The Complete Drawing & Painting Illustration Course

The Artist Inner Family Facebook group is a great place where you can get feedback from fellow students as well as support. Any of my drawing students can join the group. I also offer fully responsive support through the Q&A Section of the course.  Your assignment for this lecture is to share your name and your goals with us in the Q&A Section of the course.

This article is where you will find the password and the rules to both Facebook groups. Have fun and be kind in the groups.

There are a few tools and supplies you will need if you want to create beautiful illustrations. I will be using the cheapest supplies through out the course. I would like this course to be accessible for everyone so I have avoided expensive supplies.

Heres a check list of all the basic supplies you will need of this course. There may be a few other items you will need but they will be general household objects.

I really want to demonstrate to you that drawing and painting is really not that hard. In this lecture you will follow me in a step by step process of drawing a hyper realistic bubble. This project will give you a good taste of how fun and rewarding drawing and painting can be. Don't forget to post your bubble drawing in the Q&A section of the course when you are finished!

I like to do a project at the beginning of my courses where you will get a taste of things to come as well as test your skills. You will be drawing an eye in this lecture that we will then color in the next few lectures. At the end of the course you will redraw the eye and compare it to the first eye you drew. This way you will be able to see the progress you will make in this course!

Now that you have the outline of your eye drawn it's time to add some color. When your coloring with wax colored pencils its important to add color in layers. In this lecture I will teach you how to layer and blend prism colored pencils to make flesh tones.

Now that your Base colors are all filled in it's time to add the details. The details you add to your drawing will seemingly transform your drawing. In this lecture you will be drawing your pupil, eyebrows, and adding in your eyelashes.

Thats the end of Section 3. The purpose of this section was to get your hands a little dirty and give you the confidence to start drawing illustrations. I'm looking forward to teaching you all the techniques I know will make you a better artist.

In this lecture you will be learning how to tell the deference between a light graphite pencil and a dark graphite pencil. Using different values of graphite is very useful when you need to create many different values in your drawings. Understand in the graphite system is a must for illustration.

There are many different papers out there that you can draw on. I like to break them down into groups. There are thin papers and thick papers. Expensive and inexpensive papers. Lastly is rough and smooth papers. In this lecture we will talk about them all.

One very annoying part of drawing with graphite pencil is smudging. Smudging is caused when the oils in your skin get on your drawing paper and smudge the graphite around. In this lecture I will teach you a very simple trick to avoid ruining your drawings.

I'll be using prism colored pencils through out this course. But these are not the only colored pencils you can use when illustrating. In this course I will teach you the two most important things to look for when buying a colored pencil set.

Prisma colored pencils and other high pigmented pencils are amazing because they can be used on so many different surfaces. In this lecture I will break down all the different papers that prism colors can be used on.

There are some pretty big differences between acrylic and watercolor paint. Watercolor is meant to be much more of a translucent paint. While acrylic is meant to be more of an opaque paint. Both are very useful and in this lecture I will explain why.

You've made it to Section 5, congratulations! In this lecture you will learn how to draw what you see. The hardest part about drawing what you see is actually making it look like what you are looking at. The secret to drawing likeness is being able to see, measure, and replicate the relationship between different parts of an image.

You can download the image of the cat from this lecture. 

When your looking at a reference image it can be pretty daunting having to figure out how to draw all that detail. They way to overcome this is by simplifying the image. We can do this by squinting our eyes. If that sounds crazy don't worry I'll explain it all in this lecture.

You can download the image of the girl from this lecture. 

In this lecture I will be teaching you how to transfer images onto paper using a quick and free method. Transferring images can be very important when it comes to illustrations. It can add a lot of accuracy to your drawings and insure that everything is drawn in the correct position.

You can download the image of the man from this lecture. 

If you are using paper that is somewhat transparent you can trace your images rather then using the transfer method. In this lecture I will teach you a method of tracing that make tracking quick and easy. This withhold will not require hight box but just a simple window in your house.

There are four basic methods of shading. You can shade with the tip of your pencil, the side, and you can also do blended shading as well. The last form of shading is cross hatching which is where you use a series of lines to create the illusion of values.

