This was such a fun workshop! I really love this live format instead of recording process videos. Love answering your questions and I always learn something new myself.

In this workshop, I did a quick landscape study (very far from perfect in my case...) and played around with adding scanned textures. I just purchased a scanner and I can’t stop…

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How are you? How is summer treating you? Just wanted to let you know about a fun little Instagram challenge (is it a challenge?) I co-host. The theme is...

drumrolls

Ghosts!

I know, I know it’s summer and we’re still a few good weeks away from the cosy, autumn season (sadly...), but you know what? I’m just going to manifest it already and spent sketching out ideas for the ghost prompts for this September. Want to join me?

More info here:

Instagram post

Until next time,

Scroll down for the registration link. ⤵️

Event info:

This is a live Procreate session where you can draw along, ask questions, or just watch the process in real time.

​I’ll share my iPad screen and talk about my process as I work.

​Around 15 minutes before each session, I’ll send out reference images to all registered guests so you can draw along if you want to.

After the session, I’ll also upload a replay so you can come back to it later or watch it if you couldn’t make it live.

​There’s no pressure to talk, and you’re completely free to keep your camera and mic off during the whole call.

​You’re welcome to share your drawings at the end of the call if you feel like it! :)

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Hi Friend!

This month we said hi to an old friend: the pencil. Often forgotten after acquiring all the fancy art supplies, the graphite pencil is such a gem. It teaches you all the important skills without overwhelming you with the color choices. I’m glad we’ve reunited, pencil. We’ll meet again soon!

Scroll down for references and notes.

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Hi Friend!

It’s time for our live sketchbook session on Zoom. This month, we’ll go back to the basics and experiment with... pencils! It can be graphite or a dark-colored pencil, up to you! Make sure to have some hard and soft ones so we can play with textures and lines.

In the last few weeks, I went back to pencil sketches, something I haven’t done in a while. And I almost felt bad about how much I had abandoned our trusty art-material friend, the pencil! It’s been with us from the beginning, and it’s usually the first art tool we experiment with.

I’ll collect some fun references, but prepare yourself drumroll... I want to invite you to create a bunch of small, quick drawings. No detailed, realistic studies this time.

Can’t wait to see you this Thursday! We’ll have fun, I promise.

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Ok, let’s take a look at this month’s calendar... We have three live events coming up this month: the sketchbook workshop, the Procreate session and the Cinematic Composition Workshop (last one was so much fun, I might use an animated movie again!…

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Last month, I mentioned that I decided to use the slower summer season to hone my skills with a mentor. At the beginning of July I enrolled in a mentorship where we’re working together to improve my portfolio.

This time, my mentor asked me to work on a piece with strong storytelling, emotion, and interaction between the characters, as well as an environment that feels and looks visually interesting.

I initially showed him this project:

He really liked the storytelling and had some great tips on how to improve the colors, but here’s the thing: my forest didn’t look interesting enough.

Do you agree? It feels so bare, and the trees are pretty much an afterthought. So he encouraged me to focus on adding a variety of textures (like the tree stump and the rabbit’s fur) and more foliage.

Want to see how it turned out?

Let’s go!

Step 0: References

Before I started sketching, I collected some references on Pinterest.

I decided I wanted to draw inspiration from other artists’ work, so I saved the pieces I liked the most to a Pinterest board. I especially love the one on the right by Jessica Elena!

I then went ahead and created a few quick studies on my iPad. I knew my work wasn’t going to be as beautifully expressive as Jessica’s, but I wanted to get a feel for this aesthetic. It also helped me explore different patterns and color palettes.

I think the habit of collecting references and doing studies before jumping into the actual work has been truly transformative for my process. I never paid much attention to the preparation that goes into creating an illustration because I was always too eager and impatient to get started right away. Now, creating a mood board and doing studies are just as exciting to me as making the final illustration!

Step 1: Concept and sketch

I don’t consider myself a great storyteller. Actually, I don’t consider myself a storyteller at all! That thought used to stop me from experimenting with visual storytelling because I felt like I had nothing interesting to say. I’m not great at imagining detailed worlds, and I can never envision magical creatures or other non-human, non-animal beings.

