Draw a Vintage Scene in Procreate: From Client Brief to Finished Artwork

1. Intro: There's no denying the timeless and nostalgic appeal of vintage artwork. It can effortlessly transport us through time and evoke the beauty and simplicity of everyday life in previous generations. Modern work in a vintage style blends the best of both worlds, creating art that's not only meaningful for the present, but also a captivating link to the past. Hello. I'm Karen, and I'm excited to welcome you to Draw a vintage scene in Procreate from client brief to finished artwork. I'm a graphic designer and illustrator based in New Zealand. I've been freelancing for the past 12 years, and over that time, I've developed a specialty in retro or vintage style Illustration. I've had the privilege of creating artwork for posters, cars, magnets, and. And today, I'd like to share my knowledge with you. You'll be delving into the world of vintage style artwork while also joining me on a real life realnce Illustration contract. I'll share all my tips on how to give your work a vintage feel, as well as preparing it for print. I'll also take you through my process of interpreting a client brief, idea generation, also versioning and revision of artwork and client communication. So you'll have everything you need to go forth and create your own vintage scene. Whether you're an aspiring artist looking to enhance your skills or a seasoned professional. This class is an opportunity to explore the vintage style, while also flexing your creative muscles. To get started, you'll need a few essential tools, either a computer or an iPad or tablet, and digital art software. I'll be using my iPad with an Apple pencil, and I'll guide you through the process using Procreate, but you can complete this class using any tools you prefer. So if you're ready to dive in, let's get started. 2. Class Project: Let's take a look now at what to expect for the class project. This class will be focused around following a creative brief, so you get a better idea of how to handle an illustration project in a real world situation. Over in the project resources, you'll find a creative brief template that you can download and fill in yourself. Seeing as you probably don't have a real life client, there are three different ways you can approach the project. The project roadmap also in the project resources contains the details on all of these. Option one is to select a project from the fake client e mails. These are being created with varying levels of information about the project. If you have questions or need more information from the client to help you write your brief, you can ask in the discussion area. If you have a genius idea, option two allows you to create your own vintage project brief. There are a few suggestions to help you get started, and I encourage you to bounce your ideas off other people too, whether that springs or family or in the discussion area. And finally, option three is to join forces with a classmate. The idea here is that you'll step in as clients for each other and benefit from communicating and making changes based on feedback. To follow this option, you can head over to the discussion thread with a project idea and find a classmate to work with. Once you've finish your vintage scene, upload it to the project gallery and share your process and your thoughts. Doing this not only helps inspire others, but it also gives you important feedback about your work. So now, your first task is to go through the project roadmap and choose or come up with a project on your own. And in the next video, we'll start on a creative brief. 3. Lesson 1: The Creative Brief: You've just received an e mail from a new client about an illustration project. They've given you some details about what they're after. They're happy with the price you've quoted, and they want you to get started. So now you need to start planning the project, and the first step is to gather all the information you have into a comprehensive, creative brief. The last thing you want to do is skip over the details as it can lead to missing important information and wasting valuable time. But what is the goal of a detailed brief? And why do you need one? Think of the creative brief as a bridge between your client's expectations and your own creative vision. Drafting the project specifics often uncovers gaps in the thought process, hidden complexities, or risks. It also ensures you and the client are on the same page, avoiding unexpected hurdles. And lastly, it can save time, minimizing the back and forth between you and your client and streamlining the project's progress. While the content of creative briefs can vary, there are a few common elements that a good brief should include. A project description is a clear outline tailored to meet the client's objective. Identify the target audience, so you can shape the creative direction. There should be style references. Include examples of artwork, colors, and styles that the client likes. Technical specifications, for instance, sizes, formats, and any brand specific elements. And finally, timelines and budget. Defining the project's duration and budget range sets clear expectations for both parties. Investing time upfront in a creative brief lays the groundwork for a successful project. So with that in mind, your next task is to fill in the creative brief template for your chosen project. And once that's done, we'll take a look at some techniques to help you generate ideas for your vintage scene. A. 4. Lesson 2: Idea Generation: Now that you have a creative brief and perhaps a few initial concepts in mind from the client's information. It's time to elevate your ideas to the next level. The first stage is research. Begin by delving deeper into the era, setting and elements specified in the creative brief. Gather as much information as possible to fuel your imagination and creativity. Seek inspiration from various sources such as historical references, vintage photographs, artwork from the specific era or related visual materials. This phase helps broaden your creative perspective. For my project, I research things like vintage London posters, the history of the London underground and iconic London artwork, also searching for the specific terms my client mentioned, so I had a clear understanding of their inspiration. After you've researched, another handy technique to generate ideas is brainstorming, mind mapping, or free writing. These methods involve jotting down ideas in a free flowing manner, connecting thoughts or mapping concepts visually. Brainstorming encourages spontaneous idea generation without judgment. While mind mapping organizes thoughts into interconnected branches, and free writing involves continuous writing without pausing to edit. The final stage in idea generation is sketching. You can choose to sketch your ideas on paper or in a new procreate file. You can use reference images to keep your sketches well defined and proportional. Label each sketch clearly, use the same aspect ratio as the intended artwork and indicate where any texts will be. This will make things easy to understand when you present your ideas to the client. Feel free to do an initial round of rough sketches if you need to clarify your ideas without the pressure of having things looking nice. Then you can refine your best ideas in the presentation ready version of your sketches. 