All language subtitles for 01 Discover Your Style By Understanding Illustration

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Hello!

This is Chyan,

and I will be your instructor for this course.

I hope this course helps you to draw your potential skills.

Since this is my first class, I hope you understand

even if I stutter

and my voice gets shaky.

Our course will start now.

But before moving on, I would like to introduce

myself and the curriculum of this course.

But before I do anything,

I would like to introduce myself.

I'm Chyan,

currently working as a freelance illustrator

and an instructor at Propic Academy.

I've been recording basic classes in Propic Academy,

and it's been over two years.

I've been working with my students

in basic classes and improved myself through this process.

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I teach three times a week.

Although I'm a concept artist and illustrator

at the same time,

because the limits of my work are quite large,

I will remind you regarding this part again.

I design characters as well.

By using those designs

I create illustrations used in games

and I work on loading illustrations

as well.

And I also work on cover illustrations for novels.

I do work on many things

even if my drawing style is casual.

But that doesn't mean

the class is limited to the casual style only,

but instead,

I will design the course to help

people who go for realistic style

or casual style

and of those non-casual professions.

To make sure this course isn't limited to one specific style.

Now that I've introduced myself,

I would like to go over the contents of this class.

It's my principle when I go over my lectures,

if you know what I mean.

I thought it would be more effective

for me to let you know

about my principles when I go over my lectures.

In this complex genre, drawing

what I require from students is

drawing their imagination on the canvas

just as they intended.

It's simple to set this as your goal.

You shouldn't rely on sheer luck to draw.

If you're going to draw

for the rest of your life,

you'll draw hundreds and thousands of illustrations from now on.

It could possibly happen

that you achieve a masterpiece

among those works.

But that won't be enough

to work as an illustrator.

You could do well while practicing but not so much when drawing.

Or, you might draw one character nicely, but you might butcher another one.

This is not recommended for a professional illustrator

since as an illustrator,

you need to be adaptable to different situations.

And I think it's important.

It's essential to draw one's imagination

on the canvas.

I'll go into more detail.

I divide the drawing process into two parts.

The first one is conceptualization.

The second is the actual drawing part.

Now, this conceptualization part would be

the imagination process before we actually draw.

Most people who work in this field

would come up with gorgeous drafts in their mind.

You might think that this would be the perfect drawing,

that this would be the next masterpiece.

I'm sure most of you think that while drawing.

Of course, this won't be all of you.

Some may want to draw on the spot

without giving much thought to it.

This conceptualization part is

the layer that we imagine in our mind

before we start drawing.

And we need to move it onto the canvas.

Let's divide it into pieces.

Neurons are in charge of the conceptualization part.

So our brain works first

and our hands come in after the actual drawing part.

These two parts

come together

and create a beautiful illustration.

But as I mentioned before, conceptualization doesn't matter.

As you draw your imagination on the canvas

you may have some problems.

There might be logical issues

or you might not have

conceptualized things properly

or you might not have

enough skills.

For many reasons

the image in your head and what you draw will have some differences.

Of course, you can fix it in the process

but I do think it's important

to create things in detail

from the conceptualization part.

I want to emphasize that.

So, I'm going to emphasize

this point quite often.

My ultimate goal is

to avoid differences

between conceptualization, the actual drawing part

and the finalization part.

I believe that everyone can create a masterpiece.

When they can put their imagination onto the canvas.

As I mentioned before,

everyone's talented when they draw in their mind.

But it turns out weird when you draw on paper.

So what I want is to help students to build their skills

to express their imagination without any glitches.

This is how I'll run the class.

Now,

let me share my personal thoughts

on drawing.

My course will be taught like this.

So now we have to reflect on

the nature of drawing.

I think students would know the answer

to which illustrations are considered 'well-drawn'.

Because we know this thing called 'the rule of right.'

So what is this 'rule of right'?

When we talk about anime or manga,

there are masterpieces like One Piece or Naruto.

