"Having a process where your stress level is low and your enjoyment level is high". Lee, as a new-ish student of SVS I can tell you that to be given permission to have low stress and high enjoyment (from a highly regarded artist such as your good self) is almost life transforming. It encourages me even more to devote more time to my study and become a professional illustrator. I need to remind myself of this regularly. Actually, I doubt it is possible to reach ones full potential as an illustrator without such an approach.
I come back to this video every now and then to remind myself how important thumbnailing is. Lee explains is all so well. In particular, around 6:20 he says that it's not about trying to get to 50 thumbnails, or a specific number, without caring how good they are. I've found that, yes, I need to do plenty of them so I've explored all avenues. But every one of them needs to be considered and I need to remain conscious of what I am doing at every moment. And, as Lee says, you really do need to have some fun with it and enjoy moving the composition around. That's just as essential!
1. What you shouldn't be doing .. Grids and Pre printed boxes . If the space is too crammed then your content and composition will be hindered which obviously impacts what you want to convey 2. Are an exact 50 required ? Not necessarily. It depends on your preliminary work and the project of course . Watch out for fixating on a specific number . You'll just drive yourself to despair 😫 3. How do you decide which thumbnails to pick ? And What do they look like when finished ? A) Rough Sketches * Hang in there . Slow down. Stress level is low . Enjoy the process . You can always come back to good ones ( back up thumbnails ) *3-4 minutes per scribble . B) Evaluation stage : *Tweak things up . * Find your sweet spot when it comes to thumbnail size. C) Rough Sketches with Values * Slow it down . Take a break and come back and view them after a day or two . Helps to view them with a clearer head space . You can change things up and discard .
This is so awesome, I think the best thing a professional artist can do for a student artist is show the ugly steps, not just beautiful finished pieces, looking at amazing illustrations just gives a feeling of hopelessness, (for me, as someone who has never completed a illustration) having it broken down and to see that even the best artists begin with ugly sketches leaves me feeling more like maybe I can do this!
Thank You Lee, what a great "video", learnt a lot, never did thumbnails, but my next illustration (september svs contest) I will do thumbnails and work on it, I am always stuck on the first idea I get and it was so nice, to know how to do the first step. For me the first step is really the most important one, to look for different directions and views and have these fitting notes and come back to them if the thumnail still fits. The sizes are also great to know, when drawing digitally, we still can zoom, but shouldn't while doing the thumbnails. Was really great, thanks.
Thank you for sharing your process. This video was exactly what I needed this morning. I’ve struggled in the beginning of my drawings lately and after watching this I’m realizing that I’m thumbnailing too large and not spending enough time exploring /problem solving before diving in to the drawing. Awesome topic and discussion. Thanks again! :)
Thanks Lee! I made it a goal to follow your process from your last video on my latest piece, but got stuck in the thumbnail stage, so this video has been super helpful. New ideas are starting to spark after seeing how you use prompt words and make sort of mini collections off of those prompts. I was also using the premade boxes, which I’ll stop doing ASAP. Thanks again, I’m looking forward to future videos.
Thanks for sharing Lee! I enjoyed seeing how you break down your process. It’s always good to be reminded that it can take several steps before finally coming up with a quality illustration. The thumbnailing stage can be one of the easiest for me to overlook, so I'll try to do it more.
Great stuff Lee! You're such a teacher at heart :) You're really good at breaking down processes for other people, I notice you always do that on the Three Point Perspective podcast, glad there's now a video form of it!
Thanks Lee, as an older person, learning painting and illustration later in life, this is very helpful. Currently illustrating and writing a children’s book together with a friend, Learning as I go....
Thanks so much, Lee. I am taking the SVS Children's Book Pro class right now, and I am learning so much! This YT was incredibly helpful. I am too much a perfectionist, and it is getting in my way. Staying loose and working on design is my new practice focus. Thanks again!!
Yay! I’m so glad your doing UA-cam!!! I do thumbnails and roughs but it never occurred to me to do a second and third little bit more refined thumbnail before the rough. I also quite way before 50 thumbnails. You’re a beast Lee White. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
This is so great! I listen to the Three Point Perspective podcast and heard you mention your videos. Subscribing! Love the podcast and this first video that I’ve watched. As a fellow arts educator, I so appreciate your teaching style. After listening to the podcast, it’s so great to see your process laid out here. Thank you and looking forward to more!
