@Eric-Castleman Here is a Sycra video that might be interesting - i know you are not talking about digital but this video helps explain a phenomena that happens when going from gray scale to color that i found useful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2fZdGZKP1k
here is another one too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kQllLy_X4I

@K.-W. Hi Kait! I still struggle with perspective a lot myself, but I have heard @Lee-White and @Will-Terry in multiple videos saying that if you want "not to respect" perspective, it has to look on purpose. And so I don't think you can use correct perspective for some things and incorrect for others... If you want a wonky look, it's great, but it has to be everywhere (I think!)

One other thing about your image is that most of your objects are small... I think it would really add interest if you had a few really big objects (for example, foreground objects cropped off of the page)

I hope this helps!

@Kevin-Longueil ahh interesting - thanks!

I agree with Scott--the Cicada covers could be described as naïve, in order to look "hand-drawn" maybe as opposed to "digitally perfect." Also, lots of stylized shapes, and the use of a limited color palette (usually just two colors). ETA looking through them again, I notice that the body types are "normal," no idealized pinched waists or anything.

But, having loved Cicada as a teenager, I should point out that it's really a literary magazine with a bit of an edge (when I was reading it, at least), which is pretty different from a mainstream middle grade reader. 😛

@natiwata Subscribed and watched your first episode yesterday. Great advice and I love how you hang your glasses up on the wall in the background!

@K.-W. Thank you so much for the help, because the sky is digital I can easily lighten around him and the boat-thanks!

Have you ever seen the work of Vanessa Brantley Newton? She uses markers, and I think does some cleanup digitally but I can't remember. You can always start your piece traditionally and finish them in Photoshop or equivalent program. Anyway, there are ways to make digital work look traditional.

@NoWayMe Excellent reply, great points!!!!
Im sold. Thank you

@Dulcie

Hi Dulcie, Thanks for the welcome and encouragement! It seems like there are quite a few of us from the UK here which is great! Should try and get the SVS guys to run a UK workshop sometime 🙂

Here's something that might be useful.

http://cbiclubhouse.com/clubhouse/try-this-picture-book-editing-checklist/

@K.-W. Yes, I have done the class but haven't used the bean and center line with pose maniacs. Thanks, I'll have to try that out!

Well, Dulcie, they both look great to me but, I do see an improvement on the second one 🙂 You're very talented!

Hi if you buy a really old cheap version of Corel painter on Amazon you can get upgrade offers for about $50 a few times a year and free brushes bonuses.I would never pay $400 for painter just keep an eye out for bargains.

@K.-W. Try on Amazon. The new edition was still available at ca. 50 USD when I posted this.

@NoWayMe Thank you! It does look nice with the brownish coat - I will give it a try!

Here is the watercolor version. Idk what to think

0_1492146298240_7D97EC8B-73F6-4681-A443-423DBFF785E9-353-000000616E1CC540.png

@Rapteev Thanks for saying that! I had a lot of fun making this piece and experimented a lot with the palette, I'm glad you like it. I really love earth tones and keep coming back to them, but I've been trying out other palettes lately too.

Unfortunately, with a paid project with a looming due date and other things going on, I don't know when I'm going to find time to apply the last bit of Will's critique. However, this has actually been a really great exercise in diving back into my many-layered vector files and finding that, yes, I can edit this image and make it look "seamless" (for lack of a better term) not as if I cut and pasted a new part in, but like it was always that way. I've developed a way to organize and label my files so even after not looking at it for a few months, I was able to go back in and easily figure out what was going on and what layers to work on. And that reassurance/confidence was worth doing the edits for (even if some people think the original was better), so I'd like to thank @Will-Terry for that. 🙂

Thanks for the replies. Think I will work on 5, 8 and 11 a bit more to decide.