Practical advice: If you want to reinforce and develop a certain stylistic skill, work on a consistent set of illustrations, not a single artwork. In this case, you get a hand in it, your creative approach is more systematic and complex. What’s more, you will tackle the difficulties which may not arise in one piece of art, and the customer, seeing a series of artworks, will catch the general style more accurately and understand that this artwork is not just accidental something taken out of thin air.
My illustration process
J ust like I have my own illustration style, I have my process of making those illustrations. My process is a very simple one and less complex. Without wasting much time, let’s dive in!
There are are four stages to all of this:
The Idea Phase
This is when a new idea pops up.
Most times, my illustration ideas come on their own, but sometimes I go hunting for ideas. Reading, listening, viewing what’s currently happening/trending can trigger an idea for my next personal project.
Going through what other illustrators are currently working on can give me an idea on what’s trending. This isn’t to copy their works, but to gain an idea on what people may actually like to see.
I don’t always need an idea to start creating an illustration, but I do need one to finish it. I can just start by messing around, drawing non-sense, but after a while of doing that, some of those non-sense triggers an idea & those kind of ideas usually make a lot of sense when I’m done with them.
Hey, I’m human & there are times I just can’t create any new work because ideas ain’t coming after waiting/hunting. During art/creative block situation, I usually get out of this by animating my existing works (to enhance the concept of the illustrations) or pick any object/topic & create an illustration based on that.
Idea confirmation phase
This is when I check if the idea I have is good or already in existence (already created by another Artist).
Apparently, I don’t always do this, but sometimes, I just need to confirm so I don’t waste my time creating what has already be done. This is when Google comes in! I just google keywords based on that idea, then go through the Images.
I may even decide not to kill an idea even if it has already been done by some artist; I still proceed with the idea, but tweak the execution/concept to make it unique. It’s always up to me to decide if I should forget about the idea or not.
Process illustrations
Nothing says “unique” like a custom process illustration designed just for you by a professional illustrator. Need ideas? We’ve collected some amazing examples of process illustrations from our global community of designers. Get inspired and start planning the perfect process illustration today.
Making tea illustration for In 2 The Nest
Simple illustration depicting process of making tea for tea cup sleeves.
by Moxie Mason
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Making French pressed coffee illustration for In 2 The Nest
Simple illustration depicting process of making French pressed coffee for coffee cup sleeves.
by Moxie Mason
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Illustration for sdr, showing part of the process of service designers.
by Fe Melo
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Isometric diagram process illustration
by Fenhrir
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by Fenhrir
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Graphic shows to customers where and how the hormones work throughout the whole process of folliculogenesis. Follicle cells are created from scratch.
by Alfoart
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Machine Learning Process Infographic for Orion Systems
by Yury K
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Process web animation
Truck process animation for web
by Fenhrir
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by Fenhrir
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HeartHero Lifesaving Ecosystem graphic design
An illustration to explaining how technology is paired with our AED in order to save more lives from Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
by Badrun
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Illustration for a Process Automation
Client: Keeni Space Year: 2020 I helped the client to convey how easy it is to take a document either from Google Doc or upload a MS Word document, convert it into a template that can be made actionable, and then run that template to create documents.
by foggyboxes
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Illustrations for interview process
Stylized illustrations for interview process
by PS_design
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Graphically depict steps in selling process
Graphic that depict a linear relationship from the first to the last step.
by Badrun
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Strategic planning process called Thrive
A design which illustrates a strategic planning process called Thrive. This is a 3 step process with the third step being a continual program which involves ongoing quarterly meetings with the client.
by Badrun
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by Fenhrir
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Attract, Learn, Engage Graphic
Attract, Learn, Engage Graphic
by Fenhrir
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6 Stage Process Map
6 Stage Process Map. Professional and fit within the website look & feel.
by Badrun
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Pink salmon life cycle
Client need to illustrate Pink Salmon Life Cycle. Unfortunately this design wasn’t chosen as winner, but someone who copy the layout.
by Badrun
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99designs Learning management images
99designs introduced a learning management system to house their online employee training. They asked for a series of images to use as thumbnails and banners on the portal. The images are in the same style and colours as the learning template I recently designed for them.
by johnbaiatul
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A five-step process illustration
The illustration shows a 5-step process using a simple central composition with a star as the main element and clean and corporate look for Procurement Services company.
by velvetmade
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Infographic design for MissingLogic
An image to represent our unique framework and appeals to healthcare executives
by M A D H A N
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How It Works – Client Relationship Management
Illustration / Infographic Layout for a Client Relationship Management System from a B2B tech company – For better marketing and customer satisfaction. No stock images used.
by DoRoCreates
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Funnel graphic for book
by Dario Tulian
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Illustrations of different types of DNA.
by Dario Tulian
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Illustration for Virtual Reality project
Virtual and augmented reality service for airline
by Dario Tulian
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The process of a plant to grow. Bad and good growth version.
