Digital Illustration Styles

Digital illustration styles

Freehand digital illustrations allow for smooth lines, light, shadow and complex backgrounds. Digital illustrations are typically hand drawn using a tablet and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Here are the styles that we will be discussing:

Anime

Anime (short for animation), is a style of artwork originating in Japan. An anime artist will use colourful images, diverse art styles, wild hair and exaggerated visual effects. An anime comic book is called manga. Anime is based on video games and manga. Here are some examples:

Caricature

A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or through other artistic drawings. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.

Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.

Cartoon

Someone who creates cartoons is called a cartoonist. Cartoons are one of the most popular styles for children's books and picture books. There are hundreds of different non-realistic cartoon styles. Here are some examples:

Picture Books

Children's books are a great way to bring ideas to life with pictures. Some children's books consist of nothing but pictures. The visual images help children learn and understand the words of the story. Picture books are an important part of learning how to read, developing language and vocabulary skills.

Comics

A comic book is made up of individual scenes (panels) of comic art. Panels are designed with a brief narrative and the dialogue is normally contained in speech balloons. Comics can be funny, dark or even weird. Many show captions so readers know what a character is saying or thinking. Here are some examples:

Commercial Art

Commercial art is used for advertising products, services and ideas. The primary goal is to drive sales and awareness. Artists design commercial art for logos, packaging, billboards and magazines. An illustrator will design the images for mass-production to help sell products and raise visibility.

Illustration has some advantages over photography: an artist can create a person or character who never existed, bring a dead person back to life or invent a fictional character. Illustration can simplify and explain confusing or complicated subjects. Here are some examples:

Concept Art

Concept artists create original characters for advertising, video games and movies. They build worlds that are used to inspire the development of broadcast media and promotional material. Concept artists create preliminary artwork, graphic design and marketing material. Here are some examples:

Fantasy

Fantasy art is primarily used in fantasy books, posters and movies. Fantasy art can portray gods, dragons, demons and magic. Here are some examples:

Fashion

Fashion illustration is drawing clothes and accessories for commercial use in the fashion industry. It is mainly used by fashion designers to preview and visualize their ideas. Fashion illustration is also used for advertising and in fashion magazines as part of an editorial feature. Here are some examples:

Fine art

Fine art is primarily created to express yourself rather than for commercial or practical purposes. Fine art involves creative expression and it may not have broad appeal or traditional beauty. It might convey an idea or an emotion. Here are some examples:

Line art

Line art is typically a black and white drawing with little or no solid areas, colour or background. Line art can be used by itself or in combination with other coloured images. You can find examples of line art in books and literature. Here are some examples:

Realism

Realism is realistic artwork that accurately depicts characters, perspectives and detail. This is the most complex style of illustration and can take days or weeks to complete. Here are some examples: