CHARACTER DESIGN: 7 EXERCISES TO FIND YOUR OWN ANIMAL ILLUSTRATION STYLE.

1. Introduction: Animals are one of the most popular objects to draw an illustration. You need to be able to draw it. If we want to illustrate books, make surface button designs or T-Shirt designs. But it's not so easy to find your own voice in animal illustration. Hi, I'm Marina. I'm an artist and illustrator from Russia. In this class, I will show seven different exercises for you to understand better reach way of illustrating animals. You like. Mostly. After you finish older exercises and make class project, you will become closer to finding your own style in drawing animals. Along the way, you can make your own real project. For example, I made 80 miles ticker bog, but you can make any project you like, such as postcards they showed or bottom design. Joined the class. And let's make SAT practice to find your own special status. 2. Class Project: I have different options of class project in this class for you. First, you need to dry it all class exercises and figure out style you like mostly making exercises. You can draw it in sketch way, but don't hesitate to show your sketches and process in the project gallery. Then as a class project, you will need to create at least five finished animals better updated in chosen style or feel free to combine some of them. It doesn't matter tools you choose. Watercolor, garage, Adobe Illustrator, or Adobe Photoshop is absolutely up to you. But main idea is illustration should be in one style and ready to use in different projects. Such as stickers, they showed bringing art and design elements, et cetera. As an advanced class project, you can create a real staff, such as printed stickers, postcards, or to short with your own design. Or you can also download your illustration on any print shop, or at least dried on mock ups and download your illustrated portfolio. Don't forget to download all your process and results in the project gallery. I can't wait to see your experience. Before I start to practice, it's better to make a list of animals and draw the same animals in all exercises. This way, you can better understand animal anatomy and get many options of animal illustrations to choose. One you like the most. 3. About Stylization: As you can notice, this class is not about drawing realistic animals. Before we start to practice, I would like to talk a little about what's tenderization is. So standardization is knowing the simplification of objects. We take main characteristics of objects and do not use secondary, but anyway, should stay recognizable. Symbol, explanation of stylization. You can notice looping. Folk art. Look how those birds simplified. But all those objects was painted in the distant 19th century. Example of stabilization, you can also observe in button design motifs. Also, cool practice is to observe how different oddest illustrate the same animal. For example, let's look at bare illustration. As you can see, they are all absolutely different. But we still can recognize Mayor practice. Let's take two circles. One should become, and second one line. Let's make minimalistic phrase, eyes, noses. So it's quite similar. Thinking about rabbit and the main characteristic, of course, long ears. And those ears. We immediately understand who it is. Thinking about. The main characteristic is now, we definitely know it's alive. Speaking off lags. We have lots of options to draw it. Let's try different ones. And it's still recognizable as a lens. The main idea of this class is to learn how to simplify objects and lines. To learn how to generalize or phages and objects by means of different techniques. And the most important idea is to find your own style of stylization and illustration animals. 4. Exercise 1. One Line Drawing: So let's make some practice. First, exercise is called one line drawing. It means you should draw it as a continuous line. Without taking your hands out of the paper. You definitely need to try to understand its really interesting exercise. Because you should think a lot about how to move your hands. Look at the reference picture and control the line of the same time. You can get really original lines and shapes which you couldn't get drawing traditional way. After all, broken lines style and become part of your own animal drawing style. By the way, don't stop on. One option. Tried to DOE animal, indifferent bosses, baby animals, interesting thoughts of animals and textures. Right? When a finishes cash, I advise you to make analysis bought. Look at the picture and highlight all the things you like, such as interested in details. Next year's Bose's. You can highlight only bouts of interesting staff, such as BAD boss interested in line direction and other ones you like. Let's see how I analyzed my sketches. First, I noticed all the tails. I like interesting textures. I get remember interesting photos. What is this? All for? All I noticed, I use an hater as a Lego blocks to make my administration. When you finish, don't forget to download your sketches in the project delivery. 