Mastering Illustration - Your Toolkit to Create Meaningful Illustrations for Children

1. Introduction: Hello, I'm Ramona Kolinski, a New York Times best selling illustrator, specialized in children's Illustration. Nested in the charming city of Potsam Germany, over the past years, I've had the privilege of bringing the magic of storytelling to life through illustrations in over 20 books. My journey has encompassed a diverse spectrum from crafting board books for the tiniest tots, creating all kinds of picture books to breathing life into the vibrant covers for young adult readers. Let me take you back to the beginning when I first decided to dive into the world of illustration, I vividly recall wrestling with a torrent of questions, which medium should I use? What style best conveys my artistic voice? What subject matter should I focus on? And the biggest question of all, how can I translate the vivid visions in my mind into beautiful, evocative illustrations? My early attempts in illustration were marked by uncertainty, aimless journey with no clear path ahead. Hours of work often unraveled as I struggled with ideas that shifted mid stroke. Achieving the illusive right look for my drawings proved challenging. Creating harmonious color palettes was a mystery for me. After countless of hours, the finished illustration often fell short of the vision that I had in my imagination. The dream of becoming a professional illustrator felt unreachable. Thinking about this years later, I can't believe how easy this all has become today. In this course, I'm thrilled to share with you the very toolkit that I developed over the years, a toolkit that will empower you to create illustrations, brimming with atmosphere, narrating captivating stories, and stirring emotion within your viewers. My goal is to equip you to convey your unique stories through images and to provide you with a well defined, easily navigable pathway to create an illustration. After working through this course, you'll possess the skills to turn your visions into captivating tangible artworks. Our journey will begin by delving into the art of ideation and dissecting the structure of a compelling illustration. We'll explore the significance of sketchbooks and how you can train your creative muscles. I'll guide you through each step of my personal illustration process from scribbling tiny thumbnails defining the perfect composition, sketching colo selection, and finally painting the final image. Along the way, we'll unravel the secrets of design principles like image composition, shape language, the importance of color theory, and the artistry of character design. By the end of the journey, you'll not only hold a finished illustration, but also possess the right tools to create captivating children's illustrations and create a portfolio that will spark attention. So let us begin our creative voyage. 2. Influences and Inspirations: When you start thinking about your influences and inspirations, take a look at your childhood. What did you like to spend your time with? What made you happy, and what were your interests? I remember being fascinated by all kinds of stories, especially the fantastic tales by Michael Ender. I love diving into the boundless adventures of the never ending Story or into the wisdom of Momo and the escapes of Jim Button. Later on, as so many of us, I was sabound by the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Even today, as an adult, I still love reading the books or watching the movies. The profound influence of these stories continues to shape the very essence of my creative work today. In my illustrations, I revel in the art of juxtaposition, blending the ordinary with the extraordinary, infusing the mundane with a touch of magic. Beyond these fantastical narratives, I always loved spending time in nature, and I still draw a lot of my inspiration out of the natural world. Every year, my heart leaps with joy as the first snowflakes of winter softly cover trees and houses and create a magical winter wonderland. I also love traditions like baking cookies, decorating the house, and the coziness of sitting inside with a hot tea and watching the kids as they play in the snow and build snowmen. I love to capture the seasonal shifts in nature, as well as the different activities and traditions and my illustrations. I think there's so much beauty in these small moments, and appreciating them can make life so much more joyful. But it's not just the landscapes and seasons. I also always had a special bond to animals. Long walks with my dog around lakes and through the forest and ride through the fields with my horse have the power to draw me out of daily life and allow me to fully embrace the moment and appreciate nature's beauty. In my journey as an illustrator, I've come to realize the profound importance of nurturing these sources of inspiration. I've learned that sometimes stepping away from the drawing board, immersing yourself in new experiences, and indulging in the activities you love can be the very thing that breathes life into your art. So take a pause, reflect on your own unique influences and springs of inspiration. It does not need to be nature, animals, or seasonal traditions like it is for me. Maybe for you, it is big