Developing a style and feedback required.

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

Hi everyone,

As an artist that is interested and experienced with a fairly wide variety of mediums, I sometimes find it difficult to find a style that is really specific to me that I feel others would like too.

I created this style many years ago and I feel that it is fairly original in that I have not seen too many other artists try this style.
I have quite a few different faeries in this style and I wrote prose to go with each one, I would love to create a story on each different faery which is based on the name of the faery.

This one, for example, is called 'Playful' and she is a Spring faery so her story would center around the fact that she is found in the Spring and is responsible for opening up all of the flowers ect....
Here is a question, should the story be centered around the poem which rhymes and just be a longer version of the prose or should it be a non-rhyming story with the prose in the insert?

Do you feel that this style is interesting to the publishing world?
Is there a market for my style of work?

Thank you for your feedback.


[animatosoor]

Hi @Jessica-Jolicoeur! I think it can generally be quite a challenge to find a style that fits this criteria. I agree that yours is unique to you, and that it is not something I have seen used by other artists. I see that you have shared one piece of work here, but I wonder what it would be like to have the entire series (with a consistent style applied throughout), accompanied by the text it was inspired by?

As for the poem/prose question, do you mean that these illustrations would accompany the poetry/prose in a book? Perhaps each faerie illustration could represent the key idea of each poem/prose.

I feel like an effective way to find out if there is a market for this style of work would be to find artists out there who are finding success doing something quite similar, or even take the leap and post a cohesive, complete series either in your e-shop or on your social media page to gauge how drawn people are to it.

I hope this helps answer a few of your questions!

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

Hello @animatosoor ,

Thank you very much for responding, I really appreciate that you took the time to comment.

It is interesting that you comment about it being a series as I have done several faeries in this style.
I will insert an image of the other faeries below.
I had only included this one image as it is the only large scale painting that I have of this style and I was in a bit of a rush when I created this post.

My idea is that the poem was inspired by the faerie and would be printed in the forward of the book and that a story inspired by the faery would follow with a couple full images. The images would either be in full color with the faery done in its corresponding color as a silhouette and the cover would be monochromatic as it is in the images below.

I have done a fair bit of R and D on different styles of illustration and art from artists working as illustrators and selling their own work through various marketing platforms.
It has been a while since I have looked up this style of work though and I do think it is a good suggestion.

I think I need to continue to develop this style some more as I have many other ideas for this kind of work and I may continue to stick with my plan to open a shop and sell my prints and generate some interest.

I have considered self-publishing and selling books on my website and establishing my Patreon as I have not done much with it.

Thanks again, I appreciate it!

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

Here are the other faeries in the same style.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZWwKQeDhJ7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[animatosoor]

@Jessica-Jolicoeur Thanks for the link! It’s cool to see this series of faerie silhouettes.

Out of curiosity, what medium do you use, and what market would you eventually like to get into? Would it be the children’s book world?

If the goal is to run your own independent illustration business selling these original paintings and prints to art buyers (for their homes/offices, for instance), and you have gauged that other similar work is doing well in that area, the same could be the case for you.

Deciding whether that’s your end goal or publishing these in books is your end goal would make a huge difference in how you go about this process, I think. Perhaps it would help to pick a path, and then further define who the target audience would be there? Lee White covers this in great detail in his business course.

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

@animatosoor

I use a few different mediums depending on the subject matter.
I love using color pencil and watercolor and I am dabbling with the idea of using digital formats for my art.

Ultimately my goal with these images is to have them published and in a book series.

My target audiences are children in the six to 13 category and mainly girls although I am interested in creating a line in this subject matter that is interesting to boys as well.

I don't really want to go the route of selling prints via online store as I feel that it would practically be a full-time job and would take away time and energy required for building my illustration style and writing.

I feel that these faeries and that silhouette style have scope within a broader market.
I can see them lending well to books, art prints in kids rooms, prints on fabric for clothing and bedding.
That may be a stretch but I don't really think so as other artists who do faeries such as Linda Ravenscroft has created a whole market with her art licensed to different products.

If you are not familiar here is her website https://www.lindaravenscroft.com/

She now owns an entire beautiful shop in the U.K.

I am not really quite sure how to get my style out there, ideally, I think I need to start by gaining some interest from publishers who see the validity of this style and who feel that it would be popular for them to print.
The faery market for products and books and all things faery is quite big and more popular than ever and my style lends well to other creatures in this area like mermaids and other mystical creatures.

I will look into that course that you mentioned.
Any ideas on how I get this style published and looked at by publishing houses is greatly appreciated.

Jessica Jolicoeur

[SundayGirl76]

Finding your style is difficult but it's okay to work across a range. I do a lot of copy artist work for publishers but still maintain my own style, so don't fret too much about wanting to work in different ways - I've found it to be a help rather than a hindrance.

Your fairy illustrations and prose would work so well as a zine. Maybe print a few and try selling on Etsy. I sell mine on there - the ones that don't fit into my publishing portfolio. I think yours would do really well.

[Jessica Jolicoeur]

@SundayGirl76

Hello SundayGirl,

Thank you very much for your comment.
I think you are right, I do tend to worry about having different styles but I do think that having a wide variety of styles is ultimately beneficial.
I love to do watercolor flowers and botanicals but I also love to do flowers and landscapes in acrylic paint.

As far as illustration goes, I enjoy drawing more photo-realistically in color pencil and graphite and I am writing a story that I intend to illustrate aswell that is about a group of farm animals and would be drawn in a more photo-realistic style, some viniettes in graphite (think Beatrix Potter, those little drawings that are headers for each chapter) and including full color images done in watercolor.
I do plan on trying to get this story published by a larger, established publishing house. I am not sure how possible it is but I have to try.

As far as the Faeries go, I do think they would lend well to a zine or small book but I think my target audience is children although I think they could be interesting to the tween and older female crowd as well.

I am considering creating and publishing a few copies and selling them locally in my area to get them out there and gauge the interest, we have a small bookstore chain that might be able to carry them as my small community has a lot of resources and support for local artists.
I think they would lend well to a kind of daily inspiration card deck.
Something with a small poem about each faerie and how you can be inspired by the message that faerie brings to you for the day.

I will take a look at your Etsy shop and see what you are talking about.
My only concern about selling them on Etsy is the time that is required to manage the updates, photos, editing, posting and then ultimate shipping.
It seems to be a lot of work (I have an Etsy shop for my accessories) if they are not making enough money for it to be worth it.

I will give it some thought. I suppose I can't know if I don't try right?!

Thanks again for your comment.

Jessica Jolicoeur