I'm publishing this to my social, so I thought I'd share it here too! This is the list I've come up with for Inktober this year (I call it "The Cat's Meow"). I thought I'd see what some around here thought! I can't wait to try it, and feel free to use this for yours too if you wish.

Inktober 2020.jpg

@Jules haha good that’s what the forum is here for and it’s a pretty big project.. I say take all the help and encouragement you can get! 😅

@marek-halko Wow! That is really helpful, thank you! I love how your paint over makes the image so much more dramatic, and it really helps me see what you mean about using the different types of light. I'm still learning about this, and need to practice it.

I think I will expose for the shadow as I want the viewer to be able to see all of the objects on the shelves, so they can count up the 50 objects for the assignment. I will study your image and others to try to get this right.

Thank you again, and I look forward to working on it more now that I have this input!

@Eric-Droke
in term of keep him out of the focus and lead the eye to the char in the middle, yes. the dark one works better but i got pointed out that it doesnt make sense that he is covered by such a huge shadow while being midair and i had to agree.

maybe something inbetween might work out too or even better but overall i think the big issue is the weak composition. itself. overall i want to do more work with the little one here in the thread but i am on the fence of redoing this scene/idea or go with a new comp based on the ones shown above.

@Rachel-Horne Thanks Rachel!

Hey SVS people! what do you think about these thumbnails? Are they clear? Do they look ok? Any critiques and comments are welcome. Thanks! 🙂 Also it goes from bottom to top.EDCC3339-1196-4741-B14C-68CB515F86FC.png E8FA332D-C747-409A-9FD5-22F184B79B99.png 367D447F-74DD-4367-964E-E63AA681EAC6.png B8AE5F67-6A80-412B-8ADD-F873BBE94D2C.png )

@MattBaker I think you should try to make the background colours lighter or more transparent or more pastel to really differentiate the background with your main subject. But yes! Otherwise it looks good to me! I like it!

Hello! I'm new to these forums and I'd like some tips/critique on the composition and color choices for these thumbnails.

I have 3 thumbnails, 2 of which share the same color scheme. I want to know if they read well, tips on thinking through composition in thumbnails, and anything that may seem obvious but I'm missing.

I still have a lot to learn, and I'm looking forward to learning from all of you. 🙂

Thanks in advance!

TonyChacon_Thumbnail2_8_29_2020.PNG TonyChacon_Thumbnail2_8_25_2020.PNG TonyChacon_Thumbnail1_8_25_2020.PNG

Hey all!

I think I'm finally ready to start putting my work out there and hitting the ground running on marketing and seeking representation/client work. I've finally nailed down both my process and my workflow to the point where I'm comfortable getting projects shipped and handling both client work and personal work at the same time.

I've finally updated my site with my current portfolio: https://www.korilynneillo.art/

I would love any sort of feedback, whether that be for the portfolio itself or my site layout - I've been tinkering with it a lot and I don't think I'm quite happy with it yet. Are there any pieces that just don't belong? Gaping holes? I won't tell you which but there's definitely some pieces I'm thinking of replacing, but I'm aiming for finished not perfect, because it'll never be "perfect" you know?

I do have a lot of personal projects that I've gotten out the door and into the world in the past couple of years - do you think it would be worth it to set up a "projects" section and outline each one? Some are finished and some are still ongoing.

I have some plans for new/replacement portfolio pieces, but I'd love to hear if anything glaring is missing. I know I'm missing images of kiddos - I've always heard to put in your portfolio the things you're good at and the things you'd love to work on and kids definitely aren't either of those things. I'm planning on spending the next month or two to really nail down kids in my style because I'm still not consistent with them (consistency is my number 1 issue with drawing them, and I know they just need more study and concentrated practice), and will start filtering them in once I feel like they're ready.

Jake I know that you are really busy .I have Watch your inking tutorial but couldn’t understand how to do feathering please can please a little Exercise on how to do feathering thanks jake

Hey all! Hope everyone is doing great.
I've been away from the forums for a long time but I'm back on the look for some fresh new eyes on our project.
The situation we have now is basically that we don't know how to make the Viber for this book POP! While the interior art is going smooth this part is stuck.
The book is about budgeting for children and this is what we have as of now, only thing missing is the title text and colors.
Any thoughts on how we can make it more interesting?
Cheers!

