Travel Inspired Illustration in Procreate: Drawing with Location Prompts

1. Introduction: Do you also love to illustrate and you are always on the lookout for a new prompt and inspiration? Then this class is for you. In our seven-day Urban Sketching challenge, we'll go on an adventure of traveling through art, and you will learn a fun and easy way to create quick sketches and colorful scenes inspired by beautiful locations. Hi. I'm Iva Mikles, an illustrator and designer based in Central Europe. A decade ago, I decided to build my creative career and since then I build my business online, working with awesome clients and amazing project, which allows me to explore the world and get to know people, cultures, and locations. I believe that we are all creative in infinite numbers of ways. So I have made it my mission to teach you everything I know to contribute in a small way to waking up your creative genius. So you are able to pick up a new hobby, express yourself artistically, and if you take the lead, make it your lifestyle so you can spend more time doing what you love. In this class, you will learn how to observe from photo references and locations so you'll get inspired to create your own unique travel illustrations. You will be applying your new skills in a fun project, illustrating doors by using seven location prompt. I believe drawing doors is a great way to start with urban sketching because they are less complex than full house architecture, streets, and towns. Basic Procreate knowledge is helpful but not necessary for this class as I will guide you through it. So without further ado, let's start and see you in the class. 2. The Challenge: Welcome to our seven-day challenge where we will be traveling through art and illustrating wonderful things with beautiful doors. We will have seven prompts for our challenge. They are, first, doors of Great Britain and Ireland. Second, doors of Scandinavia. Third, doors of Asia. Fourth, doors of Mediterranean. Fifth, doors of Caribbean. Six, doors of America and seven, doors of India. To join the challenge here on Skillshare, please upload your sketches and illustrations in the project section. If you are joining on Instagram, please use the hashtag and also tag me with art side of life in your posts so I can see your artworks and share them with others too. In this lesson, you will discover tips on how you can approach the challenge and how you can get the most out of it. First of all, have fun and enjoy the journey through the locations. Don't sweat the schedule and rather focus on the inspiration and the consistency of sketching and illustrating. I included seven prompts which you can do in seven days in a row or on every second or third day. The aim is to do all seven so you can feel accomplished and inspired to sketch even more. You can choose to participate in the challenge by sketching outside, on location, or at home, by using references. Drawing in location can be super rewarding because it involves all your senses. If you have the possibility to do so, here are a few tips that will make the challenge more interesting. When I draw on location, to remember my idea for the composition, I usually create a very rough sketch. I mean, very rough sketch, either black and white or in color. Sometimes I can only tell what the sketches are so you can imagine how rough they can be. Then I make few color combinations because the colors we see are different from the ones captured by camera, especially the shadows. For example, you can see some purples or blues in the shadows in real life, and when you look at the picture or the photo, you might see only dark tones. Try to observe these color details in real life too. Then I take a picture so I can continue working on the illustration later on if I want to. If you are sketching at home, you have the comfort of your home obviously so comfortable sofa or a chair. Then you can either use photos of lovely locations you took yourself or a colleague, various references online. We will be taking this approach in the class because of the technical reasons. If you ask how you can finish the challenge in seven days if you have very limited time every day. If you are short on time, devoting just 10 to 15 minutes a day to observing the reference or on location and sketching various elements you'll notice is usually enough to develop a habit of quickly seeing and realizing a concept or an image. You may be really surprised how fully realized such a quick sketch can actually become. If you take this approach within 10 to 15 minutes, here are a few techniques you could use. You can sketch only the door itself and focus on the shape. Long, short, wide, arching top, and so on. Add a color and shadow and few details like a door handle and maybe a doorstep if you want to. Then you can also take an approach to sketch in black and white and focus on noticing the shapes and elements significant for the prompt location as I will show you in my approach for each prompt. It saves you quite a bit of time when you don't have to decide on colors. In other approaches, if you have more time, you can draw all the elements in color without creating a full scene. Let's say the prompt, doors of Asia. You can, for example, sketch the door, the bonsai, and lantern. Another approach is, last but not least, if you have more time and you feel more confident, you can create the full scene inspired by the door from the location and add other details and elements in the scene. Please feel free to create as complex scenes as you want. When you want to take it easier for yourself in terms of perspectives and distortion in perspective, think of and find a reference in the frontal view. I recommend you notice