Procreate : Design Stylised Character Bookmarks

1. Introduction: Digital art with Procreate can be a great hub. Extending the functionality of digital illustration into an accessory can create a deep connection with us. Hello everyone. I'm Claudia of fashion and lifestyle accessory designer from India. Creating stylists to Bookmarks is an exciting way to add character into our reading and our super fun to create. We will broadly discuss the topics such as planning and concept development, creating stylized characters with some suggestions and best practices for using Procreate. If you are a beginner or an advanced procreate user. This class has got an activity for everyone. I believe that is a great pleasure in getting an art outside the iPad. Join now and let's get started. 2. How to Choose your Subjet & Stylise it: In this video, let's discuss the design process that will help you choose your subject for your character bookmark. We will also go through a simple design process to stylize anything. The first question we have two answers about the subject or what our character is. We can identify and select our subject by following certain design process. You can start by writing down. Objects are themes that you are deeply connected with. Some common ideas or nature, pets or plants. It can be anything that inspires you. If you are starting with the theme such as nature, you can identify the objects around the topic, such as wildlife, trees, corals, etc. If you want to give someone, then you need to think what that particular person likes. This is something that they can connect with themselves. We can go to a brainstorming session after we find a convincing topic. For example, you can find my brainstorming board here. You can see under my main theme of wildlife, I could list out many kinds of animals according to their category, conservation status, size, and habitat. Then I narrow down to small sized endangered species. And I was finally able to identify shift Fox as my character. As you can find, brainstorming is a very important step in the design process that helps us identify our subject. After we identify the character, we need to study the visual features of our character. These observations can be stylized later on. Through reference images. We can observe and identify features such as the shape, form, proportions, colors, and gashes. Knowing more about a character will help you get more kinds of poses and may result in very unique and creative bookmarks. After my observation, I was able to write on the keywords, which will be my design and style guide. I organize my thoughts into two keywords, categories. One says about the design of the bookmark, while the other says about the illustration, I wanted the illustration to look stylized, an identical to the real shift Fox. My keywords very cute. A G sharp proportions. I wanted a thin, rectangular bookmark with some extra features, like a cutout with a function and story. At this point of time, I also made a color palette inspired from my real character. Once we get the reference images, keywords, and the color palette, then we can get started with making the rough concepts. In Procreate, I started making some rough sketches based on the keywords. I define the dimensions and proportions of the bookmark and created a box, making sure that all of my sketches would fit in my required dimensions. You can see that I'm experimenting with different gashes and poses of my character. Studied a lot of reference images and knowing more about the character greatly uplift our work here. Besides, we want a stylized character that is believable and relatable to the actual character itself. Finally, I was able to narrow down to three concepts. And I wanted to combine my best three to create my final stylized character. Then I started making new sketches. Based on my selections from my previous round of sketches. I refine my concept and decided to go with the symmetric shape. Then finally, I was able to arrive at my final concept for my bookmark. After further detailing. In this way, I was able to block out my concept from rough and quick sketches. 3. Setting up Reference Image: For getting started, you can use your own sketch or you can free, free to use the sketch that I have shared with you along with the color palette and the template. Now I'm inside the Procreate app. Now I'm going to click on the plus icon and create new canvas that I'm going to choose A4. So for getting started, we're going to call the reference image. For that. I'm going to click on the wrench icon and add, insert a photo. I have shared this image with you. So this is a A4 size format where you can find a sketch color palette and bookmark template. I'm going to click on Fit to Canvas. We can go to the layers and see how it is. So now what we can do is we can click on the layer one and rename it and call them reference image. It is very important to rename the layers because it is very easy for us to organize the layers. And also we can easily use the Lewis if we rename it properly so that we can avoid any confusion in future. The next step is we're going to create a color palette for generating the color palette. I'm going to click on the colors here, if you can notice on the bottom palettes. And here I'm going to click on the plus icon to create new palette, to create new pallet. And also you can rename the color palette as well, because that is also a very important step. So I'm going to