This video was super helpful, Lee thank you! I feel like you always have such a great way of explaining these techniques and their importance to the process in way that actually sticks. This definitely makes me more excited about the thumbnailing stage than I usually am. I'm consistently feeling stressed and underwhelmed with myself while I draw and that's definitely from a lack of preliminary work like you said here.
Once again, great insights into a solid process. I have already been attempting to put some of these ideas into practice since your last vid. I'm not to 50 yet, but for a recent thing I at least spent a good deal more time drawing up a handful of ideas to play with. I know this helped my final product. So yeah, thanks Lee. This stuff is great, and it's much appreciated. Keep it up!
Thank you, Lee! Great, informative video. I'm really curious about your thumbnailing process for a whole children's book/narrative, as opposed to a one off illustration/book cover. Would love to see a video on that. Thank You, love your work!
Hey Lee! I can't NOT subscribe because YOU ARE MY FAV TEACHER! out there there are not many people that go that deep into subjects, also trying to think with the mind of a beginner...! I always have anxiety attacks when I start a job, JUST AS YOU DESCRIBED in this video, and then I stick to the first good idea.It is helpful to know that this CAN change with time and practice. Already after one Year of SVS I can see some improvements in my work. I have never done this 50 thumbnails process before, as I can understand you do your first roughs on traditional paper, and then the value ones on photoshop, am I right? THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!
Thanks Lee. This was a helpful video. I’ve seen Jake talk about thumbnails before but it’s nice to get another perspective. Don’t beat yourself up on the ‘ums’ by the way, it wasn’t noticeable until you brought it up! Haha. Keep up the great work.
Thanks lee another awesome video. So thumbnails are to help capture composition, what can i do to improve my composition? should i study photography and book-covers? How should i go about that?
Yes, study other artists' work. Write down what you like and dislike. Try to identify patterns between different pieces. Look up "design principles" and study them. Things like: balance symmetry & asymmetry emphasis contrast rhythm, pattern, movement, & repetition unity & variety When you search for "design principles" or check out a book on the topic, you'll find different lists with different #s of basic principles, but don't worry about which one is "right" just find a few different sources with a list like this one, that explains each principle and how it affects your design / composition. Also study things like: the rule of thirds the golden rectangle (aka golden spiral, golden ratio) Your sources can be about drawing, photography, or graphic design. They all use the same principles for composition.
Very cool - thanks Lee! On the “step three” thumbnails, do you ever add color to them or strictly stick with b/w values? If not, at what stage do you start figuring out colors?
I'm going through this in my graphic design studies. 50 thumbs for a short assignment seems to be the norm. Give or take 20 or 30. I'm struggling with the quick drawings and am quite sloppy. Stick figure sloppy. The colored comps are where my details come in. In any case, I'm trying to get quick, and better at the design process and the initial research, brainstorming and thumbnail comps...thanks for the video.
That was very illuminating! By the time you get to step 3 and like a particular thumbnail but decide you want to make a few changes to it, you make those changes with the step 3 mindset? (i.e., at the larger size, incorporating value, details)? Proportionally, what are the approximate differences in size from step 1 to 2 to 3? (using your example of 1.5x2 say, how much larger is 2, 3). Are your thumbnail sizes exact proportions of the book page/cover at step 1? I forgot to say THANK YOU!
I just go up a little in size. Like maybe from 3 inches tall to 5 inches tall. In terms of making changes at that stage, I do just simply add them there because typically the bigger things have been worked out and now I'm just adjusting smaller details and shapes.
Great video! Two questions… do you do these sketches on your computer or by hand & you just brought them into PS afterwards? Also, do you get to read the book first if designing the cover? 💭
Do you make a list of keywords and another of names? How do you create them? This doubt is in the minute 7:27 Could you explain it to me in writing? I didn't understand what you said.
Your channel is value packed! Definitely different from Jake Parker's and Will Terry. The content's more technical and breaksdown common but vague concepts into very specific actionable steps Cheering for you! Already shared #slowvember video to fb group and friends 🙌 Minor question, I heard you started painting in a concept art like style. Did you find it difficult to transition to more children's book illustrative look? Coming from an animation background, I find it difficult to flatten my drawings and discard lighting in favor of design and composition 😅 PS: that tip about using picture frames for nostalgia and people instead of flowers to make it more meaningful was great insight. I've been wondering how illustrators matched seemingly unrelated things to get a better "feeling" from the picture 👍 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Donna! Glad you are enjoying the videos! : ) I did start with a "concept design" style, but I had to move over to what my style eventually became through trial and error. The thing about concept art is that a lot of it looks the same (or very similar). It's gotten better over the years though and doesn't have the "industrial design" look it had for a long time. But to answer your question, yes, it was difficult to switch the styles. But little by little it changed over time and I think I arrived at something that felt more like "me".
