Illustration Ideas Step by Step

Thinking of new ideas for your artwork is certainly tough. Image block when you're on a deadline is tough. It's hard to think of a new, fresh idea with that kind of pressure. Luckily, illustrator Nate Williams was willing to share his secret for tackling the problem on his blog:

"A lot of the time when I create an editorial illustration an idea just pops into my head … but sometimes this does not happen, so I have this little methodology for creating new ideas that has helped me time and time again.

The idea behind this methodology is similar to writing a song. There are only a few musical notes, but by rearranging their order, length and speed you can create an infinite amount of songs."

A methodology for creating new ideas (http://www.n8w.com)

Wide Angle Perspective Techniques in Your Artwork

Ever notice that in one point and two point perspective that a supposedly square tile can look pretty strange in some of the more extreme areas? You can compensate with carefully thought out vanishing points. However, there are limits as painter Rob Adam's explains in his Spherical Perspective tutorial:

"So here we go… We might assume from what we are taught about perspective that this is the way we actually see. But it’s not. In the outside world there are straight lines, so we put them that way into our pictures. We have developed complicated schemes of geometrical rules to guide us. We take photos with cameras that have lenses that carefully distort the world to make it fit with the expectation that straight line should be straight. But visually they are not.

Have you ever tried to draw that really large checker board floor? Somehow at the far right and left it goes all stretched. Do the same thing with circles on the floor and it gets really wild."

My own understanding of spherical perspective, quadilinear perspective and cylindrical perspective definitely needs some expansion. If you're like me and have trouble wraping your head around it, Rob's tutorial can help.

Spherical Perspective (treeshark.com)

Drawing portraits with more character

When drawing (or painting), the toughest part is capturing a persons personality. A face can be a huge part of creating an emotional connection in your art.  You can make or break the believability of the moment with a glint in the eye or a smirk in the lips.

I was reading the tutorials on the blog of MAD Magazine caricaturist Tom Richmond. Sure, he has a great anatomy tutorial on understanding hands that's a must read. The tutorials on inking and digital coloring are amazing.  It's his bread and butter, however, when he gets into the details of the face. 

Making a successful caricatures takes a pretty good understanding of the facial features. You have to capture a likeness. You have to manipulate them into an expressive statement.  From the blog:

"I would say there are three essential elements that transcend style and medium and must be present in a caricature:

Likeness- If you can’t tell who it is supposed to be, then it is not successful. All good caricatures incorporate a good likeness of their subjects.

Exaggeration- Without some form of exaggeration, or a departure from the exact representation of the subject’s features, all you have is a portrait. The level of exaggeration can vary wildly, but there must be some departure. A straight portrait is not a caricature.

Statement- I believe a caricature must editorialize in some way. The artist must be trying to say something about the subject. It might be something to do with the situation the subject is drawn in, it may just be a play on their personality through expression or body language, it might be a simple as making visual fun of some aspect of their persona or image."

While you may not want to be a caricature artist, learning how to play with caricature can bring a lot into your facial drawing. Finding somewhere between photorealism and caricature might be the thing that takes your art to the next level. What do you think?

Tutorials on Tom's MAD Blog (tomrichmond.com)

40 Guidelines for Composing a Landscape Painting

When creating artwork, finding the flaws in your own work can be difficult.  Furthering your understanding what works and what doesn't can make this process far less frustrating.  The tutorial on art destination site and forum Wetcanvas has demystified the most common problems. From the article, by Johannes Vloothuis:

"I have put together a series of “ rules” (I’d prefer the word, tips) of composition that when used properly should reduce the flaws in your landscape paintings. These are a compilation of what appears in most books on composition plus some of my own ideas. A word of caution; do not allow these to hinder your work. They are to help you out when you are in doubt on where to place diverse elements in your work. Rules are made to be broken, in which case you should at least know what rule you are breaking and why and not err due to insufficient knowledge. There are 23 pages so get a cup of coffee and prepare yourself for a long haul."

Landscape Composition Rules (wetcanvas.com)

Is your graphic design work a mess?

Seeing these examples brings back memories... Clean Up Your Mess is a site that explains the most universal principle rules for design out there. Sure, what really makes great design has changed with fashion and fads. These rules are timelesss, however.  They can be broken. Often it's not worth the risk and more times than not fails.

I remember working as a newspaper ad designer over four years ago. The sales and design staff were totally separate. The sales staff was put into the position to care only about making their commission. It didn't matter if the retailers who bought ads had a successful ad. One that had impact. Designers weren't given the access to make recommendations.  So usually the ads requested by the sales staff and retailers were listings and heads. Way too much content. Oh, and it all had to "stand out".  Put this in a burst? Put this in a box? More typefaces please? If only there was a way to get them to clean up the mess.

Clean Up Your Mess, A guide to visual design for everyone (visualmess.com), discovered via Lifehacker