Create a Storybook Illustration: Composition & Mood in Watercolor, Ink & Procreate

1. Intro: Have you ever felt a sudden spark of joy while flipping through a beautifully illustrated book? That's the magic of book illustration, and that's what we're going to learn today. I'm a multi award winning artist, illustrator, and author based in Berlin. I had a lot of dream projects, but book Illustration is my true passion and has made my professional career possible. Let me tell you a quick story of how I landed my first book commission. A local publisher was hosting a contest for a new children's book with a tight deadline. I took all the freelance work I could back then, so I participated. There were five contestants. Two didn't meet the deadline. One's work wasn't really nice. Another artists, just copy someone else's work, and that left just me. I couldn't draw very well back then, but I had a strong sense of composition, which was crucial regardless of your style or skill level. In this class, we'll explore five key elements of composition and apply them to the classic fairy tale illustrations like Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. We'll also discuss how to approach publishers and editors how to work with manuscripts and scan your artwork in high quality. First, we'll use ink and watercolors. Then we'll work digitally on iPad using Procreate app. I'll show you how to apply gradients and textures, and I prepared some helpful downloads for you. Feel free to use any art supplies you have. The skills will learn I universal. By the end of this class, you'll be able to apply them in various creative fields from design and fashion to personal projects. Let's get started and create some magic together. The adventure begins now. 2. Inspiration Fairy Tale Books: Welcome to the very special part of the class Book Inspiration. We'll dive into the world of illustrated favorittales. In my home library, I have a lot of enchanting editions. And to be honest, I can get a few copies of the same book because the edition is so beautiful or I love the artist, or it's an anniversary edition. I'm sure you know what I mean. I want to show you a few artists whose work I admire. Their illustrations for favorittales are so balanced and unique and they capture the magical essence of the stories. Let's take a closer look. So the first treasure is the complete book of the flower fairies by Cicely Mary Barker. It's a wonderful collection of seasons and fairies and poems. We can discover the beautiful watercolors, ink and wonderful composition in every artwork. We can see the magic of fairy world, the wonders of the flowers portraits and seasons collected together in one book. I love the colors and the charm of this book, Illustrations. I think autumn is my favorite season here, but honestly, I love everything in this book. There are various editions, and I just wanted to have all fairies in one book. I even have a small one just for autumn, to be honest. We can discover a lot of details, and I love the technique. So obviously, watercolor works great with inks. Soccer. The next one is very, very famous GrimsFairy tales. I have this lovely illustrated edition by legendary Arthur echam. It's a collection of some best loved tales with spot illustrations and full page artworks. There are not so many artworks, but still more than in usual Grimes edition. I love the technique, and I'm sure you've seen the artworks before. Reckon was one of the leading figures of the Golden Age of book Illustration. Pen and ink, dramatic feel and the lines, everything is so inspiring. His work is noted for the pen and drawings which he combined with watercolors, just like in previous book, but it's completely different style. And that's what we're going to do today. We will also work with ink and then add watercolor on top. You can browse the tales. This artist is a huge influence. So magical book indeed. The next artist I find super inspiring is Walter Crane. So I wanted to show you these two editions I have with his illustrations, the Brother Grims tales and the collection of Fairy Tales. So I really love the format of this book. I think it's use Walter Craig's style. There's a variety of tales, and the overall design of the edition supports the style. He was a part of the arts and crafts movement, so his style is very detailed and it has a narrative. Of course, it's a book illustration, but, you know, foods and boots. This book is in Russian. It's my native language. So no surprises here. Cinderella. I love the graphic style and the bold contrast of the shapes. It's simple but very, very inspiring and striking. Beautiful details, limited color palette, a lot of patterns. I love the background on this one. He always includes some additional story telling on the background. There are a lot of editions, and I'm sure you can find different books illustrated by Walter Crane, like this one. It's a Grim'sFavorite tales illustrated by different artists, illustrators. And I really love the style. This one is beautiful. As you can guess, it's Cinderella illustration. So the one that we're going to do today. And I think Frog prints is illustrated by Walter Crane here. Yes, the details, very recognizable style. Frog prints. Exactly. The different tales have different translations, so you might find it with other titles. Beautiful artworks. Wonderful books. And now I want to show you some modern treasures. I would love to show you some contemporary illustrated books for all ages, which is my favorite genre. Let's begin with a short winter fairy tale. The Wood at midwinter by Susannah Clark. It's a fully illustrated edition, and I love everything that Susannah Clark creates. She's a brilliant author, and I'm looking forward to reading her new books. All of her books. It's a special edition. Very beautiful. And this is a wild swan and other tales by Michael Cunningham, illustrated by Yukoshimsa. If you love inks, you heard about her and she also has some classes on Skillshare. Beautiful ink, black and white illustrations. These fairy tales, as you can guess, are a bit dark. So black and white style sets perfectly, and just keep in mind that, indeed, it's a very gothic style of some sort. And here comes the Beauty and the Beast, illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe. Here we can see the iconic rose, which we also paint today. This one. It's a very beautiful edition. I love everything, the style, the depth of the artwork, the colors, of course, the atmosphere. Full pages of artworks and spot illustrations. Some of them are created in ink. Some of them, I think, are charcoal with watercolor on top. Very beautiful contemporary interpretation of the classic fairy tale, which we are going to do today. So I hope you enjoyed the enchanting book inspiration. It's always the favorite part from the whole class, and I'll see you in the next video. So let's move on, and I'll see you there. 3. Inspiration Around You: Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed the book inspiration and maybe even think about visiting a local bookstore. Speaking of going out for a walk, the world around us is the best inspiration. You live in a unique place. Just visiting your garden or strolling the streets can give so many ideas, sunset fields of natural parks or antique bookstores, anything. Even the facades of the building sometimes tell fairy tale stories. For example, here's the house on the way to my favorite coffee shop. That's right. The scenes are straight from the classic fairy tales. Try to find some hidden gems where you live, and I would love to read about your discoveries in your class project. 4. Materials: Welcome back. For our exciting journey, we will need some art supplies. Actually, any art supplies you have. Since we'll be focusing on composition, you can use materials that you love and feel comfortable with. I'll use my favorite combination of inks and watercolors for the Beauty and the Beast illustration, to create Cinderella artwork, I'll work on iPad using the Procreate app with Apple pencil. Let's take a closer look at what I'll be using. So here are the materials. You don't have to have everything. I'll just show you what I use, and maybe you'll find it inspiring. So for the worksheets, I'll use inks and markers. It's an ink brush pen. What's important it's water resistant, so you can paint over it when it's dry. I'll love to use this brush pen 'cause it's small enough and waterproof. It's just the usual mechanical pen, so very thin. The one I always use for any artworks. Then I use dual brush pen markers. I'll use three colors for light, middle, and dark tones. Now inks. I'll use Bingment based colored ink, so they will not fade over time. I'll use red for the petals and tell for the leaves. We'll talk about it in the next videos, and I will use this color palette. It's very comfortable to use the small one. Now the brushes. This I will use for inks. I like to keep separate brushes for ink. These are synthetic brushes size, too. So this way I always have separate brushes and I don't have to worry about keeping everything clean. Now, other brushes. These are also synthetic round brushes with variety of sizes, usually sizes two, three, six, and ten. That's what I use for most of my artwork. And now the mop brushes or French brushes. They hold a lot of water, so it's great for washes. I also use them all the time. Next, let's talk about paint. Here I have white gouache and my beautiful watercolor set. There are even shimmering colors, but I'll just use a few colors like pink, yellow, blue, I'll show you in the next videos. And, of course, the paper. I will work in Cotton sketchbook. It's large enough for any artworks and I love the quality of the paper, it's 100% cotton. And the worksheets I've printed on the layout paper is super thin and super smooth. It feels like a usual printer's paper. And I've also prepared the appropriate version of the worksheets just in case. So don't forget to download it if you want. Okay, so I think we are ready, and I'll meet you in the next video. Let's move on. 5. What is Book Illustration: Now let's talk about book illustration. Of all the artistic genres, this one is my favorite. You don't have to even ask me why. I will tell you anyway. Book illustration is such a unique blend of visual arts, storytelling and your own private experience. When you look at these images and texts together, you have a perception of the story that is unique to you. The history of this art ana dates back to the 15th century early European woodblock printing, and it's been evolving ever since. Illustrators not only create a visual interpretation of the text, they bring the story to life. Literature in general and, of course, imaginative fiction like fairy tales is an incredible source of your artistic inspiration. There are endless ways in which illustrators can communicate with the author and the reader. We as artists can actually control which part of the illustration is more important and set the mood for the scene. By the way we use composition, arrange objects, and use light and dark areas, we direct the viewer's eye and create even more interest and meaning. And that's what we're going to do on our journey. But before diving into creative exercises, let's talk about some helpful practices. In the next video, we'll talk about working with a publisher and editor, which is super helpful if you want to get published or realize your own projects. 