Sketch to Final: How Professional Illustrators Present Design Proposals

There is a difference between a sketch you are happy with and a sketch a client can make a decision from. Two instructors on Twotap, Sandra Staub in the Minimalist Art Bundle and Alexandra Fintova in the Character Design Essentials Bundle, both build proposals the same way: explore far more options than you need, narrow deliberately, and finish only as much as the decision requires.

Your first idea is not your best one

Fintova states it as flatly as it deserves.

"The sad truth is that your first idea will almost never be your best one. I bet you already have an image in your mind, but sometimes images in our minds lack something, so they look off when we put them on paper."
Alexandra Fintova, in the lesson Thumbnailing from the Character Design Essentials Bundle

The temptation is to defend the first idea by perfecting it. Both instructors do the opposite, on the grounds that exploring several options in small, fast form is simply cheaper than finding out late.

Thumbnails are how you afford to be wrong

Fintova works in small thumbnails, either silhouettes or quick sketches depending on preference, and is clear that the process is not orderly. Sometimes you draw a dozen and one stands out. Sometimes you draw six and take the best parts of three.

She also separates three distinct kinds, which is worth knowing because people conflate them:

• Character thumbnailing, exploring the figure itself as basic shapes
• Composition thumbnailing, placing that character into an environment and testing positions
• Color thumbnailing, testing color combinations across the chosen composition

Staub runs the same principle for a commercial brief. She sketches the individual elements that might represent the client's message in as many variants as she can, then combines them into quick compositions, on the explicit principle that more is more at this stage. The leftovers are useful later, as a parts bin when a composition needs one more object for balance.

Work small, and resist detail

Fintova makes this mistake on camera and leaves it in, which is more instructive than getting it right would have been. Partway through she stops and admits she has overdone it, the thumbnails have become too detailed, and she pulls back to a smaller canvas so she is forced to work loosely again.

Detail at the thumbnail stage is expensive in two ways. It costs time on options you will discard, and it makes you attached to the option you have invested in.

Combine rather than choose

When she reviews her sailor thumbnails, no single one wins. She takes the legs from one, a rectangular chest from another, and adds decisions that emerged along the way: one hand in a pocket to read as relaxed, the other holding the pipe, and smoke being blown out.

The final proposal is an assembly of the best parts, which is only possible because there were enough parts to choose from.

For a client, narrow to two and stop before color

This is where Staub's client workflow gets specific. From the pile, pick the two options with the most potential, judged against the brief rather than taste:

• Do the elements represent the work and product of the client?
• Is the composition balanced yet intriguing?
• Is the message clear and easy to understand?
• If this is printed on a shirt or a tote bag, will people want to buy it?

Then polish both, with one firm constraint: no color yet. Get the sketches as close to the final version as possible, with every element in its place and in the shape it will keep, without spending time on finishing detail. Two directions, presented honestly as directions.

Show it in context

Staub places each proposal onto mockups of the actual product, a t-shirt and a tote bag, before sending. A client looking at artwork on a white background has to imagine the product. A client looking at the tote bag is judging the thing they are buying, which is the only question that matters.

Check the drawing before anyone else sees it

Fintova has two habits that catch problems while they are still cheap to fix. The first is flipping the sketch horizontally, which she does mid-lesson and immediately spots a distortion in the main body shape she had been looking straight past.

The second is a compositional rule with a reason attached:

"Never ever start anything right at the corner, because it will lead the viewer out of the image."
Alexandra Fintova, in the lesson Create a Definite Sketch

Her framing of why this matters is the best argument for the whole proposal stage: an illustrator's job is to guide the viewer and tell a story with shapes and lines, so every element should be working to move the eye where you want it. Flipping the canvas horizontally or vertically shows you where the eye is actually being sent, as opposed to where you assumed.

Leave, then look again

Both instructors build in distance. Staub recommends taking a break during ideation, going outside or making a coffee, on the grounds that it gives the mind space for new ideas. Fintova keeps several illustrations in progress at once and rotates between them, working a little and stepping away, because returning with fresh eyes keeps her focused and honest about what she is looking at.

A proposal reviewed only by the person who just drew it has not really been reviewed.

The proposal checklist

• Sketch far more options than you need, small and rough
• Do not perfect the first idea
• Harvest parts from several thumbnails rather than picking one
• Narrow to two, judged against the brief
• Polish both to nearly final, in black and white
• Flip the canvas to expose distortions and eye-leaks
• Keep elements away from the corners
• Sleep on it, then present on realistic mockups

Sandra Staub runs the client-facing version of this in the Minimalist Art Bundle on Twotap, and Alexandra Fintova runs the character version in the Character Design Essentials Bundle.