The masterpieces these days could be other titles.

But, usually,

the 'rule of right' refers to the most popular titles.

If the drawing style we like

is only popular among us,

it would in fact, be a generally unpopular style.

However, most of you would prefer more popular drawing styles.

But you may think you are different.

Because there are people who like less preferred styles.

Then that would mean everyone knows

what a popular drawing style is.

These popular drawing styles are

charming things

to people.

But that doesn't mean we can use them without any unique identity.

Therefore,

you may be worried that your unique style may not be expressed enough.

So you may feel like you're just copying.

Then, what would you have to do?

With this popular drawing style,

you can also add some spice at the same time.

We call this spice, identity.

As you draw, you might like some aspects of your drawing

and you would try to emphasize them.

For example,

when you draw a character with an eye covered with hair

if you like the hair covering the eye,

you could draw as if the eye is shown through the hair.

You could 'spice' it up,

thinking that it would look good.

Through that process,

an illustration is created.

When you don't have a popular drawing style,

but a less popular style

then,

I'm sure there's a way to tackle this.

With unpopular drawing styles,

there are hardcore fans of these styles.

However, most people

usually don't find the appeal.

So we need to apply some effects

to these unpopular styles,

to make sure they have some appeal.

So it will take some time.

It might be challenging

since you are not going for a popular style.

You need to add in elements

which appeal to the general public.

One of them could be drawing theory.

Basic skills, theory, etc

can make your illustration look better.

So more people would like it.

Or you may add in some popular elements

which might help.

By applying some popular styles

and putting them together,

even the unpopular ones

could satisfy 80 to 90 percent of the audience.

And I think

it is a very important task for us.

This is the way I view it.

And now, let's find

the common elements we could find in both groups.

It's the main point of this class.

In this class, the main contents will be

about the conceptualization and the actual drawing parts.

Whenever you are actually drawing,

basic theory is essential.

At least, you should be able to draw a single character.

So that you could get to draw

the character illustration, which you are aiming for.

So we'll focus on those basics

in Section 2.

Therefore, we'll learn the basic theory first.

The reason why the actual drawing part comes first is

that the conceptualization is not that easy.

If your drawing is perfect

and pretty,

you just have to draw on the canvas.

The illustration we conceptualize in our mind,

might look pretty at first glance,

but it is actually pretty vague

so it means it's not well developed.

Therefore,

you might not be able to get the outcome

you expected to get in the actual drawing part.

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Since this conceptualization part is hard

and crucial at the same time, I pushed this part to the end.

First of all, we will settle down the basic structures in section 2,

regarding the actual drawing part.

And we'll move on to

the conceptualization part in section 3.

The conceptualization part compromises

all the things I mentioned before.

As I said, we will learn about the conceptualization part in section 3.

You might have no idea

how to learn conceptualization at first.

Therefore, I will go over the course as I draw.

And in that process,

you will get to understand the theories behind it

or some kind of feeling

about what appeals to the public.

With the things I mentioned above,

they will help you to express your imagination on the canvas

which connects the conceptualization and the actual drawing process.

After that, in section 4,

the actual drawing part becomes the main point.

We will draw an illustration,

by applying the things we are going to learn.

So far, I have told you how I teach the course.

Illustration is

the key word of this class.

Because that's going to be the main content.

You need to know what bothers you.

So we'll take a look at it.

Usually, when you draw something,

you might draw to get a job

or some may draw because it's their job

or some of you may enjoy it as a hobby.

This class is focused on students

who have their intentions to get a job

or who already work in this field.

But let me describe it in detail.

If you divide illustration into categories,

first there is character illustration.

"Character illustration"

Even when it's just a simple character illustration,

many things are included.

Firstly, there is the concept art.

You usually call this a design sheet.

With a design sheet, you can see

every single detail of the character from different angles.

This concept art is different from the other categories,

that is, it's well-developed.

Of course,

it is important

but there's something even more important.

That is delivering the appropriate information.

