Educational & Technical

20 Illustrators You Really Should Be Watching On YouTube

YouTube is a goldmine for illustrators, whether you are digging for expert advice, tutorials or demos, you'll find all you need to be inspired each day. After dipping into our ever-growing YouTube Subscriptions, Illustrators' Lounge has compiled a list of creatives who are a consistent source of great advice.

20 Illustrators You Really Should Be Watching On YouTube

Here are 20 illustrators you really should be watching on YouTube:

Cubebrush

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Cubebrush: First video published on 24 Nov 2010 • 220,851 subscribers • 10,637,267 views

Cubebrush is Marc Brunet’s personal YouTube channel. The video game industry veteran worked over seven years as a Senior Artist for Blizzard Entertainment before leaving to focus on his digital art resources platform, also called, Cubebrush. Brunet’s channel is filled with tutorials, speedpaints, critiques and discussions.

I recommend watching IT DIDN’T WORK OUT; it is one of his more casual tutorials and though he doesn’t bring the images to a conclusion, it is enjoyable with a bunch of takeaways.

Scott Robertson

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Scott Robertson: First video published on 30 Sep 2011 • 131,209 subscribers • 3,970,300 views

Scott Robertson is an American concept artist known for his industrial design work. On his channel, he shares lectures, tutorials and techniques. If you are interested in technical drawing, this channel is the one for you.

I recommend watching Making Custom Brushes in Photoshop and his Meet the Artist interview with ArtStation.

The Art of Aaron Blaise

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Aaron Blaise: First video published on 21 Mar 2013 • 118,325 subscribers • 5,252,815 views

The Art of Aaron Blaise is home to animation feature film director and wildlife artist, Aaron Blaise. For 21 years Blaise worked with Disney helping to create some of the greatest animated films. Watch as he demonstrates how to draw the natural world and shares some of his painting techniques.

I recommend watching Drawing – Remembering Your Perspective and Animation Demo – Using simple shapes as the basis for your characters.

Ross Draws

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Ross Draws: First video published on 17 Jun 2015 • 78,643 subscribers • 2,111,510 views

Ross Draws was launched a little over a year ago by Ross Tran. He combines tutorials with comedy to great effect. His likable personality and energetic presenting style has quickly earned him a huge fanbase. In case you missed it, we featured Tran earlier this.

I recommend watching RossDraws: MY MOM!.

Ahmed Aldoori

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Ahmed Aldoori: First video published on 21 Jul 2007 • 79,804 subscribers • 3,078,148 views

Ahmed Aldoori is a YouTube veteran, for almost 10 years he has posted sketches, tutorials, artist spotlights, art podcasts and paintover critiques.

I recommend watching Artist Anatomy – Male vs Female – Head and Hips. I have seen other artists talk about the differences between male and female anatomy before, but these videos helped the information sink in.

Bobby Chiu

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Bobby Chiu: First video published on 27 Sep 2006 • 51,860 subscribers • 3,168,644 views

Bobby Chiu is an Emmy award-winning animator, concept artist and illustrator. He has worked for Disney, Riot, Dreamworks, Bluesky and Sony Imageworks, specialising in creature and character design. On his channel, he shares his thoughts and philosophies, interviews famous artist and presents lessons on all aspects of art.

I recommend watching Confessions of an artist and Storyboarding Conflict (with Kris Pearn).

Jake Parker

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Jake Parker: First video published on 17 Dec 2009 • 49,224 subscribers • 1,415,935 views

Jake Parker is an illustrator, cartoonist, and concept artist. He is the mastermind behind ‘Inktober’, ‘World Art Drop Day’ and creator of ‘Missile Mouse’, ‘Little Bot and Sparrow’, and the upcoming ‘SkyHeart’. Initially, viewers got to peer over his shoulder as he sketched, but as the channel evolved they have thumbed through his sketchbooks, shared in the ups and downs of launching a Kickstarter, and recently, joined him on a book tour promoting Little Bot and Sparrow.

I recommend watching Finished Not Perfect, then re-watching it.

Trent Kaniuga

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Trent Kaniuga: First video published on 14 Feb 2009 • 44,346 subscribers • 1,600,094 views

Trent Kaniuga is an indie comic book artist, character and environment designer, who has worked for many AAA video game developers. Kaniuga is a charismatic presenter who packs his videos with tips and humour. He discusses character design, composition, digital painting and the development of his ‘Twilight Monk’ series. Something that you’ll notice across all his videos, is how every little element is fully considered, letting the story inform his drawings.

I recommend watching Rival Nox Character Concept art, to learn how to crush your rivals and laugh in the process.

Kienan Lafferty

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Kienan Lafferty: First video published on 26 May 2009 • 37,994 subscribers • 2,140,475 views

Kienan Lafferty is the creator and illustrator of the ‘EMMA’ comic book series and works as a 2D production artist for RIOT Games. In 2011, Lafferty started presenting the KNKL Show to shares art tips and tricks. Each episode, 30-40 minutes, is made even more entertaining by Lafferty’s enthusiasm and unwavering energy.

I recommend watching KNKL SHOW 236 to learn about small, medium, large design elements and KNKL SHOW 258 to learn about gradient maps.

