Making a good first impression with digital illustrations
Making a good first impression is crucial for those who see your illustrations and designs, whether you want to establish yourself as an artist or sell a product. Digital illustrations can take many forms, and their creation is made possible by tools and programs.
What is a digital illustration?
In most cases, digital illustration is part of UI and UX because most brands today use an illustrated logo to represent their business and the products or services they provide. A digital illustration is a sketch, drawing, or painting of an object, person, or abstract idea created with a digital program and/or drawing tablet. Although digital illustration techniques can vary widely, they typically involve the use of a digital design program, such as Adobe Illustrator or GIMP, as well as tools such as a stylus, mouse, and keyboard.
Why is digital illustration important?
Some reasons why digital illustrations are considered very important are:
- Improved content: Using digital illustrations is a way to significantly improve the overall quality of the content you produce, especially if you use unique digital illustrations. Implementing illustrations is also a way to improve the quality of a site and its content, it is a positioning factor for many search engines like Google, which can help increase online visibility.
- User engagement: Well-designed digital illustrations keep interest in the content high and help them interact with it.
- Lightening content: The use of digital illustrations goes beyond branding. In fact, digital illustrations can be used to inform users and guide them on the website with illustrations and graphics. Graphics and visual aids play an important role in establishing a brand’s image and its ability to reach a particular target.
- Reader persuasion: The use of digital illustrations can help convince readers to discover more information about a specific product you want to promote and encourage them to finalize a sale they are interested in. Properly designed illustrations and graphics can have a significant impact on how others see and interpret your brand, for better or worse. The use of low-quality, grainy, and outdated graphics can give users the impression that the brand is behind the times or of poor quality and unable to keep up with trends, which can lead to the loss of a sale and ultimately revenue.
How is digital art created?
Choose digital art software
Some of the most popular software solutions for digital art currently include:
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- Adobe Photoshop: One of the most popular programs in the world for graphic design and illustrations. Photoshop is known for its system that offers immense flexibility in terms of graphic design management.
- GIMP: GIMP is another of the most popular design programs in the world and is completely free. GIMP is great for those who want to work with raster images rather than vector illustrations, as well as for beginners who are taking their first steps in digital art.
- Procreate: If you are looking for an alternative to Adobe Photoshop that offers a premium subscription plan and hundreds of additional brushes, Procreate plans start at $9.99 USD per month and work best on tablets like the Apple iPad.
- Affinity Photo: Affinity Photo is another alternative design software that requires a one-time payment of $49.99 USD. It is very similar to Adobe Photoshop in all the features it offers.
- Adobe Fresco: Another solution for drawing and painting from Adobe is Adobe Fresco. Adobe Fresco is highly recommended for artists who prioritize painting.
- Adobe Illustrator: Adobe Illustrator is highly recommended for illustrators who want to get serious. Adobe Illustrator represents the pinnacle of design for digital illustrations and offers many opportunities to implement a range of digital illustration techniques, whether it’s drawing in the program or using a graphics tablet.
Create a sketch
When you want to create a digital illustration, it is best to start by sketching the idea you have in mind by hand. Making a sketch of the logo, graphic, or animation on a piece of paper is useful for making changes before starting to transfer the final draft to your computer or preferred work platform.
At this point, you can scan the sketch or take a digital photo of it with the use of a smartphone, if the quality is high enough, to transfer the photo (or photos) to your favorite digital illustration software.
Keep in mind that a sketch is simply a starting point. You don’t have to worry about specifics and details, as the sketch will be refined later after being scanned or transferred to your favorite illustration program.
Design on multiple layers
Once you’ve launched your favorite illustration program and opened or created a new project, it is highly recommended to work on multiple layers. It is useful to create a new layer for each aspect of the project so as not to damage the original sketch file or merge the layers too prematurely.
Use different layers for each part of the sketch. For example, some layers you can create for your digital illustration may include:
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- Background/base layer
- Sketch layer, where the original sketch is scanned or saved
- Line drawing layer
- Base/skin tones layer if you are coloring and painting human figures
- Coloring layer or layers
- Detail layers, etc.
Draw with colors
After becoming familiar with using the pen and drawing tools in your favorite digital illustration program, you can start coloring the illustration. This step achieves better results if you use the layer system, which offers a simple solution to color within the lines as you just need to add a new layer under the line drawing layers.
At this point, you can start painting your sketch under the line drawing using the traditional brush included in your favorite software program or custom brushes, pens, pencils, and spray cans that can help you achieve the digital art style you want.
Delete sketch layers
When the illustration begins to approach the final effect, after completing the line drawing and coloring of the graphic, delete all the sketch layers used. Deleting the sketch layers from the graphic allows you to see the final version of your creation.
Note: If you delete the sketch layer or layers and find that important strokes or additional coloring details are missing, just undo the process using the “Undo” button, feature, or link in your illustration program.
Add final details
At this point, add all the final details to your illustration, such as shadows, crosshatching, and gradients. This step helps you finalize your work and ensure that it meets your or your clients’ standards.
Save the completed illustration
Save your digital illustration using the format you prefer or that is most suitable for the type of art you have created. Saving the file as a vector or standard illustration allows you to make future changes, but the graphic will not be compatible as standard online graphics.
The most used file formats for saving and exporting illustrations include PNG, JPG/JPEG, and GIF.
In which sectors do digital illustrators operate?
Today, digital illustrators are in high demand and work in a variety of sectors, including:
- Film industry
- Fashion industry
- Video game industry
- E-commerce sector
- Advertising sector
What are the different forms of digital illustration?
As a digital illustrator, your work will probably never be boring, especially given the many forms of illustration that are used commercially today, such as:
- Movies, TV shows, and commercials: Illustrators may be asked to develop characters, animated graphics, and even brand icons for commercials and clips on television.
- Web design: Digital illustrators are responsible for branding, buttons, banners, and more.
- 3D modeling: Development of 3D models, character sketches, clothing, accessories, and high-resolution textures.
- Video games: Textures, landscape design, character development, clothing, accessories, environmental design, and aesthetics.
- Book illustrations: Management of the overall design and aesthetics of a book from start to finish to ensure consistency and flow.
- Magazine covers and graphics: Management of designs, color combinations, typography, and promotional placements.
- Fashion design: Assistance in fashion sketches, design ideas, measurements, and converting sketches into reality.
- Advertising: Branding, logo design, color combinations, targeting specific demographics with the use of color psychology, digital illustration, and graphic design
What equipment do digital illustrators need?
You can start working as a digital illustrator with a sketch pad and some electronic devices such as:
- Computer or laptop: You need a computer or laptop that can handle your favorite digital art software and the scanning program (or programs).
- Graphics tablet and stylus: The use of a tablet and stylus is highly recommended for professional illustrators and graphic designers who prefer a perfect stroke.
- Scanner: The scanner is very useful for easily transferring scans of illustrations to your favorite illustrations program.
- Digital illustration software: The digital illustration software of your choice can have a huge impact on illustration efficiency, scanning, and overall work.
- Memory card or flash drive: The use of memory cards and flash drives allows you to easily save and store your work while backing up completed projects.