When you draw concept art for game illustration,

other people work on the character you drew.

So the main purpose of this concept art is

to help them

understand the character design.

That's why

delivering the appropriate information would be the main purpose.

Let's look at other types of illustration.

Second of all is portrait illustration.

This one is not known as one specific thing.

Simply put,

they would be the illustrations in games.

Actually illustrations with background are

also considered as in-game illustration.

That's what I think about portrait illustration.

Mobile game illustration is,

as you know,

with a transparent background,

and a single character.

This is all about game illustration.

We need to take a look at the background part as well.

I will call illustrations with a background "full illustration."

And the add-in option here is fan art.

Actually, fan art may be

considered as full illustration.

These are the main points that students

who are going to work in this field have to deal with.

Since this is the curriculum introduction,

let's have a look at

the features of each section

and the study methods.

As I mentioned before, concept art, as a vessel for information

should be expressed very accurately.

This is why,

when you study concept art,

you need to focus on

the volume.

Since concept art is design,

it requires design skills as well.

You need to practice as much as you can.

And it is important to understand the pattern

through the experience.

Then, let's have a look at the illustration part.

There's one thing you need to come up with

throughout the illustration part.

How do we usually draw the illustration?

There aren't many people drawing on a triangular background.

Most likely, it would be a square

like this one.

People usually draw their illustrations to fit in this kind of square.

We always try to put the character in here.

Because it is a character illustration.

But what we design is the whole screen.

It's not the character's posing.

Students often tell me

they struggle

when they set the pose of the character.

No matter the angle, the pose looks weird.

Whatever angle you apply, the pose is awkward.

However, when you're making the composition,

as you create an illustration

it's just a small part of the whole process.

We use the character

to compose an illustration.

So about this,

let's talk about it in detail.

Other than illustration with a character,

there is illustration with a background.

And illustration with the background only.

Even some may lack both background and a character

which are like contemporary art.

Although those kinds of illustrations don't have a character,

they may be considered as

an attractive illustration.

Therefore, we need to understand the meaning of

composing an illustration.

It is very important.

The key points of this part,

I will talk about more later on.

So let's focus on that then.

Portrait illustration and full illustration,

divided into two categories again.

Portrait illustration, as I mentioned before,

is used as an in-game illustration.

But, these days, the boundary between concept art

and illustration is becoming vague.

A long time ago, when 3D games were popular,

concept art was a little more required for professionals.

But the mobile games,

that students prefer these days,

the mobile game illustration from China or Japan

are usually based on 2D resources.

Even when it's based on 3D resources,

many games today

have fancy illustrations.

Let me list the major differences

between full illustration

portrait illustration.

Design is the most important thing

in portrait illustration.

As I mentioned, concept art

and illustration are kind of

like multiple sports.

Design takes an important role in

portrait illustration.

And that goes together with the sense of space.

Usually, illustrations tend to have

a single character in it without the background.

These days, they often have

both of them together.

Such as a character with a simple object,

These days, there are a lot of compositions

where the area around the character is decorated

with the effects coming out from its weapon.

These compositions tend to

make an object look three-dimensional.

Actually, casual illustration

lacks volume,

compared to realistic illustration.

So the weakness of illustration would be

that it could look flat.

So, to minimize this,

we use objects in the background or the objects around the character.

Then, the space around the character would look three-dimensional.

Portrait illustrations

do just that.

Therefore, compared to the full illustration,

you need to have a good understanding of the spaces

And a lot of them are often used in the high-quality in-game illustration.

So your description skills are highly required.

Let me explain the full illustration once again.

The full illustration is the one with a background.

Therefore, the entire mood does matter.

When we had a look at the concept art

and the portrait illustration

what we focused on was the design

not like full illustration.

Full illustration emphasizes

whether the work looks good or not.

Therefore, the composition of the illustration

does matter the most.

Along with that,

how to set the light

is important as well.

Let's take an example.

A gloomy character is standing up.