different elements on location and if possible from your own references, rather, only from my examples because we are all unique and it's so fun to see what you can come up with. Try to also combine different references into one illustration to avoid copying someone else's photo composition and details and colors. Or better yet, use your own photos and memories. Before you look at the references, try to imagine and write down your first ideas for the illustration. In this way, you find more relevant photo references and make your illustration more unique. Then you can write down few words and objects you like to see in the illustrations or you want to draw or sketch. Or you can sketch them right away from the references, as I will show you in the following lessons. Afterward, you can implement these sketch ideas into your base prompt final illustration. Regarding the references, you can search for references in many places nowadays, in the books, on YouTube, Google, or Pinterest. I like real-life references combined with my imagination, but I don't always have the luxury to travel to locations. Let us use Google images and let's search for doors and architecture now. As you can see, you can find quite a lot of interesting examples quite quickly. I also prepared a board on Pinterest with various doors as reference. You can see the references I'm using on the side of my screen later on during drawing process. These examples I found on the stock photo sites. In the following lessons, we will look at how you can prepare for the challenge, including brushes, composition tips, and more. See in the next video. 3. Brushes: [MUSIC] Before we discuss ideas for the door locations for our challenge, I will show you which brushes I'll be using in the class. In addition to this, I will share tips on other brushes which I currently like. If you want, you can find a lot of free unpaid brushes to test them out. But I like brushes that already come with Procreate, both for sketching and coloring. Tap on the brush icon. As you can see, there are many brush folders that come with Procreate which is great. There are also some folders I created to organize myself. There is also a recent brush folder which as you might guess are the brushes you have used recently. This is quite handy. I will create a new folder for this project. To do that, swipe down on the brush folders and you will see the plus sign then tap on it and rename the folder to the name you like. I'm typing the project name as you can see. Then I will drag the brushes I will use for this project into my new folder. From the inking folder, I like this brush which has lovely pencil like texture. [MUSIC] Besides sketching, I also use this brush for coloring and it has a nice texture when you tilt the pencil too. If you watched my other classes, you know it is my most used brush for sketching. On one side, I like how buttery it feels and on the other side it has a chalky look to it. I also created my own similar brush for coloring with a bigger brush tip size. [MUSIC] Now the opaque brush that I currently like is also in the inking folder. I will drag it to my new folder so I don't have to look for it next time I want to use it. This brush is interesting because it has a rough edge and it creates an interesting look when you want to create a more geometrical look and feel, and then it doesn't look too polished with this rough edge. I will also select one smooth opaque brush and drag it to our folder. [MUSIC] The last one I want to show you here is one textured brush which I currently like, which I will use for final details. This is a nice example of a textured brush and you can find it in the Artistic folder. It has nice rough texture which would fit quite well as a wall texture. These are the main brushes I plan to use for this project and I try to limit their amount so I don't have to spend too much time jumping between many brushes. [MUSIC] Before we go to the next lesson, try to spend 10-15 minutes testing few brushes and create a folder with few of your new favorite brushes so you don't have to spend extra time to search for brushes while you are doing the challenge. 4. Composition Ideas: After you select the brushes you want to use, let's look at what compositions you can choose and work with to design your own unique ideas. In this lesson, we will draw a simple door compositions and edges, the elements to create different compositions quickly and easily. I will share with you a great exercise on how you can get creative and come up with new composition ideas in very simple and easy way. Let's get a few ideas together. To keep things simple. I'm thinking of a composition with a rectangle door with greenery hanging above. If you feel more confident, you can create more complex scenes with many details. To start, I will sketch a rectangle as a frame for my composition. As you can see, I'm drawing the lines quite loosely. I'm sketching the first idea without using references. To make it easier on yourself, choose a reference with the front view where there is not too much perspective and distortion in perspective. The door is rectangular with plants hanging on top of the frame, as you can see. The plants are split in the middle above the door to break up the overall shape, creating a more interesting composition. Now, how can we make it more interesting in terms of space? I will copy this sketch to do another version with a quick adjustment. That would be adding the sense of space with a path or porch in front of the door. How cool is that? By adding just one line, we made the composition already quite different. Now, I will copy the sketch again. [MUSIC] Let's take the hanging plants above the door now into