@@leewhite134 thanks for the thoughtful response :) I took up the "Finding Your Style" class on SVSLearn and it helped a lot in figuring out what I leaned towards :) maybe more style studies are neccessary to get what I'm looking for in my work 😅 thanks again! Looking forward to #slowvember :)
@@leewhite134 I'm sorry, I do not understand you. I didn't know that cyclops came out in your illustration. ¿Could tell me the story so I can find out, please?
"Having a process where your stress level is low and your enjoyment level is high". Lee, as a new-ish student of SVS I can tell you that to be given permission to have low stress and high enjoyment (from a highly regarded artist such as your good self) is almost life transforming. It encourages me even more to devote more time to my study and become a professional illustrator. I need to remind myself of this regularly. Actually, I doubt it is possible to reach ones full potential as an illustrator without such an approach.
I come back to this video every now and then to remind myself how important thumbnailing is.
Lee explains is all so well. In particular, around 6:20 he says that it's not about trying to get to 50 thumbnails, or a specific number, without caring how good they are. I've found that, yes, I need to do plenty of them so I've explored all avenues. But every one of them needs to be considered and I need to remain conscious of what I am doing at every moment.
And, as Lee says, you really do need to have some fun with it and enjoy moving the composition around. That's just as essential!
1. What you shouldn't be doing ..
Grids and Pre printed boxes .
If the space is too crammed then your content and composition will be hindered which obviously impacts what you want to convey
2. Are an exact 50 required ?
Not necessarily. It depends on your preliminary work and the project of course .
Watch out for fixating on a specific number . You'll just drive yourself to despair 😫
3. How do you decide which thumbnails to pick ?
And
What do they look like when finished ?
A) Rough Sketches
* Hang in there . Slow down. Stress level is low . Enjoy the process . You can always come back to good ones ( back up thumbnails )
*3-4 minutes per scribble .
B) Evaluation stage :
*Tweak things up .
* Find your sweet spot when it comes to thumbnail size.
C) Rough Sketches with Values
* Slow it down . Take a break and come back and view them after a day or two . Helps to view them with a clearer head space . You can change things up and discard .
Best thumbnail breakdown I could find on UA-cam. Many thanks
Wow, thanks!
I feel every illustrator in the world should watch this video. Thank you!
This is so awesome, I think the best thing a professional artist can do for a student artist is show the ugly steps, not just beautiful finished pieces, looking at amazing illustrations just gives a feeling of hopelessness, (for me, as someone who has never completed a illustration) having it broken down and to see that even the best artists begin with ugly sketches leaves me feeling more like maybe I can do this!
You CAN do this! good luck Bethany! : )
Thanks for the key elements of thumbnails. I do a page in large sketches. My teacher said he needed to see 12 sketches.
Thank you so much for this. I struggle a LOT with thumbnails, and breaking it down like this is immensely helpful!
Thank You Lee, what a great "video", learnt a lot, never did thumbnails, but my next illustration (september svs contest) I will do thumbnails and work on it, I am always stuck on the first idea I get and it was so nice, to know how to do the first step. For me the first step is really the most important one, to look for different directions and views and have these fitting notes and come back to them if the thumnail still fits. The sizes are also great to know, when drawing digitally, we still can zoom, but shouldn't while doing the thumbnails. Was really great, thanks.
Thank you for sharing your process. This video was exactly what I needed this morning. I’ve struggled in the beginning of my drawings lately and after watching this I’m realizing that I’m thumbnailing too large and not spending enough time exploring /problem solving before diving in to the drawing. Awesome topic and discussion. Thanks again! :)
Glad it helped you out! : )
Thanks Lee! I made it a goal to follow your process from your last video on my latest piece, but got stuck in the thumbnail stage, so this video has been super helpful. New ideas are starting to spark after seeing how you use prompt words and make sort of mini collections off of those prompts. I was also using the premade boxes, which I’ll stop doing ASAP. Thanks again, I’m looking forward to future videos.
Thanks for sharing Lee! I enjoyed seeing how you break down your process. It’s always good to be reminded that it can take several steps before finally coming up with a quality illustration. The thumbnailing stage can be one of the easiest for me to overlook, so I'll try to do it more.
