I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure some things out; which app (none feel 'right', I havent got enough practise with them yet), how to organise some sort of workflow within the app, and then I struggle with the drawing / inking (sketching feels okay for the stage I'm at).
Here's one example, as it's been a week. Not super happy with it, but I couldn't have done it a week ago, so at least there's progress

It's been cool (and a little intimidating) to see your results! I'll try to catch up a bit if I can.

Hi everyone,

I'm a starting graphic designer in the Netherlands. I always run into the problem that I can't find the illustrations/photographs I'm looking for to use in my designs, so I figured I should learn how to do it myself (I'm already a photographer, but that's still limited as I can't magically get the models and locations I need).

I hope to learn to illustrate well enough to be able to use my illustrations for logomarks, in infographics, for book covers (PhD theses, mainly) and merch for an animal rescue I volunteer for. I figured this site would be the best place, as it teaches illustration in the context of telling a story and if I need illustrations, it's because it needs to communicate something (not just to look pretty)

I'm starting out with the courses that are in the curriculum, any tips or suggestions for what to watch or practice next are appreciated of course! I've got some knowledge about color theory, lighting and composition, but I'm sure there are illustration specific things to learn there.

Looking forward to sharing my work for feedback later on, or even share my own feedback once I know what I'm talking about!

here are the things I've drawn so far. Still struggling with getting good lines.

I'm struggling to find an ergonomic way to draw on my ipad. I was thinking some sort of stand that would allow me to rotate and tilt it would probably be best, like this on on amazon for example. Does anyone have experience with such a solution (I'm worried about the bits that stick out around the ipad, would they get in the way?)?

Any other solutions that work good for you? I can adjust the height of my desk, so that part isn't a problem.

I can't afford a dedicated display tablet at the moment, and have no luck with drawing on a non-display tablet (I love it for other things, but I can't get used to drawing with it somehow).

I really like 4 or 5 for that description. 1, 2 and 3 seem to young to me, and 9 and 10 too old. 8 is fun, but a bit too human to clearly be a ladybug in my eyes. I feel expressive poses with 6 and 7 could get challenging.

I've only started little over a week ago! It's hard to all go at the same pace but I'd love to share progress.

I think making a thread per main lesson would make most sense? Someone else already started one for foundations 6 - effective vehicle design last week, and that's been fun to see/share so far. You could do the same starting from foundations 1?

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I usually switch between standing and sitting. Luckily I got a desk that can adjust accordingly, makes a ton of difference for my back!

@Matthew-Oberdier I was looking for it, too. Havent been able to find it yet. I'm pretty sure it was on facebook.

I've recently started learning, but I tend to think far ahead.

I've got this idea to illustrate a 1000 piece (or more) puzzle, maybe during next slowvember if I'm good enough by then. I have vague plans for what will be on it, and what sort of feel the whole piece should be, but I've never really thought about what makes a puzzle good before.

So far I've concluded that most big puzzles I found don't use lines to define shapes, and that you need many details, but also some textures that are recognisable as belonging to a certain area of the puzzle, but vague enough to not be instantly placeable.

Do any of you have experience with designing a puzzle illustration? Do you have any tips or recommended reading for me?

thanks for tagging me

@K-Flagg thanks. I'm doing the curriculum first. If that lesson is not in there, I'll look it up after that! Starting off with 50 things sounds good. I'll need a LOT of things for a 1000 piece puzzle, so I'd better start practicing for that soon!

I've recently started learning, but I tend to think far ahead.

I've got this idea to illustrate a 1000 piece (or more) puzzle, maybe during next slowvember if I'm good enough by then. I have vague plans for what will be on it, and what sort of feel the whole piece should be, but I've never really thought about what makes a puzzle good before.

So far I've concluded that most big puzzles I found don't use lines to define shapes, and that you need many details, but also some textures that are recognisable as belonging to a certain area of the puzzle, but vague enough to not be instantly placeable.

Do any of you have experience with designing a puzzle illustration? Do you have any tips or recommended reading for me?

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I usually switch between standing and sitting. Luckily I got a desk that can adjust accordingly, makes a ton of difference for my back!

It really depends on the page as a whole. Centering is not not-done, but neither is it always a good option. If you're looking at it purely for readability, left aligned text is better (or right aligned if the reading direction is right to left, for some languages).

Justified can sometimes work, mostly for long texts and in combination with hyphenation (hyphenation isn't used a lot in English, but in my language - dutch - it's really common, making dutch texts usually more suitable for justified).

I'd look into books of the same genre, and see what they mostly do (look at books published by established publishers), so you know what the norm (safe choice) is. I would usually only deviate from that if there is a reason for it. If you have a reason for it, it's easy enough to justify the choice if the author/publisher starts asking questions.
For example, if the text is about someone feeling lost, the centered text could add to the feeling of not being grounded anywhere. Perhaps combined with a little more line spacing than you'd usually go for. Or if the illustrations are important, they could dictate where the text can and cannot go.

I can't tell you the right choice without knowing the content. I hope this still helped a bit.

Here's a myfonts newsletter with a few tips that I found surprisingly good: myfonts tips

A rule that may help: for readability, optimal line width (number of characters in a line) is generally 1,5 - 2 times the alphabet without spaces for printed work. Edit: for children, you'll probably want to go a bit less.

@Nyrryl-Cadiz that would have been the best solution if it wasn't for my back pain. I can't sit in bed a long time, unfortunately. Sounds wonderful though!

@EliaMurrayArt that looks a lot more stable indeed! And nice and simple. Thanks for sharing

@Kevin-Longueil said in Ergonomic setup for drawing on an ipad?:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1M4PHY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&fpw=alm

thanks for sharing, I'll look into it!

@Jeremy-Ross Thanks! I'll try this before anything else so I don't spend money needlessly!

@PieterVanDerBeek that does help a lot!

This was supposed to be the 'strong' car. I thought stretching the lower part of the car to be higher and choosing a viewing angle from below would make it feel stronger, but it ended up mostly just looking like a flying car... still a good drawing exercise though. Now to figure out why this worked in my head, but not on 'paper'.

Haven't done the lessons on shadow and colour yet, can't wait to learn how to make stuff like this feel more 'alive'.