Pencil drawing done. Time for colour. image.jpg

Thanks for your kind words, Jenny.

@Laurasketches This was my first but I think so. I talked to the woman who organized it, and she said that if they go longer they would have to charge more to pay the AD. Not a bad gig if you ask me 😜

@Braden-Hallett Hmm. Good point. That can be very annoying. The last thing we want to do is annoy potential future bosses.

@evilrobot I’m glad you posted this link. I thought to do it but you beat me to it. 😜It is a great conversation.

Hi guys! I will be judging this contest today. Sorry for the delay, we are launching a bunch of new classes right now and it's taken up all our time!

Some changes coming next month with the crits and contests:

We are getting serious about the Contests and they will be judged by the 3rd day of the month.

Contest results will be posted in the forum, but the crit will be an actual video where I can talk about the different pieces and do draw overs, etc. It will be more more involved as a learning tool for you guys!

The video crits will only be available to active subscribers. We are looking at many new features that reward our subscriber base and this is just one of them.

Only subscribers will be eligible for judging in the contests. Anyone can post to the finals thread, but only subscribers can win.

This will all start with the May contest. The book covers contest will be judged in a post as usual. : )

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Cheers,
Lee

@Lee-White I like it when you tell me I’m right. 😜🤣🤣🤣

I'm going to the New England SCBWI conference next month (anyone else? :D) and trying to get my images selected to show in my portfolio. I honestly have only been pushing really hard with art this year and I know I probably have too many styles but I would really like it to look as professional as possible.

I have postcards printed of the red wolf raincoat, salamander reading and Oklahoma kids so I would like to include those. But I need to do one more of something to show continuity in story and I'm trying to pick that as well as pick what images just don't belong on my illustration page and need to go back to sketchbook page. I was going to do another one with the elephant but some feedback I've gotten are in favor of the flamingo and crocodile so maybe those?

When I was drawing the flamingo I was thinking "Oh no, another flamingo in your portfolio"- way back in 2007 I went to a SCBWI conference in Oklahoma and the one piece I got the best feedback on was of these 3 flamingos with the one in the middle looking sheepish eating a salad and it was green. I drew it without pencil just inked it quick during a sketchbook meetup where once a week we went to a restaurant to draw for a few hours. It annoyed me so much that the ones I spent much more time on were dismissed and this one they loved! Like when I bake a 5 minute cobbler everyone talks about it forever and I'm like what about that rainbow layer cake that took me forever?

https://heatherbouteneff.com/art This is the main Illustration page for where I want good stuff

https://heatherbouteneff.com/sketchbook This is like my slush pile of stuff I still like but is unfinished or only funny to me. I still think a poisonous newt bad boy wearing a leather jacket with BITE ME! on the back is hilarious but I seem to be the minority there

Wishing everyone a creative and happy Spring!!

charlieevryanfkwerabstractartsketchysm.jpg

Just found this video.... great message so I wanted to share it here 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICmY6LHTkY

@Chip-Valecek Ah okay, i'm glad I didn't miss it then, thank you!

@Charlie-Eve-Ryan Thank the lord for the YMCA pool! LOL

Great interview and beautiful work!

@davidhohn love that change to the analogy. That is exactly right!

@Kat yes, there is so much to learn, I guess it's limitless! I'll will work on hands at some point, other things first. I am actually really excited about doing hands at some point. They really say a lot about a person. 🙂

@Braden-Hallett thanks! I’ll have fun for the both of us!

@demotlj Thanks for all you did to get this going. It was nice to be able to do something to show our sympathey for them and honor Rich.

I'd recommend investing in the new Mac mini that Apple have just released. I've been using the same Mac mini since 2011 and I find them very reliable computers (I've previously owned a PC, MacBook and iMac) because with a Mac mini I'm not tied to a screen like with the iMac. I've never had an issue with it and for my Photoshop work I find it very powerful.