Select Page

Realistic Illustrations

Realistic illustrations have grown in popularity over the last decade, grabbing the attention of new generation artists. The development of digital imaging technology has made creating realistic illustrations a lot easier and a lot less time consuming.

Photorealistic illustrations require an in-depth understanding of four basic principles – form, perspective colour and light.

The first principle, form, is defined as the object’s external three-dimensional outline. For example, when creating a realistic illustration of a football, it would start out as a spherical outline. Understanding an object’s form is one of the key components of creating a realistic illustration.
Perspective is the second principle of creating a realistic illustration. Before the object’s outline can be filled in, it’s important to establish which angle the object is being viewed from to determine what will be visible and what will be hidden from view.

The next step is to determine the colour of the object. Colour is fairly subjective and each person will perceive colour slightly differently due to the way that our brain interprets the information in front of us.

Lighting is the most crucial element of creating a realistic illustration as it helps to bring the drawing to life. Lighting and shading helps to create depth and show the third dimension of the object. Without lighting and shading, the object will look two-dimensional and therefore not at all realistic.

If you’d like to work with us on a project using realistic illustrations, then please contact us and we’d be happy to discuss your requirements.

Click to view each illustrator’s full portfolio

The Big Red Illustration Agency - General Enquiry