It is very sad and crying.

When you give pink lighting,

it would look very awkward.

That's why lighting takes

an important role.

It has to be realistic.

So it would be good to have some understanding of lighting.

Because it is important.

Fan art is a kind of full illustration.

So I put them together.

And one more thing,

you can apply this to all these three parts.

That is a charm.

So what is the charm?

You may come up with many things

but the charm that I'm referring to right now,

is the one that a character has.

You need to clearly identify

what kind of charm

your character

will show.

There's a clear difference between

thinking of drawing a chic character

and just drawing a character

without thinking of what kind of character it would be.

So, when you're drawing a character

you need to pinpoint what its charm would be

and what aspects of it would appeal to the public.

That is very important.

Of course, the parts that I've mentioned so far

are all somewhat correlated to each other.

If you have design skills, that will help when drawing a full illustration

And when you have a good understanding of spacing, that will also help with full illustrations.

Of course, your composition skills

will help with portrait illustration.

In the end, they're all connected.

The things I wrote down

are just the things I want to emphasize more.

Those of you who want to get a job

in this field

or those of you who wish to be professional freelancers

should first make it specific

about the thing that you really want to do.

Identifying this

really helps

when you study to be an artist.

My class will cover

all these parts I mentioned.

And sometimes, as I go on,

I will mention things such as

certain things are good for concept artists,

and some skills are good for portrait artists.

You should take note of what I emphasize

and expand your knowledge

so that it will help you later on.

Thus, I explained in detail

what I think of illustrations.

But so far,

these are commercial arts.

I'll go over the commercial arts which we study in this class.

If drawing is just a hobby for you,

then what you have to do is to enjoy it.

Nevertheless, studying these will help you.

As you study,

what you have to do is learn the skills that are useful for you.

I have organized the content regarding commercial arts.

You might think it's too difficult from the beginning.

Actually, in the first class

I tend to explain a lot of things at once.

Although I explained too many things,

I believe they would be useful later.

I will remind you later on,

but it would be very useful

if you replay the class after you finish taking it.

And that is the most significant benefit of Coloso classes.

Therefore, after you finish

the last lecture of this class,

come back to Chapter 1,

and review what I went through today.

You might have set a different goal

or your current goal,

might be fixed until that time.

You should set your goals accurately

so that you know how to get through them.

And that would help you achieve things more quickly.

When I think of

the improvement of your drawing skills,

I think of drawing a path.

When you walk along a path,

it's best if it goes straight.

To be more frank,

it is ideal if your skills just improve.

But, in reality,

this is nearly impossible.

Anyone can struggle to find their real goals

and draw a different kind of illustration

than they have originally intended.

Or, you might take a break in the middle.

So, when your skills improve,

they don't improve in a straight line.

You are going to struggle along the way.

What we did today

was just generally going over some future career paths.

I'm sure, in the future, you can do all of them.

But, if you set a goal

based on what you want to do first,

and work towards it,

you won't sway too far

from what your ultimate goal is.

And as you save time in this process,

you can improve more quickly.

I also think about drawing this way.

Let's say this bar

represents your skills.

We divide drawing skills into categories.

Basic drawing skills,

coloring skills,

composition skills,

conceptualization skills,

and so on.

And there are descriptive skills as well.

But when we develop our skills,

it's not easy

to hit our goal at once.

You may be able to develop your drawing skills first.

Then what could happen?

Maybe

your basic drawing skills might improve first,

or maybe your coloring skills,

or it could be your composition skills.

Now, this bar, which represents your skills,

will go upwards, but it will be tilted.

At some point, the bar will hit this line.

This line represents the professional qualifications you have.

If you want to get a job, this line will represent the hiring stage.

If you prefer freelance jobs,

it will represent your first client.

But that doesn't mean

you can start making a living with your skills

only when the bar is completely above the line.

You can start your professional career

even when the bar

just hits the line.

You can still start your career.