cities, science, or historic events. Whatever it is for you, let these elements nurture your creative soul. By doing so, you'll ensure your artistic path remains true to you and also that your illustrations resonate with the viewer, because only then they are truly authentic. And after all, let me tell you, there is nothing more disheartening than creating something that fails to ignite your excitement. Strive to craft a holistic portfolio filled with illustrations that reflect your personal essence and your interests. And this, my friends, is the surest path to sparking emotion and inspiration in those who view your art. 3. Materials: In this course, we'll dive into the fundamental principles of design and illustration that form the basis of captivating artwork. While I personally guide you through the digital realm using Photoshop, I want to empower you to embrace the medium that resonates most profoundly with you. The beauty of art lies in its boundless possibilities. Everything I accomplish digitally can be replicated with analog media. If you find yourself at the beginning of your artistic journey, I encourage you to embark on a grand exploration, a whimsical adventure through a myriad of techniques, tools, and artistic mediums. Dip your brush into watercolors, sketch with vibrant colored pencils, experiment with the tactile feel of pestils or try yourself in Photoshop or procrd. As you experiment, take a moment to observe yourself. What feels like second nature to you? Which medium seamlessly ushers you into the creative flow? Do you emerge from your artistic endeavors feeling drained or invigorated? Even working digitally, I've discovered that dabbling with real paints and pencils can infuse your illustrations with a unique vitality. And remember the journey of creating illustrations extends far beyond the final image. Equally important is that you enjoy the process itself, finding that illusive spark of inspiration, sketching out your thoughts, and finally bringing your vision to life. The magic lies not only in the destination but in every step along the way. And here's the secret. There's no need to confine yourself to a single medium or technique. Combine the digitfinss of your sketches with the tactile richness of analog final art or chart a reverse course if you like. Explore the harmonious combination of watercolors and crayons or the striking contrast of markers and pastds. You can shape your own purses however you like. Enjoy the experimentation, and in the process, uncover the medium that speaks to you and create an outcome that you personally find aesthetically pleasing. I 4. Ingredients for a Good Illustration: Creating a successful illustration involves a combination of artistic skill, creativity, and thoughtful decision making. These are the five most important points that contribute to a good illustration. A good illustration always has a clear and compelling concept. Before you start drawing, you should ask yourself, what story or message do you want to convey through your illustration? A well defined concept serves as the foundation of your artwork and will guide all your creative decisions in the process of creating it. Do you want to tell a joke, create attention for a special topic, tell a story, show a fairy tale in a different light? What do you want to say with your illustration? Effective composition. Composition is the arrangement of elements within your illustration. It plays a critical role on how viewers engage with your artwork. A strong composition leads the viewer's eye, creates a focal point, and establishes visual balance. Consider factors like the rule of thirds, leading lines, and the use of negative space to create a composition that captures attention and communicates your message effectively. Colors have the power to convey emotions, set a mood and enhance storytelling. Choose your color palette carefully, considering the atmosphere and the emotions you want to evoke. Harmonious color schemes and well balanced contrasts can elevate your illustration and create a lasting impact. Attention to detail. The devil is in the details, and small elements can make a big difference in the success of your illustration. Pay close attention to the intricacies of your artwork from textures to shading to precise linework. Details can add depth, realism, and character to your illustration, making it more engaging for the viewers. A successful illustration tells a story or evokes emotion, whether it's capturing a fleeting moment of joy, conveying a sense of wonder or depicting a dramatic scene. Your artwork should connect with the viewer on an emotional level. Think about the narrative in your illustration and how it resonates with your audience. In addition to these five points, remember that practice, experimentation, and continuous learning are essential for growth as an illustrator. Developing your skills and honing your unique style will contribute to your success over time. Keep pushing your creative boundaries and never stop exploring new techniques and ideas. 