FEBRUARY CONTEST

[lindasilvestri]

@johanna-kim Brilliant! I can easily see a picture book from this one illustration. Great color palette, composition, pov, characters, environment and love the sweet, inspiring concept!

[Durribie]

@adameverafter I haven't really watched much of DBz but I have been playing a lot of Dragon Quest Builders!

[Eli]

THESE ARE ALL AWESOME. Amazing work, everyone!!

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

@johanna-kim I really like your interpretation of the Octopus Challenge.
You have really created a lot of context, there is a great story taking place in the illustrations in the background. I would love to see this as a book.

[Eli]

@april-s I really, really love this.

[MOO]

@lee-white I was just thinking that whoever is judging has a big job ahead of him! SO MANY entireis and some really nice ones too!

[Hopper12]

@chip-valecek Thank you for putting this together- it is SO much easier to see now!

[April S.]

@eli Thank you so much!

[Johanna Kim]

@jessica-jolicoeur Thanks so much, Jessica! I did spend a lot of time and thought on this concept and illo. And I'm always grateful for any suggestions for improvement.

[bloodycnidaria]

@lindasilvestri LOL this is amazing

[nasvikdraws]

All look great. Great array of styles and topics. Good job guys

[lindasilvestri]

@bloodycnidaria Thank you!!!

[A Former User]

@johanna-kim Kim, I really like your illustration a great deal. It's got so much of "everything" that makes a story fun to read. The art is a perfect solution, IMHO. Congrats on coming in second place! -T

[MOO]

Congratulations to the winners! All of those chosen were so good!

[Zavellart]

I don't think it's fair to only have one judge, just saying. Too subjective. I'm honestly not too happy with this month's results.

[Jason Bowen]

@adameverafter Try not to see it as a competition, see it as prompts to create your best work for your portfolio. We are all winners haha... no seriously

[evilrobot]

@adameverafter I wouldn't take it so personal. The level of skill and dedication of a lot of members of SVS is super high.(these ARE going to be future illustrators of children's books and some of them already are) It's pretty hard to expect to place at the top. I look at who places and then use that to try and figure out why? Concept, skill, a combination of both. I then use that to try and improve on my next one. But for the most part it's about doing the best work you can and getting a great portfolio piece.
(For the record I thought the winning piece was pretty darn cool...)

[Chip Valecek]

@adameverafter Lee has an extremely hard time having to judge all the art that comes in. So many different styles and subjects. Yes it is just one person that is picking, yes most of the pieces are in a traditional style each month. Back when they did the 3rd Thursday contests there was more of a variety of styles that would win each month. But that is also because their were 3 judges picking and each of the judges had their style they liked. But isn't that how all contests are? The more judges, the bigger the variety. Take in mind what @evilrobot said, look at the winners, see what they are doing and keep at it. I have been doing these contests for months, as well as the third Thursdays. Have I ever won? Nope. Is it frustrating? Yeap , but each month I look at why and try my hardest to improve on that.

[Lee White]

@adameverafter I hear ya and appreciate the feedback. Any contest is going to be at the mercy of the judges and the reason I judge this one is that I came up with the idea of running the monthly contests as a way to keep some of what we were doing before. It's just something I like doing and something I hope you guys like contributing to as well. There is no way I can pick a winner without someone thinking that it shouldn't have won. That is the nature of contests I guess. Even if we had 10 judges we still have to pick someone to win which means someone else won't like the results we came up with.

In terms of style and content, I have taught thousands of students and guided them through all sorts of styles. I started out as a very realistic oil painter which many people don't know about. All I taught for the first few years was portrait and figurative drawing and painting. I minored in Entertainment Design and industrial design at school and taught a lot of that stuff too. So in terms of judging, I'm pretty open to any style and appreciate them all. In this month's contest winners and honorable mentions we had graphic styles, rendered styles, painterly styles, pencil, watercolor, digital and everything in between. The only thing that we don't see too much of is traditional art, but that would be perfectly acceptable if someone wanted to submit that. About 95% of our students are digital to some extent.

There is no way any results would make everyone happy, but we do the best we can. You can always list the ones you think should have won as well. Your opinion counts and you should feel confident knowing that there could have been any number of winners. I just have to make a decision at some point which is the nature of contests. Someone wins and a lot of people don't. But ultimately I hope everyone is getting portfolio work out of the illustrations they are submitting. In the end it's not really who won that matters, it's did you get something that you like out of it. If you did that, you already won no matter what the contest results say. : )

[Kat]

Lee, I think you do a great job judging the contest that you run. You've got to be a bit overwhelmed by the number of entries, and how many are great work. I really like that there are several Honorable Mentions included, so there really are multiple winners each month. And I also like that you make a statement about why each piece was chosen. It's helpful to those of us who don't win, if we are willing to listen and learn. So, thank you!