Drawing Delightful Animals in Photoshop: A Photoshop for Illustrators Class

In this class you’ll learn the basics of drawing delightful animals in Photoshop, from sketch studies to simplifying anatomy and exaggerating characteristics to create a charming animal illustration.  You’ll also get a look at my Photoshop workflow from digital sketches to finished art.

Drawing animals is a central part of my career as a children's book illustrator and licensed artist.  My adorable animal drawings appear in nonfiction children's books and trade picture books, as well as on greeting cards, wall art, puzzles and a variety of other products, so being able to draw charming animals is a skill that has served me well and of course, it's something I really love.

My process (almost)always begins with sketch studies so I can spend some time familiarizing myself with an animal's anatomy and general characteristics.  Next I'll work on stylizing some sketches either through a shape exercise that I'll go over with you in this class or from random sketches as I puzzle things out.  From there, I'll move on to the fun part: adding color and texture in Photoshop.  

In this class, I'll walk you through that entire process from start to finish. This is an intermediate level class so you'll need at least basic Photoshop skills and basic drawing skills to get the most from this class.  

However, even if you're not interested in Photoshop, you'll still learn a lot about how I stylize my animal drawings, focusing on the unique characteristics of the animal.  

By the end of this class you'll be drawing your own delightful animals!

Be sure to share your finished project with the class and if you're also sharing your work on Instagram, feel free to tag me(@stephfizercoleman) and use the hashtag #stephfcskillshare so everyone can keep up with your work.  

Most of all, this is about having fun while learning new skills.  Let's get started!

• Intro
• Tools
• Sketch Studies
• Defining Unique Characteristics
• Shape Exercise
• Creating Cuteness
• Photoshop: Flat Colors
• Photoshop: Adding Details
• Photoshop: Texture and Shading
• Photoshop: Final Details
• Class assignment