consideration. What can we do about them? For example, we can close the gap and add more plants. [MUSIC] Another idea, if you said let's change the split and move the gap above the door to a side, for example, left side, you're right. Then you can try and another side, the right side now and see if you like that layout too. [MUSIC] Next, let's consider the ratio. Do you like the rectangular layout, or would you prefer a landscape format? [MUSIC] Now, looking at the examples, I quite like the landscape format. The last thing we can consider here is the balance and negative space. We have a lot of greenery on top part of the composition, which feels quite heavy. We can try to balance it out and fill in the negative space at the bottom part of the last version. To fill the negative space, you can also make the door wider. [MUSIC] As you can see, with these simple adjustments, we have quite a lot of versions of this composition. To learn more and practice the negative space, please watch my class about compositions, which you will find in my teacher's profile. After exploring the composition ideas with the simple adjustments, let's take the first prompt from our challenge, which is doors of Great Britain and Ireland. I will use it to explain the techniques I will be using in our art challenge. See you in the next video. [MUSIC] 5. Day 1 - Elements - Doors of Great Britain and Ireland: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we will sketch elements for our first prompt, doors of Great Britain and Ireland. Please feel free to use references you find online yourself or take a picture if you travel to the location. Now, I will open one of my references next to Procreate by swiping up and dragging the Gallery window to the left on my screen. [MUSIC] When looking at the reference, I've already notice a couple of things I want to add to the sketch. But I'm starting with the shape of the door because this is the main subject of this illustration. As I mentioned in the project part, first try to notice if the door is long, short, wide, round, or in any other special shape. For example, does it have an arch or other details? [MUSIC] As a next step, I tried to notice where the shadows are, and where the light sources. In this example, it's an overcast day which means cloudy day. So it's hard to see the shadows. But after looking closer, I noticed the shadow on top of the door, just under the door frame, and then under the door. On a separate layer below the sketch, I will add the shadow. I will use the same approach from now on. Sketch on one layer, and shadows on the layer below. [MUSIC] Then I will try to notice and sketch more elements from the reference, which will help me to make the location more recognizable. For example, the symmetrical greenery in the pots by the door, brick wall, and the pillars. For all of these elements, I first draw the overall shape, and then I'm adding the shadows as I notice them in the reference. After I notice and sketch the shape of the door, I will mark down a few shapes which are above the door. [MUSIC] As a next step, I'm thinking about what I can add from the architecture to bring even more visual interest, details, and decorative field to the illustration. What about this arch that is above the door? I think it's very pretty and decorative which helps the illustration to be more interesting. Let's edit. This part will become our decorative element for this illustration. [MUSIC] I will go through a few more references and try to see if there is something else I want to add. I'm using a short checklist to help me think of all the important elements for our illustration. First, what is the shape of the door? Long, short, and so on. Second, do I have shadows? Third, what makes this location more recognizable? When you look at it and you know exactly what it is. Fourth, what is my decorative element? Meaning, what makes my illustration more interesting? [MUSIC] Now, I'm quite happy with the elements. Let's have a look at how we can put them together in the next lesson. In the following lessons, we will put all the elements together into a more polished composition. I will show you how to use one helpful Procreate tool that is especially handy for urban sketching on iPad [MUSIC] in this type of illustration. See you in the next video. 6. Day 1 - Composition - Doors of Great Britain and Ireland: [MUSIC] In this lesson, you will learn how you can put and test the elements together in a rough sketch before coloring. Now, I will put both layers into one group and copy the group in case I need it in the same size later, because I plan to scale this down. I scale down the copy of the group for a reference and sketch everything again within a composition and not as a separate element. [MUSIC] For the composition, I'm thinking about symmetrical composition with the door and the stairs in the middle. [MUSIC] The stairs are helping me to create more sense of depth and interests in the illustration. [MUSIC] For more visual interests, I'm also adding the arch and the pillars. [MUSIC] Then instead of a pot of flowers I sketched before, I decided to add a fence because it fits my composition better. Feel free to do the same and exchange some of the elements while you are illustrating the composition, but if you want to keep things simple, just use the elements you already sketched and cut and paste them within the composition and just move them around and play like that. [MUSIC] If you want to make the composition more unique, try combining different references. If you watch my previous class about the custom Procreate brush, you'll recognize this composition and this is how it came to be from different references. Once we are done with this composition