Illustration collects how illustrators actually work: sketching on paper or tablet, moving between raster and vector, building texture and color in layers, choosing painting software, and developing a style over time. It is for illustrators and designers who draw, from people trying a new app to freelancers refining a process they already use.
Each entry describes a real workflow or tool in 4TC's own words, links to where it came from, and labels the kind of account, such as a firsthand walkthrough, a tutorial or a vendor's own description. Sources older than a year are marked as older examples. Try a six-step process from rough sketch to texture, a frog illustration from paper sketches to vector, or Krita, a free, open-source painting app.
A UI designer makes 368 talent icons for his own browser game in two AI passes, Flux then Krea, with a reject grid written before the first render.
A designer and tutor shows how she uses Claude Code, Claude Cowork, Figma and Adobe tools to design, build and market her own products solo.
Reported October 2025: Affinity combines vector, photo and layout tools in one free app; Canva AI tools need Canva Premium.
A design news report says Pentagram trained an illustration style from paint and cut paper, then produced reusable icons for federal agencies.
Blender Studio’s art director walks through paper doodles, a watercolor mascot, scanned notes and a modeled desk scene.
Adobe’s 2023 profile covers an artist using generative recolouring alongside her hand-lettering and illustration practice.
A 2023 research demo shows text-to-image output matched to the style of one reference image, from watercolor to 3D renders.
A 2023 X thread shows asking ChatGPT for a table of composition variables, then turning each row into an image prompt.
In a 2023 X thread, Nick St. Pierre lays out an ordered prompt structure, camera angle first, for interior and architecture images.
A 2022 post shows sketching on paper, building shapes in Procreate and finishing in Illustrator for a cut-print look.
A 2020 Procreate interview: the illustrator copied Seuss’s drawings to learn the style, then was asked to make it his own.
A 2019 Procreate interview with an illustrator who uses quick vector-like shapes and mixes open briefs with agency work.
A 2019 Dribbble walkthrough: block shapes, refine, ink, add details, flat color on separate layers, then texture and highlights.
A 2018 essay: a designer stuck on a self-portrait poster found the way through by naming the talk and working once through, cleanly.
A 2018 Procreate interview with a first-year freelance illustrator who tried several styles before one stuck.
Adobe presents it as an AI platform for images, video, audio and designs using Adobe and partner models.
Adobe presents it as a vector app for logos, icons and illustrations with precision and AI tools.
According to Adobe, new releases include Photoshop Harmonize and Generative Upscale and Illustrator snapping and gradient tools.
Adobe presents it as a photo-editing and graphic design app.
Blender presents itself as free and open-source 3D creation software.
A designer’s portfolio project turns hand-drawn contour lines into cut paper layers stacked into a framed shadowbox.
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, a free and open-source image editor.
Ideogram presents its models and apps as image generation and editing with reliable typography in images, plus an API.
Inkscape describes itself as a free, open-source SVG vector editor.
Krita presents itself as free, open-source digital painting software.
Leonardo.Ai presents itself as a generative platform for images and video, with editing and upscaling.
Photopea says it edits raster and vector graphics in the browser without uploading files.
A Toronto mural artist explains splitting a wall into canvases at 300 DPI and having a vector artist trace them for printing.
Procreate presents itself as a drawing and illustration app for iPad, sold as a one-time purchase with no subscription.
Recraft presents itself as a text-to-image model and design platform for photorealism, vector generation, custom styles and mockups.
Runway says a three-person graphics team made a season of textbook-style animal graphics, keeping producer approval before animating.