I think crosshatching a very beautiful way of adding value and form to your drawings. In this lecture we will be diving deep into all the different ways you can crosshatch.  We will also be looking at an example of where crosshatching might show up in your drawings and how you can incorporate it.

In this lecture you will be getting some hands on experience with your graphite pencils. We will be shading some 3D forms in using the different graphite pencils in our sets. having a set of drawing pencils that have different values is very useful because you don't have to only rely on pressure to create light and dark values.

It's important to be aware of cast shadows in you drawings. Cast shadows can make your drawings look very realistic. In this lecture we will be talking about why cast shadows are important and where they show up.

I've always thought if you're not going to embellish real life in your drawings you might as well take a picture.  In this lecture I will be teaching you what makes for dramatic lighting and how you can add it to your drawings.

Texture is one element of your drawing that can make or break it. If your texture doesn't look real neither will the rest of your drawing. In this lecture we will break down how texture is created with graphite pencils.

Congratulations! You have made it so far into the course. Many students don't make it this far but you did! This section of the course was to prepare you for the full illustration we will be drawing together in the next section. I can't wait to see you there.

Welcome to section 7 of the course. In this section you will be drawing a full illustration of a man holding fire. By the end of this course you will have a finished illustration, new skills, and a deeper understanding of graphite illustration. 

In this lecture we will be drawing the eyes of our portrait. I like to start with the yes because they are the most important part of the portrait. It's important to remember to take your time and look at the reference photos while drawing.

In this lecture we will be drawing the face of our portrait. The face consists of the cheeks, forehead, and nose. This is where you really start to see your illustration peak through.

In this lecture we will be drawing the turban that the man wears in our portrait. This will teach you a lot about drawing fabric and also how to apply patters to 3d forms. Remember to take your time as you are drawing your portrait.

In this lecture we will be drawing the outline of the fire that the man will be holding. It's important to outline the shape of the fire so we don't draw on the inside of it when we draw the beard. Remember to draw your online lightly and not dark.

In this lecture we will be drawing the beard. Drawing hair can get messy so make sure to follow this lecture closely. When drawing a beard or hair you want to think of it as one big form.

In this lecture we will be drawing the fire and the hand. In this particular illustration we are going to be leaving the fire white. So to make the fire visible we are going to add a midtone gray to the back ground.

In this section we will be drawing the body for our portrait. This lecture will each you a lot about drawing fabric as well as patterns. We will also be talking about how to simplify what we see for illustrative purposes.

In this lecture you will be adding texture to the skin tone. We will also be going through and touching up any thing that we missed. At this point we can go in with a 6B pencil and darken things in such as the eyes

I would like to quickly give you some notes on drawing illustrations with graphite. The first note is to make sure that you create contrast in your drawings. The second note is that illustration is all about making an image make sense to the viewer. 

You've made it through another section of the course, congratulations! Many student won't make it this far but you have. I hope you are proud of the illustration you drew.

Blending colored pencils is the most important thing you can know when it comes to creating color pencil illustrations. If you can't blend then you can really create a realistic illustration. In this lecture you will be learning four different ways in which you can blend your colored pencils.

One of the amazing things about drawing on toned paper with lighter colors show up so well on it. For example you can use white on the toned paper and it will show up bright and opaque. In this lecture we will be drawing the illusion of form only using a white color pencil.

In this lecture you will be learning how to create the illusion of form and lighting with color pencils. Drawing lighting and form with colored pencils is quite different than drawing with a graphite pencil. When drawing form with color pencils you have to incorporate color into your values.

Creating texture with color pencils can be a little bit different than creating textures with graphite pencils. The main difference is that you are able to had highlights with a white color pencil rather then having to leave white space. In this lecture we will be creating three different textures.

In this lecture you are going to be learning how to draw colored lighting. Up to this point we have been drawing using plain white lighting. By changing the color of the lighting it can add a dramatic effect to your illustrations.

In this section we will be doing a mini colored pencil illustration of lips. before you can get started you need to download the image provided in this lecture and print out the reference picture.