give the name as bookmark. In this way, I can use these colors for any sketch or any concept that I'm going to make for the bookmark collection. Once it is done, what we're going to do is we're going to select and hold this on the color. You can notice that we have picked up this color. After we do that, we have to tap on the square icon status here. So in this way, we have to hold on the color and then click on the bookmark and hold on the color icon. In this way, we can add the colors that we have in the image to the color palette. So now we have added all the colors here. We can also set the color palette. Here it is now compact. We can go for the cards as well. In this way, we can easily select and pick the colors because it's all bigger sized icon. In this way, we can lock the color palette and it will be very easy for us while we use, because whenever I'll click on the color icon here, I can open the palate directly and it's all in the big sized icons. We're going to analyze our sketch. If you'll notice here, the sketch is unsymmetric format. So in procreate, we can enable the drawing guide. For that. I'm going to click on the wrench icon and then I'm going to press on Canvas, turn on drawing guide. There is a grid of guides turned on, but we want a symmetrical guide for that. I'm going to click on the Edit Drawing Guide where we can turn on this symmetrical drawing guides. Now if you notice here, the selected on the 2D grid, I'm going to choose some entry here. And you can notice here we have the guide. We can slide and keep wherever we want. And from that point we can use the symmetry for easy visibility of the line. We can increase the thickness over here. And then even the opacity. I'm going to keep this in blue color. I'm going to align it on the line that I have created, the reference image and then select on. Then. Now we have created the color palette and we have also turn on the Drawing Guide. The next step will be we have to reduce the opacity of the reference image and then get started with the drawing. For that, I'm going to click on the reference image. And then you can notice, if you click on the N over here, you can notice a tab gets opened that there will be opacity where you can reduce it. It's in the maximum, that is a 100%. You can reduce it like this. I would like to keep it around 30. Now we can get started with the drawing. 4. Getting a Clean Line Drawing: In this video, Let's get started with this simple line drawing. If you notice the reference sketch that I've shared with you, you can see the lines are very edgy and jargon. We will fine tune it and make it beautiful. I'm going to create one more layer. If you open on the layers, click on the plus icon, you can create one more layer. Here. I'm going to rename it by clicking on the layer to rename and then rename it to sketch. Once you rename the layer, next step is to check on the drawing assist. That is, we're enabling the drawing guide for this layer. Then we can use some dark shade line drawing. We can choose the brush, inking, and studio pen for this exercise, we're going to use when need two brushes. One is studio pen, and the other one is six B pencil. And whenever you will start with the drawing, we can just see how, what is the size of the brush and Ben, so that you can easily start with it. I feel this size is better for me. And I'm going to undo all the things. Let's get started with the groin. If you'll notice, since we have the Drawing Guide turn dot, we can just concentrate on the 1.5 of the drawing. I'm going to start over here and then trace on top of it. So for making any straight line, you just have to start like this and hold here so that the line created with street and gently tracing on top of the line. The tail we can draw leader because we don't want cemetery for tea. So you can minimize the pressure that you give and you reach these minute details, areas that you will get the lines perfect. So now we can finish it with the lines on the foot. Once you have done with this tracing, we can go to that layer and then turn off the Drawing Assist. That is I'm going to disable the drawing assist now. So for tracing the day, we don't need the Drawing Assist. So when you finalize the sketch concept sketch you did earlier, you can add more details if you want. If you feel like this concept can be improvised, or these edges or lines can be improvised, then you can correct them in there. So now if you notice we have completed with the pure line drawing. This is what we need for going to the next step that is planning and shading. 5. Planning Out the Colours: In this video, let's see what are the colors we can give and we can plan out the parts of the drawing. For that, I'm going to use the same layer. I'm going to increase the brush size. So we have already selected the studio pen. I'm just going to go to this left side and increase this slider on top to increase the brush size. So now let's open the color palette and then C, plan out what are the colors that we can use. So when we plan out the colors in the earlier stage, it will be very easy for us when we move on to the next step. So now I'm going to create a new layer for planning out the shades. Because I don't want to spoil the sketch layer. I'm going to rename it to colors. On top of that layer, we're going to select 11 color. And where that color goes to the sketch. It's like exactly like coloring, planning out when we color. So I'm going to select this orange and then I think this will go for the body. Yeah, it works. And the lighter cream color will be for the ears and the jaws. And for the mouth. We are going to choose the grave. Little bit settled, gray, darker. This is for the mount. For the day. We are going for the darker orange, It's kind of a brown. This would be for the day. Once we plan out debased solid colors, we can also plan out the shadows are the details that will add on top of that. According to this color palette, It's all very simple. Whatever colors we choose. If it is an orange, the lighter and darker shades of orange we are going to use for adding the details in the similar way or the lighter shades of the color that we have chosen. We'll be using that for the details. Now, let's get started with the shading process. 