5. Exercise 2. Drawing Scissors: Second exercise is one of my favourite. It was inspired by Henri Matisse cut outs. And first I practiced it when I made creative exercises with my little daughter. She asked me to cut out animal breeders to play. As far as keys have showed relations, I got out figures without sketch. Later. I notice I can use those ships as a base from my illustration. And Ed details and texture on top. Y cotton without sketch is better. You can get unpredictable shapes and lines once you will never get drawing traditionally by hence. Second reason, you can feel the whole shape of animal and immediately make illustration sterilized. Because using only Scissors, it's quite difficult to make the tale figures. So you can omit details. And that's what we need for sterilization. By the way, you can also cut animal by parts or exome needed bads later. It's absolutely up to you. You will still get cooled, broken line style. Anyway. Try to cut out as many animals in different poses as you can. If you draw vector art in Adobe Illustrator. This drawing by bots can be really useful because you can make your illustration as constructed. After I finished cut out sketch, I usually at some details and textures. O, I go to Adobe Illustrator and add details and textures there. Okay. 6. Exercise 3. Containing in Geometric Shape: The next exercise in drawing containing animal in geometric form. It's really useful exercise. You have strong frames to work with. So unique to think how to shape animal. It's a big step outside of your comfort zone. But as a present, you'll get a regional shapes, lines which you will never get drawing traditional way. And Bose's, which you never think about. If you don't have framed. The single option of this exercise is use circle, square, triangle. But feel free to use any geometric shapes you like. Try to contain the same animal in all geometric shape. Sometimes anyone else in southern shape. And it doesn't look obvious, it can be contained in other. You should discover. For example, in Moscow. We talk quite simple to contain giraffe in triangle. But first, I don't know how to shape it in square and circle. And after, I get brilliant option for illustration and interesting pauses, take your time to find your own options. Okay? One more option of this exercise is to take the same shape and try to contain different animals. For example, I took circle and draw different animals. Animals. And such an animals. Do it for the show. And bought InDesign. When you finish, download your sketches in the project gallery. And we are moving. Just next exercise. 7. Exercise 4. Tangram Drawing: I called the next exercise Tonga drawing. Because we are going to make the same thing as kids do plane ten ground game. Speaking of status aeration tank around drawing is a classic exercise cause it helps us better understand animals anatomy. If you would like to know about these mass at more, I advise you to read a book called The Artist Guide to animal anatomy by Gottfried Varmus. Now let's practice. Take some pictures of animals. For example, I take pictures I managed when we are to listen. If you don't have ones for learning purposes, you can use pictures for all interest. For example, open program. You like to work, for example, Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, and tried to see different geometric shapes animals consist of. You can also delete, only, use it in your phone and fingers. You can find out as men and geometric shapes as you can. Or you can combine them. Once. It's absolutely up to you. Try to make as many options as you can until you feel the I look at any animal and the UC, geometric shapes it consist of. Don't be upset if you are not succeed at the first time. The more you practice, the better you can do it. Okay? Example of illustration based on geometric shapes. By just how fantastic he'd play with geometric shapes. Animals. 8. Exercise 5. Texture Drawing: The next exercise I called texture drawing. I also think of it in the first time when I draw with my daughter. As I said before, you need to draw a really quick or any drove is case. So I thought how I can quickly make animal recognizable and textures helped me. First. I think why texture of this animal is recognizable? Because of stains, all stripes or more luminaires. Will I draw texture as a main object? And after I head feed and details. It's also great exercise. If you draw digital art practices in this exercise, you can try different brushes, make digital textures and other more. And do you notice with texture, look our regional interests. Then, why, without our list of animals and some practice? Don't forget to download TO sketches in the project delivery. 9. Exercise 6. Watercolor Spots: The next exercise we are going to do is really famous, really simple, and really effective. I call it watercolor. Sports. Take watercolor or any other tool and make chaotic sports. Don't try to make it perfect. The rather make it funny and different. After you dried tick liner and some details. You can also do it in Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Illustrator, spots into animals. Okay. The second options of this exercise is drawing animals in bot using sports. For example, drawing body feed heads, tails separately, and join them digitally in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or glue them. If you're look in collapsed that this method is great. If you are not the most accurate person as me. I often have troubles with watercolor. So for me, it's more convenient to draw bypass to save all job. And secondly, you can get a regional and interesting shapes and lines. And drawing lots of animal separately can become a feature of your own illustration style. 