Eliyah Mai Creates

Hey guys! I hope that you had an amazing Christmas and New Year! 

As I considered my blog post content for this new year, I decided it would be neat to walk you through the illustration process from beginning to end in a five part blog series. It is my hope that after this series, you will be confident and excited to get to work on your own illustrations and fully enjoy the process.

So let’s begin with talking about where our illustrations start. As with most things, illustrations start with an idea. While this sounds simple, it can be challenging to know where to start when it comes to finding an idea for an illustration.  

Let’s ask this clarifying question- where do ideas come from?

Scripture tells us that:

Colossians 1:16 says: “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things have been created through him and for him.” 

Everything we see in our world was created by God. Even man made things stem from God’s creation. Our ideas come from the things around us. His creation is the basis of our imagination.

What are some things that come to mind that inspire you from creation? The first thing that comes to my mind are plants- The textures and colors and endless varieties always get my mind spinning with ideas and inspiration! 

Now that we know WHAT to look at, we have to know HOW to look at it!

We need to learn how to notice details. I call this training your artist’s eye; this helps to find the details of things you normally wouldn’t notice and inspires your imagination and form an idea. 

I’ve attached a picture study exercise to help you learn the concept of training your artist’s eye. If you want some practice, print the 2 picture study pages attached to this blog post and follow the directions. You might be surprised at how many details are missed by the untrained eye.

It may be that finding an idea comes easy to you. You may struggle with the opposite problem- you have TOO MANY ideas!

It can feel overwhelming at times to consider all of the possibilities of what you can create and decide on a direction or starting point.

Consider these questions when you have too many ideas:

-What makes me most excited to draw?

-What is most do-able for my skillset and time?

-What is going to add something new and fresh to my portfolio? 

Getting started can be the hardest part of an illustration for some people. If that’s you, I hope this post has been a helpful tool to get your mind going and your illustration started. 

Have a great week! 

~Eliyah🧡