So the portrait illustration,

concept art,

full illustration,

fan art and other things are

all-important.

You will be the best if you are good at all those things.

Out of those things, pinpoint what you're interested in

and strengthen your professional skills.

That way, you'll reach your desired level.

Then, after that,

go over your weaknesses

and that will lead you towards perfection.

You'll raise your skills

up to their highest potential.

If you drew so far without a clear goal,

you should start keeping this in mind.

Of course, this is all related to commercial art.

So, as I mentioned,

if it is just a hobby, you can just have fun.

So far, I told you

how I will teach this class.

We also went over

how we should define what an illustration is.

There is one other thing

that unexpectedly becomes a challenge

to many students.

So, we should go over it.

It's the personality of your drawing.

Students who are in the beginner level

or those who are in the intermediate level don't think of it as a challenge.

Actually, students who are in the later stage,

students who have professional skills,

and students who just started to draw

think of it as a challenge.

Your drawing personality would be

defining what your drawing is.

You would pinpoint its charms,

its strengths,

and what exactly the strengths would be.

So let's talk about

what exactly this word means.

It is hard to define in a single word.

I do think personality is a complex word.

Drawing differently from others

doesn’t give your drawing its personality.

Defining your own style

cannot be written down as well.

So you may wonder

if you can draw similarly to others.

You might think drawing well enough will work.

If you're really good,

your drawings will be popular.

They will also look nice.

So, you'll wonder even more if you can draw similarly to others.

I think this is a topic

that many illustrators talk about.

Well, here's my opinion on the personality of your drawings.

No one knows what exactly it is.

I don't know what it is.

You may protest that I'm being flippant.

But, I think our drawing personality changes constantly.

Within it,

the things you like the most are reflected.

So, in other words, your drawing personality is related to

your preferences.

Your preferences would be reflected in it.

But, as we all know, preferences change over time.

They don't stay the same forever.

As time goes by, instead of liking the same things,

you like different things.

So, as your preferences change,

your drawing personality, or style, also changes.

I think all people, including artists,

are a bit tricky.

I'm not trying to describe humans in a bad way.

There's a reason I'm using that word.

People like to do what they can do well.

You can enjoy something if you are good at it.

The same goes for games.

If you're good, it will be fun.

But the games you are not good at won't be so fun.

When you are good at something,

or talented,

those become your preferences.

Usually, those kinds of things become your personality.

Some of you may draw for the sake of drawing.

Drawing a female character in detail.

A lot of people enjoy it.

Or some of you may enjoy

drawing a male character.

Then think of your strength

as the things you like to do.

If you really enjoy drawing female characters

and are legitimately into it,

that may be your personality.

So that is your strength.

But in other words,

it means that drawing male characters would be your weakness.

This is how it works.

Personality keeps changing depending on your preferences.

As it changes,

the things that are different to

what you like are your weaknesses.

So, you should make a connection

between your personality, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

That's the main reason I mentioned your drawing personality.

It is related to your preferences

and they can change anytime.

So, there's just one thing we need to do.

At least, you need to know

what you're doing.

You need to know what you like.

For instance,

you might like drawing

a female character's body.

You might like drawing its muscles,

and its curves.

You might love to draw the human body in a more beautiful fashion.

So, you should always decide upon

your strengths.

Your strengths might lie elsewhere.

Your strength could be your coloring skills.

Or, it could be your composition skills.

Alternatively, your strength could be

making a certain drawing style your own

as you draw fan art.

You should keep in mind at least one of your strengths.

So, what are your strengths?

You might answer

that you don't have any.

But, in the end, your strengths are relative to others'.

You should know your forte, even if it might not be obvious.

If you still don't know,

like I mentioned before,

your forte is what you like.

So, please think about

what you like the most

and what interests you the most.

Then, you should make it a goal to improvise on that

and hone your skills.

So as I said, preferences change.

For example, while you enjoy drawing female characters right now,

you'll think it is fun

and important

so you would study a lot.

