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Digital Illustration for Beginners

with Laia López
4.6 (481)
Learn how to create a beautiful illustration from start to finish with a master artist, focusing on expressions, body types, composition and loads more!
English, Spanish, 4 more French, Italian, German, Portuguese English, French, 8 more Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese [Auto], B. Indonesia [Auto], Polish [Auto], Turkish [Auto]
2+
hours
13
lessons
Beginner
level
Laia López

Your Instructor

Laia is a Spanish artist with over 1.2 million Instagram followers. She’s renowned for her distinct art style & illustrated novels, like ‘Royalty Witches.’

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2+
hours
13
lessons
Beginner
level
English, Spanish , 4 more
Languages
  • French
  • Italian
  • German
  • Portuguese
English, French , 8 more
Subtitles
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • German
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese [Auto]
  • B. Indonesia [Auto]
  • Polish [Auto]
  • Turkish [Auto]

What you’ll learn

  • The wonders of composition, storytelling, & digital coloring
  • How to create a beautiful full colored illustration from scratch!
  • Understand the body’s proportions & how to create different body types
  • How to create incredible dynamic poses by using the line of action method
  • Get better at drawing eyes at different angles and at different ages!
  • Get awesome tips for adding life to your character's expressions
  • How to focus your viewer’s eye and frame the scene
  • Laia’s best tips for drawing various hairstyles
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Description

Have you ever sat in front of a blank canvas, wanting to illustrate an idea but not knowing where to start? Argh… what a struggle to come up with ideas sometimes!

BUT… you’re not alone. Even professional artists struggle! The difference is that they’ve developed hacks to overcome “art block” and produce amazing art over & over! In this course, you’ll discover how to do that too … and so much more!

After completing the course, you’ll be able to create your own beautiful illustrations and have an awesome new skill set under your belt! Imagine how people will react when they see your new-found skills!

In the course, you’ll learn from a true master. Laia will show you the steps she follows when illustrating a beautiful scene. You’ll learn about brainstorming, sketching, testing color palettes, composition, digital inking, and how to add lighting & shading…for that grand finale!

Follow along with Laia as you learn how to get your thoughts on paper and test different ideas. She will also teach you how to draw specific aspects of a character, like various hairstyles, facial expressions, body types and clothing.

So what are you waiting for?! Jump on in and start drawing!

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Who is this course for

  • Everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or seasoned pro, you’ll learn tons from this amazing artist.
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This course includes

  • 2+ Hours of on-demand videos
  • 11 Assignments
  • Layered Photoshop files
  • 14 Reference images
  • 7 Cheat sheets/guides
  • 1 Line art images
  • List of recommended brushes
  • List of recommended books
  • Certificate of Completion
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Used in course

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What you'll need

  • Just a paper/sketchbook and a pencil
  • For section 2, any digital drawing software would be useful
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Lesson Plan

with Laia Lopez
Expand all sections
00

Introduction

02:49

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Welcome to the course! You’ll get to know your instructor, Laia Lopez of Instagram fame, and get a well-rounded overview of what you can expect in her course.

INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   1 Layered Photoshop File

   Step-by-Step Process File

   Final Image

01

The Basic Concepts of Illustration

01:25:33

This lesson is chock-full of advice, tips and tricks from Laia’s. There is a TON of awesome stuff here for YOU!

Laia will show you how to draw eyes at different angles and for different ages such as children, teens and adults. Using three different characters, she’ll show you how to make each of them mad, sad, happy and worried. Important skills to learn!

You’ll learn some incredible tips for drawing different hairstyles, and clothing, showing you how to make it drape and fold realistically over the body.

You’ll then learn the basic structure of the human body—male, female, child, teen, adult—and discover how to modify it to create different body types. Using references, you’ll explore how each pose has a line of action and learn to create characters based on that.

Then you’ll learn some exciting tricks for drawing dynamic and creative poses, showing you how to use the line of action—without the use of references.

INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   1 Layered Photoshop File

   Step-by-Step Process File

   Final Image


1.1
Finding Inspiration
06:24
1.2
Drawing Stylized Eyes
13:08
1.3
Faces and Expressions
12:01
1.4
Body Types and Proportions
11:05
1.5
Line of Action: Using References
09:11
1.6
Line of Action: Drawing Without References
08:11
1.7
Hairstyles
12:26
1.8
Clothing
13:07
02

Creating your Illustration

51:29

You’ll follow along with Laia as she helps you learn new composition skills. You’ll learn how the mysterious rule of thirds works (just kidding, it’s not that mysterious!).

