“How to Illustrate for Yourself” is a 45 minute course that encourages and equips authors to illustrate for themselves, whether they don’t want to pay money for an illustrator or just want to try for the fun of it. Covering topics such as choosing mediums, drafting, finding inspiration, using grids for proportions, redesigning images in Adobe Illustrator, formatting for print, etc, this is a “DIY” course hoping to show illustration can be more accessible than thought. With a little bit of research into the right materials and methods, authors’ own unique creativity and knowledge can be enough.
Learning Outcomes
- How to find a medium that suits your skill level and style
- Which brands/sources to use for digital or hand drawn illustration
- How to find inspiration
- How to do good draft work
- Basic drawing strategies
- How to use Adobe Illustrator to turn a scan into a graphic image
- Proper file formats for print
How to Choose Your Medium
This lesson helps you choose a medium that fits your skill level and makes your work look its best, with a list of options and suggested quality brands/sources provided in a PDF. We’ll also explore inspiration from authors who illustrated their own work and the mediums they used.
Tips on Drawing
This is a practical lesson on some basic drawing tips. Topics include using grids for proportions, tracing, using reference images, and breaking down full pictures into shapes.
Preparing for Print
This lesson covers how to turn illustrations into image files fit to be put into a print-ready book file. This includes scanning hand drawn art, how to change image files into the correct formats, and which file formats are correct for print.
Finding Your Creative Process
This lesson includes guidance for the creative process, from finding inspiration, to planning illustrations, to executing them. It’ll cover how to find inspiration and the importance of starting out with concept/draft work, giving some advice on what good draft work looks like.
How to Turn a Drawing Into a Graphic Image
This is a personal example tutorial showing how Bethany turned her hand drawn pastel drawing into the graphic artwork on the cover of her poetry book “Letters to the King”. This tutorial is done in Adobe Illustrator.
Meet the Instructor
Bethany Austen is the author and illustrator of poetry book “Letters to the King”. An artist by hobby, she took what she learned in high school about art and illustrated for herself when she set out to self-publish. Bethany also has experience in formatting, design, and working with digital and print mediums from her diploma in Advertising and Marketing Communications.