Later on, you might wonder about coloring for characters.

From then on, the understanding volume would be necessary.

You need to focus on the form.

So, you would study that.

In other words, instead of complicating it,

think of it as your energy source.

If you have things

that you want to focus on

when you're drawing,

just deep dive into it

and study all about it.

When you do that,

there is something else really important.

That would be your motive.

Again, this word has a lot of meanings.

But, simply put,

it's the basic desire

when you want to be like someone else.

That's my opinion.

So, you should have a role model

that you want to go after.

Of course, some of you might want to

just focus on your drawings.

But, keep in mind,

there are always people

who already drew in the style you're going for.

These people would have drawn

tens of thousands of illustrations in that style.

And out of those illustrations,

there has to be someone who has a very similar style to what you're going for.

That's why it is essential

to set these people

as your role model.

So, why is it so important?

As I mentioned before,

this 'personality' will guide you along your career path.

So, you should use that

so that you won't struggle as much.

So, your motivation

will become your milestone.

Think of the final stage on a game map.

In a game, if you need to get somewhere,

the map will show you where to go.

Then, if you follow the map,

you'll get a sense

of where you'll end up.

So, now you'll see

why setting a clear motive is important.

Simply put, a motive

refers to parts

where you want to resemble someone.

And this doesn't have to be just one person.

For example, you might want to

imitate how person A draws the face

while imitating how person B does the coloring.

There will be a lot of styles you want to refer to.

But, just choose some of them.

That way, as you pursue a career in drawing,

these styles you're referring to

will be your motor.

Previously, I said pursuing a career in the drawing is like going along a path.

So, when these references become a motor,

it will be like your car.

Think of it this way.

We need to move from location A to location B.

Now, one person isn't familiar with the whereabouts.

So, because they're unfamiliar,

they've stumbled along the way.

But, they still managed to reach location B on foot.

And here, there's another person

who took more time to find the way.

They searched how to get there

with their phone

and took more time

to build a vehicle that would help them.

Of course, that could have taken a long time.

It would depend on the person,

but anyhow, your path to perfection goes a long way.

Between the person who walked

and the person who made their own transportation,

I think the latter one

has many more advantages.

As you may have noticed,

the people I mentioned could be us.

The vehicle would be our motive.

So your motive is not only your milestone,

but it also becomes your vehicle

when you're going towards your goal.

That's why you need to not only

know what your motive is

but also analyze it

and make it your own.

I'd like to emphasize more

that doing this

will help you improve a bit faster.

So, I went over a lot today.

I'll summarize what I said at this point.

For my classes,

I have this credo.

You can expect from my classes

to learn how to draw

just as you thought.

You'll need a lot of things

to finalize a drawing with your hands

that was originally in your head.

I'll teach you how to complete this puzzle piece.

You'll need the right subject

and the right composition.

Think of it as cooking a satisfying meal.

So, my class will focus on

bringing your drawing to life.

Secondly, the thing I mentioned about illustration -

remember I mentioned all the different types of illustration

for those of you who want to pursue a career in this field?

The thing I want to emphasize in the end is

it's essential to know what you're aiming for

based on your drawing personality.

When you want to

improve yourself,

set a proper goal,

and make a tool or a vehicle

to reach that goal.

Then, you'd get there faster than anyone else.

That would be the key point of what I said.

Let's wrap it up, then.

So,

I'm Chyan.

All of you know that by now.

Secondly,

The main goal of this class is

to express your imagination on the canvas.

So when you draw something,

it may not match your imagination,

but an ordinary style which is

not unique and one which is different from your expectation.

Through this class,

you will get to learn multiple ways to solve that kind of issue.

And that is the biggest goal of my class.

Last but not least,

you need to set a specific goal.

That's all I wanted to say.

The curriculum from now on

will be based on those points.

I hope the rest of the lectures will be worth your time.

This is the end of my lecture today.

Thank you for your attention.

I will see you in the next lecture.