Happy Forest Stickers
In this tutorial we’re creating these super cute, happy little forest stickers and honestly, they’re just so much fun to make. We keep everything nice and simple, starting with a loose sketch to figure out the placement, and then building up our shapes with soft, rounded lines so everything feels friendly and cozy.
We’re working with cute mushrooms and a leafy character with a tiny face. Nothing has to be perfect here, just follow your sketch as a guide and adjust things as you go. Then we move into adding base colors, layering, and of course… texture (my favorite part!). Finally, we finish everything off with that clean sticker edge and a soft shadow to really make them pop ✨
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Shader
- Light Shader
- Dark Shader
- Overlay Brush
- Lighten Line Brush
- Darken Line Brush
- Spackle Brush
Canvas Size:
- 3500 x 3500 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Creating soft, rounded shapes for a cute style
Everything stays nice and curvy—no sharp edges—so your characters instantly feel more friendly and approachable. - Keeping your layers organized in groups
Each little character gets its own group, making it super easy to adjust, move, or edit later on. - Using alpha lock for easy shading
You can add all your shadows and colors without worrying about going outside your shapes, so handy. - Adding texture with different brushes
Mixing shader, spackle, and line brushes gives your stickers that soft, rich, slightly textured look. - Making a clean sticker outline with blur and selection
Duplicate your shapes, blur them, and expand the selection to create that perfect white sticker edge, then add a shadow for depth.
Fantasy Landscape
This one is such a fun fantasy scene to paint. You start with a simple sketch and slowly build everything up into this magical world with huge mountain peaks, soft glowing clouds, misty pine trees, playful foliage, textured rocks, and a dragon flying through the sky. The whole process is really about taking it one step at a time, blocking in your shapes first, then adding color, texture, light, and atmosphere until everything feels dreamy and cohesive.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Base Painter
- Inka Brush
- Scattered Soft Bush
- Watery Blotcher
- Pine Tree Long
- Rusted Decay
- Soft Brush
- Medium Brush
- Flotastic Brush
- Overlay Brush
- Pine Tree Forest Brush
- Leatherwood Brush
- Lighten Line Brush
- Simple Grass Brush
- Rounded Tufts
- Small Plants Brush
- Multiply Brush
- Darken Line
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Blocking in the main shapes first helps keep the whole piece clear and manageable, so every mountain, cloud, tree, and rock has its own place.
- Using alpha lock throughout the process makes it so much easier to add texture and color variation without painting outside your shapes.
- Creating depth with mist and soft edges pushes parts of the landscape back and helps the foreground stand out in a really nice way.
- Combining different texture brushes gives each element its own feel, from rough mountain surfaces and bark textures to fluffy clouds and playful grass.
- Keeping the lighting direction consistent helps sculpt the mountains, clouds, and dragon so the whole scene feels more believable and polished.
- Smudging in a painterly way softens edges and blends colors beautifully, especially in the clouds, trees, and grassy areas.
City Cycling
This one is such a fun project. We’re keeping things super clean and simple, going for that crisp vector-style look with bold shapes and no fuss. Think a cute little Dutch-inspired scene with a cyclist, some cars, trees, and buildings. Nothing too detailed, just smart shapes and a bit of texture to bring it all to life.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Monoline
- Spackle it
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Keeping things simple with strong shapes
You build the entire scene using super basic forms, focusing on clarity instead of detail so everything feels clean and graphic. - Using the selection tool like a pro
You create crisp, vector-like edges by combining rectangle and freehand selections with color fill, no messy lines needed. - Layering your scene for depth and balance
You stack elements like buildings, trees, and the cyclist in a way that feels natural and nicely spaced. - Adding texture without losing that clean style
You use the Spackle it brush with alpha lock to give your flat colors a bit of life while still keeping everything nice and tidy. - Fixing the little things that make a big difference
You tweak placement and edges (goodbye awkward overlaps 👀) to make the final illustration feel polished and intentional.
Dandelion
Alright, so today we’re diving into a fun realism study, painting a soft, fluffy dandelion from scratch. No pre-made palette, just building colors as we go and focusing on capturing that delicate texture. It’s all about layering, subtle variation, and not overthinking the details, just observing and translating the feel of the subject.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Medium Airbrush
- Monoline
- Flotastic Brush
- Soft Short Fur
- Smudgy Hairbrush
- Shader
- Dark Shader
- Lighten Line
- Overlay
- Soft Airbrush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Building a soft, blurred background
Uses airbrushes with opacity control and Gaussian blur to create depth and a smooth, out-of-focus backdrop. - Creating natural texture with specialty brushes
Applies fur and smudge brushes to mimic the soft, airy structure of dandelion seeds. - Using alpha lock for controlled shading
Shades the stem with precision, layering darker tones and subtle color variation without affecting edges. - Enhancing depth with blend modes
Uses Multiply and Overlay to darken areas and add warmth, helping the subject stand out from the background. - Constructing realism through layering details
Builds the dandelion in stages, base fluff first, then adds individual seed lines and dark centers for a believable finish.
Waterfall in Moonlight
This is such a fun and satisfying landscape to paint. You start with a really loose sketch just to figure out where everything goes, because there’s quite a lot happening in this scene. From there, you build it up step by step with simple shapes for the cliffs, waterfalls, trees, and foreground, and then slowly bring in all that lovely atmosphere with mist, moonlight, reflections, and those magical little fireflies. It ends up feeling like a secret place hidden deep inside a forest.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Forester
- Studio Pen
- Monoline
- Flat Painter
- Scattered Soft Bush
- Base Painter
- Flo Lighta Brush
- Flotastic Brush
- Lighten Line Brush
- Blender
- Overlay Brush
- Light Pen
- Soft Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Keeping the sketch loose and useful
You use a very rough sketch as a guide so you know where all the main elements go without getting stuck in too much detail. - Building the scene in layers
You place the big shapes first, like the rock walls, water, trees, and foreground, so the painting stays organized and easy to adjust. - Using color to create moonlight
You shift the foliage, rocks, and clouds toward cool blue tones so the whole scene feels softly lit by the moon. - Making waterfalls feel soft and glowing
You layer lighter tones, darker streaks, bloom, blur, and smudging to give the water that dreamy, misty movement. - Adding atmosphere with finishing details
You use fog, reflections, grassy textures, rocks, flowers, and glowing fireflies to make the whole landscape feel magical and alive.
