to embrace simplicity in shapes, allowing for a bit of imperfection and playfulness. I believe that art doesn’t always have to be perfectly polished; sometimes, the charm lies in its crooked lines and whimsical forms. I also enjoy adding small details that invite viewers to linger and explore the scene, discovering new elements each time they look. For example, the subtle movements and poses of each chick help to convey their personalities and actions with minimalistic techniques.

Bright, vibrant colors and a lot of juicy texture are essential to my style, as they bring the characters to life and make the illustration pop. Overall, my goal with this piece was to tell a story that is both fun and visually engaging, inviting the audience to pause, smile, and enjoy the little quirks of this bunch of birds.

I created this artwork with 8 main layers. To each main layer, I added up to 4 clipping masks, 2 for texture and 2 for shading. On my clipping masks, I like to apply blend modes to help with lighter or darker values. On an extra layer I applied the line work for accents and contours. And of course, there is one layer for the sketch, its visibility is turned off to show the final piece.

In total, I've used 38 layers on 3000 x 3000 px canvas with 300 dpi. If your iPad does not give you enough layers, you can go down in canvas size, try 2500 x 2500 px or even 2000 x 2000 px." - Jutta Schneider

Jutta Schneider’s delightful illustration, The Birdie Bunch, captures a playful and humorous scene that tells a charming story with each quirky bird. From a chick that snoozes while sitting down to another reading a newspaper, Jutta’s artwork celebrates the uniqueness of each character through simple shapes, bright colors, and whimsical details.

This step-by-step tutorial will guide you through Jutta’s creative process, showcasing how to bring personality and narrative into your artwork with Procreate.

Recommended Procreate Brushes

Jutta used custom brushes from her “The Illustrator’s Toolkit” brush set, available on Skillshare, which she handcrafted for versatile sketching, inking, and texturing.

• Sketcher 6B: For sketching with the feel of a 6B pencil.
• Niceliner: For inking shapes with smooth, organic lines.
• Shader Tough Bristles: Ideal for adding bristle-like textures.
• Shader Soft Bristles: A softer bristle brush for shading.
• Texturizer: Adds subtle texture to reduce the digital look.
• Shader: Perfect for applying occlusion lights.
• Niceliner Mid-Century: Creates lines with a vintage feel and jagged edges.

Step-by-Step Tutorial from Jutta

Ready to have your own attempt at this piece? Follow Jutta's own instructions on how to make this fun drawing below.

Step 1: Start Sketching

Sketch out your illustration.

Be as rough or detailed as you like. My sketches are usually quite messy!

When you sketch out the roost, make sure you place it below the center, kind of at the top end of the bottom third.

This way you can make sure the focal point is not in the very center of the canvas, which usually is quite boring to look at, but below and above the center.

This helps to invite the viewer to linger and let their eyes wander around your artwork.

Having chicks at different heights also helps to create variety and interest.

Turn down the opacity of the sketch layer and set its blend mode to
"Multiply".

Step 2: Add the Background

Add a new layer and drag it below the sketch.

Fill it with a peach hue, mine has the hexadecimal code #FFCDC5.

Add a new layer and set the blend mode to "Multiply".

With the "Shader Tough Bristles", draw a diagonal stroke into the bottom right corner.

Add a new layer and, with white, add subtle texture in the top left corner, using the "Texturizer" brush.

Add another layer, set blend mode to "Add" and with the "Shader Tough Bristles" add more diagonal lines to your peach hue in the top left corner.

The top left corner is now lighter, that marks our light source. Meanwhile, the bottom right corner should appear slightly darker.

Step 3: Creating The Chicks' Bodies

Add a new layer above the background layer.

Using the "Niceliner" brush to ink out the 5 body shapes of the chicks in:

• Pink (#E54980)
• Orange (#F77100)
• Turquoise (#96D7D3)
• Yellow (#FEBA25)
• Green (#ADBD57)

This will be your main layer.

Then, add 4 clipping masks to this layer and set them to the blend modes (from bottom to top):

• Multiply
• Color Dodge
• Multiply
• Add

On the first clipping mask on top of the bodies apply subtle texture with the "Texturizer" brush, using the same hue as the bird, you are drawing on.

Then, turn down the opacity of this layer to about 30-40 %.

On the next clipping mask above, which is set to Color Dodge, use the "Shader Soft Bristles" to apply light strokes in any direction.

Apply the same color as the bird you're drawing on again.

From there, play with the opacity, until you like the result.

On the next clipping mask (set to Multiply), add shadows on the areas opposite the light source, using the "Shader" brush and again, in the particular bird's hue.

Repeat the previous steps for all the clipping masks.

Apply blend modes and brushes to the following parts:

• Roost: Below the chicks' torsos in a brown hue (#805B40).
• Combs: In a red hue (#DA1C40), also below the torsos.
• Beak Bottoms: In a bright orange hue (#F77100).
• Wings: Using the same hue as the bird.
• Beak Tops: In the same bright orange hue (#F77100), placed on top of the chicks' bodies."

Step 4: Add the Eyes and Newspaper

Right above the chicks' torsos layer-group, add another layer and a clipping mask.

Using white and the "Niceliner" brush, draw a pair of eyes on the turquoise and yellow chicks.

Then, add the newspaper.

On the clipping mas, use a dark grey hue and the "Shader" brush to draw in some shades.

Step 5: The Line Work

With a dark hue (#242527), draw in the missing lines for the eyes, eyebrows, legs and wings with the "Niceliner Mid-Century" brush.

Make sure your lines aren't too perfect, as you add so much more character and interest with slightly imperfect lines. Stay loose and enjoy how this step brings everything together!

After you've signed your work, you are DONE!

I hope you've enjoyed drawing this birdie bunch!

The Final Result