6. Working with a Publisher: Welcome back. Now that we've explored the magic of book illustration, let's talk about practical parts. Book Illustration process is a collaboration. Working with a publisher can bring your artwork to the wider audience and to a completely new level. In today's market, there are many ways to realize your project. You can approach a publisher or self publish your book and promote it yourself. The key is to find the perfect match for you and your potential audience. That's the most difficult part. But how to find a publisher. The best first step is to go to the bookstore and find the books you love. And then find out who published them. You probably already have a sense of the segment that suits you. You should have a solid portfolio with a defined style and vision which you can submit to the publisher by email. When working on a book project, your closest contact will be the editor. Communication is the key to successful project. Be open to feedback. And understand that the editor may have another perspective on the future of the book. So it's not just about your artwork. Partnering with publisher and editor can bring so much to your creative career and artistic growth. Make sure you clearly understand the contract. You can always ask for changes if something doesn't look right. While large publishing houses have pretty strict contracts. They still can make changes. Professional advice and pricing, I recommend the graphic artist guilt handbook. Everything is very individual, but this book has been an indispensable resource for me. In the next video, we'll discuss working with manuscripts. I'll see you there. 7. Working with a Manuscript: Now we'll talk about one of my favorite parts of the process. Reading. When working on the book illustration, you have the perfect excuse to read some fascinating texts and dive into fantastic worlds. A manuscript is a written text that the illustrator uses as a reference to create a visual representation. It can even be a draft or an edited copy. Depending on the book's length and deadline, you might read the manuscript a few times and take some mental notes. It's essential to understand the main idea and the mood of the narrative. I usually think of the pacing of the book and mentally divided into segments. Even if I'm excited to illustrate certain scenes, they might be too close to each other in the narration. So I need to have this layout ahead. I ask myself what technique would suit this book best? Then I create some nail sketches, the small basic ideas of composition and style, and then choose the final ones to show as draft to the editor. Using this strategy leaves enough room for creativity while ensuring I'm moving in the right direction. Finally, in the next video, we'll talk about composition and how to apply to your work. 8. What is Composition?: So what is composition? Composition is the art of arranging forms and other elements within a picture to effectively express artists ideas. Regardless of skill level, well composed illustration creates a satisfying feeling of balance and beauty. We can control what part of the artwork is most important. We can make it bigger or put it in the middle of the image. We can guide the viewer's eye to the main point of interest by making it darker or lighter. There are so many elements of composition. In this class, we will focus on five basic ones. Line, depth, value, and rhythm. In the next videos, we'll practice creative exercises to explore these essential techniques. Let's move on. 9. Composition Warm up Techniques: As we discussed, let's try some creative exercises to explore the basic elements of composition. You can load the warm up sheets from class resources or simply use blank paper. I prefer to practice these warm ups in circles, so you can make a few templates for yourself. Of course, you can use any shapes, any art supplies you like. It's a personal preference. Let's get started. We'll begin with space. 10. Composition Element: Space: Let's get started. I've printed out the worksheets on this paper as we discussed, layout paper. And I also prepared apcriate version. Just in case if you want to draw digitally, you just pick any brush and draw inside the circles. I created two layers, and it's very easy to practice a little bit without any thinking. Well, with a little bit of thinking. Okay, so we begin with a space. It's also called picture area. It's the area of the artwork within your borders. Square circle or any shape you choose. I just prefer to work in circles for these exercises. You decide what size are the elements and where you put them. So for the first image, I will draw this little tiny boat as a small part of the picture area. I use the black ink brush pen to speed up the process a bit. So my idea is to draw a small object right here and the shadow. That's it. So the area around the object is super important to show space. It's simple way to create dramatic effect and impactful composition. Now we can add shadows. Oops, bit smudging. I had to wait a bit. Now, here on the water something like this. Now, we can control what part of the artwork is most important. We can make it bigger or put it in the middle of the image. And we can also use the rule of thirds, where you put your central object near one third of the frame to create the balance. Let's draw a tree. And plan it to be near one third of the frame. You will see the balance right away. Many artists work intuitively and they just create balanced artworks. But it's good to practice and to know what you are doing sometimes. Now, the artwork can also fill the whole frame of the image. Let's draw a huge flower. This way, the effect will be very different from two previous examples. Of course, you can draw anything. It's just the examples I decided to show you. The petals. It's like a close up photograph on your phone, but illustration is not a photograph, luckily, and it's very important to keep it this way. And Beto leaves here of maybe ten Petals lives over here, and I planted so I use this set of markers and the black ink to simplify the process, but at the same time, I like to have painterly feel even with markers. That's why I use three shades, the light tone, the middle tone, and the darkest dark. So the ink is dry. And as I told you, just a little bit of smudging, if I wait a bit, there would be no smudging, but we have a lot of things to do. It's a darker gray. Let's put some contrast on the leaves. And here and in the middle, just sketching with markers is very relaxing. At least at this stage, we can think about the general impression of the sketch and nothing more. Let's add a background. So we will have a beautiful worksheet. That's it. Maybe a bit of lighter gray on top. I love the sketchy feel of these exercises. So now we have three ways to use a picture area. They're very different, but they have the same idea. And in the next video, we will work on the line. Okay, so let's move on. 11. Composition Element: Line: Here comes the line. Is my favorite element. Even the simple line can be so powerful. Even the single line like this one, but we will add some more. The line is not just an outline surrounding the shape. Line can lead the viewer's eye to the point of interest. It creates mood, direction, and rhythm. And what I love is that it works perfectly even for a single object. So try to draw different lines and see how it feels. It's a very simple exercise. Just the shape created by the line. And now, I'll paint or draw a small scene and begin with a village road. This road will lead the viewer's eye right to the house. You will see. I draw a road with a soft border made of grass. And right away, you look at the end of the road, and you're curious. Well, maybe you're curious to see what will be there. But I already told you it will be a house. So let's paint it. With our inky brush, the roof. Nothing too detailed. But still, we need to show the whole house. Otherwise, it won't look so nice. So a door shape of the roof, more details. The idea is very clear, but still I would love to have three complete worksheets. That's why I'm adding all these tiny details all around. And here and bit more here. Super. Now we have the illustration with a direction. And now I'll try to draw flowers in a bit of graphic design fiel. If you, for example, are a surface pattern designer, you know this feeling. I simplify the flower, and I try to use bold strokes just to show the direction. Like sew and sew with a beautiful graphic feel and simplified sujet. Here, the same line I've been using in the first example. Very powerful tool. Like sell and a few elements. So as I told you, it's like in the first example. I use the same lines, the same principle. I just combine them differently. So here we have a contrast of the larger shape of the flower and the thin line with a direction. Beautiful. Now let's add some shadows for the interest just to keep the scene alive. When sketching, I don't like to use a lot of colors just to get the idea, and it's a very nice feeling to draw on the paper with a few shades. Let's add even more shadows to the scene and to the flowers, of course. Something was missing, and now I love the design that we created. So now we have three examples, and next, we will explore depth. 12. Composition Element: Depth: Welcome back, and we begin to draw right away. Depth creates an illusion of three dimensional space. So I love these exercises where the lines are interwind behind one another. So I just draw some lines and hide them behind the first one. This exercise is very simple, but still requires a lot of attention. I don't want to use any color to distract me at this point. It's the basic idea of depth. But still, we have a very graphic approach to it. So no shadows, nothing more than shapes. As you can see, the lines are everywhere, and we use them in all the most important elements of composition. It's a very relaxing exercise. And now I want to add the biggest element. It looks like a ribbon. Now, the bottom line and the middle line then I'll just draw a few spots of black to show a better contrast. Right away, we have this illusion of three dimensional space like this and like this behind these lines and here and here, a sketchy feel, but the idea is very clear. Let's sketch more over here like so and vinyl element. And here. Mm hmm. And we are ready. So to create a convincing sense of real depth, we use foreground, middle ground, and background. So I will draw a tree. And this will be the foreground. Then I will draw something behind it, and our eyes will follow the composition in an interesting way. Just a le tree right in front of us with flowers just for the interest, and then behind that famous house. Well, maybe another one with some plants or trees, something small. Closer to the edge of our shape. Now I think we need to connect it somehow, and we already have this idea in mind. Let's use the magic road that leads us somewhere somewhere nice, hopefully. Now a bit of details to keep the scene alive. Mm hm. So as you already know, we make shapes smaller when they get further away. That's why the house is small