0-Cover8.jpg

Here's the full size colored - I brought the crop in a good amount for the final submitted one. I kinda thought a bit closer to the door would be more effective.

dragonfly-club-lg.jpg

@TessaW thank you. I will work on the line work a little more and yes I agree there needs to be a shadow behind the boy.

Thank you, @eriberart and @idid for your feedback!

Okay...went back to the drawing board, because I just am not sure. I liked the story I came up with, but I don't know if I love it. I wanted to try to push through and I played around with suggestions I received and sat with the piece this past week. I realized I jumped into a final idea too fast and I think that was my ultimate struggle, so I stepped back and started sketching out a few ideas...

dragonfly ideas.jpg

Number 1 was a fun idea in my head so I sketched it out a little more clearly and at a different angle:
DragonflyArt.jpg

Annnnd that's where I'm at right now! Going for a shady-swampy-pawn-shop-exchange story vibe. Just wanted to update. Still have some work to do! I think I'll have the toads left hand on one of those winged seeds that fall from trees for the trade. And maybe make the toad a little bigger and imposing...they seem a bit similar in size?

The Sword of Damocles is a fable told by Cicero in which a tyrant switches places with a commoner to teach him the perils of ruling.

My little dragon fly dragon inspired me to retell this story as a story in which a tiny little dragon fly, Damocles, wishes to trade places with a real dragon to enjoy the power, prestige, and wealth of being king of the domain. The bigger dragon grants him his wish and Damocles soon finds himself fending off knights, wizards, and even princesses in order to keep his position. He eventually comes to his senses and begs the dragon to let him come back to his humble pond.

I would call it The Hoard of Damocles. It would be a lesson on the perils of greed and pride and the value of humility and a simple life.

What do you think? I doodled some character design and concept art for the domain of the big dragon, Dionysius.

3D79C1AD-0AAC-4F9B-847E-48CC0228894D.jpeg

I know it's been awhile (I fell off the illustration train for a little bit due to health reasons) but I wanted to pop back in and thank everyone for the feedback!

And share the final, since I finally got it scanned in!

flying penguins

@Griffin Funny, I wonder if it's our minds or that people didn't want to say anything... 🤔 The fixes worked really well, great work.

I also vote for the middle cover design with the face in frontal view. Loving the retro vibe on these! 🤪

@idid Thanks! My current print customers are mainly at comic conventions and span mainly women, with a chunk of them being kids in middle/high school and the other chunk being more around my age, in their 20's and 30's. I am trying to pull the age group up a little to solidly hit women in their 30's who like a little fantasy in their lives. But mainly I just want to make things that I like. As a woman in my 30's, I can only assume that there are others like me who will like what I like!

I started selling work at comic conventions, so fan art would hit people well there, but I don't like doing it. It's not fun for me to jump on trends and draw other people's characters when I have SO MANY of my own that never get to see daylight because I don't have the time for them. I personally prefer buying art with people's original characters rather than fan art, myself, so I know there are others that feel the same way. It's awesome to own something super original by a smaller creator.

@Freya-Chakour Thanks! I get what you mean! The cut-out edges are kind of random, as I just wanted a way to have a white border without being a flat line. There's not a lot of thought put into how it jives with the actual structure of the illustration. Looking at it now, I can see how much better the top and right sides look than the left side, in particular. It's easier to get objects to overlap white than it is to get a void to overlap the flowers! Hmm, I'll have to think on that one.

@LauraA Thank you! Ooh, that's a good point. I wanted to make sure I popped in some warmer tones since the shop walls are so green, but maybe I overdid it. I do want it to still have a kind of muted look overall. I can see now how the character is standing out more against the flowers behind her since she is more saturated, and I do think that desaturating the front flowers, at least the bright red parts, would help her stand out more overall.

THANK YOU ALL for the feedback! I really appreciate it!