Ten Essential Skills Every Illustrator Should Practice

Written By Stephanie Broder

I’m adamant that every illustrator should have a solid understanding of basic drawing and painting skills. Even if you do simple work, cartoony or non-realistic styles, these essentials will vastly improve your work. After all, you need to know the rules to break them.

Here are ten essential skills every illustrator should practice to continually improve their craft:

  1. Drawing Fundamentals

Mastery of line, shape, form, and proportion is key to creating convincing and aesthetically pleasing illustrations. Practice basic forms (circles, cubes, etc.) and understand how they build more complex shapes.

2. Perspective

One-, two-, and three-point perspective are crucial for creating depth and dimension. Practicing perspective helps illustrators accurately depict objects and characters in space, making scenes more realistic or dynamic. Review my post on 7 Tools for Drawing Perspective Without a Ruler for some easy, visual cues to start applying now!

3. Anatomy and Figure Drawing

Whether drawing people, animals, or fictional creatures, understanding the structure of the human body or other figures improves character design and movement. Practice quick gesture drawings and focus on skeletal and muscular structures. Here are Ten Tips to Get Started with Gesture Drawing if you feel stuck!

4. Color Theory

Learn how colours interact, complement, or contrast each other. Practice creating colour palettes, understanding warm vs. cool tones, and using hue, saturation, and value to set mood and emphasis. Play around with Adobe’s color tool for some inspiration!

5. Composition

Great illustrations rely on strong composition. Practice the rule of thirds, leading lines, and focal points to guide the viewer’s eye and create more balanced and impactful artwork.

6. Lighting and Shadows

Practice placing light sources in your illustrations and learn how shadows and highlights interact with different surfaces and textures. This enhances realism and depth, giving your illustrations a three-dimensional feel.

7. Texture and Detail

Develop the ability to create different textures (like skin, fabric, wood, or fur) using brush techniques, cross-hatching, value and colour. Attention to detail in these areas adds richness and believability to your work.

8. Storytelling

Effective illustrations often tell a story. Practice expressing emotion, action, and narrative through your artwork. Consider the character's body language, facial expressions, and environmental context to convey meaning without text.

9. Digital Art Techniques

If you work digitally, practice using different software like Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop. They each have strengths and weaknesses, so knowing a couple of tools can help you create a complete skill set! Master tools like layers, masks, blending modes, and brushes to streamline your process and broaden your creative options.

10. Observation and Reference Use

Cultivate the habit of observing the world around you. Use real-life references for anatomy, lighting, texture, and colour. The better you can understand and break down real-world elements, the more accurate and creative your illustrations will be.

Focusing on these skills regularly will help you build a solid foundation for creating more dynamic and professional illustrations.

Each of these points is slated to become a blog post that explores them more in-depth! Stay tuned.

Stephanie Broder
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