and the tree is much bigger. So a small scene where we can travel and have the path for the eye. So one of the best ways to show depth is to use overlapping. As we see in our life, part of the objects are partly hidden. Things that are closer cover things that are behind them. So we can use it to make a beautiful arrangement. For example, I will draw this object right in front of us, and I will draw something behind, which is partly hidden. And that will create interest right away. It looks almost like a still life element. The shadows, highlights everything with an ink pen. Just a hint. And now behind, I will draw a book, of course, open book with pages and lines and some secret script. Okay, so we have two objects in a very interesting arrangement. Now let's add some shadows. Just a little bit. So we'll have all of our studies in similar style. Why? Just because we can and it looks nice and it's a pleasant feeling to sketch with a few colors. And we have the white of the paper. So I really love the result. So as before, we have three examples of the depth, and now we can move on to the value. Let's move on. 13. Composition Element: Value: Here we go. Ally shows how light or dark are the elements of our picture. So here, I'll take the light marker and draw a tree. Just with this light brush marker, the lightness of the color will set up the whole mood of the scene. Value creates the overall mood of the whole image. Is it dark, dramatic or is it light and subtle? You can choose, and value also creates atmosphere that should be consistent. So it's a good idea to plan things ahead or use just one marker, like I'm doing right now. So the scene is subtle. No drama is involved, no contrast. Just a very, very subtle feel of the neutral gray color. Like this, maybe I should just add a bit of grass or something over here. Just a hint on the surface, like so. And that's it. The atmosphere is very clear. I will add another color which is also very light on top. So the scene will look organic. No black elements, no darker tones. Okay. So now I will draw some flowers, and I will try to add contrast right away. Leaves with darker color. And another one. So I will use here a key principle. The strongest contrast between light and dark should be on the point of interest of your image. In my case, this will be the middle of the flower. Less important parts should have less contrast. This key principle works for all the artworks for surface pattern design, for book illustration, even for just graphic design elements. Okay, so I have the flowers, and now I want to add the contrast. So naturally, I will use the darkest dark I have. Look, a few strokes and the image comes alive. We have interest right away. The graphic feel. This can be a spot illustration right away. Right on top of light gray, I have the elements. And like this, like this, I will adline for the interest. Super. That's correct a few elements a bit. And dots also for the interest. So the line looks almost the same in the whole sketch, and it gives the harmony. Okay, so let's make a dramatic scene. I will paint some trees in the dark night, and I will use the white of the paper for the snow. It will be the dark, dark, dramatic value. The trees are also dark, but the background will be even darker. So let's add another color for the ground just in case and then I will use very, very dramatic color for the background. I just leave the place for the snow untouched. It's a very loose sketch. So I don't think about details a lot. I just want to show you the general idea. So I leave the white of the page as a snow. And I just wanted to show you the contrast that you can achieve with just three colors right away and, of course, the white of the paper. Something like this. You can see the difference between these three scenes. They are all very different in value and in impact. So details with a darker color like we have here. Okay, let's move on to the rhythm part. 14. Composition Element: Rhythm: You're doing great. I'm sure you've already had some ideas that appeared while working on these exercises. It happens like this. Now, let's explore the final and my favorite element of composition. Rhythm. Here we go. This element of composition is very powerful. Rhythm uses repetition in any form to create flow and guide the viewer's eye. Here's a simple example. You can draw drops and see the pattern right away. Just a simple small drawing shows you the idea or the rhythm. Study the direction of the lines in your rough sketch and repeat some parts of the elements to create the flow. You can use just small shapes, brush strokes or even patterns. So here we can add just tiny strokes, and already we have interesting pattern with a variety of shapes and marks like this. Now let's try another thing. I will draw a huge flower with repetitive elements. I'm using the repetition of the lines and also the repetition of the shapes. They are almost the same but face different direction. And here I will draw the leaves, and they're also the same. The shape is very close. And we have this repetition here, here and here. Now, let's add some shading. You can change the size of your elements. They don't have to be exactly the same. But they should be recognizable enough to create this organic pattern. I think I will add a few more strokes here, here, here. So these elements look similar. And of course, as we did in previous videos, some contrast as a center of attention, and again, brush strokes. The same for the whole image. So we can recognize the repetition and feel the rhythm, even in this small sketch. Something like this. Now, let's add even more value. And next, I will use repetition. I will use repetition of the lines to draw a tree and add some shading. That's our line friend that we already know from previous videos. And I use the same lines, change the direction to draw a tree. And the branches will look very, very similar. Something like this and this and this and this. So we follow the direction on the lines, and we recognize the repetition in their shapes. Okay. Now let's add shading. Like so and like so, and maybe something in the middle, just to keep things alive. Okay. And I think we are ready. That's it. We've learned so much and meet me in the next video. 15. Applying the Principles : Welcome back. Now that we've explored the five basic principles of composition, let's apply them to our fairy tale illustrations. Before moving forward, I wanted to share how I use these principles in my own artworks, for example, in my own book, Brilliant Inks and in other artworks, like the Book Cover for the Secret Garden Novel, or the painting inspired by the novel The Life and Epinions of the Tom Cat More. Let's take a closer look. Here's my book, and let's open some spread. I'll pick the one I like most. This one. Here you can see a clearer used rhythm to lead the viewer's eye. It consists of small brush strokes, but the direction is very clear. Now, let's try something else. Every spread uses the principles that we discussed. Pomegranate. Here, the main character of pomegranate is surrounded by the frame of leaves creating a focal point of interest. What do I have? Here. A lot of interesting things. And in this illustration, the line is obviously playing the biggest part. Almost every artwork. More or less uses this principle. Okay. Now let me show you another painting. This painting is created for the book cover of the Secret Garden novel. I've set up a slightly darker value and depth, so we're drawn to the center of the image. The main character is surrounded by flowers. And let me show you the thumbnail sketches I did. I only had a dining sheet of sketchbook paper with me in cafe, but it's more than enough to try out some ideas. So I tried three or five different sketches, and I began with direction of the line. I had three lines over here. And another sketches are based on letters. You can learn more about it in my other classes. For example, on book Illustration, using Linocut technique. It's a wonderful class. So I had these ideas, and I also made some color studies. Actually, we'll do the same in the next videos, three colors, but they are very similar to the final result. The character, the background, and the position of the flowers. So this small set was enough to move forward. And now I will show you the painting in my signature style. It's a Tomcat Moore for the gallery show, and you can see the variety in value. There are a lot of shadows all around the main character, and the butterflies are super bright on the darker background. There is also a contrast on the edges all around the image, and, of course, the line is super important. As I told you, it's one of my favorite elements of composition. So I use it all the time on the leaves and on the character everywhere. Here, I used all the elements of composition to create a balanced and dramatic artwork. So you can use everything in one piece. Okay, let's move on and practice our skills. 16. Demo: Beauty and The Beast Illustration: Welcome back. I'm super inspired about this part. We're going to apply what we've learned and create a book illustration inspired by the classic fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. We'll begin with some nail sketches. 17. Demo Rose: Thumbnail Sketches: So here we go. I begin with some nail sketches to explore the ideas and composition. For our spot illustration of the rose, I plan to explore three operans. I will make some pencil sketches and then prepare the color palette. So I begin with a line as always. And I plan, for example, one flower here and another one maybe another element or even another flower over here. I'm just exploring ideas. Doesn't have to be standalone rows, and you can add anything you want. That's your interpretation. I'm working with a very loose strokes, so nothing distracts me much. Okay. I think this idea is clear. Let's try another one. This one will be in the center, and the line will lead the viewer's eye like so. Now we need to cross the interest. So leaves should be somewhere on the other side. We overlap, and we use read them. Mm hmm. Very loose sketch, not to spend a lot of time. Sometimes I get too many details. Okay. The next one will be just a flower looking closer to the edge to the right, and then additional elements like this. I think I love the middle one, this one the most. So now I need to plan a color palette. Here I have all the watches from my watercolor set that I'll be using. It's much easier to look at the real watches of the real colors, and I can plan the color palette right away. So I take the pigment paste ink for the petals. Let's check the color on watercolor paper. Ink and watercolor both, they change the color when they dry. So it's always a great idea. To test everything first. So this one is for the petals and the green one, the till one is for the background. So I plan to paint the outline with inks first. These inks work a bit like watercolors so I can draw very fine line, and at the same time, I can work like with watercolors. The ink is waterproof, so my plan is to paint over it with watercolors afterwards. If you've seen my other classes, you know the technique already. Now, the teal ink for the leaves. Let's try it out. Tiny wash, and I need to check the fine line super. A simple