Lummage

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Lummage: First video published on 21 Feb 2013 • 6,994 subscribers • 266,529 views

Lummage or Nathan Lumm is a professional comic book colourist with close to 20 years of experience in the industry. On his channel, he shares his vast colour knowledge with you. Even though he has not posted to his channel for over a year, I have yet to find better comic book colouring tutorials on YouTube.

I recommend watching the Comic Book Coloring 101 playlist.

Kim-Seang Hong

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Kim-Seang Hong: First video published on 22 Jul 2014 • 4,724 subscribers • 139,094 views

Kim-Seang Hong, aka Nesskain, is a comics artist from France. His colour work is so daring and different and it is a real pleasure to see his images come to life.

I recommend watching Overwatch Pharah and RUST – coloring one panel.

Kevin Cross

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Kevin Cross: First video published on 17 Feb 2014 • 3,761 subscribers • 168,244 views

Kevin Cross is an illustrator and creator of the comic series, ‘The Monkey Mod & Friends Show’. Cross is the originator of ‘100 Days of Making Comics’; he posted his progress on his channel. Something unique to Cross’s videos is his uncensored honesty. He openly discusses art and how personal life can affect your creativity.

I recommend watching Inking Tips and Techniques and Leaving Portland & Looking Forward .

Kevin Tong

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Kevin Tong: First video published on 25 May 2009 • 3,027 subscribers • 382,528 views

Kevin Tong is an illustrator famous for his poster art. His channel houses many process videos; traditional and vector. His work is stunning and it is a real treat to watch their construction.

I recommend watching UP Poster Process and Watchmen Poster Process.

RnD Fantasy

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RnD Fantasy: First video published on 15 Nov 2015 • 2,264 subscribers • 70,113

RnD Fantasy (short for Research and Design) is a personal project in which Tom Rhodes creates professional-quality concept art of people’s traditional role-playing characters completely free of charge. Each week Rhodes uploads a 60-minute long video that contains commentary about the process, development, research, ideas and theory that go into bringing their character to life.

I recommend watching 35 – Azhug and 36 – Elas (with Matt Rhodes).

Joy Ang

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Joy Ang: First video published on 3 Jan 2015 • 2,017 subscribers • 61,830 views

Joy Ang is a freelance artist and character designer on Adventure Time. Her channel has a handful of process videos, all of which are accompanied by wonderful music choices. Ang doesn’t have a regular posting schedule, but each new video is worth the wait.

I recommend watching Adventure Time Title Card Painting Process – The Dark Cloud and Adventure Time Title Card Painting Process – Hall of Egress.

Miki Montlló

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Miki Montlló: First video published on 31 May 2012 • 2,036 subscribers • 68,212 views

Miki Montlló is a Spanish comic artist and illustrator, currently working on his own comic book, ‘Warship Jolly Roger’. On his channel you’ll find lots of speedpaints. Montlló recently put out a feeler, on his Facebook page, asking if people would like to see more videos with detailed explanations. So, hopefully we’ll see a lot more from Montlló in the future.

I recommend watching JOLLY ROGER: Inking & Drawing and Painting BROKEN SWORD: Paris.

Louie del Carmen

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Louie del Carmen: First video published on 30 Sep 2011 • 831 subscribers • 78,936 views

Louie del Carmen is an animation story artist, illustrator and creator of the indie graphic novel ‘Steel Noodles’. He is one of those artists that makes everything look effortless and retains the wonderful energy of a sketch in all his final work.

I recommend watching First Sketch of 2016 and Fiber Tipped pen – Quick Sketch.

Mike Oeming

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Mike Oeming: First video published on 10 Jun 2006 • 614 subscribers • 42,777 views

Mike Oeming is an American comic book creator known for ‘Powers’ and ‘The Mice Templar’. On his channel you can watch Oeming pencil and ink traditionally. It is always a joy to watch a confident inker work.

I recommend watching Crystal Cave and Oeming studio tour.

Chris Schweizer

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Chris Schweizer: First video published on 26 Feb 2013 • 168 subscribers • 4,938 views

Chris Schweizer is a cartoonist and comic artist behind ‘The Crogan Adventures’. His YouTube channel is a mix of demos and tutorial videos. In his ‘Paradise Square’ production journal, Schweizer verbosely explains the thought and process needed to develop a comic.

I recommend watching The Crogan Adventures: At Work on Book 4 and Dealing with a word balloon placement issue.

Thomas Campi

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Thomas Campi: First video published on 5 Jun 2012 • 114 subscribers • 7,107 views

Thomas Campi is an Italian comic book artist and illustrator. On his channel, you can watch him create his comics, both traditionally and digitally. Campi has such a beautiful style and I can’t wait to see more videos from him.

I recommend watching Storyboard Macaroni and Sketching on Facebook Live streaming.

Bonus: Pigs with Crayons

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Pigs with Crayons: First video published on 3 Jun 2015 • 89 subscribers • 1,809 views

Pigs with Crayons is comprised of illustrators Victoria Maderna and Federico Piatti. Their channel only has four videos so far, but they are so good that I couldn’t help but include them. Of the four, three are gouache timelapse and one shows Maderna’s inking process. I recommend watching them all.

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