by Rechronicle
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Website graphic and icons for Recruiting software website
For this graphic, I designed several icons and a key graphic for a website of a recruitment software company. The color scheme and style was designed to match and enhance the current design aesthetic of their website, while conveying the process in a clean and “cool” way.
by allisonbaerart
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An illustration to show autocrine signaling process.
by Rechronicle
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Illustration for ProjectEconomics
Illustration of process/project
by Ash2.0
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Illustration for crypto
by Ash2.0
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A 1 page hand out that describes core values and brief explanation of our process for a custom home builder & remodeler. They specialize in Historic renovations. There is gradation which makes the image looks like an old photo and then changing to current style photo. The overall design shows neatness yet feels classic and luxurious.
by Divisual
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Graphic Chart Design
A simple and clean graphics chart for start-up software company. It shows the implementation process. 2017
by Rechronicle
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New illustration wanted for PHENOM Biosciences
Illustration explaining a process of ordering a DNA Test
by dotpunktdesign
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Redesign the Data Processing Diagram
Redesigning the data diagram so it doesn’t look too childish. Keeping up the clean visual and straightforward informative diagram.
by Rechronicle
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Isometric visualisation for a data company
by Smast3r
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Infographics showing the Process of Pathology Laboratory Diagnostic
The goal of the infographics was to creatively demonstrate how the Tumor Board participates in the Pathology Laboratory Diagnostic on all stages of the flow. Arrows and simple vectors help to follow the process, while more detailed characters of the board draw attention to their roles.
Stage 1: Color Palette
In this case, the artist proceeded from a style that was based on imitation of manual printing graphics. So, she chose 3 primary colors, the overlay of which would give her all the necessary palette and convey the spirit of screen printing. To reach that effect, she selected a brush in Procreate that creates the necessary texture. A more time-consuming but also the more effective method is creating your own brushes using textures from real materials. Yaroslava also added a neutral gray color and a couple of paper textures to the palette.
Stage 2: Theme
The artist was looking for an abstract theme that could have a logical sequence of illustrations and, at the same time, encourage her to search for new expressive techniques and compositions.
As a result, the choice was focused on the theme called Process, so the illustrations aimed at reflecting various stages of the research and creation process. Also, this series had a mascot character: the curious and clever Cat.
The illustrator took the basic and crucial stages of the creative process as themes for the illustrations in the set:
- statement of a question
- research
- data systematization
- analysis of the received data
- hypotheses
- solution
Stage 3: Process
It’s easy to see that the creative process starts much before the first line or word gets down on paper, canvas, or artboard. So, the set of artworks about the Curious Cat reflects will help us to define, describe, and illustrate the design flow for a series of digital illustrations. If you project this list of points onto the creative process for illustration, then it might flow in the following way.
Statement of the question
- What goals do I set for myself?
- What do I want to achieve?
- Which illustrators do I like?
- What is in their work that caught my attention?
- What is my work missing?
- What skills would I like to upgrade?
- How can I reveal the topic?
It doesn’t mean to ask these questions all together at once, it’s enough to concentrate on a couple of aspects that are of interest at the moment since the tasks change and the entire analysis process needs to be done anew each time.
Research
This stage includes collecting references, selecting works of illustrators whose work inspires you, reading articles on the topic under study (in this case, about different kinds and approaches to the creative process), or perhaps even not this topic directly but the one that will really motivate you to work (for example, biographies of famous creative people you like), and creating a library or mood board of photo fragments you like.
Data systematization
It is a vital stage. It defines how you processed the information gathered at the previous stages and were able to structure it. For example:
- The works of this group of illustrators catch my attention and emotions with the transfer of movement.
- In this group of photographs, I adore a beautiful combination of colors.
- The description I read in the article helps to convey the problem more precisely.
Data Analysis
Analysis of the obtained data in case of the illustration process lies in the:
- creation of sketches
- trying various color selections
- thinking over the plot
- considering a character image.
The artist realized that this particular project needed a character. It was the best was to reach the consistency and united look of the different artworks. What’s more, the character was effective in clarifying the terminology and actions as well as humanizing and personalizing quite abstract notions and phenomena.
Here you can see the search process for the character images that went through several iterations before the Curious Cat was found as the best choice.
Hypotheses
This stage goes in parallel with the analysis. And often, for illustrators, it looks like creating sketches and possible variations, ideas on how you can get the best for the required plot, which composition, angle, or shape is more advantageous for conveying the essence, which colors will emphasize the mood and set the needed atmosphere.
Solution
The solution is the sum of all the stages passed and implemented in the illustration. The final result may seem simple and uncomplicated at first glance, but only after deep processing and analyzing the information, this result will be not random or accidental but will be based on experience and practice. What’s more, the set of illustrations opens a broader perspective for visual storytelling.
Hopefully, the stages described above will motivate you to try such a systematic approach in your illustration experience. Also, welcome to check more practical tips and examples by Yaroslava: in our earlier articles, she shared guides on how to build up your original style of illustration and also, she shared the creative process step-by-step in the case studies on narrative illustration, interface illustration, and theme illustration devoted to the Olympic Games.