synthetic round brush is great for the test and more diluted version. Okay. It looks really nice. And I plan to make the outline of the leaves using this teal ink. It will not fade over time. And this color is for the battles. Shape is very questionable, but still you get the idea. Okay, now I need to plan the watercolors. I need to prepare the palette, so I spray it with water so everything is ready right away. And I'm going to pick a background color now. I want to make a beautiful gradient. So I think the cobalt and yellow should work. I take cobalt blue. And titanium yellow. Let's see how it blends together. Beautiful. Coupled blue and yellow. And this is coupled yellow. I plan to paint over the leaves with coupled yellow first and only then we'll cover it with green. I will usehalogreen, this one. So this layering technique, let me check how they blend together. Beautiful combination. So this technique will allow me to create rich and deep effect with a minimum of layers. This one is for the petals. It's quinacridon pink. And for the shadows, I will use rubby red. Quinocrdon pink is a beautiful color. It can be super, super bright and at the same time, you can soften the edges. So I will work with it over the pigmented ink, as you can already guess. That's my technique. And this is ruby red. I will use it for the shadows on the petals. It has a bit of different hue than quinacridon pink, but close enough to make a soft transition. I will use white gouache, of course, on the top layer, and I will use the color palette for the inks, not to spend too much space. Now, let's test our color palette right on the studies. I really love the feel of working on the small elements. I'm using the larger synthetic brush. I think it's number six. And I will try to add a bit of every color that we picked just to have the general impression. The studies really help to focus and to keep in mind the general picture of the artwork. Even if you change everything, you will have the anchor of what you're doing. It really helps me to work intuitively afterwards. Thumbnail sketches are almost ready. We have the general impression. Let's add brighter yellow on top to add the beautiful layering of watercolor. When the paint is dry, it will look a bit lighter, so keep that in mind. I love this version best, and we can move on. 18. Demo Rose: Inking the Outline: So here we go. I have my sketch ready. You can download it in class resources. And the first step is always to lighten it up. I'm using the razor, and it's best for the watercolor paper. Now I'll prepare the ink. I have this beautiful porcelain palette, and I will put a few drops of the red ink for the petals. So I'll be using synthetic brush size too as we discussed. So everything goes according to plan, and I will paint the petals. My sketch is very detailed. So I paint over the pencil outline carefully, paying special attention to the shape of the petal and the line. Inks will stay even after I'll paint with watercolors on top. So the line should be beautiful enough and support the whole impression of the artwork. I love to use detailed sketches. So this way, I have the plan of work way ahead. Now, another petal and I draw every, every line using the ink. Of course, you can use water, and you can colour the petals with inks. These are water resistant. So when you paint over it, nothing happens. It's a beautiful effect, but still, I think I will work with watercolors most of the time. But of course, you can experiment, you can paint with inks. I talk a lot about it in my book on colored inks, and I use a lot of brush strokes to show the direction of the petal and to support the shape of the petal. And of course, every tiny detail is very important here. In book illustration, it's almost like painting with words for me. And I want to add a lot of information. It's the way I love to work, and, of course, you can experiment and you have your own style. Just wanted to share how I prefer to work on such projects. So my plan is to work in the same manner all over the surface of the flower using the red pigmented ink. And then I will continue working on other parts. But for now, I will draw every petal using a lot of fresh strokes. So our petals are ready, and we can work on the leaves. So my plan is to use steel, pigmented ink, as we discussed, and I will prepare it in my color palette. I don't dilute the inks with water. I just use the ink straight from the bottle, like so. So I will paint in the same way like I did with petals. I put a sheet of watercolor paper underneath my hand, not to smudge everything. This inks are super, super fast to dry and still it's a good habit to put something under your drawing arm. So I draw the outline of the leaves and even inside the leaves. This way, we will have a variety of color, a variety of lines, and it will add a lot of interest even after we will paint with watercolors on top. So I already have everything in pencil and I just draw on top of it with inks. I have a lot of shapes here, so my plan is to carefully, carefully paint all the details. I'm working from the top, so it will be easier for my hand to follow this direction. But again, it's a personal preference. I know the artist who use another techniques. The edges of the leaves. This one is very close to the edge of the sketchbook, but it doesn't matter much. I plan to scan this artwork afterwards. Now details inside and it will stay in place and in other leaves. Okay, so I will continue in the same manner and draw all the leaves in our spot illustration. We have a beautiful outline. It's almost ready. This outline will shine through just a little bit, and it will bring depth to our illustration, and it's much easier to work over it with paint to keep the book illustration alive. Inks dries super fast, and next we're going to paint the background. 19. Demo Rose: Painting the Background: Our inks are completely dry, so we can erase the pencil marks. I erase everything with kinda eraser. It works best for the watercolor paper. I think for any paper, and now we're going to paint a background. We already pick the colors, so we know what to do. We pick the colors cobbled blue and titanium yellow. Now I will put some clear water around our rose. Inks are water resistant, so we don't have to worry about smudging. At first, it feels a bit scary when you put a clear water right on top of your outlines, but inks dries super fast, and you won't be able to smudge anything. So I put some water around the leaves, around the petals, around the flower. I want to keep the expressive shape of the background and not color the wrong page. So I think I will use the larger brush. Synthetic brush size six and cobbled blue right on top. What a beautiful contrast right away. I enjoy the first brush strokes of the background every time. I push the paint around. The water is still wet, as you can see. So I have the soft transition with soft edges. So in some places, the water is almost dry, so I will need to add a bit of water again. I carefully work around the edges because I want to keep the details. And I also carefully, carefully add more and more blue on the side. I want to keep the expressive shape of the background. So it's not a perfect square or anything. I don't use Muskin tape to control it. Just a free hand painting with a very pointy brush. You can always increase the color. The cobalt blue from my set is pretty intense. It feels almost like, gosh. And I know that when it's dry, it's going to be lighter and have this made filter it. Okay, a bit of blue inside this shape. It's important to have the whole background around the petals colored with blue. This way will have a beautiful contrast. Behind the leaves, Let's intensify parts the background. Later, I would add yellow closer to the bottom of the page and create a beautiful gradient. That's my goal, that's my plan. We planned everything together. So now I'm just filling the background Okay, now let's soften the edges. Let's soften the edges a bit. I'm using mop brush or a French brush and clear water. Paper towel is a great tool if you need to make your brush, not so wet now on top, more pigment on this side. And then I think I will need to soften the ends like this. I try to think about the shape of the background as a separate shape. So it should be expressive, but still support the overall composition of our spot illustration. Now, the yellow. I want to add yellow to the bottom of the background, and it will create a beautiful gradient. It's important to test the colors first, especially blue and yellow. Sometimes they create a green that is not the best choice for the background, so that's why I tested everything before. Working on the final artwork. And now I want to blend everything and have this soft, beautiful transition between colors. Then I will put more blue on top to intensify the impression, of course. Our background is almost ready. As you can see, we have the outline. Our background is almost ready, and all we need to do is add color with watercolors on top. We already have the beautiful transitions right here. Let's add a bit of water and yellow on top of the blue. It's a beautiful combination. No unusual green, a bit of green, but I will soften the edges and the transition. So everything will look balanced. So I soften the edges. And here I have some strange dot. Let's cover it with plume. And what I'm going to do next is to intensify the blue color especially closer to the main focal point of our spot illustration. We want to have a beautiful contrast but still very organic feel. Nothing too bright or too predictable. On top. You can add even more layers or just use one layer. It's also a personal preference. More blue on the background and behind the leaves to support the shape. I can almost imagine how I see this in black and white or without any color at all. So I soften the edges using my fringe brush or mop brush, and it's a long process. So speed up process is a good idea, and our background is almost almost ready. When it's ready, I will wait till it's dry. I don't like to use hair dryer in sketchbook because it makes the pages sarp. So I will just leave it as it is. The paint and ink dry super fast. So we can move on to our painting part. It's very exciting. 