Hi all! I’m brand new to SVS and am struggling to illustrate a few children’s books that have been on my To Do list for years. The task seems very daunting and I feel I am lacking in skills. What advice would you give? Perhaps a mentor or coach to help me along this arduous and exciting journey????

Thanks everyone for the input and help! Moved forward with the author today, really appreciate all the advice!

@Juli Yes, you're right, we don't always see these things even though sometimes we've looked at something a lot - a fresh pair of eyes is always good!

@Georgios-Christopoulos Ah sorry I misunderstood your question! I agree with @TessaW, I think this style could work well for a mid-grade children's book (approx 8-12 years) but maybe not for younger kids. Depends what market you are aiming at really. I'm absolutely no children's book expert btw but I do work with children and as a result see lots of children's books.

@Chip-Valecek Thanks so much for the words my friend!! I hope my creations will one day reach your kids

@Stefan-Hohls Welcome to the forums. Yes please share your work, we are all here to help each other out.

@demotlj Thank you for the feedback! I've changed Lucy's face, not only in terms of shadows and cheeks, but also the eyes, which I've decided would look better if they were closed. I think it's a lot better like this now. Thank you all for the feedback! It helped me understand some notions about shadows, focus of the illustration and illustrating the faces better

Decided to try a comic page this time, too!

@CatOnPaper Sorry, I did not mean to make it sound scary. As an illustrator, once your illustrations are approved and handed over, both your job and responsibilities are complete to my knowledge (I am new to illustration). As a graphic designer though, you are responsible for making sure not only that the page layout is done correctly, but also that everything is at the proper resolution and in the right colour format. When you are working one on one with a client, you are often responsible for prepress prep as well. If something is missed by you or the printer, and there are mistakes in the final books, you could be responsible for that. As a graphic designer you would always have your client approve the final design and sign off on it, but if you make a technical mistake that’s on you. It’s just more involved that’s all.

@Ionut-Marian I'm pretty sure this is her instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/irinageorgescudraws/?hl=en He work is so beautiful, thanks for the follow up comment so that I could find it.

Hi! I am in love with the designs of your mushroom people - I think the idea of putting their face at the very base of the shroom with these big floppy heads/foreheads is adorable and funny and something I haven't seen before. My critique is in a place where I'm just starting to learn from - but it looks like with your comp that you could benefit from finding the big shapes forms and doing value on those. Your woman has a lot of different values in her which makes it hard for her to stand out - but maybe if her value and the cat and the mushroom people can all be of a lighter value, where the whole middle ground is the darkness of that grass. This would allow her to pop out more and be the true focus.

I finished my first children's book! It was an interesting journey to say the least, but there is an immense feeling of accomplishment when you finish a book. I finished Cacti Octopi a few months ago, and after a little internal debate I decided to put it online for FREE. Here is the link to my new website: https://www.tylerjhallstrom.com/ I would greatly apprecaite any feedback, comments, shares, thoughts, or general encouragement as far as this project goes. Thanks for you time everyone! P.s. - I also have a webcomic that I update every Friday (aka today). There are 30+ pages also available now! I'll be making a separate post for this later. Tyler

I have been creating this story for some time now and I wanted to share some images with you all. Although the name has changed several times, I am almost there!!

@tessw Thank you, TessW! I'll experiment with some other fox designs tomorrow then.

@Tyler-Hallstrom Very pretty water. It has a soft, quilt-like look to it.

@DanetteDraws Thanks for the welcome! The fact that it reminds you of Klassen is an honor. I have always admired his work, and I have really been trying to simply my shapes and up my rendering quality. Klassen has always been a such a great example of that. The fact that he is referring to himself as a "cacti" will be the main play on words that is addressed later in the story. I certainly appreciate the editorial eye though, writing for children's books is quite a challenge. I am constantly editing and proofreading simple sentences to try and find what flows the best. In regards the 34 pages, I will have 32 interior pages and the artwork for the front and back cover. Thank you bringing this up though, this is defiantly not something that I have always known, and it is much easier to plan ahead instead of making edits to the book after it is done. This is great feedback! I knew the SVS Forums were a good place to be.

Hey everyone, So I was watching the "How to Make Money in Illustration (Part 1)" video and it talks about one section of the children's book illustration market that Lee White refers to as the educational section of publishing companies. He says how the pay is poor and it is "work for hire" but it is a more easy way to break into the market and get some work published. I think I'd like to take this path, but can't find much info on how to start submitting to that market. (I found an article here, but it is catered to writers, not illustrators.) Does anybody have any experience, info, suggestions, or thoughts on this? Thanks, ~Shams

It's looking nice and I like how you changed the moonglow from warm to cool.

I think your watercolor is lovely! I like your composition as well however there is something about the first image does not have the quality you have done to the other 3. I think it's the value differences. Anyway I really like your watercolor paintings!