5. Ideation: Ideation is where you give yourself permission to let your imagination roam free. Allow your mind to leap beyond the boundaries of the Mundan and to explore different paths. Don't try to pick the one perfect idea right away. Rather, give yourself the room to experiment. Try to see failures not as stumbling blocks, but as stepping stones to innovation. Go back to your personal influences and inspirations. Keep a sketchbook where you scribble down ideas and concepts that flow through your mind throughout the day, like a diary, interesting or moving moments and situations of your life, thoughts and new things you've learned. This sketchbook is just for you. It is not about making beautiful drawings or showing it to anybody. It is purely to think through ideas and concepts, to make quick sketches that you can come back to later and maybe explore further and create a full illustration out of it. If you have a general topic or idea, you can do a quick brainstorming. A single thought can spark a chain reaction, igniting a sequence of related ideas. This process of challenging assumptions and pushing the boundaries of conventional thinking can oftentimes lead to unexpected and creative solutions. To help this process, you can create, for example, a mind map. Mind mapping is a visual technique that starts with a central idea and radiates outwards with connected thoughts, concepts, and associations. It's like creating a visual rout map of your thoughts, allowing you to explore related ideas and uncover unexpected connections. To spark your imagination, you could also use visual prompts. Use images, illustrations or photographs and let the visuals guide your thoughts and inspire new concepts that spring from the emotions, stories, or scenes depicted in the imagery. Spend a few minutes each day with these techniques and to scribble in your idea sketchbook, and soon developing captivating concepts for illustrations will come natural to you. Creativity is like a mass. The more you use it, the stronger and more effective it will become. 6. Moodboards: Once you have a concept or an idea for your illustration, it can be very helpful to create a mood board. Mood boards are an essential tool in the creative process, especially for artists, designers and illustrators. There are visual collages that capture and convey a specific mood, atmosphere, or a theme through a collection of images, colors, textures, and sometimes even text. It helps you establish the mood, emotion, and atmosphere you want to convey in your illustration, whether it's a whimsical children's book or a dark and mysterious scene, a mood board sets the tone right from the beginning. To create a moodboard, I oftentimes use Pinterest and create a new private board there. Or I create a new Photoshop file where I collect all the images, colors, and reference photos to build a clear image in my head of how my illustration should look. It helps me to find the right color palette, specify my idea, and it's great to have all the references at hand once I start painting. You could also do the moodboard analog or create a folder, do whatever fits right for you. Creating a mood board ensures that your illustration maintains a consistent and coherent visual language. When you gather images and elements that harmonize with each other, you are more likely to create a piece of art that feels balanced and aesthetically pleasing. Colors play a significant role in evoking emotions and conveying messages in your art. Moodboards assist in selecting a color palette that aligns with the mood of your illustration. By arranging color swatches and images with dominant colors, you can see how they interact and make informed decisions. 7. Character Design: A good character design is essential for engaging storytelling. It resonates with the audience and contributes to the visual appeal of an illustration. Character design is a creative process, and there's room for experimentation and personal style. In this video, I want to give you some tips on how to create a successful character design. First, create a clear and interesting silhouette. It should be distinct and easily recognizable. If you only see the silhouette, you should already get a sense of the character's personality. A clear silhouette help se viewer to quickly identify and connect with the character. If your character appears in several illustrations like in a children's book, consistency is essential to avoid confusion. The character's features, proportions, and overlook should remain stable throughout the story. The character's visual design should reflect their personality. A character's facial expression, body language, and clothing can say a lot about their personality and emotions. Again, consider your target audience. Round, simple shapes, a friendly face, and bright colors appeal to young children. To make a character's role in a story more obvious, you can use symbolism and iconography. Symbols like a crown for royalty or a Stoscope for a doctor can provide instant context and understanding. Strive to create characters that are memorable and leave a lasting impression. Unique features or quirks can help to make your character stand out. Avoid stereotypes and be aware of cultural sensitivities. Research and cultural understanding are crucial when designing characters from diverse backgrounds. Pay attention to visual hierarchy and ensure that the most important elements of your character are emphasized. This can include the character's face, key Sosas or distinctive features. I think designing a character is a bit like doing thumbnails. I do quick and rough sketches, try out different proportions, clothing, and facial features, and as always, feel free to experiment. 