Just a quick update -- after lots more searching I found a photo editor called Fotor Photo that is only $20 a year and has the eyedropper functions I was looking for. It is really just a photo editor, not a painting/illustration program, but it seems to work fairly well adjusting the pictures I took of my watercolors (this time with a camera as Lee recommended.) It has a free version that allows you to do quite a bit but I didn't think $20 was much for all of the extra settings you can manipulate.

When is the deadline for the application?
If there is some time, you should create more concept art pieces and add them to your portfolio. If not, then just apply and don't worry. If you get it it's a "YAY!" If you don't get it it's a "continue doing/improving your art, keep your job (if you have one) and keep trying"

Hope your style fits the company style.

Also think about it in this way: if you have little experience in concept art and they were going to hire you and get you to start work on a good project this coming Monday (for wathever feature animation/movie or AAA game they may be producing), would you feel like you are able to do the job?

If you have little time to add some concept art to your portfolio, do it thinking about this situation. Because in the industry, you may be given 5hrs to finish a full piece for your team to add to the product or to give to some client. And if that is the potential case for this company, your portfolio should show them you can do it!

@rcartwright
Yes!
I think the world of all three of them, and I've never known better teachers

@smceccarelli I thought I remembered you were somewhere in Europe! Lucky you! Definitely look into the RRO's! Honestly, I've considered moving to Canada simply to be able to collect my reprographic royalties.

@chip-valecek Hey Chip, yes. I sort of figured that. I was just curious about the name origins. Thanks for answering. By the way, I love your work and your dedication to this forum.

adding to what has been said... while you get the book ready, do what you can to let those who would be interested in your book know about it. You can share a coupla pages, show process, make a video to talk about your art and your journey, what buyers can use the book for.... so by the time the book is available for purchase it's not sitting there collecting dust. I recommend you look into kickstarters and what artists do to make people aware of their books.

Hi, few years back I came across this website called Storybird, where illustrators submitted their illustrations, and people visiting the website can use those to create their stories. After that, Storyweaver came up, it is more or less an Indian version of Storybird.

At the time of its creation Storyweaver conducted a contest named #6 frame story challenge. They gave some words from which the participant has to come up with a story, and illustrate that story in just 6 frames. The participant had to submit the psd files. They mentioned that the works were taken under creative commons license and anywhere the illustration will be used, proper credit would be given. I participated in it.

Afterwards, I was sceptical, I felt that it was just creating a huge library of images without paying anything to the creator. So I didn't participate in any other challenge they conducted.

But now, I am coming across many new illustrators who got break from these platforms. So I would like to know if anyone here has any idea about these platforms. Is it alright to upload works here, hoping to get break in publishing?

@lee-white ok, thanks. I will definitely be in that class.

@smceccarelli

The layout's being done by a company that sells itself as a self-publisher assistant, I suppose? You give them raw materials and then they churn out a book which is available for print on demand.

I agree that the light font on dark background should only be done with a good reason.

Sadly enough way back when I was doing the illustrations I didn't have the knowledge under my belt to suggest incorporating text with image, so it's gotta be separated since the illustrations really weren't designed to incorporate text.

As for your current experience being stingy with copy editing seems like a recipe for disaster XD

As illustrators, if we compete with cameras we will lose. Cameras does reality much faster.
Without creativity we can't stand out, we can't come up with something original, and we cannot create something unless it's right in front of us....
how can we then design a character?
a whole new world for our characters to live in?
how can we introduce a new way of looking at everyday things?

also we're still problem solvers since we have to work within certain printing or screen constraints and we have real materials that we can decide to mix and combine into something unique. life would become really boring if you one day scroll through Instagram and find nothing but realistic portraits. It would also make it more difficult to tell artists apart.

Not to say that skill and strong drawing fundamentals are not necessary because they are. You couldn't possibly design a new location or a character and make them believable without those fundamentals.

originality + believability
we need both.

@handdrawnviolist I found that once I made the accounts and kept them updated, they pop up right away. Granted I have the benefit of a fairly unique name regardless of which version I choose, but if you make sure to use Kori Lynne Illo/Draws/Art on as many socials as you can, then I think you'll be fine! Adding that suffix will make it easier for people to find you. Make sure when you search, you aren't logged in to your google account or anything like that, maybe using an incognito window or something, so that you can see what other people would see when they search for you.

P.S. Another tidbit, one of my best friend has the same full name as several other artists. Her first name is Samantha, but everyone calls her Sam and either way there are at least 10 other artists that pop up if you try only searching her name. So she has to use her full name and middle initial professionally in order to be searchable and recognizable. She also uses a different format for her online handles (such as if I were to go by 'theartoftejuabiola', instead of 'tejuabiolaart') because the others were taken. When you type her now unique handle in, she is all the search options on the first google page. I'd also check to see if anyone else has the same or a similar name as you just to be careful! Your name falls rather in the middle of these examples, as in not so common that you have to worry about being mistaken for someone else and not too unusual that you'd probably be the only relevant search option that would show up. If you are the only art related thing that shows up, even if there are random other things, you're golden because that leaves a space for you to build!

@davidhohn Thank you for your time and wisdom.

Timestamp proof was just my way of saying i posted my character back in the day. Showing that i had the character first. That is all.

Thank you so much for your time.

Sounds interesting. It could create an eye trap, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, if it's for a purpose. It sounds pretty fun!

@johanna-kim
Those details are helpful... thanks for sharing your research.

UPDATE - I filled out the form a few days ago and then found on the site @davidhohn sent there was an email I can reach out directly. So not being a pain, I sent a nice email just following up and describing what I would like to do with the song. I got a reply that they did see my form come across but they only handle the rights in New Zealand and Australia but they sent it over to the owners in the US. She also mentioned if I do not hear back by end of the week to let her know and she will follow up with them.

So, I am just a little excited about it.

That's awesome. I guess I'll be checking back in 5-6 years!

@quietyell Yes, if you signed a WFH contract you would also need to get permission from the client to reproduce the image on social media.

2pp is when your eye level is somewhere in the middle of an object.
3pp is when you're looking down or up.

2pp won't let you see more than 2 sides of a box
3pp will let you see 3 sides of the box.

2pp usually seen on buildings on street corners, where you can see both streets but your eyes are not below the base of the building or above the roof.
3pp I would say it's not worm's eye view because the worm would still share the same ground. it has to be a lower level than the object, so you usually see this when looking down from a plane, or up from let's say a ditch.

2pp can look exagerated when you feel that the streets on each corner are too long
3pp can look somewhat flat and give a sense of detachment/distance.

they BOTH can happen within the same room... a book resting a little outside the edge of a high shelf or you sitting on a chair and looking down at your computer case which is on the floor or a small garbage basket.

when you feel like you can better handle 2pp and 3pp start looking into camera lenses and how they affect the way we see things. think of the distortion of people's faces when you see them through the peephole for example.

Thank you!