Bongo options
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@Nyrryl-Cadiz Hm. If I pull Clyde in closer, I feel like that makes him a more active and present element in the image, and I feel like that would require a much more substantial compositional change. I had intended him to be in the background, lurking near the orange trees, but pulling him closer would shift him into the middle ground and the middle of the river, and might imply he's moving forward toward Bongo. Do you think that's a stronger choice?
@Jeremy-Ross Ah, I see--I need to make the vines look more like vines and differentiate them from the tree branches a bit more. He's supposed to be hanging from a vine, not a branch. If that's confusing it will look weird, you're right. Thanks!
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@Coreyartus This is such a fun illustration - Bongo looks great hanging from the vine. I'm just wondering what he is looking at? Maybe if Clyde comes closer, his gaze will be directed at him? Overall I think it's a great composition and color palette (and Bongo really is so adorable - I'm rooting for him to get one of those oranges!)
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@Coreyartus hi! Yeah, It makes him more of a threat.
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Ok, I made these improvements--Thanks so much, everybody!! Clyde makes more of a comically cute statement now, and I made the vines look more like vines and increased the scale of Bongo's hands. I also added a texture overlay which bumped up the intensity of the colors a bit.
In the process of making these changes I started to develop some questions I hope some of the folks here can help answer. I'm not sure there are actual answers...
Is choosing the moments in a story to illustrate normally the purview of an Illustrator? I would think Art Directors/Editors would have very specific ideas regarding which moments of stories they want illustrated. I'm asking because I simply don't know--I've never worked with an Art Director of any type of children's publication. Most of the Art Director discussion panels I've seen and workshops I've attended through my local SCBWI seem to be with ADs that are incredibly specific about what they've directed their Illustrators to do... One AD from one of the "Big Five" even took selfies, which she would then email the illustrator saying "I want the expression on her face to look like this," and had the Illustrators compose imagery around text that was already formatted on the page (she called it a galley sheet). I can't imagine they'd just let Illustrators choose which parts of a story to illustrate.
@Nyrryl-Cadiz's simple suggestion of pulling Clyde closer to make him more threatening really made me think about what purpose this illustration was serving in the telling of the story, and it made me wonder if that was the kind of question an Illustrator is even allowed to answer... What kinds of parameters are Illustrators given on a projects like this, normally? If I was an AD for a magazine and needed a single illustration for a specific story, do I normally let an Illustrator choose which moments to illustrate? Does it depend on the AD? The publication? The project?
I'm curious, because I've seen illustrations that don't necessarily articulate specific moments of a story, but capture the emotional essence of the characters involved, much more similar to the monthly "word prompts" we normally receive. This is a nice change of pace this month, and to be honest I'm completely thrown. LOL!
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@Coreyartus Beautiful! It feels like a very hopeful image.
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Used the prompt to play with some other features, too. This one isn't as "kidlitart" oriented, and doesn't have much to do with the original prompt, but it was fun to play with!
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@Coreyartus, might be a curve ball, but I like this one better for the prompt...
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@Coreyartus I love how you handled the leaves! Great colors~ and I feel like you had more fun with this one than the other one. I don’t think it’s any less “kidlit” than your first one. It’s an awesome image! Love that you’re experimenting and having fun with it!
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@Coreyartus I really like the first one because of the color palette and an obvious space for the text placement.
The second one is great because of the perspective! I love the collage of leaves. I do feel the whole piece is a little dark though. Maybe try lightening it up a little?
Great to see you having fun with the prompt!
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@Jeremy-Ross , @aprilshin , @Neha-Rawat I enjoyed making both of them in different ways, but I'm more confident in the first being more appropriate to the challenge than the second. The tone of the short story doesn't gel with the second image I drew. It may be more visually interesting, but the short story seems to hinge so much on Bongo's confident fearlessness and wit (bordering on arrogance) that I feel like the second image just doesn't apply... The second image has more of a Jungle Book-vibe that speaks to danger a bit more. I don't ever feel Bongo is in much actual danger in the short story prompt--in fact, it seems he knew what he was doing all along...