8. Illustrating for Children: Illustrating for children is a form of storytelling and a powerful way to nurture their creativity and imagination. A children's illustration should be approached with empathy, enthusiasm, and a genuine love for inspiring young minds with art. When you are creating artwork for children's books or other child oriented projects, always try to keep the age and development stage of your target audience in mind. Illustrations for children should be clear, simple, and easily comprehensible. Try to avoid clutter and overly detailed artwork to not overwhelm the young viewers. Children are often drawn to bright and friendly colors. A vibrant and visually appealing color palette evokes positive emotions. The characters in your illustrations should be relatable and endearing so that children can connect with them on an emotional level. Clear facial expressions and body language should be paid extra attention to. If you are illustrating a story, the illustrations should complement and enhance the narrative and help to convey the plot, emotions, and character development. Try to avoid depicting unsafe behavior or situations. If your illustrations include any products, activities or settings that children may imitate, consider safety implications, especially editors and designers will pay close attention to these details. Children have rather short attention spans, so it helps to make illustrations engaging to heart their interest. Create illustrations that encourage exploration, curiosity, and imagination. Hidden details or interactive elements can make your artwork even more captivating. If you are working on a series of illustrations for a book or some other kind of story, consistency in style is very important. It helps to create a cohesive visual experience and makes it easier for the children to follow the story. If you are including text, choose a child friendly and legible font. The text should be easy to read and have a good contrast to the background and should not obscure any important details of the artwork. I always try to represent diversity in my illustrations. I think children's books should reflect a variety of cultures, backgrounds and experiences so that children can see themselves in the stories. 9. Shape Language: Shapes are an effective form of communication that you can use to enhance a specific mood, atmosphere, or emotion in your illustration, or to underline the personality of a character. It is a powerful tool that influences how viewers perceive and connect with your art. Sharp and angular shapes, for example, can be used to show tension, danger, or add excitement to your illustration. You can even use this effect in nature. Sharks are powerful and fast predators, and they have triangular sharp shapes all over the body. You can use these sharp angular shapes in your character design if you want to draw a villain, for example, maybe he has spiky shoes or his body form looks a bit like a triangle. Think of the Iv witch in fairy tales. She oftentimes has a pointed head and a sharp nose. In contrast to that, round and soft shapes communicate comfort, warmth, harmlessness, approachability, gentleness, and sometimes vulnerability. Take a look at this koala. He is basically a big fluffy ball. His ears, eyes, nose, and ovary body shape are round and soft. This is why we perceive koalas as harmless and cute. I oftentimes use round shapes in my character designs for children's books, since round shapes especially appeal to young children. Round and soft shapes add to the approachability of a character and can help to make a character look more cute and friendly. The arrangement of shapes influences the overall harmony of your composition. A carefully considered interplay of shapes creates unity and coherence. A chaotic clash on the other hand, might disrupt the visual flow and confuse the narrative. But be aware, too much unity can make your illustration look boring. That's why it is important to have unity to create a coherent look, but also add a little bit of variety to make it interesting. When you use shapes to create a composition, also think about the lines in your image. In the left image, I use soft and organic shapes combined with horizontal lines. This creates a calm and peaceful scene. On the right image, I used triangular shapes and included many diagonal lines, which makes the image a lot more exciting and can even be used to create a sense of tension or danger. So be aware of the impact different shapes and lines can have in your design. Use them carefully and with intention to communicate a specific mood or emotion in your art. When you create a character, base your design on a specific shape to underline their personality. 