6. Applying Solid Colours: In this video, let's add the solid sheets to our concept. For that. I'm going to select all the layers and add one more layer and rename it as base color. If you notice our concept, we have four parts. One is the body, this lighter orange, the next one is the tail. And the third one is the years and the jaws. And the fourth one is the Moldavia. So what we're going to do is we're going to draw out the outline of the layer and then just drag drop the colors into that leaves separately. So in that way, we will get a greater control on the individual Legos. And we do, we want to edit or add details in the later stage, we have the colors layer, which is not required. This we have just created for our understanding purpose, I'm going to turn off the layer. That is, I'm going to uncheck the square box over here. After selecting the base layer, I'm going to choose the color that we want as we plan. I'm going to select the orange color. I'm going to reduce the brush size. Because what we're going to do is we're going to draw an outline of the body and then dragged off the color. Make sure the base layer we have enabled the Drawing Assist. You can nicely zoom in. It's also a similar way to trips, but we're just going to add one more layer. So when you do this process, makes sure you don't leave any gaps in between. We're just going to concentrate on the base color. Now if you notice, we can turn off the sketch layer and see if we have completely drawn the lines. I have not yet drawn on the top. So I'm going to turn on the layer and make sure that you had in the base layer. This blue I highlight can show that you are in the base layer currently. So now we have completely traced out the base layer. If you turn off the sketch, you can see it's perfect. You can select the orange color. And then just drag and drop. Yeah, so if you see it is completely different. The similar way, we can now start adding the details one by one. The next detail we can add is the day. For that, I'm going to add one more layer. So we can rearrange the layer by selecting the layer and holding it. I'm going to rename this layer as tail. So as we planned earlier, we can choose the darker brown fur detail. So now what we can do is we can turn off the base and turn on the sketch and make sure that we are in the Taylor. You set pen and draw on top of detail in this layer. You don't have to turn on the Drawing Assist because our tail is not in the symmetric. We can zoom in and draw the lines, that it will be very easy and you'll get better control over the lines that you draw. Because when we zoom in, we can easily move our hand and complete all these stroke. Now, if you notice, we have completed tracing detail, but we have to fill the color right? So we have to complete the line as well. For that, what we are going to do is we are going to close the tail like this. We are going to draw lines just to make and complete the shape of detail. In this way, it will be very easy for us to fully. So now, for checking whether you have completely drawn a shape, you just have to turn off the sketch layer. Just have to select and drag the colors. While now we have completed the tailless. But if you're doing on the base, you can notice how the drawing is coming out. It's coming out, perfect. So now we can turn off all the layers that is base. And then next is we're going to add the details of t years and jaw lines, create one more layer and rename it as yours. Josh. You select the right color for that. We're going to go with the cream. We just have to tap on that. It will get selected and turn on the sketch that you would be using for it. And we have to make sure two things. That is, we have to select the layer. The next step is since we are going to draw symmetrical detail, we have to turn on the Drawing Assist. Once we do not, we can easily use this symmetry. Just start with the years. Now, once you complete that line, who can directly folate? We can notice both of them got filled. The next one is the jaw. We need the lines very crisp, pure. So make sure you minimize the brush nicely. The size of the brush should be little smaller so that we can add the minute details. In this way, we can add the block Cecily. So now you can just close it like this so that we can fill the colors. What happens when we fill color on the not closed area? If the loop is not closed, then the colors will get filled everywhere. We have added the years and jaws can turn off this gills and jaws and create one more new layer for the mouth. So rename it. And I'm going to type mouth, choose the color that we want that is the dark grayish brown. And then make sure that you have turned