Our SVS Virtual Studio 2019!

[demotlj]

@Whitney-Simms This piece is great, and not just for a 12 year old -- it's great period. Tell her to keep at it because the more she learns and practices now, the better it will get into her bones and stick with her the rest of her life. How I wish I had learned the fundamentals at that age!

[Heather Boyd]

24 more weeks of ABC plants. I couldn’t fit them all in the month of April for Aprilbet. Lily of the Valley was a test but will be included in the complete collection. So I started last week with my Aloe Vera plant.

Painting in gouache,

[Whitney Simms]

@Kat thank you! Can you tell I'm ready for summer!

@demotlj @Aleksey I'm not super sure how much knowledge I am giving her, but we have a good time. I know here well enough to correct without sugar coating anything. About value and telling her to stop putting so much detail in her thumbnails. Move faster! She draws lighter now too. A few things. Kate has a love for creating and that isn't anything you can really put in someone. Sometimes you can help foster the love of creating, but there has to be something there to start.

Anyways, how much would you have given to have something like SVS at 12 years old! This girl is going any place she wishes with her art.

And that freaking city scape. I get no credit for that other than the topic and a few random reference pictures of store fronts. Her painting was really all her own. No direct copy from reference. So So good. I did make her do a color dummy. Maybe I'll claim 1% just for guidance. Mentoring and teaching is the best.

[LauraA]

@demotlj I like these! They remind me of Ernest Shepherd! (Pooh, for anyone who doesn't know)

[LauraA]

It has been a really hard week to get anything done, so I just wanted to post something! Today I'm knocking out color schemes and struggling to use a fairly realistic color palette for a dark building in my neighborhood. (I have another scheme in which the building is red.) I added a texture to this one and rather like it because it's simple, but I'm not convinced the color mood is right. The rest of the process is in a thread called Children in the Neighborhood Series WIP and eventually I'll post all the color schemes there.

And I signed up for the book cover class! Have a good end of the week, everyone!

[demotlj]

@LauraA He is the style I'm trying to emulate right now and I really enjoy doing it but I'm finding it hard to do on larger characters or complex scenes. It works best for me with small characters set in a landscape or with vignettes.

[demotlj]

@LauraA I like it, and like how her hair blends into the background -- it makes her feel anchored.

[LauraA]

@demotlj I think most of Ernest Shepard's scene were small vignettes or landscapes. (Sorry, I spelled his name wrong the first time.) Once upon a time most interior illustrations were of this simple type, and I like them. They are modest but well done. Maybe if you want to do something a bit more comprehensive in this style, look at Beatrix Potter? And I wouldn't worry about how modern they are or aren't (I know you didn't ask this, but it always comes to mind with me because I like this style a lot as well). I think your style would adapt in time. Nice work!

[braden H]

Viking longhouses and stave churches are awesome. And when in doubt, add a tower

[braden H]

Using silhouettes is awesome for character design, too.

[burvantill]

@Braden-Hallett that eye patch is an amazing detail!
Are the 5, 3, 2 brackets at the top referring to proportions of different aged people. Just curious, that my guess, anyway.

[braden H]

@burvantill Thanks! the 5/3/2 is to remind me to break things up into thirds or fifths, and to avoid cutting things in half.

If I don't have a big ol' red line on the half line I ALWAYS divide characters in half

[Susan Marks]

@Braden-Hallett Way cool.
Did you use silhouette character drafts before you were in the CED class? Or are you carrying over that approach into your character designs? (I've been lurking watching you all post in that thread).

I'm learning a ot from your sketched heads in the different directions.

[braden H]

@Susan-Marks I've JUST started playing around with silhouettes in character design (because it works so well in the environment design class)

[burvantill]

My husbands ipad finally kicked the bucket so he got a new one today. A PRO because he’s spoiled. Since we are family sharing I “borrowed “ it and uploaded procreate from our cloud. It’s so beautiful. I’ve been using an old version procreate on my little mini iPad so it’s nice to see all the great new features it has on such a ginormous screen. I’m going to have to get a Apple Pencil now to use with “his” iPad.

[braden H]

The other children insisted Sir Chopsalot was both safe and saved time in the long run. Noah remained dubious.

[burvantill]

I had an idea to make my giveaway postcard for the SCBWI convention actually look like a vintage postcard. I had a random thought, what if AD's actually used our postcards as postcards instead of throwing them away after they were done with them. It was just a thought, but I went ahead and created a postcard and now I want your thoughts and advice. Is it too busy? A stupid idea? It's okay, you won't hurt my feelings. I trust your judgement. You are my art friends.

[demotlj]

I am continuing to practice my inking but couldn’t think of what to sketch so I googled, “random animal” and the first animal to come up was a hedgehog, so here is my pen and ink hedgehog.

[demotlj]

@burvantill I really the style and spent some time peering behind the letters looking at all the great stuff you have in the background but to do that, I had to zoom in with my iPad Pro. What size are the postcards? Can you see that detail with the naked eye?

[burvantill]

@demotlj I built it at 6x4.25”. i haven’t printed it yet. I wanted to see if it would pass the digital test. I guess not.