10. Composition: Here are a few tips and guidelines that might help you in crafting the perfect composition for your illustration. The rule of thirds, divide your canvas into a tick tuck toe grid. Place key elements along these lines or at the intersections to create a dynamic and visually pleasing composition. This rule instills a natural rhythm drawing the eye along pathways that enhance engagement. Use the power of lines to guide the viewer's eye through your image. Lines can be explit like roads or rivers or implied, such as the outstretched arm of a character. These lines serve as visual highways directing attention to focal points and creating a sense of movement. Achieving balance doesn't necessarily mean perfect symmetry. It's about distributing visual rate evenly across the canvas. A well balanced composition imparts stability while intentional imbalances can evoke tension and intrigue. Varying the scale of elements adds depth and visual interest. It juxta position of a small figure against a vast landscape or an oversized object can create drama and emphasize importance. Introduce layers to your composition, just like a stage with different depth. You could, for example, place your subject in the foreground, a supporting element in the middle ground, and a backdrop in the background. This adds complexity and depth to your image. Select a focal point that serves as the heart of your composition surrounded with supporting elements that enhance its significance. This emphasis ensures that the viewers know where to direct their attention. Remember that mastery comes through practice. If you have difficulties to create good compositions, try master copies. Look at how other illustrators compose their images and do quick studies of it. Also, experiment and take risk. Over time, creating effective compositions will become easier and second nature to you. Let's take a closer look at this illustration. When I tried to figure out this composition, I tried to place my key elements, the girl, the pumpkin, and the village on the intersections of my TikTok to grid and applied the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds also applies if you have groups of elements like the birds in this case. Somehow, groups of three or other uneven numbers most often create a nice dynamic. This can apply to houses, leaves, plants, cars, animals, or any other elements in your image. I also wanted to create a nice flow in this illustration, which I achieved with the curved road and also with the ovo round shapes of the hills and trees. To bring your composition together, it can help to frame your image. In this case, I use the trees and bushes for that. I think the character would appear a bit lost without this frame. The falling leaves add to the ovoy movement and dynamic of the illustration. And at last, we have a clear darker silhouette on a lighter background. Her hair is the darkest spot in the image and therefore creates the highest contrast. The retina clothing and the pattern of her skirt also add to making her the main focal point. In contrast to that, the landscape and village in the background is much softer in contrast. The colors are more washed out and we see less detail. 11. Thumbnails: Now that you have an idea for your illustration, created a mood board and learn the principles of good composition, we are ready to start sketching. To develop our illustration concept further, we start by doing some thumbnds. Thumbnds are small, rough and quick sketches. Doing these tiny sketches allows you to quickly explore multiple ideas and concepts. You can experiment with different compositions, layouts, and visual elements to find the most effective approach for your illustration idea. At this rough stage, you can already start thinking about where you want your focal point to be and the placement of key elements of your image to achieve a balanced composition. Before I start with the sketches for a picture book, for example, I always create a little storyboard with very small thumbnails. This way, I can plan the flow of the story and make sure that there is a nice variety of close ups, landscapes, spot illustrations, and full bleed spreads. But I also do thumbnails for single illustrations. The first solution is most often not the best one. I always try to explore all kinds of different perspectives, compositions and layouts to get a creative solution for my idea at the end. Thumbnails are really fun. You don't have to draw any details yet. Keep it rough and simple. This way, you can feel free to take risks and experiment. When you start sketching, it might be helpful to already add some values to your drawings. You can keep it very simple and just stick to three or four gray tones. Doing this, you can already set the mood, time of day, and lighting situation in your image. It is also a great tool to figure out your composition more and to already set a clear focal point. Make sure that your character or focal point has the highest contrast in your image. It should either be a dark silhouette on a light background or a light silhouette on a dark background. Just make sure the silhouette is clear and the viewer can immediately see what's going on. Especially in the beginning, it helps to keep things simple. Have a clear foreground, middle ground, and background. Most often, the things in the foreground will be larger and much darker than the things in the background. You can easily create depth in your illustration by making elements in the background lighter and maybe even a bit more blurry. That's also how we as