This is like a nice reminder from when I was in your classes back at AI.
Awesome vid, thanks for sharing
Great stuff Lee! You're such a teacher at heart :) You're really good at breaking down processes for other people, I notice you always do that on the Three Point Perspective podcast, glad there's now a video form of it!
Thanks Lee, as an older person, learning painting and illustration later in life, this is very helpful. Currently illustrating and writing a children’s book together with a friend, Learning as I go....
Thanks so much, Lee. I am taking the SVS Children's Book Pro class right now, and I am learning so much! This YT was incredibly helpful. I am too much a perfectionist, and it is getting in my way. Staying loose and working on design is my new practice focus. Thanks again!!
fabulous insight for me as a newbee!
Your videos are so insightful!
Thanks so much! : )
Great to get detailed insight into this stage of the process, thank you 😊
Yay! I’m so glad your doing UA-cam!!! I do thumbnails and roughs but it never occurred to me to do a second and third little bit more refined thumbnail before the rough. I also quite way before 50 thumbnails. You’re a beast Lee White. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Thank you Lee! This is exactly what I needed to understand. Along with your steps to a good illustration this was so valuable!
Thank you very much for your wisdom❤💜💛🧡
I wish you posted more frequent! i love your humor and you are very good at explaining things =D Thank you for this video Lee!
Thanks Lee, I am looking forward to the next one!
This is so great! I listen to the Three Point Perspective podcast and heard you mention your videos. Subscribing! Love the podcast and this first video that I’ve watched. As a fellow arts educator, I so appreciate your teaching style. After listening to the podcast, it’s so great to see your process laid out here. Thank you and looking forward to more!
This video was super helpful, Lee thank you! I feel like you always have such a great way of explaining these techniques and their importance to the process in way that actually sticks. This definitely makes me more excited about the thumbnailing stage than I usually am. I'm consistently feeling stressed and underwhelmed with myself while I draw and that's definitely from a lack of preliminary work like you said here.
Thanks Lee for sharing, Just what I was looking for. It is great to see the process.
This was SO helpful! Thank you!!
Hey! You are doing great Lee. Please keep it up ☺
Thanks Lee, it was super helpful!
Once again, great insights into a solid process. I have already been attempting to put some of these ideas into practice since your last vid. I'm not to 50 yet, but for a recent thing I at least spent a good deal more time drawing up a handful of ideas to play with. I know this helped my final product. So yeah, thanks Lee. This stuff is great, and it's much appreciated. Keep it up!
That was helpful. Thank you!
Super clear and valuable, thanks for putting that together!
Super helpful! Thank you!
Thank you, Lee! Great, informative video. I'm really curious about your thumbnailing process for a whole children's book/narrative, as opposed to a one off illustration/book cover. Would love to see a video on that. Thank You, love your work!
Glad you liked it! : )
My book thumbnailing process is exactly what I showed here. I use it for anything and everything I'm working on.
Lee White gotcha, thanks!
You're doing great. Dont even notice the "ums". My process is similar, learned it all from you guys at SVS.
Hey Lee! I can't NOT subscribe because YOU ARE MY FAV TEACHER! out there there are not many people that go that deep into subjects, also trying to think with the mind of a beginner...! I always have anxiety attacks when I start a job, JUST AS YOU DESCRIBED in this video, and then I stick to the first good idea.It is helpful to know that this CAN change with time and practice. Already after one Year of SVS I can see some improvements in my work. I have never done this 50 thumbnails process before, as I can understand you do your first roughs on traditional paper, and then the value ones on photoshop, am I right? THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!
Glad you are liking the videos! Hope it helps! : )
Passionnant !
Another excellent video! Would love to see a link to your channel (and Will and Jake's as well) on the SVSlearn home page.
Will & Jake have links for UA-cam on the "Instructors" page: www.svslearn.com/our-instructors (which is linked on the bottom of the home page).
Pure gold! Thank you
Thanks Lee. This was a helpful video. I’ve seen Jake talk about thumbnails before but it’s nice to get another perspective. Don’t beat yourself up on the ‘ums’ by the way, it wasn’t noticeable until you brought it up! Haha. Keep up the great work.
Awesome video- how did you get a video of a shared screen of desktop and you in the corner?
Thanks lee another awesome video. So thumbnails are to help capture composition, what can i do to improve my composition? should i study photography and book-covers? How should i go about that?