20. Demo Rose: Painting Petals and Leaves: Welcome back. Our painting is completely dry, so we can move on and paint the petals. I'll be using Quinacridon pink, and I'm going to paint, as we discussed over the ink with watercolor, like so. I'll use synthetic brush size six for the intense color, and then I will blend it with French brushes. This way we'll have a beautiful transition of the color, almost like a gradient. I need more water. Like so. Sometimes I use just two French brushes at the same time to speed up the process. As you know, they hold a lot of water and a lot of paint. So I can cover the larger areas at one take, I move from the top. This way, I won't smudge anything. Sometimes I forget to put a sheet of paper underneath my working hand. So intense color closer to the edges, and then I blend it closer to the top. I already know where the shadows are because we have this ink strokes. And then I blend it, like, so We should have a beautiful variety of value on the same petal. This way, we'll achieve this rich and interesting feel and depth. I think I will use French brush, as I told you. To French brushes probably will work better. Let me add some water. So I'll paint with a smaller French brush closer to the edges with more intense color and then blend with pure water, like so. This way, we can quickly achieve the beautiful effect, and we don't have to worry about inks. Everything is super dry. Everything is waterproof. So my technique is very convenient in that sense. I'm working around the center of the flower. The first layer is very important. You can plan the future layers at this stage while you're working on this one. So I know here we'll have darker shadows, more intense colors. I look at the brush strokes, and I will continue in the same way. Now it's time for the leaves. I will use cobelt yellow as a first layer. As we discussed, we had a plan and we will follow the plan. So cobalt yellow is warm color and will have a beautiful contrast. Over the tell of the ink right away. So I just cover the whole leaf with yellow. I'm using large synthetic brush size six. Well, for me, it's a large brush, but I know artists who enjoy working with 12 or ten. So it's a personal preference. Let's add some brightness. The beautiful contrast. I really love the color. It's so sunny and cheerful. And we have this tell ink underneath. So we already have a beautiful contrast and painterly feel even with the second layer with just one more layer. So my plan is to paint all over the leaves. And then in the next step, I will add green on top. But first, I need to make all the leaves yellow and I will continue in the same way. It's very mesmerizing process. Now, we're almost ready. I'll add a few strokes to cover the white space, and the first layer will be ready for the next step. I have a few spots left during the process, so I will cover them up and we can move on to the next stage. And this one. Okay. 21. Demo Rose: Adding a Second Layer: Welcome back, and we continue. I will add color sand to the middle. We have some paint left, and it's a good idea to do it right now. It will mix a bit with our quinacridon pink and create a beautiful transition. Okay. So it looks wonderful already. And now I want to add shadows to our petals using Ruby red. We have first layer of the quinacridon pink ready, and at first, I want to increase the intensity at this stage. So let's try this ruby red as we discussed. Like I did just now, it would be much harder with pink to add shadows. So I picked another very, very close color, but still with a different hue. Like this. It's pretty much intense. So I will need to blend it a bit more. Like, so, since we already have a plan with inks with the first layer, it's much, much more easier to follow the route. French brush works better for me at this point. I use two French brushes as we did before. So I blend it with water. The color is very intense, but it can be different depending on the brand you're using. I'm using very, very highly pigmented colors. These are professional watercolors, and some of them are very intense or they look almost like guash a bit. So it's always a great idea to test everything first. Blend it with water. And here underneath the curl on the petal. It feels like sculpting a bit. Everyone has different manner of painting or drawing, so you can do whatever you like to change the order of the things that you plan to do. For example, you can begin with watercolors and then draw with inks on top. It's a different imagination in works. Darker tone. So I use darker tones closer to the edges to keep the value and to have this three dimensional effect, the illusion that we can increase later. So I begin with shadows. And when the whole area is covered with shadows and entails color, I will then work with white gouache on top and will make the highlights even brighter. And for now, I will continue painting in the same manner and will paint all the shadows and petals on our beautiful rose. That's my plan. Here we have wonderful depth. And now the next step is to paint the leaves. Once we have the petals ready, we can move on to the next step. I'm happy with the result, and I love the way the petals look and the shapes. Everything is blended and beautiful depth is everywhere. So the leaves, as we discussed, I've tested the colors for the leaves, and I will use ptalogreen on top of the yellow. It will create a rich gradient right away. I plan to take a lot of paint and then blend it with water using, yes, you guessed right, mop brush. So the process is almost the same every time, but with different colors, different mediums, and different thoughts. So I put a lot of color right on top. I avoid ink brush strokes, but just in case, so I could see them as a guide. And then I will blend everything with water. Our first layer is dry. So when I put some water on it, it blends a bit, but not too much, you can control the amount of water you're using. What effect. I work with very light, subtle brush strokes. Beautiful. You can see the effect we're aiming for. Subtle transition of the color. We still have the lines of the inks. And this way, we don't have to be super precise. We will have the beautiful technique and the effect working for us. Now the water, try to use different amounts of water, and you will see how it works, especially with your paint. Every watercolor paint behaves differently and has its own character. So it's better to know how things are working. And I also love to plan things ahead. Now I will try another leaf. I think I need more paint. Everything depends on the surface, on the brush, paper, paint, so many unexpected situations and blending. Me water and subtle subtle blending for the beautiful effect. And I will continue working in the same manner on all the leaves on our beautiful illustration. We have a beautiful rose, and let's add even more depth. So next, I think I need to add the second layer of the green, closer to the edges, the shadows to intensify the color and the overall value of this part of our book illustration. So closer to the edges, I put a lot of green but not so close to the top of the leaf to have this beautiful contrast. We already have a mix of yellow and green and everything together. So we'll have this unexpected blending happening. The beauty of traditional artwork. Always something new and surprising. Now, here I think I need some support. Okay, super dark green, very intense color. It works as a shadow if painted close to the red. So we have a beautiful contrast right away. With the mop brush, I blend the shadow, so it will look smooth and will keep the organic and painterly feel of the whole artwork. A few strokes here, a few strokes here, just a little bit, small touches. When the whole painting is almost ready, you can feel what you need to add to keep the balance to unify the whole artwork. And it looks wonderful already. You can see how just a couple of layers you create this deep rich effect. Just a few layers. It's not that much for painting, and we have the real depth and interest and everything on one page. So let's move on to the final part. 22. Demo Rose: Adding Highlights and Details: Welcome back. And we begin to add magic with white gouache. I will mix a bit of white with pink, so we will have the subtle rose color. You can change the amount of white, the amount of pink to get your perfect hue. And I love to do it during the process, so I just put them next to each other and mix everything in a very free way. Something like this, beautiful pastel color, and I will use it for the highlights. As usually, I will use the intense color first, and then I will blend it with water. With gouache, things are a bit different. The paint is more opaque and it's quite intense. So I think I will need another brush like this. Gouache turns more mat when it's dry, so you should keep that in mind. And of course, it will mix with our initial layers, creating a beautiful transition. But sometimes the effect will disappear a bit. That's why you can add a few layers if you feel that just one layer is not enough. So this white on top. I color not the whole petal, but some parts of it to keep the interest. I'm supporting the shape of the petal and blend it closer to the edges of other petals. So bright ascent on top. And I think here, we already have the dark shadow underneath. So white on top will create a beautiful and striking contrast right away, like so. So we're painting the shape on top. Beautiful beautiful effect, but I need to blend it more. It's super intense. It won't be so bright when it's dry, and since I know it, I can just leave it alone for a while. But of course, I'll be thinking about it because I always think about everything too much. Okay, so more blending closer to the bottom of the petal. And near the edges of other petals. These transitions are very important because they keep the general impression of the artwork alive. Okay, I planned the whole area we've just painted, and that's the principle I'll be using for the rest of the flower. So I will be using the mix of white and pink in different proportions to build the highlights of our beautiful rose. And keep everything in balance like these more brushes are great for blending. You don't have to use too much water with them. Something like this. Okay, I continue working in the same way. Okay. We have beautiful result. And now our rose has a subtle shining and at the same time, depth and artistic feel to it. So next, what we're going to do? I want to add some stamin in the middle. I will take titanium yellow. You remember it from our background and very subtle strokes, dots over here, right in the middle. I'm using the small brush size too. It's around synthetic brush and just scatter some dots around the middle of the flour. This yellow feels almost like white. So you can just mix any yellow with white and get this intense, intense color. I just have titanium yellow in my watercolor set. But you can mix your own, of course. Some scattered dots. Beautiful effect. Okay, now the secret sauce, I will use the cobbled bloom. You already saw it. And I want to add extra depth and aesthetic with subtle huge on top. So I will take a bit of cobbled bloom and add it over the illustration. I can mix it with white for a more subtle feel. So it will cover the thick green on top. Like so. Just a few strokes. This will make a huge difference. The tiny details always play a big part. So I mix it with white a little bit to get more intense consistency. The texture is more opaque. Like, so right on the leaves. We have a beautiful contrast next to the flower, and we have a blue background. This way we unify the artwork. For example, if you work digitally, you can just put the texture layer on top, like we will also practice in the second part of the class. But here, it's more complicated. So we need to be inventive and super brave. Okay, a few strokes over here and here and here. So every piece of artwork had a small amount of cobalt on it. Super. I really love how it looks, but I need to blend it a bit. We don't need anything too sharp at this stage, because the center of the artwork is still the flower itself. And when you're working with book illustration in mind, you're thinking about print and you don't want too many details. So we have the main focus, the main part, and