on the drawing assist. That is symmetry. And we just have to draw on top of the mouth detail that we already have. And once we do, we just have to fill it. We can turn off the sketch and turn on all the details set we added. We have got a very nice flat shaded colors on the concept sketch. In the next video, we will see how we can add details to this. 7. Adding Details : In this video, Let's get started with the details. For that, I'm going to create one more new layer for details. And I'm going to rename it and call as details. So the first detail that we are going to add zone top of the jaw lines. For that, I'm going to choose the brush sketching, and I'm going to select these six B pencil brush. And I'm going to choose the color that I want to select. Once you select the shade, we're going to go to the layers and details and check on the Drawing Assist. So if you notice, we are going to add the detail here like this. So I'm going to reduce the brush size. I have kept it 16 per cent. And let's add the details on the Jaws. I'm just giving a very nice single stroke on top of the jaw line. So if you see now we have added a very nice pencil strokes. If you want, you can go on top of that layer one more time just to add some drama to it. Now if you notice, we have added the line. The next detail we'll be adding is on the anterior shape, that is the base layer and detail. For that, we're going to add a layer on top of the base color, that is the base. Here. I'm going to select that layer and click on the Add icon name that S. Details to. This is the reason why we use separate layers to give all these solid sheets so that we can add the details on top of that layer. And we will get a better control on top of individual layers. When you're working with layers, it is very important to plan the liters and stack the layers accordingly to the details that should be visible. That is, we have kept our tail layer on the bottom. And on top of that, we have created the base. And on top of that we have created the years and draws the similar way we have created the mouth on the topmost. This is the layer stacking process that we have to analyze a sketch that is a concept. And you have to study which can be the background layer. And we have to add 11 build on top of each. Now we have added details. Two. So we can avoid confusion later on. So I haven't added details to. In this layer. We're going to select the dark most dark brown shade and then give an outline all over the base. You can just start it like this. Now we can even increase the brush size because these lines we're just adding for creating some trauma. So when you hold less than you can see how it's happening. And the similar way. I'm just giving a very playful lines. I'm not taking this very seriously because I wanted some pencil. Touch. See when you can deduce it a bit when you go here. Or you can simply reduce the pressure that you give on the pencil. We can define all the details by adding this. We can even leave some gaps without completing it. So for example, I'm going to leave a little bit gap over here just to add some hand-drawn filling this gap with ADD or enhance some more details over here. And if we wanted a little darker, you can go over that line a little bit. So the next we can define the jaw and the mouth. So I'm going to start with this thumb, this line. Since we have loved on the layers, we can, our layers are stacked in such a way that we can easily draw the lines and we'll have a better control. And if you notice, I'm going to just thicken this area. So I'm going to draw a line like this. And later on we can fill it like this. So that will be defining the area mode. Once this is done, we can define the years as well with this shade. We're going to just take it like this. And we're just going to give it on the bottom layer, bottom side of the ears. In this way, we will get a different effect. So once that is done, we can go to the tail area. The same. I'm going to just draw a line. Before you go inside detail. We have to disable the drawing assist because that deal is not in the cemetery. Can nicely zoom in and add the details like this. When you add such details, you can add a little bit like this as well, even though we have not defined. Now we can do find that, those details. So now we have complete detail. Now I'm just going to add some strokes inside the teeth. So to even, to define it more, I'm just going to make an arc like this. And I'm going to add the thickness, change the thickness of the line over here, like this. So bottom we will, we are going to start, take a very small token. We are going to increase it on top. In this way, we can just add to three strokes to define the tale mode. Now we have added two strokes on top of details in similar way, we can add here, the bottom as well. You can add your own details as well. These are the details that we have explored. Perfect. Now we have completed the tail. The tail. Now let's move to the, let's now define the food. For that. I'm just going to turn on the sketch and turn off this layer, base layer that we will be able to see the lines. So make sure that you are in the details to layer. And also turn on the drawing assist. And now we can draw these lines here. Now we can turn off the sketch layer and turn on the base. Now, you can see this line is written. It's looking like the opposite. I'm going to correct it. I will just turn off the sketch, turn on the base and we can add like