5. Lesson 3: Drawing Your Scene: At. Now it's time to begin drawing your vintage scene. Firstly, let's open a new Canvas in Procreate, and we want to customize it. Make sure it's set to 300 DPI and set your size in whatever unit of measurement you prefer. Because Procreate uses raster graphics, we need to make sure that the canvas is at least twice the size specified for the finished artwork. The coasters my client wants are roughly 9.5 centimeters diameter. So I'm setting my canvas to three times that, so there won't be any noticeable pixelation when they're printed. Don't forget to give your project a name, and you're good to go. I'm starting by copying and pasting in my sketch, and this will help me position my reference images and give me a guide to work to as I progress. It's also helpful to name your layers as you go. That way you can find them in the layer panel. Next, I'm going to create a new layer and place my first reference image. You can approach this anyway you prefer, but I'm going to start working on the background and the train first. You can drag your sketch layer to the top to help position the reference image and then just turn the visibility off and on as needed. You can add other reference images now or later as you need them. And I've found a version of my reference image that has more of the background, so I'm adding that in too. Now let's set up our color palette. You may want to use colors from your reference image, but more often than not with a vintage scene, you'll be using colors inspired by your chosen era or theme. For the colors I'll be using, I want them to fit a London theme with the main color being the red train. So I'm adding a photo of some artwork that has a similar color scheme. Colors aren't copyright, so it's okay to get color inspiration from someone else's work. Just be mindful to use the colors in a way that's unique to you. You can click on the plus icon to create a new palette, give it a name and then start adding colors by holding your finger down on the color you want from the image. This will activate the eye dropper tool, and you'll see the new color appear on the top of the loop. Lift your finger and the new color will be selected. Then you can put your finger down again inside your new palette and add the selected color. Repeat this process with each color you want to add. You can zoom in and out by pinching with two fingers. And if you want to remove a color, hold your finger down on the swatch until the delete option appears. Once I have all the colors added, I like to sort them from light to dark by dragging the swatch squares around. Or if you're more organized than me, you could add your colors in this way to start with. Add in any extra colors you think you'll need, but you can easily edit your palette as you go. Now that you have reference images placed and a color palette to work with, it's time to start drawing. You can set the background color by clicking on the background layer and selecting a swatch from your palette. Then create a new layer to draw on. For my brush, I'm using this studio pen from Pcates inking brush set, and I'm just leaving it on the default settings. You want a brush that's going to give you a solid edge sts easier to fill the shapes you'll be drawing. Adjust the size if needed with the slider controls on the left. Because I can't draw a straight line to save myself, I'm using Procreate's in built auto straightening tool, drawing the line and pausing at the end, holding the pencil down. You can adjust the line angle by moving the pencil and then just lift it when you're happy. If you make a mistake, use the undo arrow beneath the brush sliders on the left. Once you've defined the edges of your shapes, fill them with color by placing a finger on the color picker button, holding and dragging it onto the canvas in the area you want to fill. Work in layers creating a new layer for each shape you draw. You can drag layers or tune them on and off. And if you want to combine two layers, you can do this by pinching them together with two fingers. I'm now starting to add in some detail. You can adjust the brush slides and move around or rotate the canvas using two fingers if you need to work at different angles. I'm turning off my reference layer at regular intervals to check my work. Another good trick is to use the eraser tool to remove parts of your shapes and clean up the rough edges. Procreates auto straightener also works for the eraser tool and both straight and curved lines. Much like an oil painting, keep building layers of shapes from the background up, adding detail as you go. Another common way to work from a reference image is to place it as the top layer and adjust the opacity in the layer settings so you can see your work underneath. Usually about 50% opacity works well. For more detailed parts of the work, you can create the main shape and duplicate it. 6. Lesson 4: Final Artwork: Now that you've completed the first version of your vintage scene, it's time to send it to your client for feedback. Firstly, click the Spanner icon in Procreate, and then click Share. You'll find a list of file formats to choose from. I'm choosing TIFF format because it's the highest resolution, and I need to take the artwork into adobe illustrator to add a border and text and mock up how the round coaster sticker might look. But you can choose any format that suits to share a version one with your client. You'll likely need to make some changes based on your client's feedback. In the case of my project, the client requested changes to the people in the scene and also the text around the edge of the artwork. It's important to remain flexible and open to these revisions and not take any negative feedback too personally. If needed, you can fine tune elements like colors and typography. You might need to adjust the color palette or experiment with different fonts to achieve the desired look and feel. As long as you've chosen solid colors, changing colors in procreate is pretty quick. You can select a new color and then just drop it inside your layers. I usually file my artwork on the computer, where I like to create a folder called versions to keep any modified files. In procreate, you can make a copy of the file to add more work to. Then if you have to step back to a previous version, it saves having to undo or redraw your work. This is also a good way to work around Procreate's layer limits. If you can't add any more layers, make a copy of your working file, then combine the layers in the new file. You always have a version with the layers uncombined in case you need to make changes later on. Once you and your client are satisfied, you need to prepare the final. Make sure to check if there are any preferred file formats and color settings for the intended use, and be sure to export these options from procreate to supply to your client. 7. Conclusion: Congratulations on reaching this point in the class. By now, you should have an idea of where to start with your vintage scene, or you might even have a finished project ready to share. If you haven't finished your project yet, keep up the fantastic work, and I look forward to seeing it in the project area very soon. In this class, you've explored the world of vintage style artwork while following a client brief. You've harnessed the power of procreate to capture the essence of your chosen era, and you are well on your way to transforming your ideas into a timeless digital masterpiece. There are infinite possibilities in the world of vintage artwork, so I encourage you to keep exploring and keep experimenting. Remember to share your project in the projects area. Not only will you be showing it off to the world, but you'll be encouraging and inspiring other students along the way. If you've enjoyed this class, please do consider leaving a review. Your feedback really encourages my growth as a teacher, and it also ensures that classes like this one stay on Skillshare. If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up to date with what I'm doing, you can follow my teacher profile here on Skillshare and also follow me on social media. Thank you once again for being a part of this class. And until we meet again, keep creating, keep exploring, and being uniquely you, and I'll see you next time.