Mimi's Illustration Club July - Third Activity! (Patreon)

Hello my lovelies!

It's the third week of July which means it's time for activity number 3 for this month's Illustration Club and this activity is all about creating a final illustration!

The prompt for this month as you know is 'under the sea' and it's such a broad, fun prompt to explore and I can't help thinking of The Little Mermaid when I think about it 😄

So far in the club this month we’ve filled a sketchbook page with ideas relating to the prompt, then we explored some composition sketches from those ideas, and now we can take one of those composition ideas and create a final illustration from it.

If you skipped the first activities and came straight to drawing a final illustration that's totally fine!

You can use any medium you like to create your final illustration! The aim of this activity (and the whole club) is to just explore the creative process and enjoy practising our art skills together, so if you can achieve those two things then whatever you create is a success!

So I’ll show you what I created for this activity based on a sketch from activity 2! 

This is my final illustration for 'under the sea' and I'm happy with how it turned out! I went with two kissing fishies in the coral reef, I realise now that this composition is similar to last month's with two animals facing each other but that's ok because they're still cute!

So here's a quick breakdown of my illustration process from sketch through to finished digital illustration, plus the basic palette I used that you're welcome to use for your own illustrations as well! I'll be sharing a video of my illustration process with Beautiful Bluebells in the next couple of days 🥰

So the process went a little something like this:

I started with drawing a digital version of my sketch based on the pencil sketch that I drew in activity 2

Then I made that sketch layer around 20% opacity and 'multiply' blend mode so that I could see through it onto any layers below

Next I started colouring in all of my elements on new layers below the sketch. There are lots of bits and pieces in this illustration so it took a little while to do this step, and I mostly drew things that were the same colour on the same layer (all the pink coral is on the same layer, and all the green plants are on their own layer too)

Once everything had a base colour filled in, then I started adding broad texture and shading to everything, mostly in a slightly darker colour.

After that I added lots of little line details to the different corals and plants, and also to the fish

I drew in some sparkles around the fishies and that's about it!

This was a fun one to draw and makes me smile to look at!

Now it's your turn (yay!) - take one of the composition sketches that you drew in activity 2 and create a final illustration from it (if you haven't already). Or if you feel like it you can do a completely new idea!

These activities pretty much replicate my normal art process when I'm faced with a new prompt - I brainstorm ideas, doodle down a few sketches to explore some compositions, and then illustrate my final piece.

If you do draw a final illustration with the prompt this month then feel free to share it with us over on Discord in the #final-illustrations channel. Everyone is welcome, and you can share what you've created for any of the activities at any time!

I’m excited to see what you create for this prompt because I've already seen some of your lovely compositions on Discord and I know that you're going to create something wonderful ❤