humans see the world. Atmosphere makes it that things in the distance become lighter and also a bit bluish. Elements in the foreground instead have much more contrast. They are darker and have sharper edges. This step is very important to do before you start with color. If you have not figured out your image in graytons, color will most likely not make it better. If you are working analog, you can do this with a quick pencil or watercolor sketch. You can use this sketch later as a guide for your final illustration. And trust me, it will make the process much easier because you have already figured out so many problems. A. After I experimented with different compositions and layouts, I choose one of my thumbnails and develop it further. I increase the size, reduce the opacity, and create a new layer on top of it. When working analog, you could either redraw the thumbnail or photograph or scan it, print it out in a larger size, and work on top of it with a light table or on a window. Now we can add more detail. I take the character studies I've done earlier and use them as a guide to draw my dragon. I decided to go with a combination of them. As you can see, I've added a little raccoon on the left branch to balance out the image a bit more. Always keep attention that your characters and main elements have the space they need and that your lines do not create any tangents. Everything should be clear and easy to read. A good test is to scroll out really far or take a picture of your image and look at it at the small size. Take a look if it is still easy to understand and if it is clear what's happening in your illustration, even at a very small size. Now I'm adding some value to my drawing. It helps me to see if the composition still works and also work out the lighting situation a bit already, which is, in this case, the moon. 12. Color Theory: Color theory is a cornerstone in the language of visual storytelling. Colors are more than just mere pigments. There are the emotional orchestrators setting the tone and breathing life into our illustrations. Color theory is the study of how colors interact with each other and how they can be combined to create visually harmonious and emotionally resonant compositions. The color wheel helps us understand the relationship between colors and serves as a guide to create visually appealing combinations. Let's start with the primary colors. Red, blue and yellow are our primary colors and the building blocks for all other colors. Secondary colors are green, orange, and purple and are formed by mixing two primary colors. Tertiary colors emerge by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. We divide colors into warm and cool. The colors here on the left side from green to purple are cool colors. Usually, they recede and are less prominent. They are great for winter scenes or illustrations that take place underwater or at night. On the right side, from yellow green to red are our warm colors. They usually stand out more and are great to create a strong focal point. A warm color palette is perfect, for example, to create a luminous tem illustration or for illustrations that take place in a cozy home environment or in a hot desert. Let's take a look at how we can combine colors and create impactful color palettes. First, we have the complementary color combination. This combination is made out of two colors that are on opposite sides on the color wheel. They create the strongest contrast and have a powerful impact. Together, they appear brighter and more prominent. Then we have analogous color combinations. These are groups of colors on the calorie that are next to each other. Analogous color palettes create a serene and cohesive feel. And lastly, we have triadic color combinations. These are colors that are equally spaced on the rear. They create a dynamic and balanced color contrast. When you want to create a color palette for your image, you don't have to strictly follow these schemes. You can also just follow your intuition or let yourself be inspired by photographs or other illustrations. Just keep in mind what you want to achieve with your image. What mood or emotion do you want to convey with your illustration? I sometimes find it helpful to write down a few keywords upfront and then make decisions keeping them in mind. Colors are emotional triggers. Each hue carries its own psychological rate, and understanding these associations is key to effective storytelling. Red attracts the most attention and is associated with strong emotions such as love, passion, and anger. It communicates strength, power, courage, and danger. It is vibrant, stimulating and exciting, so you should use it carefully. It is a great color to create strong focal points. Blue stands for calmness and serenity. Blue is often found in nature, such as a calm sea and clear sky, creating a sense of peace. Blue also communicates trust and stability. Yellow creates some positive emotions in the viewer, including happiness, excitement, originality, enthusiasm, confidence, hope and creativity. But there are also some negative emotions connected to yellow, such as illness, caution, egotism, and anxiety. From a colour psychological perspective, purple communicates harmony of the mind and emotions, contributing