this. Yeah, perfect. Now we have done with one layer of details. Let's add one more layer to the base. For adding the next level of details. I'm going to rename this detail three. Now, we're going to add shadow here, and we're going to define this part of the fox. For that, I'm going to change the color. I'm going to pick the lightest shade of orange that we have added to our base. Something like this. And we can just completed and then fill that color. If you notice. Even though after completing why the colors are not filling inside is this is because our color fillings threshold is high. So color drop threshold is 51.4. So I'm going to reduce it. So now if you'll notice we can only fill it in this layer. So I'm going to show that one more time. Menu drag, drop the color. You can notice here, color dropped threshold 20 per cent. So if you increase, it will get filled all over the. Canvas, because the brush type that we have chosen is the pencil. I'm going to reduce it by sliding it. So if you notice here I have not lifted my pen tip, pencil tip. So now it is 20 per cent. I'm going to leave it here. Now, if you see, we have added some detail here. And I'm going to choose a darker shade and then add on top of that one more detail. You can simply shaded. Perfect. Now what we're going to do is you can notice here my line, the previous detail line is intersecting here, can erase that line. So I'm going to set it little details to layer and then choose eraser and slightly arrays like this. Perfect. And I'm going to select the darker shade which we added for the details and select on the brush, pencil, pencil, brush 60 pencil. I'm going to add some more details in the same layer like this. So in this way we're just playing with some lines, thickness of the lines and, um, we're just adding some details here. You'll notice. Perfect. Now we have completed all the details on our folks. The next is we're going to add the top most layer. That is the eyes and mouth details. So I have just named it ice, and I'm going to choose the darkest shade of the color palette, that is the gray. It's similar to black. Once you choose that, we can nicely and zoom in and add more detail. Make sure that you are have done on the drawing assist. A simple triangular shape over here. You can see similar way. We are going to add two eyes. If you want to refer the sketch, we can just move this sketch layer on top and then turn on it. You can notice whether I should come. So I'm just going to mark here and then turn off the sketch. Turn on the sketch and you can put the sketch layer after the eyes Leo, and then reduce the opacity. And again, you can go to the ice layer and then just add the SDK. You can play with these details because this is some of some expressive details. You can add the eyebrows and eyes as you want. I'm just going to keep one dot for the ice hybrid like this. Now we can turn off that layer and then take them to the back because that way we can nicely arranged in layers. So now we saw how to shape the concept with simple shading techniques. And we have just used two brushes, that is studio pen and pencil six B pencil. With those two pencils, we have shaded this anterior folks in this way we have come to the end of the shading process. The next video, let's see how we can get printed. 8. Printing the Bookmark: In this video, let's see how we can arrange the artwork and get a printout. For that. We're going to group the layers first, all the layers in one group. And then we're going to duplicate that group. And then we will resize it. In this way, we can save the original artwork and retain its size. For grouping the layers, select the second layer from the top and then hold it and then just put it on the previous layer, that is the ice, put it inside it. This way we have made a group. We can rename this group as well. So I'm going to rename it defaults. We're going to drag all the individual layers and then put it in set defaults. For that. I'm going to start with the next layer and then I'm gradually go to the bottom layer, the details there. So I'm going to drag it. And if you notice here when we place it on top of the fox, there is a blue highlight happening. Now what is inside the neuron? How we can identify this layer is inside the group is, you can notice here, this is the group that we have created, eyes, mouth, and details. You can see these three folders. If I reduce it, you can see this is inside this group. This way we are going to move one by one layer inside the group. I'm going to select it, hold it. You can notice that blue I headed is happening. And then in this way you can also preserve the order that we have created. Point to press the wrench icon. Then turn off the drawing guide so that we can see our artwork without any other lines blocking it. So this is an A4 size canvas that we have created. And we have to resize this artwork into the required a bookmark template. I'm going to duplicate this group and our group. Now, you can see my auntie aggregate duplicated. So one group of this fox, I'm going to rename it into original fox. Originally. In this way, we can retain this artwork into the original size, this fox layer. What we can do is we can tap on that group and then flatten. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to turn off the fox original group. This, we are going to store it for our reference and for retaining our original artwork. And I'm going to turn on the reference image that we have added earlier too, just to see the size of the bookmark. So now you can notice the image that I have shared with you that has bookmark template. So we have to fit this enter artwork inside this template before we print it. So I'm just going to rename this layer as 4x2. Now, this is the fox artwork that we have to resize to this bookmark template. For that, what I'm going to do is I'm going to select this Foxe's layer and then select on this icon, arrow icon. You can notice there is a selection boundary on the Fox artwork. Now we can hold this and knew wherever we want. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to move this, this side and then reduce the size by holding it here. Make sure the selection is in the uniform selection. Then if you don't want the snapping, you can turn it off, adduce little bit more by holding it on one edge and then just place it inside the box that we have here. So this is the template size that we want. Fox is approximately inside the bookmark template. If you want to only one bookmarked and you can go ahead and print this A4, or you can go and duplicate this. I'm going to select the layer and duplicate and then move it. In this way, you can arrange it and then printed. So you will get to three bookmarks and one paper. I'm going to go with food for bookmarks. If you want, you can add more as well. So this is the final arrangement that I want to take print. So now we can go ahead and export it for that, we have to press on the wrench icon, share instead of one share and export share image into JPEG format, I'm going to click on the JPEG. So now this is asking me where I have to save this. I'm going to just click on save as image, same image. This is successful. What we are going to do is we're going to take a printout of that. If you're printing using your iPad directly, make sure you use the app that is provided by the printer itself. I'm going to use Canon print app because my printer scanner. And if you're printing outside anywhere else, make sure the color format or color mode is in CMYK for the businesses. So coming to the paper selection, I would suggest three types of papers. That is oneness, plain matte photo paper, and the other one is cartridge paper, and the other one is mildly textured grainy paper. And make sure all the papers are in 300 years. And if you're not able to print on 300 GSM, then you can print it on lower GSM paper that is 120 OR AT. Then you can stick on top of the 300 GSM and cut it out. So now we have got it printed. The next video, let's see how we can cut this and make it into a bookmark. 9. Finishing the Bookmark: In this video, let's see how we can cut the bookmark and use it. For that. I'm going to use scissors for cutting the outline, all the edges. And then later on for cutting out the details, we'll be using the paper cutter. I'm cutting it very roughly. First, I will cut this out. One single bookmark so that it will be easy for me to cut the edges properly. And slowly going on all the edges. Since we have printed this textured paper, there are textures on all over the bookmark and it is looking really nice and cool. Now we have cut the edges. The next is we have to cut out these white areas using paper gutter. So when you are using paper cutter, make sure that you protect yourself with a using any cardboard or cutting mat. Now I'm simply cutting out the excess white area and on all over the leg region. This can be a little tricky because it's little intricate. And keep on subtracting the white areas little by little. If you're a complete beginner for paper cutting, then you can do it very slow. Now we can notice we have cut out all the excess white areas bookmark. Now what we can do is we can mark the width using pencil. We can mark the points on both the jaws where we'll be using a cutter and cut one lead. This will act as our page holder. I'm going to mark this with Benson 11. Make sure you have at least this much region on both the sides so that you will not cut through and through. I'm going to use my gutter and nicely slowly, I'm going to cut it all over the line and ended exactly on that point. Now you can notice it's very cool. And also we'll be adding a cut here. So that is also a marking that you're doing. And we're going to add one more cut away here. These are the cuts we are adding to hold the page in a different and creative manner. We are done with the cutting. Now, let's see how we can use this bookmark in different ways. One way of using this bookmark and simply use it as a very normal, traditional bookmark. The second method is we can hold it using the mouth like this. I'm going to use my fingers from the bottom and then slightly hold it like this. If we are using like this, we can also use it as a pointer. When we finished reading with this paragraph of this particular page, this is one method is very cool. The next method is, we can use tales like this, or you can use the legs like this. It is also adding one more character to our bookmark. This is one way. And the last and final and most method is just to use one leg. We can also use the corners, the whole like this. So it does ended up to you does according to your concept and it's according to your taste. You can add any cool features like this by adding some cuts to our bookmark. So we have come to the end of this class and I hope you have learned something new. Can you share the bookmark that you have created? The project section? Back and cheers.