Best seller

Surrealist Illustration Inspired by Nature

A course by Marco Mazzoni , Artist and Illustrator

Artist and Illustrator. Voghera, Italy.
Joined October 2019

Use colored pencils to illustrate animals and natural elements with mood and symbolism

Best seller
99% positive reviews (515)
11,642 students
Audio: English
English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch

Use colored pencils to illustrate animals and natural elements with mood and symbolism

The animal kingdom has always been a potent source of inspiration for artists, with surprisingly accurate metaphors of human emotions found in each animal’s characteristics. Artist and illustrator Marco Mazzoni is fascinated by flora and fauna. His work is filled with depictions of human emotions inspired by nature, and in this course, he invites you to try his own methods to create surreal illustrations of animals.

Forget the structure of academic drawing and the use of visual references. Instead, discover fun techniques to refine the message behind your animal illustrations. This is Marco Mazzoni’s second course. In his first course, he teaches how to use Chiaroscuro with pencils to achieve striking color use and contrasts in your pencil portraits.

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What will you learn in this online course?

15 lessons & 21 downloads

What Will We Do in This Course?
3 minutes, 36 seconds
Materials
5 minutes, 45 seconds
Shading and Color Techniques
19 minutes, 57 seconds
Sketching
16 minutes, 14 seconds
Create the Palette
8 minutes, 0 seconds
Let’s Do the Lines
7 minutes, 18 seconds
  • 99% positive reviews (515)
  • 11,642 students
  • 15 lessons (2h 36m)
  • 21 additional resources (8 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: English
  • English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
  • Level: Beginner
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

Create a surrealist illustration of an animal with natural elements using Marco Mazzoni’s original techniques.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

For drawing enthusiasts of all levels who want to explore the symbology of animals and create original illustrations filled with metaphors.

Requirements and materials

To take this course, you will need colored pencils (non-water soluble), paper, and a love for nature.


Reviews

11,642 Students
515 Reviews
99% Positive ratings
  • More reviews

Marco Mazzoni

A course by Marco Mazzoni

Teacher Plus
Artist and Illustrator

Marco Mazzoni’s passion for drawing began at the age of 5, when he would sketch on any piece of paper he could find while waiting for his father to finish work at the paper mill.

Experimenting with the boundaries of fine art has been a passion of Marco’s since he was a student. His artwork tells a compelling story, drawing inspiration from Sardinian mysticism and the plants and animals he sketched as a child.

Marco’s recent achievements include working on an illustrated version of the Hans Christian Andersen classic Poucette for the French publishing house Albin Michel Jeunesse, where he takes the reader on a captivating journey through his use of color and texture. His work is also exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe and North America.


Content

  • U1

    Introduction

    • Introduction
    • Influences
    • What Will We Do in This Course?
  • U2

    Preparation (Materials and Concepts)

    • Materials
    • Shading and Color Techniques
    • The Symbolic Meaning of Animals
    • Sketching
  • U3

    Stretching

    • What Is Drawing Through the Window?
    • Draw Without Looking
    • Shape Shifter
    • Create the Palette
  • U4

    Coloring with Little Windows

    • Let’s Do the Lines
    • Starting to Color Our Animal
    • Color the Rest of Our Animal
    • Finishing Touches
  • FP

    Final project

    • Surrealist Illustration Inspired by Nature

What to expect from a Domestika course

  • Learn at your own pace

    Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.

  • Learn from the best professionals

    Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.

  • Meet expert teachers

    Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.

  • Certificates
    Plus

    If you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.

  • Get front-row seats

    Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.

  • Share knowledge and ideas

    Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.

  • Connect with a global creative community

    The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.

  • Watch professionally produced courses

    Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.


FAQs

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
Surrealist Illustration Inspired by Nature. Illustration course by Marco Mazzoni Best seller

Surrealist Illustration Inspired by Nature

A course by Marco Mazzoni
Artist and Illustrator. Voghera, Italy.
Joined October 2019
  • 99% positive reviews (515)
  • 11,642 students