But you know what? That’s okay. A simple story is better than no story at all! I no longer let that stop me from becoming a better illustrator.

So, for this concept, there’s a thieving raccoon, a leftover apple, and two very confused friends...

Step 2: Color choice

I loosely follow the 60–30–10 rule, which I explained more here.

Find your perfect color palette

Although in this case, it’s more like 50–40–10, with the main colors being complementary green and pink, and yellow as the accent color. I also keep everything within a warm color palette.

Step 3: Underpainting

As always, I start with an underpainting layer.

I usually go for warm oranges or reds.

I used to paint everything directly on the underpainting layer with Alpha Lock turned on, but lately I’ve changed my process a little.

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Here’s the replay from our Cinematic Composition Workshop where we analyze a move still to learn more about composition and visual storytelling.

Thanks for joining and I can’t wait to host another one!

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Since we didn’t get a chance to meet on Zoom this week, I thought I’d record a little demo/follow-along video for you in case you’d like to try a quick color study on your own!

The idea is simple: limit your choices (like how many brushes and layers you use), set a timer, and just focus on exploring color.

In the video, I also talk about how to create mor…

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Hi Friend,

It’s time for Cinematic Composition Workshop! Scroll down to read more about the workshop.

Important

Since it’s summer and things are a bit slower, I’ll be running the workshop only if at least two people are registered.

If you register, I’d really appreciate it if you could attend. If your plans change, please cancel in advance so I can let ever…

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Scroll down for the registration link. ⤵️

Event info:

This is a live Procreate session where you can draw along, ask questions, or just watch the process in real time.

​I’ll share my iPad screen and talk about my process as I work.

​Around 15 minutes before each session, I’ll send out reference images to all registered guests so you can draw along if you want to.

After the session, I’ll also upload a replay so you can come back to it later or watch it if you couldn’t make it live.

​There’s no pressure to talk, and you’re completely free to keep your camera and mic off during the whole call.

​You’re welcome to share your drawings at the end of the call if you feel like it! :)

Read more

Scroll down for the registration link. ⤵️

Event info:

This is a live sketchbook session where you can draw along, ask questions, or just watch the process in real time.

​I’ll have the camera facing my sketchbook and share more about my process, materials, and techniques as I work.

​Around 15 minutes before each session, I’ll send out reference images to all registered guests so you can draw along if you want to.

After the session, I’ll also upload a replay so you can come back to it later or watch it if you couldn’t make it live.

​There’s no pressure to talk, and you’re completely free to keep your camera and mic off during the whole call.

​You’re welcome to share your sketches at the end of the call if you feel like it.

Subscribe now

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To be honest, work was busy, but I was also going through the worst autoimmune flare I’ve had in a long time. It lasted almost three full weeks.

While trying to deliver client work, post on social media, and keep Patreon and Substack running I spent most of my time in bed and/or playing video games and …

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I decided to pause my career tips and co-working sessions for the summer. I notice everything has slowed down, the email open rate is understandably much lower, and I mean, that makes sense! It’s time to rest, not to turn our…

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Today I want to share a new illustration with you and talk about a few things I learned while working on it.

As you probably noticed yourself, summer is usually a much slower season. Things quiet down a little on social media, and with client work. I knew that going into this summer, so instead of stressing about the slower pace, I decided to use it as an opportunity to improve my skills.

Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty confident and happy with how my characters and colors work together, but I still feel I have a lot to improve when it comes to illustrating more detailed scenes and environments. So I signed up for an illustration mentorship with Illustration Department to help me work on exactly that!

What I’m sharing with you today is the very first assignment I got where the goal was to illustrate an emotion using both a character and their environment.

It didn’t take me long to decide because I’ve had this idea of illustrating the bored child pose for quite some time already. I don’t know about you, but I find this pose just too funny! So here we are: there’s a bored kid in a room full of toys and objects, and no matter how hard they’ve tried to entertain themselves... they’re still bored.

