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I think this might be better.

@LeeHolland, looking at your work you are very good at this type of thing. Need nice! Thank you so much for you lighting suggestions. I tried variations with it lit from the right and I couldn't figure out how to do it without it being backlit. Your lighting will exactly highlight my focal point.
@kelvinburnett3, thank you for your encouraging words. I'll keep pushing thru

Haha, this is pretty neat!

I like how this helicopter even looks like a whale in a sense. Color it blue? Maybe some fog or sense of visible air emitting from the exhaust somewhere from the helicopter (if possible) and from the fish gills too, to kind of symbolize breathing underwater.

Anyways, I can't wait to see how it all turns out and good luck! 🙂

So, just wanted to say that I just finished the Creative Composition class in which I think I remember Will saying that it is so important to do thumbnails. There was also a very nice list of things to watch for and check for on your composition (before you finish it). Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time on my Third Thursday drawing-in fact I pretty much finished it but.....I didn't so a thumbnail and I didn't follow the list. The results? I need to do it all over again so I can fix the composition! Being a traditional artist, that means starting from scratch again--and I really liked the colors-hope I can recreate it.

Follow the recommendations of our teachers! I've always been one to learn things the hard way 🙂 Plus, I think I need to bite the bullet and learn photoshop, It would be helpful in fixing things up a little quicker without losing all my work. Just saying....

Trying to paint out my lines - work in progress - any comments or advice greatly appreciated 🙂 i guess i'm really wondering if i'm on the right track Attachment-1-5.jpeg

In my highschool art class one of our assignments was to paint a still from one of our favorite movies. It was a great exercise!

One of my favorite live action movies as far as composition goes (and, well, I love the story too) is Fiddler on the Roof. There are so many shots with amazing composition in that one. I watched it and paused it to do a quick value study periodically and I was seriously pausing it every few seconds it seemed like! It did win an Oscar for best cinematography, I believe, and it was well deserved.

Also if you're into romances, the new Pride and Prejudice (the one with Keira Knightley, not the zombies one 😉 has some awesome composition shots as well. Plot-wise I prefer the A&E long version, but I can sit through the new short version because it's just so pretty ;-).

@sergio I think a good portion of the people here already addressed and agreed that having an understanding of your target audience and their reading/comprehension level is important. Comments like this one below are uncalled for in this forum. I'm sorry if you feel misunderstood. At this point, I respectfully disagree with your approach.

Sergio:
"I might be surprised with the fact that most comments are not taking in account the main issue mentioned in the opening of this thread . But not, I'm not surprised. Attentive readings are as rare as common sense.

At this point I don´t expect that people realize what's the core issue I did mention and how the other paragraphs are related to it.

So, what I did learn is that this forum is not the correct place to open this kind of threads expecting respectful and attentive readings."

This really works. Thanks for the tip!

@Sarah-LuAnn , Thank you that helps I was also wondering if you have a book open and the text is on the left page and the illustration is on the right if the charcter was facing left wouldn't that lead you away from the page?

Great work!! Your version looks really good. I love the vibrant colors.

One more...
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no, @chip valecek, it is a valid comment for sure, thanks! in all, it still helped the image improve, and someone else would say the same thing. Its good for me to get over my stubborn defensiveness and take some criticism 🙂

@Lee-White's advice is straight-forward but so on the money. I remember having a consult with him and we were going over my portfolio and he said something along the lines of "Ok, I'm an art director, you've done the work, you have my interest now why should I hire you over this guy over here who's work is as good if not and most likely better?"

I was a bit tongued tied and said something really generic.

Lee basically said you have to learn to sell yourself as a professional artist!

What I think he meant was you have to know yourself, your work and your market audience well enough to sell the whole package...meaning you as a business. You have to know your strengths, weakness and how to sell yourself as an artist AND professional business person all in one.

So you can bet I'll be thinking of that the next time I speak with someone about a book.

This is why in addition to money matters his class is so important! There are a lot of things I'm sure most of us are not thinking about enough.

@Kris-Knight Keep working hard and pushing yourself and your skills and listen and apply what Lee and Will and Jake are saying and I can almost guarantee you'll be making jumps creatively every step of the way.

This is one of my first pieces from about 3 years ago (You are light years ahead of this by the way) I had no understanding of anatomy etc etc etc but I worked hard, spent endless nights after my kids went to bed... drawing, painting, learning. I made sure to surround myself with people who were better, WAY better. I listened and applied!! SVS was a game changer and now I have interest in a book I wrote and illustrated from two publishers, plus have a contract with McGraw-Hill. I have Lee, Will and Jake to thank! I hope that helps and encourages you to keep going!!

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Here is my new work www.charlieeveryan.com

I really like this composition, and your characters are really fun. I think this is a really fun piece in the making! The horse/donkey's back leg seemed a little off to me though, so I sketched in what seems to me a bit better. Its a hard angle and I'm no expert, so feel free to take this or leave it. 🙂

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@Kevin-Longueil TASER!!! lmao!

Thanks a lot!

They are all the same if your wondering. Kept getting a msg sayin it failed to load.

Thank you very much. This forum has been a god sent.

@Kevin-Longueil actually, I´ve posted the version without the hue saturation adjustments and was waiting for more feedback before post the next version. These sliders are really awesome and helped me a lot!!
Before read your feedback, I put some details and thought it was doing great. I think that´s maybe because I´m doing this piece for a long time and I´m wanting to move on. ><

@bharris
@NoWayMe I really loved that cream kimono too, but when I´ve darkened it, the color became very muddy and I couldn´t see which color could mantain the same effect. I added some cream highlights to see if it solve this problem of her lack of luminosity.
@Leontine Yes!! It´s totally digital! 🙂

After the contrast changes using "Hue/Luminosity" sliders, I´m getting pleased with this results.
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You´re helping me a lot, guys!You´re awesooome! 🙂
Thank you again.

Wow, how did I miss this thread? Sounds like we all pretty much understand each other. And now, despite the struggles I've had to try and "make it" as an artist, I also now feel that I'm in a much better place than I could be. I happen to have an awesome husband who is an engineer and makes enough to support us. He is happy that I make some money freelancing and is happy to let me us a lot of that money trying to promote myself with postcards and conferences and such--moving forward with high hopes.

My big wild card is that we have a baby coming in a few months. I am very round right now ;-). We are really really excited, but I just don't know how I'm going to manage my schedule after that. I do want to be the one at home taking care of her, but I also want to be the one at home drawing ;-). We'll just have to see what works I guess, every kid is different.