La Galeria Workshop

Workshop Topic: Create your own whimsical illustration for your portfolio

In this workshop, we will start by generating simple ideas and turning them into something more while talking about what you need for different types of portfolios. The first day will consist of ideation and lots of sketching. We will create objects & characters that don’t exist today through storytelling and exaggeration, then move toward sketching our first compositions.

Day 1) Ideation & Sketching

• Introduction
• Ideation exercise
• Imaginative sketching
  • Developing shape design & exaggeration
  • Adding details
• Composition thumbnails & perspectives
  • Adding your whimsical ideas into your compositions
• Final Sketch & Line art

On the second day, we will start by looking at your sketches for the first half hour. Then we will move on to tweaking our compositions to fit our portfolio goals. Once that’s done, we will talk about colour and storytelling and then apply the first round of base colours to our canvases. Once the base layer is added, we’ll apply light & shadow and move into the second stage, which will be the beginning of rendering. I will teach you everything I know about colour palettes and brushes to try and use during this stage.

Day 2) Composition & Colours

• Composition feedback
• Storytelling & colour
  • Colour tips
• Light & shadow dynamics
  • Glow & atmosphere
• Base rendering & adding your first round of texture.
  • Brush Anatomy

On the last day, we will begin with another round of feedback for the first half hour. We will continue rendering our artworks, and I will teach how to use different brushes and how to render multiple types of surfaces (depending on the drawing, this may be wood, glass, hair, leaves, clouds, etc.) I will also teach you how to change your brushes based on your drawing style. Finally, we will talk about different layer styles and how to use them to improve your artwork’s colours and lighting.

Day 3) Rendering

• Making your own brush/altering your brush
• Rendering different surfaces with different brushes
• Applying additional details and finishings
• Finalizing artwork & intensities.

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Recommended material: 
A tablet (iPad, Wacom, or any other drawing tablet)
OR
A sketchbook, a good quality paper of choice, and your choice of traditional media! *You will need a light coloured marker, or watercolour for one exercise.