sketch, let's test the color variations in the next lesson. See you in the next video. [MUSIC] 7. Day 1 - Colors - Doors of Great Britain and Ireland: I often quickly test the colors using the color thumbnails, which I think can speed up your illustration process a lot. Let me show you an example. As you might already know, I'm a big fan of color thumbnails because they help me quickly decide on colors for the illustration without spending too much time on changes later. After I have my sketch, I try to look at various references and markdown colors that I like next to the sketch if I don't want to color the shapes in the sketch right away. This saves me a lot of time. Just noticing colors. Then I can decide which part of the sketch will be which color later on. I mark a few colors and I plan to add darker and lighter tones of those selected colors later on too. If you want to practice and learn more about how I choose the colors and color palettes, and how you can create your own unique color palettes in more depth, please watch my color palette class and color and light masterclass. You will find them in my teacher's profile. After looking at few references, I can create a new color palette and save my favorite color tones there. When I want to test out the colors on the color thumbnails, I will just copy the layer with a sketch few times and merge the layers. Then I will set this layer to multiply and add the colors on the layer under the sketch layer. Before you watch me take on the first prompt, let's have a quick look at the useful procreate symmetry tool, which can help you quite a lot with this challenge. See See you in the next video. 8. Symmetry Tool: [MUSIC] There is an awesome feature in Procreate that is especially helpful for our door challenge, and it is called a Symmetry tool. Now, I will keep my color exploration as a reference here on the side, because I will draw directly in color using the Symmetry tool. To turn on the Symmetry tool, go to Canvas and then tap "Edit" the Drawing Guide. Here, switch the guide to symmetry and you can adjust the color of the guide on the top. I like the guide to be pink. [MUSIC] Then choose a color you like based on your exploration or a current mood. Choose an opaque brush which is selected in the lesson on brushes and start sketching the shape for the door on one side of the Canvas, and voila, it appears on the other symmetrical side too. How cool is that? If you prefer more straight lines, but you are not comfortable with drawing them just yet, hold the pencil after finishing the line, and this will automatically straighten the line. After that, you can also adjust the angle by tapping on top of the screen. Maybe you are already aware of this feature from some of my other classes, but I think reminders are always lovely. I will draw more neatly now, but still keeping the lines more hand-drawn and not entirely geometrical and perfect. Straight lines often come in handy if you want to draw architectural elements, which we are doing in this class. However, I personally like the look of a hand-drawn line more, which is little bit more wobbly, and therefore I often hand-draw the boxes, even though you can get help from Procreate or the ruler when sketching on paper. The more you practice the straighter you can draw these freestyle hand-drawn look without rulers or other app help. [MUSIC] Then you can just drag and drop the color into the shape. When you create a new layer to use the Symmetry tool, you have to activate the Guide for that layer again by tapping on the "Layer" and selecting it from the drop-down menu. [MUSIC] Now, I can draw the door details quite quickly, [LAUGHTER] and if you tap and hold with your other hand on the screen, the shapes will be even more neat and well more geometrical. [MUSIC] If you're thinking everything needs to have the symmetry in the middle, well, actually no, you can adjust the guide if you need an angled symmetry too. When adding details on the art, I can tilt the guide too. [MUSIC] Then to add a greenery on another layer, I'm using the brush I created in my previous class about Procreate brushes. Combined with the Symmetry tool, it helps me to create these lovely detail super fast. [MUSIC] But nature is rarely symmetrical and perfect, you can turn the Symmetry guide on and off on each layer within this process, just tap on the "Layer" and select from the drop-down menu to activate or deactivate it. [MUSIC] Another option to break the symmetry after you created some elements, is to later move the elements around the composition, so it doesn't look exactly the same on both sides. For example I can move part of this brick pattern on the wall, how cool is that? Before we move on and you haven't done so before, try to play with the Symmetry tool a bit, so you perhaps discover how to use it even more. In the next video to get inspired, you can watch the full time-lapse of me take on the first prompt before we continue with the next prompt, the doors of Scandinavia. See you in the next video. [MUSIC] 10. Day 2: Elements - Doors of Scandinavia: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we will look at references for the traditional Scandinavian door and settings. I will show you what I notice on references and I will sketch few elements inspired by Scandinavian architecture. For this prompt, I'm thinking of red and white wooden architecture, which I have seen a lot when living in Scandinavia. You can of course, explore different types, like traditional wooden Viking doors or decorated doors in Denmark. Scandinavian design is usually characterized by merging the structure with the surrounding environment using good and natural elements, materials, natural light, clean