the leaves are just supporting the composition and the overall impression on the flower. So I blend everything with mop brush. We already have a few layers, so everything blends together, and we can add another layer. On top of the blending, it's always a nice touch. Not everywhere, but on some places that will feel right. Like here, here. And maybe here. Mm hmm. It's a very nice process. Everything's almost ready, and you're just polishing things. I love this part of the process. Not too much pressure to create anything, just to keep the balance and to build the atmosphere even more. A few more strokes. At this stage, I'm just looking at the illustration in general and think what I can add. So I think the second layer of the copper blue is a great idea. So what I'm going to do is add a bit more of the blue on top. And then, of course, I will blend it. Otherwise, it would be too graphic and to balanced to the whole style of the artwork. So I blend the edge carefully. Now it looks very wet. But when the color is dry, it will look more mat. Now, here. So basically, I work around the edges of the petals. They are fully painted now and adding a layer on top. Supports the shape and the color even more. Like this, we're creating the background on top of our first layer. And here, you can always smudge it, blend it, or lift the paint if you feel that it's too much. I work on the edge. It's a large mop brush, and this edge is also important. Some paint over here. It's a pure cobalt blue without any white. But as I said, my paints are very, very intense. So yours might be not that thick opaque. Now, here I think a little bit, and then we need to transition to the bottom. So leaning begins right away. We almost finished our painting, some final touches. And we have enchanting rose illustration, brush strokes, layers, everything unified in harmony. So I'm going to scan it in high resolution so I can print it in any size or send to the publisher. And in the next video, I'll show you how I scan my artwork. And now we have our beautiful enchanting rose Illustration ready right in our sketchbook. Let's move on to the next part. 23. How to Scan Your Artwork: Here we are. I highly recommend scanning the artwork and not photographing it. This way, you'll keep all the nuances and brush strokes of the beauty we've created in our sketchbook. So I make sure that the artwork is completely dry. We don't need any rush at this stage. It's better to wait and to double check. Before scanning. And next, I'm going to place it in the scanner. Like so. Make sure your artwork is flat and aligned with edges. This way, you won't lose important details. So I carefully put it in the scanner. Then I open preview window. For scanning, I usually start with overview scan. Here, I can crop and adjust to make sure only the artwork is selected. It looks great, and I choose the color mode and resolution in these fields. Usually, I'll scan at 600 DPI, but the common practice is 300 DPI, which works fine for both print and digital. But if your computer can handle it, 1,200 DPI can give you even more detailed result. So I will scan my artwork. It takes a few moments, and our beautiful artwork is ready. We see all the richness. We see all the details, the brush strokes. We can crop it. And I will save it for future post production. And that's it. 24. Digital Book Illustration: Welcome to the second part of the class. We will use the magic of digital tools to bring our illustration to life. I've noticed that I take bed with me more often than Ral sketchbook. Well, which is perfectly fine. Traditional art is inavailable to me, and I believe we can combine the best from both worlds and grow as artists. You can even experiment and combine both techniques. For example, by making digital sketches to test the ideas and make changes quickly and then complete the final artwork traditionally, or use the approach that works best for you. We'll explore digital techniques in Procreate like blending modes, gradients and textures to add traditional touch and charm to your digital artwork. You can download some custom materials I've prepared for you in class resources. If you want some additional materials, I have some really awesome sets available. Just check my Skillshare page. In the next short video, I'll show some of the procreate settings. So if you're using other software, no worries, you can just skip it. 25. Procreate Settings: Here we are. Let me show you some of the settings I love to use. I will go to settings, apps, find Procreate, and I will make sure that simplified Andus is off. This way, I have a better control over the process steps. Then I go to Apple Pencil, and I turn off the double tap. I don't use it, it's just a personal preference. Instead, I use a squeeze option that is supported by my pencil, and I use it to show color palette, but there are other options. You can try to find out what you like best. Then we go to Procreate. We create a new canvas by pressing this little folder with a plus. The canvas size. I prefer this one. And if you plan to print your artwork, make sure to set a DPI resolution to 300 or high like 600. It can even be 72 DPI if it's only for web, but I don't recommend it. So then I go to range icon, which is actions, preferences. Here they are, and I go to two controls. Here are all the options. I turn off the assisted drawing. I like to keep my original brush strokes. That's also my personal preference. There is one more thing, pencil pressure curve. In Procreate, you can change the pressure of the pen. We go to wrench icon and tap pressure and smoothing. You can change the pressure of the pen and pull the arc up. This is my usual setting, but you can always reset it. So try to find out what suits your style best. You can reset to the usual setting, and I work with this one. It can also be done for separate brushes. There's another thing I wanted to show you a reference mode. We go to range Canvas and reference on a small window, you can see a canvas here or some reference, which is super helpful. You can recise it or even make swatches. Let me show. I guess watch the color of this beautiful watercolor texture, which you can find in class resources, by the way. Like so. You'll see in the next video, we'll talk about how to apply textures. 26. How to Apply Textures: Welcome back to a depth to our work. We will apply textures. If you never use textures before, no worries. Let me show you some quick ideas. This approach is universal. You can use the same logic in Photoshop or other software. You can find my custom textures in class resources. Here we go. I love adding real textures to my digital artworks. So I created some watercolor experiments and scanned them professionally. You can see it's very thick, watercolor paper. You'll find these textures in the class resources, and I hope they will inspire you too. I use professional art supplies and high quality watercolor paper. They are very detailed. You will see. So basically, there are two main ways you can add textures in Procreate. First, by using the scan texture images directly or by using them as custom brushes. Let's start with the first one. I open my illustration and go to ED, insert a photo. The texture appears as a top layer. You can change the size, and of course, you can move it above or below the artwork, and you can also change the opacity and blending mode. I usually use multiply or overlay here. You can see the effect right away. I love the way it adds subtlety and grain in unexpected way. The texture is hand painted, so you always have this organic feel. You can change different preferences and experiment whoops to check how it would look on your artworks. So you can see the difference. The second way to use texture is to use it as a brush. Let's check it out. It gives you more flexibility because you can apply the texture exactly where you want it. So you just pick any brush with texture and apply it to the area. Add the texture, and you can also change the blending mode afterwards, like so. We can make the full texture like I have on the photo or you can just paint over a small element of your artwork. Here, I can add texture to the hair and flowers, some grainy feel and change the blending mode to find the effect that I like, and I can change the opacity. So if I want just a little bit of texture, I can do. Let's make the full texture. It's my custom brush, mixed media paper brush. You can also download it as a bonus in class resources, so we can try another texture and just experiment. So we get the idea. Both methods work great. It's just a personal preference, almost like everything in art. But if you want detail, it's better to use brushes, and if you want the overall textured feel, it's better to use scanned texture instead. There are a lot of brushes and textures. You can compare the results and see what happens. And in the next video, we'll learn how to apply gradients. I will show you my favorite way to do it. So here at the blending mode, and let's move on. 27. How to Apply Gradients: Welcome back. There are a couple of ways to create gradients in Procreate, and I'll show you my favorite. I'll show you how to use Gaussian blur and Smudge tool. This is the principle that I'll be using in my cinderella illustration. So I want to be prepared and to show you the way I usually paint. So I will paint some flour or, I would say bud and then with this simple form, I will show you the technique. So a few small leaves here and maybe here. So the color is just neural green. I will fill it with color, and then I will add a second layer of the color on top, or you can do it right next to the first color. Let's choose the basic color yes, it should be underneath the outline. So I'll just quickly color this small illustration with green. Then I will pick another color, lighter one right on top. Or you can put it next to the first color. It doesn't matter much. You will see the principal right away, like so. Then I will paint even more. I think, like this. Yes. Then I will click Alpha Log so everything stays in one layer. And then I go to adjustments Gaussian blur, and I slide my pencil across the screen to control the blur. Like so. The more I slide, the softer the gradient. If you use Photoshop before, you already know this principle. So it's really quick and awesome way to get the smooth blending. That's the first option. And let me show you another option that is closer to my style SmudgTol. It feels more painterly more like working with real brushes. So basically, I just smush the colors together. If you watch my other classes on Procreate, you already know this principle, too, because I use it in my artwork all the time. It feels like working with gouache or watercolor. Like so. I love the organic feel. The brush strokes, great. So something like this. I also like to merge the layers and then use Much tool to blend the edges even more. Usually, it's the final step in my illustration process. When I work digitally, let me show you how it works. Oops. I merge the layers, and then I use Much tool and just blend the edges even more. So when everything is almost ready, I usually merge all the layers and correct some small parts and blend everything together. Super. Now you know the techniques we'll be using, and in the next videos, we will work on our beautiful fairy tale illustration like this and this. Okay, let's move on. 28. Demo: Cinderella Slipper Illustration: Let's get started. We will create an illustration inspired by the legendary favorite tale Cinderella. There are many versals of this tale. We're going to depict the iconic symbol, the glass slipper. It's curious that in the German version of the story, the slipper is golden. We'll begin with striking composition at ink in details and use gradients and textures to bring our illustration to life. And then add a touch of magic to it. 29. Demo Cinderella: Inking the Outline: Welcome back. I already have my sketch of the Cinderella glass slipper with flowers. And here's a color palette. You can find everything in class resources. I love to find inspiration everywhere. So I just saw these beautiful shoes in souvenir Museum calendar, and I was just amazed by the details. So I took a few elements as an inspiration and, of course, the flowers. Of course, you can use this sketch, but if you want to add your personal strokes, you can use any ink brrush on top layer and draw your outline like this. Let me show you you change the opacity of the layer. Create a new one and using any ink brush, just work with your hoops. We need a new layer, as I told. And with your brush strokes, you create a sketch like so. You will find all the download in class resources. So we have a sketch. We have color palette, and we are ready to go. What we need is texture. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to add a texture right away at this first step so the sketch will be the top layer, and I will put the texture underneath like we did before. I prepared a vintage paper texture, so we will have this beautiful filling right away, like this. I love the color combination and the texture is very subtle. So I think it's a great match for the atmosphere of the artwork. So I duplicate the sketch, and it's my habit from Photoshop just in case when something happens, I always have the initial drawing, and then I'm going to make a clipping mask on the new layer. This way, I will be able to color the lines, and it won't affect any other area. This is the way I usually work digitally. So I pick the color. I choose any brush that works well in this size, and I color the lines depending on the artwork. So I paint the flowers. Just like in traditional painting, I would paint with red and then paint a few colors on top. The clipping mask allows us to work on specific area without ruining anything else. Everything stays inside the lines, so I can change the color. I plan to paint butterflies with yellow, so we will have this beautiful accents. Let me show you a bit of playing here, here and here. We'll have this triangle of yellow color, which will bring a lot of interest to the illustration. Okay, at the moment, my next color is green, so I color the lines of the leaves and everything around the red flower. Like so you can change the opacity of the color. You can change the pressure, everything. And I prefer to use a lot of colors at first, and it brings a lot of interest afterwards. So the shoe is made of glass. So obviously, we will need blue collar and butterflies are Yellow. Like this, like this. And we're almost ready for the step. I think we have yellow, red, blue, and subtle pink closer to the slippers the center of our illustration anyway, so we need to have some free space, so to speak around it. I want to make the petals darker for the future digital watercolors, and the slipper should be a bit lighter, of course. It's transparent glass. Okay, it looks great, and we're ready for the next step. 30. Demo Cinderella: Petals and Leaves: Welcome back, and it's time to apply the techniques we've learned. Let's use a reference mode. We already know how to do it. And what I'm going to do. So here I can see the whole sketch. I will use Selection tool, and then I will work with every element separately. Let's create a new layer. Then I go to selection, and I begin with petals. You will see the process. I think I will work underneath the sketch. I select the element is a free hand, so I can draw any shape I want using this selection tool. And then I will fill it with color. Anything from color palette or you can just pick anything from your reference like so. And then I will tap Alpha ok so everything stays inside this layer, and I will add another contrast. Color, in this case, closer to the bottom of the flower. And some darker color on top. It doesn't matter much which color I'm using at the moment. The most important is this subtle transition I will create afterwards. So I paint the shape of the petal like so, and then you know what I'm going to do next. Cosan blur and I slide the pencil across the screen. Very, very subtle blur. Now the next layer and I will do the same with another parts of the flour. You can select as large or as small areas as you like, depending on your style. The principle will stay the same. I love a lot of details, so I just work on this part separately. At the end of the process, I will merge everything together because I love to work in traditional way. So I would treat this illustration as the one painted on watercolor paper. Then I add more colors, and I can just swatch the color of the outline Apalok and Gosenbler so. And next. So I will select a few more elements and continue working in the same manner all over the petals on top of the glass slipper and on the side. So don't forget to tap Alpha Lock at this stage, of course. Later, we won't need it anymore. Time for the green elements. I plan to use not so many details, and it's difficult because I love details. So I just color them in plain green color. And then I will add shadows and highlights on top. So now I just makes a general impression of the background. And then I will use shadows as darker green behind the petals and, of course, behind the glass slipper. So let's make sure everything works. And I begin to add darker green on the same layer that we have. Like so. Just a hint of the form. Dark elements on the side and behind the petals. I use subtle brush strokes and a few strokes here and there, and, of course, the shadow behind the slipper and bet on a flower and, of course, the main shadow to create a three dimensional feel. Then I'm going to add highlights with a lighter green. And I will even add yellow on top. But for now, I need highlights like this, like this. And since we already know about butterflies, I can use yellow for the interest. Let's pick the color and add some glowing elements with yellow here and here. Super. We have magical scenes, so we can use anything we want. Now, let's check Alpha lock and use Gas and blue as we did before. I slide the pencil, blend the colors, and merge everything together. Now, the butterflies and other yellow elements. So I will group everything together. Again, I try not to be caught up with too many details. That's why selecting a few elements can be a great option. And then I will use yellow and a bit of shadows just a little bit. To have this glowing yellow warm impression on the edges like so. Looks beautiful. And I will add a few shadows just a little bit, like I did before, slightly darker. Yellow. You can use any brushes. General impression of the shape. Nothing too detailed. Outline is detailed enough. A few strokes over here and on the wings and on the flower. I can't wait to paint our magical sleeper in the next video. So I quickly finish these parts. Let's see what we can add darker over here and darker areas over here. Closer to the leaves. Let's see how it looks. Goes and blur a little bit. Super and we merge everything. Okay, we're almost done, and in the next video, we'll continue with our magical glass flipper. This one. 31. Demo Cinderella: Rendering the Glass Slipper: Welcome back. We have everything in place, and now it's time to bring our glass slipper to life. I will begin by selecting the whole slipper shape, and then I will fill it with a soft base color. Don't forget Alpha Lock, you know, so we can stay in lines using free hand selection I draw around the slipper, the heel here. So I will have the whole shape. It doesn't have to be perfect. In my painterly style, it's not that important. Now, let's pick the color. I would say this soft blue works great, like this. So we have Alpha log selected, and it means that we will have the edges clean. And now I'm going to add highlights and shadows. I will add lighter tones to suggest reflections. You can begin with shadows or highlights. It doesn't matter much. But for glass, I think working with highlights is easier. So I plan the white almost almost pure white parts. And then I will add darker shadows with darker blues and smudge everything together like we did before. So white reflections, transparent reflections. I will blend everything with Gaussian blur as we did before. So I don't worry about being super precise. The shadow beneath the bow closer to the edges. I still have the outline, so it may look a bit um, To painterly at the moment, but it will look beautiful at the end. Let's add a few strokes here. Darker domes, here and here. These are a bit random shapes. Oops. We don't need it here. TotapT undo, then this part closer to the edge. And closer to the petals. Of course, the he should be more pronounced. And again, so now I think I can add even brighter color, maybe even brighter blue. So we will have the whole artwork in harmony. I love the way the bright blue works close to the petals. So as you can guess, our goal is creating the delicate transition as we see in glass. So I will use Gaussian blur as we did before to blur these colors that I used. I add some brush strokes around the slipper. Okay. I think even more highlights would work great. And next, I'm going to blur it using gas and blur, like so, okay, just a little bit, and you can see the blur. It's very, very subtle. And, of course, I will need to correct the shapes afterwards. I will do it using Smudge tool. I will merge everything together. And before I work on the slipper, I want to add a few brush strokes on the petals. Right now, I can see that there are some gaps in color. And now that we have the full composition, almost ready, I can feel what I need to add to have the harmony. It's the most important part in any artwork. So the things work in balance. The shape of this petal is very important because it's very close to the slipper. And I will pay special attention to this part, especially when I will merge the outline afterwards. Here, let's add some contrast to the bloom. That's great. We added a brighter blue. The red almost pink is quite vibrant, so we will have a beautiful impression. Now, what we're going to do next, I always duplicate the layer just in case it's my habit from Photoshop, as I told you, and now I merge everything together, like so. So the whole artwork is one layer. It means that we are ready for the magical part themuch too. But before that, I want to work on the petals a bit more. I always try to think about what I can do to make the artwork even more beautiful at this stage before the final touches. So I plan to improve the edges of the petals. Here we have beautiful shape, and I want to make it more pronounced. So now that I have everything in one layer, I can smudge