Best seller

Illustration Techniques to Unlock your Creativity

A course by Adolfo Serra , Painter and illustrator

Painter and illustrator. Madrid, Spain.
Joined May 2017

Create an artist’s portfolio and develop your own universe of pictorial resources

  • Best seller English, Spanish
  • 99% positive reviews (5.9K)
  • 179697 students

Create an artist’s portfolio and develop your own universe of pictorial resources

A course by Adolfo Serra

Taking chances, making mistakes, playing, going beyond your limits, and being free are all starting points for developing your imagination, language, and voice.

In this course, illustrator Adolfo Serra teaches you, step by step, the processes to experiment and unlock your creativity with manual techniques that will help you create a freehand illustrated sketchbook.

A sketchbook functions as a photo library (arranged by objects, animals, vegetation, characters, buildings, and any other categories the student decides on), and also as a record of pictorial resources, techniques, experiments, or processes.

This is Adolfo Serra's second course with Domestika, in which he focused on the world of children's books. In this course, he branches out to include techniques and processes for anyone who wants to illustrate by getting their hands dirty with manual processes.

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What will you learn in this online course?

16 lessons & 30 downloads

The notebook
8 minutes, 51 seconds
The pictorial languages
12 minutes, 35 seconds
Draw without fear
9 minutes, 5 seconds
Tricks to release the hand.
18 minutes, 7 seconds
The line. The nib - I
9 minutes, 55 seconds
English, Spanish
  • 99% positive reviews (5.9K)
  • 179697 students
  • 16 lessons (3h 1m)
  • 30 additional resources (6 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: English, Spanish
  • Spanish, English, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
  • Level: Beginner
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

Following the exercises, create an artist's sketchbook where you have free rein of creative processes, research, characters, and techniques.

Not only will it serve you in your search for how to draw illustrate, but it will also work as a record or library of your evolution as an illustrator. Additionally, you can use it as a reference whenever you need it.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

For illustrators, draftsmen, designers, teachers, and lovers of art in general in search of new forms of expression, techniques, or manual tools to create illustrations.

This is a course for anyone who enjoys creating and is not afraid to get their hands dirty, including illustrators who are looking for new techniques or designers wanting to get away from the computer.

Requirements and materials

No prior knowledge of drawing is necessary. To complete this course, the only prerequisite is the desire to create and experiment.

You will need a mixed media sketchbook so that you can use various tools and materials: watercolor pencils, markers, nib, ink, greasy waxes, solvent, turpentine, and natural pigments such as walnut ink, caobina, and turmeric. It would also be helpful to have a small box of watercolors and brushes.


Reviews

179697 Students
5861 Reviews
99% Positive ratings
  • More reviews

Adolfo Serra

A course by Adolfo Serra

Teacher Plus
Painter and illustrator

Adolfo Serra (Teruel, 1980) studied Advertising and Public Relations at the Complutense University of Madrid, but soon turned to what has been his passion since childhood: drawing, picking up pencils and watercolors at Madrid's School of Art 10. Since then, his table has been filled with colors, papers, textures, and stories.

He likes to experiment, play, and most of all, tell stories. He considers himself an explorer of blank pages, who is constantly filling them with illustrations focused on children and young people.

His illustrations have been selected at Bologna Children's Book Fair (Italy), Bratislava Illustration Biennial (Slovakia), Sharjah Children's Book Fair (United Arab Emirates), Ibero-American Illustration Catalog (Mexico), CJ Picture Book Awards (Korea), Mostra Internazionale d'Illustrazione per l'Infanzia Sàrmede (Italy).

His textless version of Little Red Riding Hood has been published in Spain, Germany, France, and Mexico, receiving various awards. He has recently been the winner of the 19th Illustrated Album Prize "A la orilla del viento" by Fondo de Cultura Económica.


Content

  • U1

    Introduction

    • Presentation
    • Style in art
    • Educate your look
  • U2

    The blank paper

    • The notebook
    • The pictorial languages
    • Draw without fear
  • U3

    To stain your hands

    • materials
    • Analysis and game. Pencils and markers
    • Tricks to release the hand.
    • The line. The nib - I
    • The line. The nib - II
  • U4

    To stain your hands II

    • The stain The waxes.
    • Playing with waxes
    • Natural pigments Nogalina. Caobina Turmeric.
    • Your own world in a notebook - I
    • Your own world in a notebook - II
  • FP

    Final project

    • Illustration techniques to unlock your creativity

What to expect from a Domestika course

  • Learn at your own pace

    Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.

  • Learn from the best professionals

    Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.

  • Meet expert teachers

    Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.

  • Certificates
    Plus

    If you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.

  • Get front-row seats

    Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.

  • Share knowledge and ideas

    Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.

  • Connect with a global creative community

    The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.

  • Watch professionally produced courses

    Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.


FAQs

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
Illustration Techniques to Unlock your Creativity. Illustration course by Adolfo Serra Best seller

Illustration Techniques to Unlock your Creativity

A course by Adolfo Serra
Painter and illustrator. Madrid, Spain.
Joined May 2017
  • 99% positive reviews (5.9K)
  • 179697 students