Floral Mandala
In this tutorial we’re creating a really fun and relaxing project, a colorful floral mandala. This is one of those drawings where you can just enjoy the process and let the symmetry do a lot of the work for you. You don’t need to copy everything exactly as I do. If you stick to similar shapes and use the same color palette, your mandala will still turn out beautiful. We start with a quick sketch to guide our composition, then slowly build up the design with simple floral shapes, petals, and little berry details. Once the base colors are in place, we add texture and tiny line details to give the whole mandala more depth and interest. It’s a lovely exercise in layering shapes and experimenting with texture while keeping everything nicely balanced thanks to radial symmetry.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Underwood
- Pipeline
Canvas Size:
- 3500 x 3500 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Using radial symmetry to build a mandala
The radial symmetry guide repeats your strokes around the canvas, making it easy to create a balanced floral mandala without worrying about perfect placement. - Sketching a simple guide for complex designs
A loose sketch with petals, leaves, and small decorative shapes helps map out the mandala before adding clean linework and color. - Organizing layers for cleaner textures
Placing different elements on separate layers keeps textures and shading controlled so details only affect the shapes you want. - Adding depth with Alpha Lock and texture brushes
Using Alpha Lock with the Underwood brush creates gentle gradients and texture inside shapes while keeping edges clean. - Enhancing shapes with fine line details
The Pipeline brush adds delicate lines, dashes, and small accents that give the flowers and leaves more character and visual interest.
Red Panda
In this tutorial we’re drawing something ridiculously cute, a happy little red panda holding a cupcake (because honestly, who doesn’t love cupcakes… or red pandas?). This project is all about clean line art, playful colors, and simple, cartoony shading. We start with a loose sketch, refine it thoughtfully (making intentional line breaks and decisions), then build confident line art with varied line weight. After that, we layer in flat colors, add soft multiply shadows, pop in highlights, and finish everything off with an easy sticker effect for that extra polished touch. Super fun, super sweet, and totally share-worthy.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pe
Canvas Size:
- 3500 x 3500 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Intentional Line Art Decisions
You refine your sketch with purpose, choosing where lines stop, where color replaces outlines, and varying line weight for a more dynamic, polished look. - Using Reference Layers for Easy Coloring
You speed up flat coloring by setting the line art to Reference and using drag-and-drop with Continue Filling for clean results. - Clipping Masks for Clean Color Patterns
You build facial markings, muzzle, ears, and cupcake details using clipping masks, keeping every shape neatly contained. - Simple Multiply Shading
You apply soft, cartoony shadows using Multiply layers at reduced opacity to create depth without overcomplicating the lighting. - Creating a Sticker Effect
You duplicate, alpha lock, blur, and offset layers to create a clean white outline and soft drop shadow for a professional sticker-style finish.
Strawberry
For this realism project, we’re painting a strawberry. It’s been a long time since I painted one, and honestly they’re always a bit of a challenge with all those tiny seeds. But don’t worry. We’re going to approach this in a logical, layered way. No unnecessary struggle. Just smart steps, soft shadows first, bright highlights later and suddenly it all starts looking delicious.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Shader
- Flo Darka
- Flo Lighta
- Lighten Line
- Darken Line
- Overlay
- Standard Blender
- Basic Flo
- Multiply
- Forrester
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Thinking in 3D from the start
You don’t just copy a photo, you look at the strawberry as a rounded form. By squinting your eyes and focusing on big light and shadow shapes first, you instantly create depth. - Using layers in a smart, simple way
You separate the base, seeds, leaves, and background so everything stays flexible. With alpha lock, you shade safely without ruining your clean edges. - Letting shadows do the heavy lifting
You begin with soft, darker tones to define the dimples around the seeds. This makes the surface feel textured before you even add highlights. - Making seeds feel embedded, not pasted on
You shade mostly on one side of each seed and add tiny highlights on the opposite side. Just a few strokes and suddenly they sit inside the strawberry. - Building shine step by step
You add soft highlights first, then sharper, brighter ones on top. That layering of light is what makes the strawberry look glossy and juicy instead of flat.
Cheerful Room
I found this super interesting reference photo on Unsplash and thought… why not turn this into a playful, stylized room illustration? I didn’t plan anything beforehand because I really wanted to show you how I explore and figure things out along the way. It gets a bit messy, I test things, change my mind, but that’s honestly part of the fun. And hopefully it gives you tools and confidence to do this with your own photos too.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Dry Ink
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Building perspective without overthinking it
You set up a simple perspective grid, roughly place your horizon and vanishing points, and use assisted drawing as a guide, not a rulebook. - Turning a photo into a stylized scene
You simplify shapes, round forms, exaggerate curves, and redesign elements like plants and decor instead of copying everything exactly. - Distributing bold colors intentionally
You spread purples and greens across the composition first, then balance the intensity with sandy neutrals and small pink accents. - Using clipping masks for flexible shading
You add shadows with Multiply layers and highlights with Screen/Add layers, keeping everything editable and easy to tweak. - Softening line art for atmosphere
You alpha lock the line art and experiment with warm and cool tones to shift the mood and make the illustration feel softer and more cohesive.