Illustration for Giuseppe Castellano's course.
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Hey folks, I'm taking the 3 week book dummy course with Giuseppe Castellano right now and it's been really great, I highly recommend it. He is such a encouraging and helpful person! One of the things he's having me do this week is a full illustration where I started out traditional sketch then took it to final on the computer.
Here's what I came up with, printing this out for the scbwi conference this weekend, but won't get his feedback until next week. Comments welcome, thanks!
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata Love it Nat. Your work is really lovely. Nice moment here and I love the lighting and expressions. Your work reminds me a bit of Dan Santat and I love his stuff. Really nicely executed! They only thing I'm not sure how is if you should show a bit more of the dog or if the crop on him works. I got caught up looking there because of the way it is cropped and the dog is white so I don't know if it is pulling a bit of focus. Otherwise awesome and that is a nit picky thing!
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Wow, I really like the warm colors this piece has and the background is executed so well.
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This is a lovely piece, beautiful storytelling, lighting, expressions, color and light. Really great work! The only element I would think about is the dog - it is cropped so tight that it nearly does not impact the story or the illustration. I actually had to look for it (for quite a long time!) because someone mentioned it. I do not think you need to do anything about it, because it is barely noticeable - only if he does play a part in the story it is worth putting him in a different place.
I love the dappled lighting, it is very credibly rendered! -
@Jason-Kellogg Thanks for the feedback!
@Charlie-Eve-Ryan - Thank you for the suggestion, I diminished the light on the dog and may just take him out or move him at some point. I love Dan Santat's work as well, he's great!
@smceccarelli - thanks for the followup suggestion about the dog, I'll rework that somehow if this isn't enough.
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By the way, I have booked a portfolio review with Giuseppe Castellano....hope to get some concrete pointers on how to re-shape my portfolio for the children's books market!
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I love this and I will get to this level some day! I like that you have this bird nest, but I want to see a bird to go with the eggs. I do think this is printable as is!
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I really like this, my eye goes to the top of the mums head. I think it needs a bit more hair at the back of the top of her head if that makes sense, I did a quick change just to show you what I mean. I'm sure you could do it better though. Your use of light is awesome and the depth is great. Great work
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Your lighting is amazing. Giuseppe is a fantastic guy, he did a portfolio review for me. He is a true professional, honest while being kind. I want to do that course when I have time. Have a great time at the conference
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@natiwata beautiful picture as always. I think you have the drawing and base colors dead on. I think it could use a stronger exposure on the the lighting though. I think it needs a little more distance between the lights and darks to make that dappled lighting really pop.
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@lmrush - Thanks, and yeah Giuseppe is really a great person to have in the publishing world, the course is super flexible, basically whatever you need input on, 2 skype calls and email.
@evilrobot - I've gone back and forth on the contrast, the problem is that I don't want it to get too dark, but I could bump up the light. Especially when printed, the piece loses some focus if there's too much contrast.
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Hi Nat! Amazing piece! Really, really nice lighting, great characters, great composition. The only thing that is bugging me is also the dog... I thing it needs to be in more, or completely cut off. Right now, it add nothing to the piece (I also had to look a while to find it) but when you do see it, it kind of steel the focus and lead the eye out of the picture.. Maybe if you don't want him to take a big part of the composition and don't want to have it with the family, you could have him sniffing at something farther in the background ? Or running after a squirrel ?
You're a huge source of inspiration for me, I really love your work!
noemiegionetlandry.squarespace.com
noemie_illustration on Instagram -
@NoWayMe Thank you for you encouraging words! For time sake, I went ahead and took the dog out. He is part of the story so I'll probably add him back in at some point, but I need to print this tonight.
@evilrobot I also bumped up some of the lighting a bit
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Really like this Nate. Love the colours and your style. Now that the dog has been taken away it looks great. I do think that the dog would have been nice though.
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@Lee-Holland Thanks! I'll put the dog back in, maybe he'll see the bunny... or be 'marking' a tree
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oh ya gotta have the dog!
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Looks great:)
