Hello from Scotland
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Hi everyone,
My name is Lorna Hampshire, in 46 years old and I've been a pretty quiet member of SVS for around two years! I thought I should get up some courage and hello properly as I have found this to be such a lovely group of like-minded creative folk.
I would dearly love to become an illustrator and writer but for many years have worked as a Psychologist. My husband is in the military and is posted away a lot, so between work and kids I've struggled to engage much on the forum and in the critique arena, apologies. However, I'm hoping to focus this year on developing my illustration skills and will try to be much more active on the forum!
The illustration learning curve has been exciting and very steep for me as I know I have SO much to learn. I've had no training in art since school. I have found SVS such an amazingly kind and supportive place to learn and develop. I love writing kids' stories, especially humorous, rhyming stories, but I know rhyme is not popular with publishers!
I am still trying and find what my "style" is! I'd love any feedback on which of the styles below might appeal to you most! I've been told the top two image below of the small boy (from a book dummy I wrote) is not suitable for the UK market, so will be trying to experiment with other styles over the next year. I look forward to getting to know you all better in the coming months!
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@Lorna-H Hi, and welcome! It's ways a good idea to share your work and I'm glad you've decided to do so. To answer your question, I'm drawn more to your last couple of images, especially the boat and moon painting. This may be because I'm naturally attracted to painterly images. Can't wait to see more of your progress. I'm rather new to the forum, but everyone has been super helpful.
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@Lorna-H welcome! Yes I also love your moon one! Maybe it's a great way to go to first go about the courses and less time into critique arena. For me I'm maybe where you started two years ago, working as a teacher to students with two kids and no art training just the love for stories and picture books. And critique arena takes so much time to work towards a decent piece. I personally love to read rhyming stories to my kids, they flow so nicely. I always wonder how the publishers determine what's good in the market. Would love to see more of your work.
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@Lorna-H Hi Lorna! Welcome to the forum! Looking at your images, I wonder if just perfecting your craft a little more, rather than changing your style might make your artwork more "suitable for the UK market." There is a lot of similarities, at least about how you draw characters between all except for the leopard image. The moon one is so fun! I think what might be drawing people to it is simply that there is a well crafted background. The character feels somewhat similar to the boy in the top images as well. If you really enjoy drawing this way you might think about perfecting your current style instead of completely changing it! I know for me at least it's nearly impossible to switch my "style" to something that doesn't feel like me.
I've heard the same thing about rhyming picture books. It makes me sad, because kids really seem to enjoy rhyming books! My toddler went through a stage where rhyming books were all she wanted read to her. If it didn't rhyme, no good! Makes me think that publishers have more their own interests in mind (non rhyming is easier to edit) than what kids really want and enjoy.
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@MarcRobinson - Thank you for the encouraging reply. That's great to know you liked the moon pic. I was going back to painting traditionally with acrylics for the background, then adding in some digital details later, so I'm delighted you liked it as it was just a fun experiment! I'm a total novice so I find it hard to tell which images are good and which are rubbish!
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@Lorna-H hi! welcome to the forum!
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@Chantal-Goetheer - thanks so much for your thoughtful input. Yes - I think you're right, trying to focus on the courses sounds very sensible. I always get tempted by the prompts for the critique arena but I'm not a speedy worker so like you mentioned, it does take a lot of time to get an image descent enough to submit!
I'm delighted to hear that you like rhyming picture books too. They were definitely my kids' favourites when they were aged between 3-7. The agent I spoke to said they tend to disregard rhyming manuscripts unless they are really unique as they aren't always easily marketed internationally. Apparently, the difference in accents and cadence in speech can mean that rhymes don't travel well even between English speaking countries, and they also don't easily transition into different languages so they're not a money spinner. I understand this completely, but it does seem a shame to stop making them if kids love them! But I will start writing some manuscripts in straight pros now! Thanks again for your lovely reply.
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@Nyrryl-Cadiz = thank you so much! You gave me great advice a long while ago through the forum, so nice to say hello again!
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@Lorna-H so cool to have u back here again!
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@kirsten-mcg - thanks for your time in responding. I love your thoughts about "perfecting my craft" and totally agree, as my skills definitely need to be refined and improved upon. I was really encouraged to hear that you see similarities between my characters as it's hard to see whether you actually have any distinct "style" when you start out! I also agree that it's hard to completely change your way of working, so I'll just keep experimenting and trying to improve my skills.
I agree about the rhyming picture books. My daughters definitely preferred them in their early years. I totally understand that they are costly as they aren't easily marketed abroad without substantial rewriting, but it does seem a shame! Thank you so much for your thought and extremely helpful advice!
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@Nyrryl-Cadiz - I'm excited to actually have a wee bit of time to actually look at the forum and respond to posts, as in the past I just never had the chance but there were so many interesting discussions and amazing artwork. It was very frustrating to not be able to contribute. Your work is looking awesome!!
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@Lorna-H you're welcome! You'll get the eye for spotting your best work, I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
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So cool to hear from you!
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