In this lecture you are going to draw some realistic lips by using cross hatching. You will be using toned paper and a black and white color pencil. The purpose of this project is to get you comfortable with creating realistic drawings with color pencils.

In this section we will be doing a full colored pencil illustration of Chris Pratt. before you can get started you need to go to the link provided in this lecture and print out the reference picture of Chris Pratt.

The first step in our illustration is transferring our outline drawing. Because we are using toned paper for this illustration we won't be able to trace our image. We will have to transfer the image using the graphite method instead.

The first step in drawing a color pencil illustration on toned paper is to add in the highlights. Drawing the highlights will allow you to see the form of your drawing. The highlights also give you a good base to work off of when adding in your color.

In this lecture I'm going to finish up the highlights on the shirt. Once you have finished your highlights its important to go back and touch up. Look back at your reference photo and look for highlights that you missed or areas that need to be brighter.

Once you have added in your highlights it's now time to add in your shadows. Up to this point your drawing may have looked a little funny and not like Chris Pratt. Once you had in your dark values your drawing will beguine to resemble him more.

In this section you will be adding your first layer of color to your drawing. Adding this first layer will really start to bring your illustration together and start to make it look like an actual piece of art. If you drawing looks a little funny after this first layer of color don't worry, there are more layers coming!

Now that you have added your first layer of color its time to add your second layer of color. The second layer of color is all about the mall details. This is where you will try to mach or exaggerate your colors.

Touch ups is a very important part of doing color pencil illustrations. Touch ups is where you will really finish off the drawing and fix any issues you see. This is a time to scan you reference photo and check every detail on your drawing to make sure they match.

In this lecture we are going to draw the hair. Hair can be kind of tricky to draw but I'm going to break it down into simple steps for you. We will also be adding a hot rim light to the edge of his hair.

In this section we will be drawing the shirt. Drawing fabric with colored pencils can be a little trick, especially on toned paper. I'm going to take you through step by step how I draw fabric and wrinkles.

In this lecture I'm going to be adding a few extra touches to my drawing. None of the techniques in this course are required for a finished piece.

Congratulations! You have just created your second full illustration and made it through section 9! If you've made it this far you are one of the very few. In this section you have learned how to draw a full colored pencil illustration of Chris Pratt. You can apply these same techniques to any illustration.

Before getting started with watercolors you need to do a little prepping. You will need to make sure that your paint tray is clean and you have to containers of water. You may also want to tape your watercolor paper down to prevent curling of the paper.

Being able to paint smooth gradients with water colors is very important. If you cant transition from one color to another smoothly. Your painting may not look good. In this lecture I'm going to teach you how to paint these smooth gradients.

In many cases you will want to prevent color bleeding form happening. Color beading is caused when two wet colors are touching and they bleed into each other. To prevent this you have to paint in layers.

Blotching is one of the most useful techniques you will learn when it comes to water color painting. Blotching can be used for fixing mistakes all the way to creating textures. In this lecture I will teach you how to blotch out some clouds on a blue sky.

In this lecture you are going to learn the difference between wet on wet and wet on dry painting. Each one is very useful but you have to know how and when to use them.

Painting form with water colors can be a little tricky but in this lecture I'm going to teach you how its done. We will be painting a cube and a sphere. Once we finish painting them we will go back and touch them up with colored pencils.

In this section we will be doing a mini watercolor illustration of a nose. Before you can get started you need to download the image of a nose provided in this lecture and print it out.

In this lecture you are going to be painting a nose then touching it up with colored pencils. When painting with watercolors you want to start with the lightings colors and move your way to dark. Also, don't forget to wait for your paint to dry between layers.

In this section we will be doing a mini watercolor illustration of an eye. Before you can get started you need to download the image of an eye provided in this lecture and print it out.

In this lecture you are going to be painting an eye. This eye will be a little bit more difficult then the nose we painted. This eye will get you familiar with painting complex forms and surfaces.

Once you have painted your eye its time to refine it with colored pencil. Even though colored pencil is a good way to get some detail in and create dark values you should try your best to make a good painting. Colored pencils can't always fix your painting mistakes.