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Illustrating Creatures

Language
English
Subtitles
English (US), Portuguese (BR), French (FR), Spanish (LATAM)
Level
Beginner to Intermediate
Access
Lifetime
Certificate
Certificate of Completion
Teacher
Milica Čeliković
Senior Concept Artist
Lessons
9
Price
$59
Overview
Explore the fantastical world of creature illustration with this all-new Lunar Academy course featuring Mooncolony Senior Artist Milica Čeliković.

This course by Milica Čeliković guides you through the process of creating believable fantasy creatures, emphasizing the skills needed to gain employment in the video game industry. It starts with defining what a creature is and gathering references, teaching you to draw inspiration from various sources and analyze elements to ensure your illustrations effectively communicate your intentions.

The importance of studies is highlighted, with techniques for combining features from real-life animals and understanding the reasons behind their appearances to add depth to your designs. A demo study from photo references will help you practice these skills, emphasizing the significance of animal anatomy and behavior.

Warming up with sketches is essential, and Milica shares her imaginative sketches and process to illustrate this. Deliberate planning is crucial for effective visual storytelling, and the course offers tips for enhancing sketching skills with this in mind.

In the illustration chapter, Milica draws a wyvern, discussing its unique traits, dynamic poses, composition, and color choices. She demonstrates her rendering process, focusing on light and shadow, and concludes with final polishing tips and a homework task.

The course ends with a full, uninterrupted speed-painting demonstration of Milica's illustration process, showcasing all the techniques and principles covered.

Chapter 1 - Intro (1:18 mins)

In this introduction, Milica introduces her course, and what you can expect along the way, from how to design fantasy creatures using simple references and imagination to focusing on clear portrayals rather than complex scenes.

Chapter 2 - Defining Creatures (9:02 mins)

What exactly is a “creature”? And how do you collect references to draw one? Milica Čeliković sets the stage for you to create believable fantasy creatures with this crucial chapter. You’ll learn how to gather inspiration from various sources, analyze elements, and ensure your illustration communicates your intention without explanation. Milica shows you how to enjoy the creative process to make your fantasy creatures realistic and engaging.

Chapter 3 - Importance of Studies (4:38 mins)

Here, Milica emphasizes the importance of studying animal anatomy to enhance the realism of creature illustrations by observing and applying biological and physical principles, as demonstrated through her process of creating a wyvern inspired by real-world creatures and her detailed demo of an iguana illustration.

Chapter 4 - Demo Study (10:32 mins)

In this chapter, you will learn how to choose and use the best references for your studies. Learn new techniques like how to mix features from various real-life animals to create fantasy creatures and understand the reasons behind an animal's appearance to add depth to your design.

Chapter 4.2 - Demo Study - Speed Painting (23:12 mins)

This is a small addition to the Demo Study chapter, featuring Milica's full demo study in speed painting format from beginning to end.

Chapter 5 - Warm-Up Sketches (17:42 mins)

Milica highlights the importance of warm-up sketches for improving muscle memory and creativity, using references and imaginative concepts to practice and create unique fantasy creatures, ultimately helping to refine skills and generate new ideas for illustrations.

Chapter 6 - Planning Out For Illustration (3:51 mins)

Milica provides tips for enhancing the dynamism and three-dimensionality of sketches, such as avoiding repetitive parallel lines, using flowing S-curves, focusing on expressive faces, incorporating perspective, being selective with details, and avoiding tangents to improve composition and storytelling.

Chapter 7 - Illustration Time! (9:39 mins)

Milica explains that illustration is a fully rendered artwork designed to tell a visual story through complex lighting, dynamic poses, thoughtful composition, and the integration of various technical and storytelling elements.

Chapter 8 - Demo Illustration (15 mins)

Here, Milica dives right into a demo illustration - drawing her double-headed, eagle-sized wyvern guarding keys on a door. Here she emphasizes its dynamic posture, experimenting with colors, and meticulously rendering the creature while ensuring the composition and lighting enhance the focal point.

Chapter 9 - Conclusion (0:31 mins)

Here, Milica concludes the course, expressing hopes that viewers have gained valuable insights to apply to their own creature illustration process, and encouraging them to explore nature for inspiration.

Chapter 9.2 - Full Speed Painting (04:46 hours)

This is Milica's full illustration process from beginning to end, in speed-painting format.

Overview
Explore the fantastical world of creature illustration with this all-new Lunar Academy course featuring Mooncolony Senior Artist Milica Čeliković.

This course by Milica Čeliković guides you through the process of creating believable fantasy creatures, emphasizing the skills needed to gain employment in the video game industry. It starts with defining what a creature is and gathering references, teaching you to draw inspiration from various sources and analyze elements to ensure your illustrations effectively communicate your intentions.

The importance of studies is highlighted, with techniques for combining features from real-life animals and understanding the reasons behind their appearances to add depth to your designs. A demo study from photo references will help you practice these skills, emphasizing the significance of animal anatomy and behavior.

Warming up with sketches is essential, and Milica shares her imaginative sketches and process to illustrate this. Deliberate planning is crucial for effective visual storytelling, and the course offers tips for enhancing sketching skills with this in mind.

In the illustration chapter, Milica draws a wyvern, discussing its unique traits, dynamic poses, composition, and color choices. She demonstrates her rendering process, focusing on light and shadow, and concludes with final polishing tips and a homework task.

The course ends with a full, uninterrupted speed-painting demonstration of Milica's illustration process, showcasing all the techniques and principles covered.

Meet your mentor
Milica Čeliković

Growing up in Serbia, Milica has always been drawn to creating fantastical animals and whimsical creatures. At Mooncolony, Milica has put this passion to use on Activision Blizzard’s Hearthstone and has gained a significant following online under the name milicraft. She now helps others learn these same skills at their own pace in her Lunar Academy courses.

Cooperated with
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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between courses and short courses?

The courses are long-form, in-depth pieces of content that have been shot in person with our artists in a studio environment. They are the ultimate way to learn intimately alongside Mooncolony artists.

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