Basic Lecture 02: Training to Become a Professional Illustrator (Basic Lecture Assignment 02)

(This lecture is written based on the circumstances of the illustration industry in Japan and on Japanese law.)

As I explained in Basic Lecture 00, in order to build a prosperous and fulfilling life as a professional illustrator, you need to learn how to create illustrations that are technically strong, artistically compelling, and likely to lead to professional work.

Throughout the Basic Lectures, we will break down this kind of illustration into eight essential elements and examine each one in detail.

I will also teach you specific training methods for developing each of these eight elements.

In this lesson, I will explain how to use a tool that will play an important role throughout your training: your “Favorites Sketchbook.”

This will also be your second Basic Lecture assignment.

■ Prepare a Sketchbook

First, prepare a sketchbook.

The size and type are entirely up to you. Choose one that feels comfortable and easy for you to work in.

From now on, throughout the Basic Lectures, we will call this sketchbook your “Favorites Sketchbook,” and you will continue using it for a long time.

In your Favorites Sketchbook, you will collect and paste in things that you like.

Then, among the things you collect, make studies by copying the ones that especially appeal to you.

You do not need to reproduce them perfectly.

Your goal is not to become an art forger. Your goal is to become a highly original, one-of-a-kind illustrator.

It is perfectly fine to redraw them in your own way and in your own style.

Please make a habit of collecting things you love and drawing studies from them.

If you are raising children or working full-time, doing this every single day may be difficult.

Even so, try to make it as close to a daily practice as possible.

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