Digital Painting for 2D Illustration by Matt Sanz

Learn how to create conceptual story-driven illustrations for video games and animation.
From a very young age, Matt Sanz has always been the creative of the group, whether drawing the latest anime character or illustrating a colorful dragon for a friend. His experience led him to pursue his dream of becoming a digital artist, working with brands and animation studios like BOB, Friday Sundae, IGG, and Amazon Games to create video games and other interactive work.

Today, Matt is a visual development artist, receiving design briefs and helping creative ideas go from concept to completion. In this course, learn the fundamentals for producing a story-driven concept that can be developed into an animation or video game. Discover Matt’s tricks and tips for using balanced compositions and bold color palettes to create stylized visual art that brings imaginary worlds to life.

Start your course by getting to know your teacher, visual development artist Matt Sanz. He explains the artists and influences that have inspired him over the years and gives you a quick overview of what will be taught throughout this course.

In the next unit, Matt goes through his Photoshop setup and explains some of his favorite shortcuts. Learn to define the objective of your final image by understanding what a color key is and how it can be used to create impactful personal and professional projects. Then, create a reference board based on the subject you’ve chosen for your final project.

Now it’s time to explore your idea using the techniques laid out by Matt. Start drawing thumbnails and practice some fundamentals of composition, including the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, pyramid composition, and visual balance. Learn to develop color keys and make digital retouches to your image.

Learn how to block out the flats and define the shapes, two foundational steps that help define the major elements of an illustration and prepare it for the painting stage. See how to apply simple light and shadow layers to the painting as a way to analyze their values. Then, start rendering your image and adding color that accurately represents the light and shadows.

To wrap things up, discover Matt’s tricks for post-processing images, including tips for balancing color throughout the image. Learn how to maximize the quality of your image and see some easy-to-apply techniques for displaying and sharing your work online.