Acrylic Illustration: Create a Magical Universe
A course by Adolfo SerraIllustrator
A course by Adolfo Serra, Illustrator
Experiment with acrylic paint and express your ideas by playing with colors, symbols, monsters and myths
Magic has always played an important role throughout art history, right there alongside fantasy, imagination, and creativity. Join internationally renowned illustrator Adolfo Serra to create a magical universe by experimenting with the endless possibilities of acrylic paint.
In this course, Adolfo teaches you how to illustrate with acrylics and encourages you to play with different techniques and unconventional materials to create otherworldly art. Learn how to illustrate symbols using the major arcana tarot cards as a reference and express your ideas by exploring shapes, textures, and lines.
And if you want to learn more about illustration with Adolfo, check out his other courses Illustration Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity and Introduction to Children's Illustration.
What will you learn in this online course?
18 lessons & 29 downloads
Magical thinking in art
18 minutes, 45 seconds
Tarot
19 minutes, 46 seconds
Interpreting an arcane: concept and creative thinking
17 minutes, 57 seconds
Interpreting an arcane: tools to generate ideas
12 minutes, 2 seconds
Acrylic, watercolor and gouache
8 minutes, 0 seconds
Brushes and their strokes
11 minutes, 11 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start the course by getting to know Adolfo Serra, who tells you about his professional experience as an illustrator, artist, and teacher. He shows you some of his latest work and explains how he approached each project. Adolfo also shares his biggest artistic influences and highlights some that you might find particularly interesting or inspiring.
Set the stage with a brief overview of art history to help you understand the concept of magical thought and study its influence on Greek and Roman mythology, monsters from the Middle Ages, surrealism, and finally tarot cards. Examine different reinterpretations of major arcana throughout the years and choose three to use as reference pieces for your project. Adolfo then walks you through his artistic process for illustrating concepts or symbols and shows you some tricks to help you visualize your ideas and stimulate creative thinking.
Open your mind and dive into the magical world of acrylic paint. Learn about basic materials and concepts for painting with acrylics and practice using different brushes. Move on to more advanced concepts and discover how acrylics behave with more or less water, see the different textures and lines you can create, and even how to combine it with other types of paint. Continue to explore and experiment with different techniques like glaze, frottage, gradients, dry brush, and stencils.
Adolfo introduces you to some alternative uses for acrylic paint such as stamping and monoprinting. Play around with acrylic markers and other unconventional materials like sand or a comb to create different textures, patterns, and effects. Then, work on an exercise with automatic drawing to help you approach your tarot designs from a different angle.
Now it's time to work on your project. Create a set of sketches of your major arcana and choose a color palette. Continue to shape and define your work following Adolfo’s illustration process and apply the techniques you’ve learned to give your art a touch of magic. Follow these steps and you can create your own full deck of tarot cards!
What is this course's project?
Illustrate a set of major arcana tarot cards by experimenting with painting techniques that give your drawings a touch of magic.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone who's passionate about drawing, illustration, visual storytelling, and playing with symbols. This course is also perfect for artists, professional illustrators, and designers who want to enhance their acrylic painting techniques and learn how to combine them with others.
Requirements and materials
You don't need advanced drawing skills for this course, just come ready to play and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.
As for materials, you need acrylic paints, paper, paint brushes, and acrylic markers.
Reviews
- 2 months ago
Corso ben fatto e chiaro Che vado a rivedere e rifaccio gli esercizi poiché sono molto stimolanti e utili nei casi di ansia da prestazione, Adolfo Serra è una garanzia !
- 4 months ago
A very creative and inspiring course!
- 4 months ago
Muy buen curso
- 5 months ago
muy recomendado
- 6 months ago
Me encanta como ilustrador y profesor. Un curso muy creativo.
He loves to experiment with techniques, play with materials, and, above all, tell stories with his art. He considers himself a trailblazer of blank pages who maps uncharted territory with illustrations for children and young adults.
His illustrations have been featured at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (Italy), Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (Slovakia), Sharjah Children's Book Fair (United Arab Emirates), Ibero-American Illustration Contest (Mexico), CJ Picture Book Awards (Korea), and the International Exhibition of Illustrations for Children in Sàrmede (Italy).
His wordless version of Little Red Riding Hood has been published in Spain, Germany, France, and Mexico, and has won numerous awards. He also won the 19th A la Orilla del Viento Award for illustrated album from the Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- U2
Magical thinking as inspiration
- Fantasy, imagination and creativity
- Magical thinking in art
- Tarot
- Interpreting an arcane: concept and creative thinking
- Interpreting an arcane: tools to generate ideas
- U3
The magic of acrylic
- Acrylic, watercolor and gouache
- Brushes and their strokes
- Playing with acrylics: techniques
- Playing with acrylics: other possibilities
- U4
Experimenting with acrylics
- Experimentation: textures, patterns and effects
- Experimentation: other alternatives
- Acrylic markers
- U5
Create and believe in your magic
- The sketch and the color
- Working the final illustration 1
- Working the final illustration 2
- The deck
- FP
Final project
- Acrylic Illustration: Create a Magical Universe
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
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Meet expert teachers
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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
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FAQs
You’ll learn to create magical illustrations using acrylics and mixed techniques, interpret symbols, develop your unique artistic voice, and explore making tarot cards, fantastic creatures, and visual storytelling.
This is an intermediate-level course; having basic drawing and painting skills is recommended to get the most out of the lessons and exercises.
You’ll need acrylic paints, a variety of brushes (flat, round), painting paper, markers, pencils, crayons, water, plus optional materials like gouache and digital collage.
You’ll be taught how to create textures, mix pigments, prepare sketches, and finish tarot cards with acrylics, blending symbols and visual storytelling into each arcana.
Yes, the course includes lateral thinking exercises, automatic drawing, and collage to help you create fantastic creatures and original monsters inspired by mythology and visual narratives.
Magical illustration explores symbols, myths, and visual storytelling with a creative, intuitive approach. It connects to tarot and fantasy by interpreting archetypes and building personal universes.
The course compares techniques: watercolor offers transparency, acrylic is versatile and opaque, and gouache provides opacity and easy blending, helping you choose based on the effect you want.