Exploring Your Illustration Style: Exercises to Push Your Work

Unleash Your Creative Potential: Illustration Style Exploration with Ryan Putnam

Ready to break out of your illustration rut and discover new creative directions? Join acclaimed illustrator Ryan Putnam for an engaging 50-minute class packed with exercises and prompts designed to push your artistic boundaries. Ryan is renowned for his captivating digital illustrations – and in this behind-the-scenes look, you'll gain the tools and frameworks to develop your own unique style.

This class features 7 non-traditional creative exercises, each yielding a distinct drawing. Then, watch as Ryan takes inspiration from one of these drawings and expertly transforms it into a polished, digitized illustration – in a style he's never explored before! Perfect for both professional illustrators and those just starting their creative journey, this class will challenge your perspective and leave you with a final illustration piece that will redefine your work. Grab your pen and let's begin!

What You'll Learn:

• Design Practices: Learn how to draw inspiration from everyday objects to keep your design style dynamic and explore fresh design elements for your digital illustrations. Ryan will share basic techniques to give you a new perspective on illustrating.
• Creating Your Own Style: Illustrate objects in diverse styles to better define and elevate your work. Whether you aspire to be a graphic designer or enhance your existing skills, Ryan's approach will expand your creative toolkit.
• Blind Contour Drawing: Master this exercise to create a self-portrait focused on facial contours. Ryan will analyze your drawings to reveal clues about your personal style and help you identify key characteristics in your work.
• Yardstick Drawing: Challenge your muscle memory and boost creativity by drawing at arm's length (and beyond!). Gain a deeper understanding of how your physicality influences your art.
• Tactile Drawing: Explore illustration through touch using organic materials. Learn to draw by feeling, gaining a new sense of form, line, and shadow. Ryan will also teach you how to isolate patterns for fabric design or digital personalization.
• Subtractive Drawing: Understand light, shadow, and shape by using charcoal and erasers in a subtractive process. Learn to see and create in innovative ways by working in the negative space.
• Chunky Media Drawing: Explore color and fine line by working with pencil and paint, and then translate this interplay into the digital realm.
• Brushed Media Exercise: Hone your brush strokes and explore personal style by experimenting with paintbrushes and household objects. Discover how your movement creates a unique artistic voice.
• Natural Media: Put a unique spin on the subtractive exercise using organic materials to create a self-portrait highlighting light and line. Learn how to transform analog illustrations into compelling Photoshop art by using them as real-life resources for color palettes and expressive lines.
• Working Digitally: Follow Ryan's step-by-step process for translating physical illustrations into digital art. Learn how to imbue your online work with personality by selecting, refining, and collaging exercise pieces using his digital toolkit.
• Finding Your Voice: Discover your unique perspective in both physical and digital work. Draw inspiration from your creations and learn new skills to keep your artistic vision fresh and inspired.

Looking for more illustration inspiration? [Discover more classes on illustration here!](link to other illustration classes)