Laia will show you how to make the illustration look balanced and eye-catching, by helping you create composition lines, and frame your focus point. The beauty of this part is that you’ll be encouraged to be as sloppy as you can, just getting those brilliant ideas out of your head and on to paper, for later polishing.

After that, Laia will show you how to use different types of layers to color and shade your artwork. You’ll learn how to create a specific mood for your scene, using shading and testing color palettes.

Finally, Laia will show you how to ink smooth, clean line art on top of your sketch. After that, you’ll learn how to color and shade the entire illustration, getting her personal tips and techniques for how to best do so.

So if you like what you’re reading and you want to become the artist you’ve always thought you could be, please feel free to jump in and start learning with the one and only Laia Lopez!

INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   1 Layered Photoshop File

   Step-by-Step Process File

   Final Image


2.1
Thumbnails and Composition
11:58
2.2
Color Palettes
14:20
2.3
Cleaning Up the Lineart
11:50
2.4
Final Touches on the Coloring
13:21

Student Feedback

481 customer reviews & ratings

4.6

Course rating

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5 star
77 %
4 star
12 %
3 star
7 %
2 star
4 %
1 star
3 %
Best Suited for
Beginner
The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

(Based on 481 reviews)

Most Liked
Inspiring 367
Helpful Examples 358
Engaging Teacher 316
Showing 10 reviews of
481
reviews & ratings
VB
Victor B.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
I believe it to be a great way into the work-method of one of the prolific artists among us. Where practice is an absolute must, it is a great way to improve your already established knowledge by adding new insights given by Laia. What was most enjoyable is the clear explanation given by her, as wel
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l as the suggested techniques and state of mind you should have (regarding practice, style exploration and such.) Recommended to beginners and intermediates. Good luck!
I recommend it for Intermediate
7 people found this helpful
Arshia S.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This course was perfect!! I have taken different courses on art basics line, shape, form, perspective and this course is just how you use all that to create an illustration. Laia is a huge inspiration to me, her art is amazing and so is her teaching style (also her voice is really calming) I loved t
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his course and I learned a lot. Thanks Laia :) !!
I recommend it for Beginner
4 people found this helpful
S
Sandviart

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
One of the best art courses I have ever done! Laia gives some little exercises in each lesson, and at the end, you can enjoy whatching how she makes one of her illustrations, step by step, and take all this inspiration and new knowledge in your own illustrations. Highly recommended!
I recommend it for All levels
5 people found this helpful
EM
Eszter M.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
I have always loved Laia’s art so much, it’s so great to see her thought process and her way of drawing. I feel so inspired after watching the course, can’t wait to put the all the knowledge into practice. :)
I recommend it for Intermediate
3 people found this helpful
PC
P. C.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
Honestly I was so happy to do this course. IT was easy to follow and the resources she provides are so helpful.
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
MR
Menna R.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
I love this course so much
I recommend it for All levels
MN
Melissa N.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
This is a great setup for character designing to final render. There are a lot of helpful handouts and her drawing process is easy to follow. Really excellent. I do wish there was more explanation. In the second half of the course, there are a lot of features being used to make her illustrations pop
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(where music plays as it speeds through) and it is hard to follow. But, it's still great and valuable to watch and analyze.
I recommend it for Intermediate
2 people found this helpful
MG
Mauricio G.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
I love laia´s work, her style is gorgeous and this course it's so good, I love to see how she works and makes her illustrations, it's super inspiring. I love it! <3
I recommend it for Beginner
MA
Maria A.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
I love the way that she expresses herself and I'm so exited to learn and understand more with these lessons!
I recommend it for All levels
CN
Charlize N.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
such a lovely lesson and engaging excercises
I recommend it for All levels
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About the Instructor

Laia López
Illustrator and Character Designer 1 course

Laia is a Spanish artist with a following of over 1.2 million on Instagram. She is known world-wide for her distinct art style and illustrated novels, ‘Strawberry Moon’ and ‘Royalty Witches’, and her artbook, ‘Gleaming—The art of Laia López’.


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