@jenn thanks hope to win someday lol. Also the color palette looks great to me.

@Griffin I really like the boy running after the robot! Maybe to make it even stronger you could try playing with the value a little more? Maybe try lightening the sky and the hills bit to help the background really separate from the foreground? But really a great piece overall even if you just left it!

@KevinTreaccar Lovely! You had a strong concept in the first place and push that forward with your willingness to seek improvement. Well done 👏

@Griffin This is looking so great! If feels like a complete and believable environment and I feel the urgency in the character's faces.

One thing that stuck out at me is how in your quick sketch the body pose of the kid in the back of the bronco is more dynamic and reaching. In your line art, the pose has stiffened up, and makes it seem like the vehicle is parked rather than moving. (And I'm unsure now which it is supposed to be).

Another little thing, is that I felt like the running kid's path would make more sense closer to the road path. You could move this kid more into the road, or curve the road, if you thought they should be in the path.

Sorry if these are late comments! I'm looking forward to seeing the color!

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@Nyrryl-Cadiz Thank you. I did draw a queen of heart, and a walrus. They came out alright. I just didn’t feel right using them without adding something to the story. Maybe next time.😁

Here are the updated sketches!
I did two versions of that last spread. I like the first version the best since it also shows more of the background. In the next pages, the dog and cat end up going outside so maybe it's good that you can see the door in the second panel? I'll say though that this angle isn't my fave.
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I've added more animals to both of these scenes! I managed to move the animals out of the gutter in the spread.
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@MelissaJacie @JQ

@Georgios-Christopoulos In fact I liked the first image you posted best, as it looked cleaner and really comic book.

@Griffin looks great!

@Rebecca-Jensen the flat values aren’t finished. I was just trying a technique I learned where you just use 3 values to block in objects to create a good balance of values but I’m not sure I got that balance right

@Jeremiahbrown Thanks so much for your thoughts! This series has definitely been a huge learning opportunity for me. I'm hoping to be able to use everything I've learned, and the feed back I've gotten to do another series soon. I think part of what I struggled with on this was that my concept wasn't super well thought out and planned. Hoping to fix that next time! 😅

Awe Thanks @ann-nadine!

@Griffin of course! I always appreciate seeing it from the eyes of others myself.

@Griffin nailed it I think👍🏼👏🏼

@Griffin I totally get that and I agree. I guess I was thinking in critique arena mode where the guys always want story, but I definitely agree with you on that. That being said I’d still like to know more, I’d be interested in reading more if this was a page in a book I flipped too.

@Asyas_illos that’s kind of what I was thinking and it’s a simple enough change to make that going back to fix it wouldn’t be much a problem.

Judging by your other post you appear concerned about the safety of your story, or perhaps this is a different project? If you’re worried about theft and copyright issues, then sharing a big project might not be the best approach. But if you’re not then blog away! Or vlog away! Put yourself out there!

@Asyas_illos I love it! Reducing the opacity of the fog was a great idea!

@Stephanie-H Sounds great! I'm in 🙂

@JQ Yeah I think the market is really very different here. The reason the government offers that grant is because they are pretty much desperate for locally produced mother tongue books because none of the commercial publishers would do it out of their own pocket, because as you said it, they are loss-making ventures. Relying on imports from China/Malaysia/India may not be too relatable for the kids who grow up here and as a results mother tongue proficiency is dying in the younger generation to the point that they are no longer native speakers of their mother tongue language.

My approach is basically if I get the grant, I will move forward and "pay" the publishers using government money. Remember that you can also claim author and illustrator fee if selected for the grant. If I don't get it I'll submit the English manuscript for traditional publishing route.

Just my 2 cents. Your approach might be different and thats okay too 👌 But from what I am seeing you have a pretty high chance of getting if you keep up this quality of work and strengthen it with the feedback from people here. You can do it!!

I'll be sharing mine soon too hopefully...

@Russ-Van-Dine This concept made me lol especially because my dog would absolutely be derailed by a ball. Your cars are amazing. Maybe have the rabbit throwing the balls have a basket of them like they could go all day?