10. Exercise 7. Human-like Animals: The last style is the most popular, speaking of illustrating animals. Nowadays. I call it humanlike animals style. How to make it? You draw animal's head, stylized it. And after you add body like human have where encloses working on two legs, behaving as we do. Drawing this way. Make experiments to find your own style. For example, you can have detailed closes with texture or pattern, but simple hat. Or instead, you can have high-quality animated head and not detailed buddy. Oh, maybe you do not like the tails at all and you can draw it. Flips style without any details. Once again, it's all up to you to decide. Remember, the more you practice that quickly you find your own style. It was the last exercise to practice. And in the next video, I will show you my own way of illustrating animals. 11. My Way of Illustrating Animals: In this lesson, I would like to show you my way of illustrating animals in stages. First of all, I'd like to say, I didn't make up my method in one day, which was generated by ears. I tried lots of techniques and once I like in my style. So let's imagine, I'm starting to illustrate a horse, for example. First, I need to remember how animal looks in details and to get to know enough features. So I start stage. I go to Pinterest and look at photos of animal. At this stage, I've tried to highlight particular features of animals, such as texture, characteristic poses. And first of all, what feature makes animal recognizable? I write down all features. Then I started to draw my first row sketches. Not trying to sterilize animals. At this stage. I tried to draw it as it is. But I tried to draw as many poses as I can to understand animal behavior bed. I advice you, never DO. All they want because of copyright. And second, we obey it like a frozen. Right. After I finished with my sketch. I can make 80 exercises we made in this class. If I need it. For example, I read in like Caesar exercise to get interesting shapes and lines. Then I close being currents and reference pictures. And only with my sketches, I do need to save my own style and notice tail foreign one. At this stage, I usually quite good understand animal anatomy and features to draw it. Well, after, after this, I start my analysis stage. I look at my sketches and arrived down. All bots are like you could see it in exercise two of this class, how I do it. And finally, I start to stylize animal. I tried to simplify forms as much as I can. I experiment with Ellen and short-term of animal spots, play with textures and drive different pulses and make final illustration. At first time. Each can look so hot. But after you make it dies, you can spend up to 15 minutes. But try basic research and preparation stage. And you will see how interesting and original illustration become. 12. Making Projects: So congratulations. If you made all the exercises over the class. Now you have several array edit to use. Illustration. Was next. If you make your final AS tradition yet, now, each time I draw, all must have all my illustration in Adobe Illustrator. Sometimes I plan to Nixon watercolor crayons. You can choose any tool you like. It's up to you. As a project for this class, I decided to make animals ticket. If you also would like to follow me. Okay. Okay. Right. So I made my onboard a fivefold place, all my animals and started to make competition. After I've finished with compensation, I add a new layer and started to draw cutting line. Chitin is needed for the water to make stickers carotid form that sheet of paper. You should also ask your printed house which format and the color, mode or file they need. I'm always so happy when I get my products already. It's fantastic moment when that was all in my head. First. Real s For me, it's excellent present. For your friends of family. Option. If you would like to practice external exercises with your animals, you can go to any brain shop, right? Bible, for example. And look how your animals will look on different products. As an advanced letter, you can make seamless spot and design all postcard design. For example. You can also download TO illustration on stalks such a shutter Stoke or Creative Market. Sew them on Etsy shop. So products at your local offline shops, right? And straight book about animal all make flashcards for your kids. You can see there are lots of using options of animal InDesign. All you need is practice and illustrate more. And show your illustration. Does a war. 13. Final Words: So we are finished. I hope you enjoyed the class. And after you practice older exercises, you will be able to draw any animal C-like. Practice as much as you can. Try different styles, apply your illustrations on different products. It's impossible to find your own style in one day. But it is Samson that comes with experience. Remember, drawing is like working out muscles in the gym. The malpractice, the better result.