Visual Storytelling for Compelling Illustrations

Using creative illustration techniques, you can transform people, places, and objects into compelling images that tell stories. R. Kikuo Johnson is an illustrator and cartoonist whose goal is to do just that. He has collaborated with clients including Airbnb and Coca-Cola, and had his work featured in publications like The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

In this online course, he teaches you how to tell a complete story in a single image, in whatever style or medium you choose. By combining narrative concepts with drawing techniques, you’ll create images that truly speak louder than words.

Meet R Kikuo Johnson, an illustrator, cartoonist, and your teacher for this course. Hear about his creative journey that led him to work with publication like The New York Times and Vanity Fair, as well as his inspirations and influences.

Dive into the course by hearing Kikuo’s nine concrete tricks for narrative illustration. Then, he discusses your final project and how to interpret a creative brief. See how the process of research and doing loose thumbnails can help to generate storytelling concepts and compositional ideas.

Next, discover how to shoot reference photos using ourselves as models and experiment with color in Photoshop. Learn how to sharpen the linework of your finished image and prepare the final color for print.

Lastly, Kikuo shows you how these techniques can be used in comics, and shares some professional tips.