@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!

All sounds pretty regular. 35% is normal for art reps .As mentioned, there is a subtle distintion between “art rep” and “agent”, and an agent normally takes much less (15% is typical) but does not seek any work outside of publishing. Now, since it seems they also specialize in publishing, that is a bit confusing. There is much more jobs outside of publishing for an illustrator - how about those? They would not rep any of that? One important step is to get a full list of all the things they do rep for and those they don’t. If they really only rep for publishing, you should consider getting a literary agent instead - a majority of them has a mixed list nowadays, with writers AND illustrators. My agent is also fine with contracts that involve no royalties - but I have to admit that she does not focus a lot on usage rights - so maybe a rep specializing in illustration would have a keener eye on that kind of things.
Publishing is not a black-and-white definition either. Is it only books? Or also apps and software? How about e-books? Board games? Do they take a cut on all royalties and collaterals too? What if the company you end up working for does work that falls into their area of representation? Remember that an agent/rep will take their percentage on ANY job you do, no matter if it came through their mediation or not. Another item to discuss is for how long they will still take the cut after the contract is terminated - there is always a grace time and in the publishing industry this can be very long (because the industry is super slow). It may be up to a year after termination before you are actually “free”.
You can discuss anything with them beforehand - arrange a call if you haven’t done so already and don’t be afraid to question anything and everything. This is a business relationship and needs to be advantageous for both sides.
As @SarahLuAnn said, a good rep or agent can be totally worth their commission. I’m not always happy with my agent, but she is a great negotiatior and always gets considerably more money than I would have dreamed of asking. This is great at the beginning, when you’re not sure of your value. Also a good agent is in for the long haul and will be concerned with your reputation, career and workload management - that is precious guidance when you’re new to the business of illustration!

Just checking in about the fall classes because I am thinking about planning a vacation this year for September, but as of last spring there were at least two live SVS classes that I wanted to take in the fall, which would make things quite busy (in a good way!) at home.

Any update on the classes, particularly environments and children's books? When would they start? I just took a week-long brick and mortar workshop and am realizing how much good live interaction does one artistically, how much synergy it brings to the illustration process, and how hard one works under a deadline. Turbocharging was like that too. So I'm looking for other such occasions.

So yes, as weird as it may sound, I am planning my vacation around the fall SVS classes! It's worth carving out the time. Besides, as I discovered last week, my travel backpack is way too heavy with both a Cintiq and a laptop in it. 😛

@pam-boutilier I nave had alot of problems with my printer this week I printed with canon software in JPEG format instead of Photoshop and PSD and it did come out much better with no banding and a better colour so it might be worth a try

@WILL M

I agree with pretty much what everyone else has said, however I would like to add, you should first and foremost make art for YOU. I know that pretty much all of us want to see those follows, and likes and everything associated with it, but if you're truly doing art because you love doing it then social media shouldn't matter. Do it for yourself and be happy with what you're creating before you ask anyone else to like it.

Which, by the way, you have some good stuff there. Keep it up. 🙂