using pintage paper brush or any other soft brush. The subtle edges right here. The smudge tool pushes the paint around and makes this beautiful painterly transition. The Smudge tool works for every part of the artwork. I love to use it for final refinements. It feels very painterly almost like working with traditional brushes. So I enjoy this part a lot. I smudge with vintage paper brush and push the colors around. So I add depth and I form some highlights. I try to think about the general feel of the artwork and not about every little detail, and I love details. So from time to time, I need to remind myself that the general impression is very important. So I much the paint closer to the edges, and I also push the paint around here and there, the outline gets this blur of traditional brushwork closer to the edge of the slipper. We create a beautiful transition of color. So I add depth, and then I need to add even more highlights, I think to increase the contrast. So I just paint over the shapes a bit. Of course, closer to the slipper, I need to be more careful. The highlights are brighter in the middle. And then the battles get darker. Here, I need to add a bit more color. Imucht again. Here and here, I change the size of the brush or I can change the brush to another one just to get the structure and the texture right. Let's pick the lighter color. Like so, I think I should work better. Doesn't matter much the brush you're using the more important are the choices that you make along the way. So here I want to have a detailed line to lead the viewer's eye like we had in our worksheets and a few strokes. Here, now it looks almost finished. I enjoy this part of the process a lot, so it's very difficult to stop. Let's see what else we can do. These parts of the artwork are not so important, so I try not to pay a lot of attention. So as you can see, I smug everything with broad brush strokes. And I don't care much about being super precise or staying inside the lines. I just want to keep the general impression of the magical floral sliver. This part should also be very, very blurry, but the petals should be, of course, seen. So I work of the petals on the top flower, and I add shadows underneath. And a few more fresh strokes. So I swatch the color right from the petals, and I add it here and there to keep the beautiful impression. And, of course, I pay special attention to the edges. It's very important part of any any book illustration. Butterfly and then the leaves I skip some parts of the lines to have this organic feel. And I even make some parts more precise at this stage. For example, here, I think the contrast behind the slipper is very, very important. It makes the slippers stand out, and the darker, darker green works as a great contrast to the color of the petals. So smudging here behind the slieper even more, of course, subtle background, almost no details here. And maybe I want to add a bit more shadows over here. So I add and I smudge, and I push the paint around. We're almost ready at this stage. The petals. So by combining blur and smudging the slipper gets this magical shimmering look. It looks very painterly and organic. And in the next part, we'll add some sparkling, final touches to it. And you will see the beautiful result. 32. Demo Cinderella: Final Highlights and Details: Welcome back. In this final part, I'll focus on refining the details. I can see that I need to refine shadows and highlights on the slipper. You can choose any brush. It can be sharp or very soft. It doesn't matter much. So my plan is to make the shadows deeper and try to make highlights sharper. I work on the parts that need to be more precise. We already have a lot of highlights and shadows, so this will add another layer of depth to our illustration. Let's pick the right color. And, of course, I will smudge it afterwards. So this way, I will create a beautiful transition sharper shadows closer to the tip of the slipper. I imagine there are a lot of reflections. So I put some random strokes on the surface. The bow the edge should be very accurate as we already discussed. And then I just add more highlights and shadows. I think about the shape, I think about the material, the texture of the glass. Even thinking about it makes my hand draw differently. So I can add random brush strokes for the highlights. And then, of course, I will need to add a few color essences. For example, a bit of red on the slipper. It's a transparent slipper, a magical one. So it should reflect everything around it. Now the shape looks better. Like this, like this. And I continue in the same manner. And now I want to add some reflections. I want to add some blue on the leaves. It will support the illusion of our magical glass slipper. I will paint reflections and sparkles all around. These blue brush strokes will unify the whole artwork. And I really love the contrast all the colors. So subtle strokes, if you color scents here and on the leaves, I think it's a good idea. So everything around the slipper and even on the petals, but not too much, we still want to have the organic feel. It should be not too much. Near the sleeper behind the sleeper on the background. You can change the transparency of the brush if you feel that it's too bright, something like this, and then yellow. We have this yellow contrast all around. So let's increase it a bit. So I put some brush strokes on the leaves, but not too much again. We don't need too many colors. I'm working on the edges, the important part. And then I'm going to add a bit of red right on the slipper. Inside the glass, of course. Like so. A bit of red inside the glass will make the transparent and shimmering effect even brighter. Like this. Just a little bit here and here. And then, of course, I need to smudge it. So everything looks in balance. Like so. If I see the outline is too sharp, I will smash it again and again, and I can always add some highlights or shadows on top to make things sharper and then smash them again. So if you use a lot of layers and I mean, not technical layers, but layers of paint, it always shines through. It's a great technique to achieve the painterly feel of traditional art. So now I want to make the slipper even brighter. What I'm going to do is I'm going to use curves. But before I want to select the whole shape of the slipper. So I will work only on this part. I want to make it brighter, but only a slipper. I will make the selection first. And then I will go to curves, and I will carefully adjust the tones. Just a little bit like this. I will make it a bit brighter, like so. This way will have a brighter, polished look. Super. The shimmering and magical effect looks even more beautiful right now. So now I can see that I need to increase the shadows, make them more dramatic. After any filter or adjustment, I always return to the general image and check if I need to add something, change something so we can keep the balance. A lot of tiny decisions closer to the edge of the bow. Like this is small, small adjustments, which are very important. Next, I will add a texture on top. We're almost done. All I have to do is add a texture and a few sparkles. So the shapes are ready, and I'm going to duplicate our texture that we already have, put it on top as a top layer, and change the blending mode. And opacity. Overlay is a great choice, but you can try other modes. You can see the difference. I love the effect, how it looks, and I will continue to refine the elements and increase the shadows and make the highlights brighter. We're almost done, and it's time to add magic. I will add sparkles with a brush. So I select the slipper, so I will have the full shape, and it will be much easier to work with special effect brush. I will add a few highlights that suggest glittering glass. It's a standard flare brush. So you will have it in a standard procreate choice. And there are different types of special effect brushes. You can try what you like best. So I add a few highlights on the slipper. The light feels like a real fairy tale. If you change the size of the brush, you will have different effect. All these finishing touches, they bring everything together. The artwork shines, but still has this organic feel and painterly feel, which is super important. So I add a few highlights. I group them together, not to have a very computer graphic pattern. So if you here and here, I change the size of the brush, and then I will smush them a bit. This way, it will feel more like traditional art. So I will add them all around. And then I will use a smudge tool to work on some of them. But not every sparkle will be smudged. Then I try to think where to put it too much. It's a very difficult balance not to overwork everything, especially with these enchanting sparkles. I just want to put them everywhere, but I know that I should be very mindful about where to use the small elements of magic. So I smoth them a bit to have this beautiful, shimmering reflection on our glass slipper. Everything shines. Here. I think I need to add another edge. So I correct the small details at this stage. The textures are here, everything is ready. The sparkle and the shining of our illustration looks wonderful. So we don't need sharp edges here. So we've created a magical, shimmering, beautiful illustration. And I'm going to save it. Of course, you can do it in this menu. That's it. And I'll see you in the next video. 33. Your Assignment: I'm so happy to see you've made it this far. Looks like you admire books and stories as much as I do. And I'm so curious to see what projects you create. Your assignment for this class is to create your own book illustration and plan any technique we've learned. It can be a tiny black and white illustration or anything else that tells a story and captures the viewers attention. Feel free to follow along with one of my demos for Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella. I've uploaded a helpful outline to save you some time. Then I encourage you to share your artwork in the project gallery. It can be just an idea, a reference to the Fairytale text or anything else. It can be traditional or digital or both. You can also share it on Instagram. I'll be waiting and we'll meet again in the next video. 34. Final Thoughts: Well, here we are, thanks so much for joining me on this magical journey of book Illustration and composition. As artists, we have an incredible power to express our ideas in a unique and meaningful way. And I hope you gained valuable insights to use in your own creative practice. If you're looking for more inspiration, check out my other classes and resources. I also have a very special book on color Things called Brilliant Things that you might find Health. Follow me here on Skillshare to stay updated on news, new classes, and giveaways. The button is somewhere above. You can also find me on Instagram and even join my mailing list. But most importantly, you should keep practicing your art, and maybe visit the local bookstore for inspiration or treat yourself with a new gift edition of a classic fairy tale. Just a note. I'll be waiting for your artworks. This class is an anniversary edition. Thanks for your trust support and for sharing your creative journey with me. I'll see you next time, and let's believe in little Magic.