@nyrryl-cadiz
Thanks for the info!

@carriecopa Thanks. I hadn't watched this one and it sounds like what I was looking for.

@smceccarelli We do a lot of different work, some with animation and some live action. Budget doesn't necessarily seem to be an obstacle. But I'll check out those books! Thanks!

@durribie wow! That’s awesome. I’m a little isolated up here too. We live in a fishing village in Alaska. There aren’t any cons here at all. ☺️

I wouldn't think so? Buzz Lightyear carries and shoots a sci-fi gun without any issues, like you mention. It's probably fine as long as it doesn't resemble a real ak-47 or some such 😄

@miriam said in Using SVS instead of Art School:

@kat
Now I just have to make myself do it!

Me too! I was watching a basic drawing video, and stopped until I practiced the one specific thing being taught 50 times. It took me all week, literally, but I did it. Feeling like it’s something I actually learned now, instead of just something I saw. Patience....harder than drawing!

@christinaa
You're welcome! I hope you enjoy the classes!

I like your profile pic. ...looking forward to seeing the characters you create.

@lisa-f Thanks for the info!

@pam-boutilier Canon Museum Etching paper - crazy expensive, but GORGEOUS!

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@nyrryl-cadiz Thank you!!

@jason-bowen
I was wondering the same thing & was just looking for it on the forums.

The iPad Pro is the only one that supports the Apple Pencil. You can use Procreate with a regular stylus, but the Apple Pencil is pressure sensitive and without that feature it’s just not the same.

My only advice is be careful when you buy a big 27"or 32" display you can end up with quite a sore arm and shoulder if you are not used to drawing big-it is that stretch over to the Photoshop toolbar that does it.Also consider one of the cheaper brands XPS, Yinova,huion they really are very good.Make sure your graphics card supports 2 monitors( if that is your setup) I killed my Graphics card and computer a few months ago I suspect it was never meant to run 2 monitors.Clip paint studio is cheaper and just as good as Photoshop.

There is the Illustrating Childrens Books video that kind of touches on this maybe? But having live critiques of dummy books would be amazing

Hi! The svslearninfo@gmail.com is our old email, you can use support@svslearn.com 😀

Hi!

just quick question. Can I share the composition checklist with another community on discord? 🙂 It can be very helpful for them 🙂

@zburke11
I was going to recommend searching the internet, but Lee beat me to it!
Along with Pinterest, I would suggest Google image search.

Here are two ways to search with Google:

You can type in words that describe the kinds of images that you're looking for (such as "animal watercolor sketch" or the name of an artist). There are options at the top of the results page, including "Images" so you can click on the word "Images" at the top, or there's usually a link that says "Images for..." (along with a few images) in the list of results. Another way is to search with a specific image. If the image is online, you can hold down the "control" key & click the image. One of the options on the list that comes up is "Search Google for Image" (I'm on a Mac, but I'm guessing there's something similar on PCs--maybe right-click?). If it's a saved image, you can open it in your browser* then search for the image. Google will try to find the exact image, but it should also have a link for "Visually similar images" that you can click.

Once you are looking at the results for your image search, you can use the "Tools" option at the end of the menu at the top of the results page to narrow your options. Google also has a list of words in colored boxes at the top of the results page with categories you can scroll through & click to narrow your search.

*To open a saved image in your browser, you can use one of these options:

Open your browser & go to google.com, then drag the image from the file on your computer and drop it onto the google page. From the "File" menu in your browser, select "Open File..." From your computer's folder, Control-click the file's name, then select "Open with..." & select your browser.

I hope that helps!

@will-terry Didn't you make a video regarding this subject using your book as talking point? I'm pretty sure you did but I have been known to be wrong in the past!

@rcartwright I tend to do fan art to boost my social media presence but I don't sell any prints just because it is such a grey area.

Hey @natiwata! Welcome back 🙂

I'm currently working on illustrating my first picture book and I was surprised at how many changes the AD wanted at the thumbnail stage. There were quite a few rounds - but honestly, looking back she was pretty spot-on and the book will be that much better for it. I'm at final art now and two of the spreads she wanted to see in final colour along with approving everything at the linework stage. Thankfully, I had to change a lot less and I recognize that it's largely in part due to "nailing it" at the thumbnail stage. I'm hoping that when I submit all the final art there's minimal changes too because at least she liked/approved the line art and compositions already.

As much I was surprised by the rounds of changes to the thumbnails, I went to a talk with Ashley Spires recently. She's a Canadian illustrator and has done 10+ books with Canadian illustrators and is just now working on her first one with an American publisher. She said it was like night and day - that the Canadian publishers gave her so much more freedom and the American one was soooo uptight at the character design phase. She showed us her sketches she did for her character design - she gave them more than 150 options before they chose one! Yikes.

At the end of the day though, I think it depends on the publishing company and the personality of the art director whether they'll be more hands-on or not.