You really captured the "love" in this, nicely done!

@Jason-Bowen Far out! Love these!! Looking forward to seeing more.

Irina,

I am so glad that you started a thread on this discussion.
I am currently working on my website and I am planning to approach some agents and publishers this year.

I am also wondering about the best way to arrange my website.
I am a painter and illustrator but my work ranges from children's style illustrations to portraiture and landscape paintings.
I am not sure if I should focus my website on illustrations that are geared towards children's illustration and avoid putting my other art like my portraiture and landscape work on the same website.
Or have one website with categories for the different type of art that I do.

I am also wondering how the process of getting published works when representing oneself.
Is it better to have an agency represent me rather than approaching the publishing companies directly?

I do know that many publishing sites do have a section where you can submit your project directly but I imagine they receive many submissions via email and it is probably easy to get lost in the masses.

How should one approach a publisher as an illustrator and author?

Jessica Jolicoeur

I am finding this out with the "How to Draw Mammals course." Everything I tried at first looked really ripped because I was focusing on bones and muscles. I had to go back and look for where the animals stored fat and what is the natural gesture. That really helped.

Not this year, but next year is a real possibility...Please, please, please let us know how great it is!

@murielle Oh wow that was so interesting and learnsome! (Apart from learning your dutch as well! :p) Thank you so much for your awesome tutorial. ♥

I use Inprnt.com to sell prints and find it really good. I find the quality of the print really good. Lovely pic by the way. Inprnt like society6 or redbubble take care of the sale, printing, shipping etc. so you get a percentage of the sale. I found Inprnt to be the best percentage wise.

Anyone on Format?

https://www.format.com/magazine/galleries/illustration/illustration-portfolio-examples-2016

Oh this is so great and handy! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! 😃

@Coreyartus you’re welcome! Hope you can use it. 🙂

I joined up in November. I think the Big Book directory is great! lots of helpful info in addition to up to date contacts. My local chapter Nor Cal is very active too. I’m attending my first Local Chapter conference in May and am looking forward to the portfolio critique. I will also be attending the Summer conference in LA which I am anxious and excited about. The members are helpful and have answered every question I’ve had very quickly. As said earlier there are contests and grants that are offered for writers and illustrators. I haven’t gone in for any yet but I plan on it.

That's awesome!

thanks guys! Looking them over now!

@MsIllo Word! I'm an engineer too! XD

@CatOnPaper Sorry, I did not mean to make it sound scary. As an illustrator, once your illustrations are approved and handed over, both your job and responsibilities are complete to my knowledge (I am new to illustration). As a graphic designer though, you are responsible for making sure not only that the page layout is done correctly, but also that everything is at the proper resolution and in the right colour format. When you are working one on one with a client, you are often responsible for prepress prep as well. If something is missed by you or the printer, and there are mistakes in the final books, you could be responsible for that. As a graphic designer you would always have your client approve the final design and sign off on it, but if you make a technical mistake that’s on you. It’s just more involved that’s all.

Just to add that I registered self-employed before I had any money coming in, as I got a grant to setup my business and got a laptop with the funding and a business bank account to put my earnings into. Worth looking into getting funding off arts organisations or sponsorship.

You all can find me on https://www.instagram.com/chipvalecek/

I feel your pain too, working a full time job and then trying to exercise, eat healthy, socialise, sleep etc - definitely puts a strain on your art 😞 But even if it is taking you longer than usual, the important thing is your doing it and once you get into a new art routine you'll be working a lot quicker I'm sure 🙂

@nessillustration I think you've summed up the conflict in my head perfectly Ness.

Thanks to everyone's advice, I've shifted some things around a bit by starting studying sessions one hour later, with bedtime being one hour earlier … so I get more sleep to focus on Lucid Dreaming, and also, like you said before … instead of trying to do everything at once, I'm focusing on one lil ting at a time. Baby Steps.

Thank you for helping me.

It's just like you said, a lot of this documenting stuff is actually a good way of learning and more just an excuse to push myself out of my comfort zone with various social anxiety issues, so maybe that's where the conflict really lies.

Fear.

It's always fear when you drill down far enough. I almost wonder if I piled everything on at once to make myself fail so I would give up and not have to put myself in the uncomfortable space.

I just finished illustrations...well....they've been finished for quite a while but had to take photos because they were too big to scan and my son cleaned them up for me and just sent me the file today. I learned A LOT in doing this project but it is definitely NOT perfect. I'm a little embarrssed by it but that means I've been growing (I hope) as an illustrator. I feel less horrible about my weaknesses in art than I used to. I think completed projects are the best way to learn. You have so many puzzles to solve, have to learn to take critiques well and make changes that seem overwhelmingly hard to do sometimes. I have completed three picture book projects so far. None are great but they aren't all bad either I guess. I'm working on number 4 now and am almost done with comps. I'm still a traditional artist. Haven't mastered much digitally at all. Good for you for finishing your project! Now on to the next one! Right?