Let’s go!

Step 0: References

Before I started sketching, I collected some references on Pinterest.

After a chat with my mentor I want to be more mindful about using references instead of relying only on memory. I looked for messy children’s rooms with toys lying around on the floor and searched for little ideas I could borrow for my own illustration.

Step 1: Concept and sketch

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the composition. One thing I knew was that I wanted to avoid an eye-level, straight-on view and play with a more interesting perspective.

After working on the Cinematic Composition workshop slides over the last few months (especially the Severence one), I wanted to experiment with foreground, middle ground and background to create a stronger illusion of depth. That’s why I added the open door and the table with the snake toy in the foreground.

This assignment is all about how the environment is part of the story too, so instead of drawing a generic bedroom, I wanted every object add a little to the feeling of boredom.

The toys and objects scattered around should feel like they’ve all been played with and abandoned by the girl in the tiger pyjamas (let’s call her Lucy, shall we?). There are unfinished drawings, an open book, teddy bears left behind, and half-eaten cookies.

It’s almost like you’re able to retrace everything Lucy tried before finally giving up and collapsing on the bed.

I don’t usually include this many details, so I’m definitely challenging myself here, but I’m really enjoying it.

Step 2: Color choice

I loosely follow the 60–30–10 rule. For this illustration I wanted to keep most of the painting in blue and purple hues while using orange for the details and Lucy herself.

I love using complementary color palettes for contrast, and orange will stand out against the purples and blues just perfectly!

Even at this early stage I already mark that the orange I use for Lucy should be darker and much more saturated than any other orange in the painting. I want whoever looks at the illustration to notice her first.

If Lucy doesn’t stand out, the feeling of boredom won’t stand out either!

Step 3: Underpainting

As always, I start with an underpainting layer. I usually go for warm oranges or reds.

I used to paint everything directly on the underpainting layer with Alpha Lock turned on, but lately I’ve changed my process a little.

Now I add a new layer on top and set it as a Clipping Mask. Effectively, I work with three layers: the underpainting, the color layer and the sketch layer (which I’ll merge with the color layer later).

Why the change? Sometimes it makes it much easier to fix imperfections in the underpainting without affecting everything else.

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Important: Values!

One habit I’ve developed over the last few years is constantly checking my values as I paint.

I add a new layer on top, fill it with pure black, and change the blend mode to Color. This lets me see the painting in grayscale.

If all the values are too similar, nothing attracts our attention. I always make sure there’s enough contrast to keep the focus on the main subject, which in this case is Lucy.

Step 4: Flat colors

Now it’s time for the first layer of color.

I lower my brush opacity to around 80–90% because I still want some of the underpainting to show through.

This time I used a brush I hadn’t touched in a while: my Gouache brush from my very first Procreate brush set, Mixed Media. I’ve been so focused lately on experimenting with dry textures that I’d almost forgotten about it. Coming back to it felt a bit like picking up an old art supply and remembering why I loved it in the first place!

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Here’s the replay from our Cinematic Composition Workshop where we analyze a move still to learn more about composition and visual storytelling.

Thanks for joining and I can’t wait to host another one!

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And look at us, we’re more than halfway through the series. Whoop whoop!

In the series talked about MVP and putting your work out there without waiting for it to be perfect. I explained Product–Market Fit and learning how to listen. …

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Thanks for joining and I can’t wait to host another one!

Resources:

Article on my blog with The Sopranos scene breakdown

Slides:

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Today, I’d like to talk to you about quick 5-minute sketches and the best method to approach them.

In my video, I’ll walk you through the full process, share the materials I like to use, and add a few words of encouragement because learning to sketch quickly takes time. A LOT of time!

It’s funny because before I studied art I used to look at loose, quick sketches and think they just came naturally to people.

But it’s actually the opposite as there’s a method behind it, and a lot of practice.

In this video, I show you the small things that help me: how I break objects down into simple shapes, how I think about adding volume, and why line weight makes such a difference in adding the illusion of perspective.

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