Design Process for Illustration

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Design Process for Illustration What is an
Illustration?
An illustration is about explaining or clarifying
something through drawing, painting, or printed
work. It is a visual interpretation of a text or
a concept. The power of an illustration is in its
unique way of telling a story. This is why most
brands use this art form to convey their stories
to the target audience. Catering Food Menu
Design Starting any new project, whether
commissioned or personal, is always very
exciting. But sometimes its hard to know what
to create or where to even begin. If you're new
to design, it is important to understand the
design process and practice it with every brief
you receive. The more you practice your process,
it will become second nature enabling you to
increase your project flow and grow or start a
design business. Some meaningful concepts to
take you through the full step-by-step of the
illustration process STEP 1 BRAINSTORMING
IDEAS Before you start drawing, you need to
figure out your concept. Whether it be for a
client or a personal project, understanding it
is key to creating a successful
illustration. STEP 2 ORGANIZE YOUR IDEAS As an
illustrator, make it a habit to keep track of
your ideas. You might have many of them that you
accumulated over the past many days. Sometimes,
looking back at those ideas is useful in getting
something to work on when starting a new
illustration. Western Grill Menu Design STEP 3
SKETCH Before starting to create illustrations,
it would help if you go through the sketching
phase. ew of the illustrators skip the sketching
part of it and straight away start working on
their drawings on design software. With your
ideas in mind and references on hand (or phone),
it is time to start sketching in your favorite
sketchbook or drawing app. STEP 4 COLOR
SCHEME Colors are important since they help
elicit emotion and enhance the message of the
illustration.
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Dont be afraid to experiment with opacity and
tones. When you have the freedom to pick out the
color palette, you create multiple thumbnails
containing different variations of colors.
Remember that this step is all about finding the
right combination of complementary colors so be
flexible and have fun with it. There are
hundreds of color palette generators to help you
get started. My personal favorites are
Colormind, ColorSpace, Coolors and
Paletton. STEP 5 BLOCK IT OUT Its time to
start building the illustration by blocking out
the shapes. Whether you use Adobe Illustrator,
Procreate or even a traditional medium like
watercolor, this tends to be the most
time-consuming step. With the sketch as a
guideline, just start drawing the different
elements on separate layers to keep things nice
and organized. STEP 6 REFINEMENTS Focus on the
overall refinements and details. From fine lines
to textures to gradients, details help bring the
illustration to life! Its all about stepping
back and looking at the big picture to see how
all the elements come together cohesively in the
final illustration. FINAL STEP
PRESENTATION Presentation is key. Sometimes the
illustration will fill the entire page, other
times it is dominated by white space, or
includes text. Only add text when necessary. When
in doubt, go back to the beginning, as
presentation is ultimately determined by an
illustrations original intent. Graphic
designers can create amazing illustrations if
they take the right steps. Right from researching
the audience and getting the right inspirational
illustration idea to using design software, there
are several key steps to do the job with a
purpose and help you to learn how to create
illustrations.