Yes, study other artists' work. Write down what you like and dislike. Try to identify patterns between different pieces.
Look up "design principles" and study them. Things like:
balance
symmetry & asymmetry
emphasis
contrast
rhythm, pattern, movement, & repetition
unity & variety
When you search for "design principles" or check out a book on the topic, you'll find different lists with different #s of basic principles, but don't worry about which one is "right" just find a few different sources with a list like this one, that explains each principle and how it affects your design / composition.
Also study things like:
the rule of thirds
the golden rectangle (aka golden spiral, golden ratio)
Your sources can be about drawing, photography, or graphic design. They all use the same principles for composition.
Very cool - thanks Lee! On the “step three” thumbnails, do you ever add color to them or strictly stick with b/w values? If not, at what stage do you start figuring out colors?
check out my previous video in the description. I talk about where to add color there. : )
Chick out my previous video on "How to do a great illustration everytime". I show the step by step on when to add color, etc. : )
I'm going through this in my graphic design studies. 50 thumbs for a short assignment seems to be the norm. Give or take 20 or 30. I'm struggling with the quick drawings and am quite sloppy. Stick figure sloppy. The colored comps are where my details come in. In any case, I'm trying to get quick, and better at the design process and the initial research, brainstorming and thumbnail comps...thanks for the video.
Not a single dislike, Congrats!
That was very illuminating! By the time you get to step 3 and like a particular thumbnail but decide you want to make a few changes to it, you make those changes with the step 3 mindset? (i.e., at the larger size, incorporating value, details)?
Proportionally, what are the approximate differences in size from step 1 to 2 to 3? (using your example of 1.5x2 say, how much larger is 2, 3).
Are your thumbnail sizes exact proportions of the book page/cover at step 1?
I forgot to say THANK YOU!
I just go up a little in size. Like maybe from 3 inches tall to 5 inches tall. In terms of making changes at that stage, I do just simply add them there because typically the bigger things have been worked out and now I'm just adjusting smaller details and shapes.
Lee White thanks so much for these videos & replies here!
Thanks again Lee
Great video! Two questions… do you do these sketches on your computer or by hand & you just brought them into PS afterwards? Also, do you get to read the book first if designing the cover? 💭
Thank you!
Do you make a list of keywords and another of names? How do you create them? This doubt is in the minute 7:27 Could you explain it to me in writing? I didn't understand what you said.
I got stuck in the thumbnail 13. Could you answer me? I would like to finish all 50 miniatures this week -_-
Great vid!
Your channel is value packed! Definitely different from Jake Parker's and Will Terry. The content's more technical and breaksdown common but vague concepts into very specific actionable steps Cheering for you! Already shared #slowvember video to fb group and friends 🙌
Minor question, I heard you started painting in a concept art like style. Did you find it difficult to transition to more children's book illustrative look? Coming from an animation background, I find it difficult to flatten my drawings and discard lighting in favor of design and composition 😅
PS: that tip about using picture frames for nostalgia and people instead of flowers to make it more meaningful was great insight. I've been wondering how illustrators matched seemingly unrelated things to get a better "feeling" from the picture 👍 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Donna! Glad you are enjoying the videos! : )
I did start with a "concept design" style, but I had to move over to what my style eventually became through trial and error. The thing about concept art is that a lot of it looks the same (or very similar). It's gotten better over the years though and doesn't have the "industrial design" look it had for a long time. But to answer your question, yes, it was difficult to switch the styles. But little by little it changed over time and I think I arrived at something that felt more like "me".
@@leewhite134 thanks for the thoughtful response :) I took up the "Finding Your Style" class on SVSLearn and it helped a lot in figuring out what I leaned towards :) maybe more style studies are neccessary to get what I'm looking for in my work 😅 thanks again! Looking forward to #slowvember :)
I don't understand what you mean by "looking building or wrecking building" ¿Could you explain it to me?
Sorry, I am not sure what that is referring to?
:@@leewhite134 Is in the minute 7:36 what I am refering
@@siradibuja That is referring to the example scene of the cyclops story. I'm saying "maybe he is wrecking the building or looking into the building".
@@leewhite134 I'm sorry, I do not understand you. I didn't know that cyclops came out in your illustration. ¿Could tell me the story so I can find out, please?
@@siradibuja It was just an example of something I might be thumbnailing. There is no actual cyclops story.
👍:)
This video would have been great for English subtitles.
Look into a "Blue Yeti" USB Microphone, it'll be the best $130 you'll ever spend..