to mental balance and stability. It can give a feeling of mystery, luxury, and sophistication or royalty. Orange is optimistic and uplifting, rejuvenating the spirit. It is connected with warmth, security, sensuality, fun, liveliness, happiness, creativity, enthusiasm and vitality. It is dynamic and extra rigid. The color green evokes the feeling of hopefulness, responsibility, wealth, forgiveness, comfort, and energy. When we see green, we think of nature, growth and freshness. Keep in mind that colors are not universal in their symbolism. White, for example, stands for purity and simplicity in western cultures while it is connected with mourning in some Eastern cultures. Black can create a sense of elegance and sophistication, but it is also connected to mourning in Western cultures. Let's look at a few examples. For this Wizard of Os cover, I've used an overall warm color palette with reds, oranges, and warm yellow greens. My focal point is the main character, and her blue dress creates a strong warm cool contrast with the background. That's why our eye immediately goes to her when we look at the image. And even though there's so much red in this illustration, and red usually is very prominent, since the girl is the only cool element here, she remains the focal point. In this illustration, I did the complete opposite and used an over cool palette with greens and blues. Only the kids have warm colors to them. The boy in the window with his red shirt is the main focal point. His dark hair creates a strong contrast to the yellow of the window, and the red of his clothing attracts our eyes. And lastly, in this illustration, we have a very limited colour palette. I only used warm gray, yellow, and just a hint of pink for her cheeks. With color, I think, oftentimes less is more. You don't need such a limited color palette, but sticking to only two or three colors and using the different hues you can create with them helps to create a nice oval color harmony in your illustration. 13. Final Painting: And finally, we have done all the preparation needed to create our final illustration. This should be now really easy, since we have figured out all the problems and created a clear plan to follow to paint our image. This process is also great if you're working with clients because at this point, they know exactly what they can expect for the final illustration. There are no surprises at all, and therefore, there should be almost no revisions after this. I start by painting in the background, which is the sky here. My drawing is on a multiplay layer, and I paint underneath it. I like to paint from light to dark and always try to create some interesting textures. I already have my watercolor texture on top of everything, and it gives the painting a nice, cohesive look. Now I softly paint in the mountains in the background, following my colo ***. You can see how I slowly work my way up from the back to the front and keep everything on separate layers. Make sure that the elements in the background don't have too much contrast. Otherwise, they can distract the viewer's eye from our main focal point. That means also avoiding harsh edges. See how soft I'm painting in the trees. I also don't add much detail to them. I don't want them to be too permanent in the image. Since the main tree is in the foreground, I paint it much darker and let the edges be much harder than the trees in the background. A I always block in the main color first and then add light and shadow to it. For this, it is really helpful to have every element on its own layer. Even though there are so many characters in this image, I try to create a strong silhouette for each of them, so they are easily recognizable. A I proceed the same way with the leaves, first painting in a rough shape in one main color and then locking the layer and adding light and shadow to it. Always referencing my colour camp. Now I'm starting to add some details and painting in the leaves. Y varying the size of the leaves makes it look a little more interesting, I think. And to save some time, I now start to copy and paste groups of them. Just be aware if you do this, that it is not so obvious in the final image. Changing the size, moving things around a bit, or flipping them helps with that. When you have an illustration with a lot of green, I always try to use a variety of different hues. It makes it look a bit more natural. To draw the fur of the animals, I like to use one of the pencil brushes that come with Photoshop. Try to adjust your strokes to the fam of the body and use a lighter tone for the light areas and a darker tone for the parts that are in shadow. Here I'm starting to add details to our drag. I put the scales on a new layer so I can still change the color and opacity. He looks a bit like a giraffe to me right now, so I decided to remove the gates from the belly. Y. Now I'm adding an overlay layer to add some light to the scene and to make the silhouettes of the characters a bit more prominent. It's also a good way to enhance some are as of the image by increasing the color saturation. At the end, I'm just changing some bits and pieces here and there. And here's the finished piece. I've decided to add this little wind swirl to give the image a bit more flow and magic.