I took an online course on illustrating with Posca pens taught by James Chapman. He has posted lots of his sketchbook pages to his Instagram.

I had a couple Posca pens for a few years, but I hadn’t done much with them. I saw this course and thought it would be a great way to practice with Posca pens.

The course covers how to create a pencil sketch to get the composition down. Then it explores various color schemes to determine how to color the illustration. I especially like the challenge of limiting the number of colors used.

I like the process I learned in this course. It takes me several hours to finish an illustration, but I really enjoy the time I’m spending learning and practicing. I’ll share my illustrations here as I finish them.

The course encourages choosing a theme that will motivate you to keep working on sketches. I chose places in movies, TV shows, and books. First up is The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron.

Here’s the pencil sketch:

A pencil sketch depicts a cityscape with a focus on a Candy Bar building featuring an oversized candy sculpture on its roof.

I chose to go with realistic colors, so I used Posca pen colors that are close to what this location looks like in the show.

Here’s a progress photo, with the larger areas of color done:

A colorful drawing depicts a cityscape with buildings, a dome-shaped cafe, and large candy sculptures on the roof.

And here’s the finished illustration:

A whimsical illustration of a candy-themed shop with colorful lollipops on the roof, surrounded by modern buildings under a blue sky with clouds.

I really enjoyed making this as my first attempt at a Posca pen illustration!