lines, neutral colors, and so on. Modern Scandinavian architecture is minimalistic and simplistic. From the old traditional look, I love, for example, all doors from Ribe, Skagen and Fano Island in Denmark. There are so many beautiful old doors, and I may add details from there in the colored version and the interior design it's so gorgeous. I will not start talking about that because I will never stop. Anyways, if you get to visit, don't forget the head because it's quite the windy in Scandinavia. [MUSIC] Now back to my sketch of the wooden door, inspired by these older housing Sweden, I am noticing the cool contrast of white and red, as well as the iron hatches on the door and the rounded crooked stone stairs. Before adding the wooden texture on the door, I'm noticing the shadow area around the door frame again. I will add darker colors in these areas later on. I liked that the tilted wooden texture on the door itself too, which is a nice contrast to bear placed wood on the walls. [MUSIC] Also on many doors and walls, I know this is the diamond shape door handles or diamond shape windows. I blend to keep the overall design simple and maybe add some greenery around the door illustration. [MUSIC] Because I love the Scandinavian look and feel and design, I'm super curious which one you will choose for this prompt. Viking, all the doors with card wood, or Danish decorated doors, or like me here, red and white wooden doors from Sweden, or something completely different. I am very much looking forward to see your take on this prompt of the challenge. [MUSIC] In the next video to get inspired, you can watch the full time ones of my take on the second prompt of the challenge before we continue with the next prompt, which will be the doors of Asia. See you there. [MUSIC] 11. Day 2: Timelapse - Doors of Scandinavia: There 12. Day 3: Elements - Doors of Asia: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we will look at the references for the Asian door settings. I will show you what I know based on the references and sketch few elements inspired by these beautiful type of architecture. As you can imagine, there are many different Asian architecture styles. One of the most famous or well known are the roofs tilted upwards, especially in China. I'm curious to see what elements you choose for this prompt. To introduce a bit of variety in the door shapes through our challenge, I decided to use the round shape door for our door collection for this prompt. It's called and moon gate. A moon gate is circular opening in the garden wall that act as a pedestrian passage way and it's a traditional architecture elements in Chinese gardens. According to my research, you can find moon gate in other countries too. For example, I saw them in Japan as well. As you can see, first I'm marking down the round shape for the door. Then I'm marking different color wall split in the dark and light. [MUSIC] Afterwards, I'm trying to notice the darkest area and the shadow in the reference. As I see it here now, it's on top of the door frame, just under the wall surrounding the wooden door frame. Then, of course, I will keep in mind the bright color of the door in contrast with the walls, which I will use probably in color palette later on. Another thing that I'm sketching, are the interesting round door handles with decorative details. [MUSIC] Then also the roof feature it's also quite distinctive architecture element, which will make our door illustration more interesting and location specific. When you are not sure how to draw, you can approach this element with drawing a simple tube shape and always add a shadow in between these tubes. [MUSIC] Opening another reference, I'm noticing iron screws and bolts on the heavy wooden and door frame, which I think we'll became an interesting detail. [MUSIC] As a last thing I want to sketch down here as an idea is beta of a greenery. I think bonsai tree fits very well with this setting or maybe even a cherry blossom tree. When we visited Japan during the cherry blossom season, it was very magical. Definitely I will consider adding cherry trees. Maybe like this idea too. There are lots of examples you can find online with cherry trees in Beijing and Shanghai too, and of course other areas in Asia as well. [MUSIC] I'm quite happy with the elements here so I will move on to the colored version. In the next video, to get inspired, you can watch the full time labs of my day prompt on this third prompt of the challenge before we continue with the next prompt, which will be doors of Mediterranean. See you there. 14. Day 4: Elements - Doors of Mediterranean: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we will look at the references for the Mediterranean doors setting, and I will show you what I know this is again on the references and sketch view elements inspired by this type of architecture. In this first reference I like and I will focus first on the door shape and the silhouette. Even though the reference is not in the frontal view, I will keep the sketches and illustration in the frontal view as we talked before. First, I will draw the rectangular shape for the wooden door, and notice the door is split with an opening in the middle so I will draw a line there. Then I will notice and sketch along verticular door handles, as well as the vertical wooden pattern and the shadow on top part of the door. [MUSIC] I will also mark the horizontal part on the bottom of the door, and I find that these black and white simple sketches are always a great training for practicing the shadows. [MUSIC] Next I'm noticing and sketching the arch above the door. Then also the low wall, like a step shape. [MUSIC] Then as well the art around the whole door frame [MUSIC]. Whether a thing adds to the Mediterranean look and feel is not only the terracotta tiles on the roofs, but also the terracotta pots, which you can see in this reference and here what looks like an olive tree. I will sketch that and observe the shadows here too. Mediterranean homes are different in style depending on the specific architectural influences, so you can find different references from Southern European countries. Characteristics include arched windows and doors, wood, wrought, iron details, clay roof tiles, sticker walls and so on. [MUSIC] Then I will also sketch the shape above the door, which often appears on the old stone buildings. I remember some of them say 14 or 1500. This might be a nice detail addition to our illustration later. Looking at the next reference, the first thing I notice is the colors, which I might use later. The color combination of the blue doors and pink flowers hanging above is just mesmerizing. [MUSIC] Another detail I like here add, a small lamps by the door. I schedule those too. [MUSIC] Moving to the next reference, I'm noticing the decorative stones on the path. I love the high contrast of the dark stones against the white wall. You can consider adding these stones on the wall too instead of the floor. You can be creative here and see if you like the look. Also if you like the arch above the door, you can look up more references with different styles of these arches. They're a little bit different than the arches in the Great Britain and Ireland so you can compare those details too. [MUSIC] While looking at more references, I notice another lovely wooden door finish with rectangular shapes. I will sketch and observe the colors and details on this reference as well before moving to the final illustration. For example here, I love the pink wall, but I will probably stick to blue and pale green for the door design and white wall in the final illustration. In the next video, to get inspired, you can watch the full time-lapse of my take on the fourth prompt here before we continue to the next prompt [MUSIC] which will be the doors of Caribbean. See you there. 16. Day 5: Elements - Doors of Caribbean: [MUSIC] Now, we will look at references for the tropical door setting, and I will show you what I notice on the references and sketch view elements inspired by Caribbean architecture. There are many different areas in the Caribbean, so I tried to look at variety of locations. One of the main things I noticed first, beside the architecture are the colors; pinks, greens, yellows, and turquoise. I plan to add them in the final illustration. When thinking about the shape for the door, for a change, I am creating a taller, more narrow door frame with a slight arch on the top. As you can see in this reference, there is a darker or more defined shape around the doors, and In the top part of the door you can see a window or a decorative part, which doesn't open, or I think it doesn't open. Also above the door, there is a rectangular shape, which is wider at the top. [MUSIC] Next, I'm also observing and marking down the shadows on the layer below the sketch to remember where I can add darker colors when finalizing the illustration in the later stages. When looking at other references, you can notice various colors like bright pink, green, or blue for the walls and save the colors you like to your color palette. [MUSIC] Then I open another reference and try to notice more architectural elements which I can add. [MUSIC] For example, wall decorative elements or the shape of the balcony and the railing which has lovely details. This beautiful and intricate railing or a fence, if we can call it that, It's a nice contrast to the more chunky wall door frame shape. [MUSIC] Then to create a tropical and Caribbean feel, well, which is in my head, I'm thinking I definitely need some tropical plants, and what is better and feels more tropical than palm trees? I will sketch a few palm tree shapes as an idea without thinking too much about the design of this plant just yet. Of course, I encourage you to draw any plants and all the details in your style and more greenery and more tropical look and feel. [MUSIC] Before moving to the next lesson, I will look at one more reference for wall details. I might want to add around the door because it might be nice to add a little bit more visual interest in this part of the illustration. [MUSIC] I'm quite happy with all the ideas here, and in the next lesson, I will put it all together using brighter color tones like yellow, pink, and green together with the decorative wall and some decorative fence elements. In the next video, to get inspired, you can watch the full time-lapse [MUSIC] of my take on of the fifth prompt of this challenge before we continue to look at the references with the next prompt of the doors of Morocco. See you there. 18. Day 6: Elements - Doors of Morocco: In this lesson, we will take a look at the references and elements for the Moroccan doors. Throughout the ages, Morocco has been influenced by many cultures. It has very unique architecture which is super interesting. One of the things which I'm noticing first on this type of architecture is the shape of the door with an arch and then straight shape for the bottom part of the door. I will sketch these lovely shape. Looking at another reference, you can see wonderful intricate details including geometrical patterns, ornamental calligraphy, and ceramic tile mosaics. The main design elements usually include sharp wide walls, sukkah roofs among the arches, and large domes. You can research even more design elements like tiles and their colors and shapes, lamps, and the rags to add to your illustration. As you can imagine, you