The Mid-Century Illustrator Masterclass with Brad Woodard

Grow your skills in mid-century style illustration in this video workshop featuring Brad Woodard of Brave the Woods.

In this webinar course, Brad Woodard and Dustin Lee will walk you through a real project creating a mid-century Golden Books style children's book cover.

Here's what you get:

• 135-minute Webinar Recording with Brad Woodard
• 7 Demo Videos showing you the techniques Brad uses in his illustrations in Procreate and Photoshop
• 2 book cover illustration PSD files so you can reverse engineer Brad's process
• Curated Mid-Century Brush Packs for Procreate and Photoshop
• Curated Mid-Century Texture Pack
• Little Golden Book Template for Procreate, Photoshop, and Illustrator
• Handy PDF that summarizes topics covered in the webinar as well as links to resources

Project Description

Create a mid-century style children's book illustration based off a folk tale or fairy tale. Incorporate mid-century elements including traditional children's book cover composition, analog-style illustration techniques, and texture work.

Webinar Recording

Brad Woodard and Dustin Lee will walk you through the project and cover topics including how to create mid-century inspired children's book designs, developing your concept, making your illustration, and adding final textures.

Demo Videos

These quick, one to two minute videos demonstrate the techniques Brad most often uses when creating his illustrations in Photoshop and Procreate.

Techniques include adding textures with brushes, clipping masks, layer masks, and applying texture overlays. These serve as both solid learning basics for beginners and reference reminders for advanced illustrators.

Mid-Century Brush Pack

Little Golden Books hired talented artists like Margaret Wise Brown, Richard Scarry, and Mary Blair. These artists worked with a variety of mediums including pencils, ink, water based paints, and gouache. You'll get a curated collection of 8 brushes for Procreate and Photoshop that will help you achieve these classic looks digitally. 

Mid-Century Texture Pack

No amount of texture will make up for poor work. But textures have the ability to subtly signal the charming analog touches of the era. This collection of texture resources can be used to add depth and interest to you work. Try using them to create layer masks, overlays with blending modes, and to paint on subtle textures.

Little Golden Book Template

You'll get a Golden Book style template for Photoshop and Procreate. Place your work into the file, save it, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #RSCoGoldenBook and tag @retrosupply.

Artwork and mockup created by Bill Akunevicz Jr of DragonFish Studio.

Brad's Book Cover Illustration Files

Sometimes the best way to learn a concept or technique is to study the pros. We're giving you the layered .psd files of two of Brad's book cover illustrations so that you can peel back the layers and understand his process. 

Summary PDF

We've created a summary PDF that breaks down important concepts that we address on the webinar and links to resources. It's basically the Cliff Notes to this webinar!

Brave the Woods is a renowned illustration agency with an impressive client list that includes USPS, Simon & Schuster, Uniqlo, HP, Honda, Target, and many more.

Founded by Brad Woodard, Brave the Woods embodies the spirit of adventure, exploration, and collaboration in their creative process. Brad consistently delivers captivating, classic American artwork that has earned the studio a stellar reputation in the industry.

With a strong belief in the power of community and a commitment to education, Brave the Woods is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the world of illustration.