Character Illustration –  Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Since the publication of the book Think, Think, Think, by Mike Detrich, I’ve enjoyed many opportunities of creating illustrations directed to a young audience.  The technique of combining clean black lines with color fills is seen in many expressions of fine art, commercial illustration, and traditional animation.  Based on this time-tested approach to character design, there are many creative variations possible.  The line drawing can be rough and sketchy or smooth and clean, cartoony or more realistic, open and very loose or closed and self-contained (as in cell animation). Likewise, the fill color can be flat or volumetric, smooth or painterly, bright and vivid or subdued and understated.  Whatever the particulars, the “animation style” of illustration is a perennial favorite for the boundless expressions of character and personality it so readily affords.