I like the third one as the eye is nicely drawing to the middle. I really do like your unique style but I think you should use more values to draw the eye to what is important in the image. I think it was in the critique of the Griffin image where it was really difficult to make out of where to look. So maybe experiment more with minimal colour rendering and more value? Does that make sense? Sorry, I feel like my brain is missing the right vocabulary today. I actually do have the same issue when I draw in colour. That's why I currently stick to only black and white... my lazy escape 😆

Will I have access to all classes if I purchase submission? If not, how can I find out which courses will be available to me after subscribing? 🙂

@brettb_draws the underwater life definitely reads better now!

@Enni-Heikura Oh yes that works. I had no idea thats what that button meant, haha. I think they should rename it "add to gallery" or something to make it more clear.

@willicreate Thanks for the feedback. It seems like I'm on the right path. thanks for the visual aswell, always better to see it 🙂

Thanks for the names aswell, i love Charles Dana Gibson, and am a big fan Japanese Sumi-e also did a course myself from a colleague her in holland. I didnt kiw Al Hirschfeld, Looked into him, he does make realy nice ink drawings. thanks, always nice to see more great work.

@Michael-Angelo-Go I feel like there is a wide breadth depending on size of publisher and how well they expect it to sell. In the last 5 years, I've been paid anywhere from $1000- $17,000, with the first 2 contracts being the lowest with tiny publishers to get my foot in the door, and then between $10,000-$17,000 with more established publishers. At this point w my experience, I really hope to not get an offer under $15,000 anymore, and hope to work on about 3 books a year at various stages of completion to make a doable income from it. But time will tell how I can keep that up.

@Darian Sorry for the big delay in my answer: Honestly, it’s just that I’ve made friends with my client, and he’s just a really fun person to work. He gets super excited about my work, and gives feedback but doesn’t micromanage. That’s one of the biggest reasons I keep working for him.

@makekong
This looks like what I might need to do, thanks!

@makekong c8d240fb-b376-4185-b1cd-d72f7f3e91de-image.png

@C I use the ailun screen protector (not textured, silk smooth) and it doesn't interfere with the apple pen. I did not care for the texture screen proctector due to people saying it wears down the apple pen's nib which i didn't like imo. For pen tips, i don't use one but i do have a cute pen grip which look likes a regular pencil hahaha. Everything that i've mentioned can be found on amazon

Glgl on your findings!

@jacquidasdraws I actually had this same questions several months ago... not for myself, but my son is HOH, I can't help but see things through this lens...and I was thinking about if he were to ever take such a class, I thought it was a huge bummer that such great instruction wouldn't be in CC. That would be an excellent improvement, but of course, SVS isn't my business so I can't make those decisions. 🙂 just putting that out there as an internet hug.

@Melissa_Bailey Hi Melissa. I know this is an old thread, I figure I'd try reaching out to you on this thread first. I am a newbie illustrator. I have traditional painting/drawing experience and am beginning to dip my toes into digital drawing. I am interested in your process of combining traditional and digital, especially the part you wrote about printing your digital sketch onto watercolor paper. What kind of printer do you have and what kind of paper do you use?

@willicreate for a matter of best practice and safety, always have a different professional contact than your personal one.

This is why many artists I follow have a p.o.box setup for mail or a virtual office at a coworking

Also your direct contacts. Its ok to have an work email and a work phone number (I use skype and google phone) and you give each to whom you feel better sharing with.

And social media as well. Have your professional social where you dont have anything related to your friends, family and so on.

To close the comment, a separate bank account for professional work its great for tax prep and also personal information care.

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody has tried out Alogic’s Clarity Touch Pro that came out recently. I’m specifically interested in using it as a drawing screen. I was wondering how much pressure sensitivity it has and what stylus to use with it.

Thanks,
Kona

@Geoffrey-Mégardon This is great advice, thank you!

You have beautiful work and here's my 2cents of advice, based on assumption you're looking for picture book illustration agents.

Add more illustrations relevant to picturebooks to your portfolio and social media. Make sure there some full page or spread illustrations with a few in a series that show that you can do backgrounds, and draw a character consistenly. Add those to your social media feeds too.

Your drawings are beautiful, but it is a style I see a lot of illustrators working in. Many agencies might already have several illustrators working in that style, so maybe think if there is a subject that you could specialize in, or if there is a way to tweak your style so its a bit more of your personality. While in animation this style is great, because a studio will have several animatos working on a big project and their styles need to be consistent w each other, in book illustration having your own style is really key to stand out from the rest.

Hope that's a bit helpful. If you happen to be a member of scbwi.org they have the handbook that has all agencies listed. When you want to apply to agents again, its an easy resource to use to look up all the agencies and agents, and see who is open to queries.

@jvartandillustration Royalty only deal for self-publishing authors is tantamount to charity work. I understand you don't rely on this income anymore, but it's still never a good feeling to be taken advantage of. Most of these authors are putting very little effort into an actual, viable marketing plan. It often feels like the illustrator is actually putting in much more effort than the author is, even though it's their project... It leaves a bitter taste.

If you find yourself with time and want to work on books and you're not sweating the pay, what I'd recommend is to work on creating your own books to self-publish. Amazon KDP makes it much less difficult to self-publish as it used to be, and it's a fun project that can get you both recognition in the field and a little side income.

Hey All!

Here is another helpful video about putting together a portfolio, and she does so in the video for SCBWI. Hopefully this helps as well!

When we get closer to the winter conference, I'll post here on SVS again, and see if anyone wants to do a coffee meet up before the conference one morning (or lunch!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK62fSRdZtA

I've just started "The Magic of Color" class by Will Terry and I have a question about the brush Will Terry uses.

Will Terry uses a brush that mixes colours together naturally, but I can't seem to replicate his brush either with a hard brush or a soft brush or with increasing or decreasing the opacity. I've also used the mixer brush tool, which helps to blend the colours, but isn't what Will Terry uses in his example videos.
Please help!