can find many references with beautiful ceramic tile decorations, which you can include in your illustration and it will add a lot of visual interest. For example, looking at this, I really like this grid-like tile pattern with blue, white, and yellow so I'm marking down the idea that I want to add some tile pattern to the illustration. I quite like this one. Maybe this one it is. But let's see. I will look at more references and see if this is the one. Then I can also decide where I will add the tiles, maybe on the half of the wall, or maybe some colorful tiles will be on the stairs. You have variety of options there. But I definitely think it's nice to add some tiles. Very often in Morocco, you can find the courtyard with a lots of greens and fountains or pools, as in this reference, which is super beautiful and feels and look very tranquil. Some of these old houses with courtyards and fountains in Marrakesh and in Essaouira are today hotels and restaurants so it's easy to visit them if you get a chance in the future. I will sketch this lovely ceramic pot with the plant too. As I mentioned, the courtyard can be quite lush and even feel tropical so you have few options for the type of plants here too. You can try something like a banana leaf or different type of plant. Or for example, I can do orange or a lemon tree which are according to my research, quite popular for these courtyards. As I mentioned, you can add even more plants into your illustration together with the Moroccan door to create more lavish setting. I'm quite happy with the ideas for this illustration prompt. In the next lesson, I will put it all together in one scene. In the next video, to get inspired, you can watch the full timelapse of my daily prompt, the sixth prompt of the challenge, before we finish with our last prompt, the doors of India. See you there. 20. Day 7: Elements - Doors of India: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we will look at the references for the Indian doors. I would say this architecture will be my new favorite to draw due to all the intricate details, colors, shapes, and decorations. I can't wait to start. There are many styles of architecture in India, as you can imagine, varied from North to South. Looking at this first reference, I will start with rectangle for the door and ornamental art on top of the door. [MUSIC] You can either combine your inspiration from different areas of India for this one illustration or stick to inspiration from one region or a place. I plan to combine different references, especially for the detailed arches and some of the details, the symmetry tool will help you to balance the proportions as well as save time when drawing. [MUSIC] I am not drawing all the details at this stage just yet, but then mark down that I want to add various decorations around the arches. Looking at the references, I'm trying to notice the amount of details, the intricate patterns, types of decorative pictorial motifs, elements, colors, and sketch a few ideas. [MUSIC] These colorful, detailed, and decorated arches are so mesmerizing and beautiful. Besides of all the beautiful colors, details and architecture try to notice the dark and light areas when looking at the references as well. For example, you can see that the bottom of the arches get more light compared to the darker corners under the roof. [MUSIC] Looking at the next reference, I loved the decorative arch above the door with the leaf shapes radiating outwards from top of the door. I skipped some of this detail here. I remember the shapes better in case I want to edit later on. You can also notice the beautiful flower details on the sides of the door. At this stage, try to decide on how many details you will add. Try not to overdo it in the final illustration and balance the details with simple areas in the illustration. You can see here, a lot of gorgeous details in contrast with white, beige, and more plain areas around the door frame and wall fence. The door itself, it's less colorful as well as compared to the walls around the door. You can think of it as negative space in terms of composition. Balancing out the busy areas and more calm areas. [MUSIC] Now, I'm quite happy with my research sketches. In the next lesson, I will put the concept together, thinking about references we just looked at, and in the next video, to get inspired, you can watch the full time-lapse of my take on the last seven prompts of this challenge of the doors of India. See you in the next video. [MUSIC] 22. How did it go?: How did it go? I hope you had a lot of fun traveling through art and sketching your unique door illustrations, and you got inspired to sketch even more. To join the challenge here on Skillshare, please upload your sketches and illustrations in the project section. If you are joining on Instagram, please use the hashtag and tag me with art side of life in your post so I can see your artworks and share them with others too, and I can't wait to see your lovely illustrations. To recap, if you want to expand on the knowledge you learned in this class, you can watch my other class about composition, perspective, and colors. This is my teachers' profile to find them. If you like the class, please leave a review because first of all, I learned so much from the constructive feedback, and second you will also help other students to discover the class and you may also contribute to their artistic journey. If you have friends or family members who would love to participate in these art challenge or traveled through art, please share this class with them. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment in the discussion section, and I would love to help out. See you in the next class.