Digital illustration for beginners: where to start

Step 1

Raster or vector: pick the technique for the job

Before installing anything, decide what you want to draw. A raster illustration is made of pixels: it gives you textures, soft transitions and a paint or pencil feel. Its limit is size: enlarge it beyond the canvas size and it turns blurry. A vector illustration is made of shapes and curves: it scales from an icon to a billboard without losing quality, and its colors are easy to change. It suits flat illustrations for websites, interfaces and branding.

• •raster: book and editorial illustration, concept art, painted textures, covers;
• •vector: illustrations for websites and apps, icons, infographics, stickers, merch;
• •if you guess wrong, that's fine: the basics (form, light, color, composition) are the same for both.

💡 Open 10 illustrations you like and note for each one: raster or vector? Most of the answers will tell you where to start.

Step 2

Equipment and software without overspending

Raster drawing with a mouse is awkward: you need a device that senses pressure. The two most common options are a drawing tablet connected to a computer (you draw on the tablet and look at the monitor) or a tablet with a stylus where you draw right on the screen. The first is usually cheaper; the second is quicker to get used to. For vector work a mouse is fine at first: you build curves with points, not strokes. Start with free software:

• •Krita: a free, open source painting program licensed under GNU GPL v3. It has versions for Windows, macOS and Linux plus Android builds; the developers list 4 GB of RAM as the minimum;
• •Inkscape: a free, open source vector editor for Windows, macOS and Linux;
• •if you already have an iPad, see our Procreate guide; for Adobe's vector app, see the Illustrator guide.

💡 Don't buy gear to grow into until you're sure you enjoy the process itself: draw with what you already have first.

Step 3

Set up the canvas and your line

Make the canvas generous: it's better to shrink a finished piece than to stretch a small one. Split the work into layers: sketch, clean line, flat color, shadows and highlights, each separately. That way you can redo any stage without touching the others. If your line wobbles, turn on stroke smoothing: in Krita it's the Stabilizer mode of the Freehand Brush tool; the line trails the cursor slightly but comes out steadier. For step-by-step canvas, layer and brush setup in a specific app, see the Krita and Procreate guides; here we cover only the principles that apply in any app.

• •name layers right away: “sketch”, “lines”, “color”, “shadows”; you'll thank yourself a week later;
• •sketch in a light color on its own layer and lower its opacity before the clean line;
• •flip the canvas horizontally: mistakes in proportion and tilt become obvious at once.

Step 4

References, form and color

Professional illustrators draw from references all the time: photos, objects, their own sketches. That isn't cheating; it's how you understand how something works. The difference between learning and copying is simple: you gather several sources and draw your own thing rather than retracing one person's work. This order saves most first illustrations:

• •silhouette: fill the object with one color; if it's recognizable without details, the shape works;
• •big color areas before small details; limit the palette to 3–5 colors (see the color palette guide);
• •one light source: shadows and highlights on one side make the drawing feel solid;
• •details last, and only where you want the viewer to look.

💡 Redrawing other people's illustrations is fine for practice, but don't publish those studies as your own work: credit the original artist or keep them in your sketchbook.

Step 5

Style and a first series

A style is a set of constraints repeated from piece to piece. Write down your rules, for example: “only 4 colors, a thick even line, no gradients, characters built from round shapes”. Then draw a series of 3–5 illustrations on one theme following them: “morning in the city”, “things on my desk”, “professions”. A series shows you can hold a style rather than getting lucky once.

• •start with one object, then a character, then a scene with a background;
• •keep the in-between stages (sketch, line, color): the process is worth showing too;
• •export a PNG or JPG copy for posting and keep the layered working file separately.

💡 Share the series in the community and ask for feedback on something specific: does the style hold, does the silhouette read, where does the eye go.