@danielerossi I love that you understand peaches and baccala!!!! Did your family make soup with it, or fry it? What about dandelion soup? My grandmother's Italian was very much a dialect that evolved over time and combined portuguese, and Ukrainian, and Spanish. She never learned to read, and never really learned English. She ended up taking on words from other immigrant neighbors, and it was something of it's own beast. She called it Minest, but it wasn't minestrone. It was potatoes, garlic, chick peas and dandelions (or anything green from the garden cooked to mush and served on fresh crusty bread)

@KevinTreaccar helpful, thank you! I’m feeling the aquarium.

Thanks Heather! When i first tried gouache I hated it. Water color has always been hard for me to get colors right, and the transitions to be what I want them to be. I found a huge shift in getting a good Sable brush and I'm enjoying the medium much more. So I'll keep working at it! Thanks for the kind comment.

@skeletortoise Aw thank you so much! 😊

Here's the final scan!
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I would suggest fleshing out your story / concept a bit more. The mermaid classroom is a fun setting but what do you want to tell the reader and what would you like them to feel and think? Once you jot down some of those ideas you can start to tune into how you might evoke those certain thoughts and feelings with this illustration. Something else to keep in mind is creating space for text. Right now the best spot I can see for that is one the left page where there’s a sort of gate or door. If you made that a more uniform surface then it could be a good space for room for text. This has piece some strong potential but that makes it easier to get excited and move ahead too early which I do constantly. Hope this helps, I’ll keep an eye out for updates on this one!

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve had time to illustrate. University is so busy, my homework load has been easily 60 hours a week :o. One class I had 50 drawings to turn in. Not just thumbs, but actual rendered dimensional drawings. It’s been WILD. It’s a good thing I love to draw haha.
One class ends this week and I feel like I have a little more breathing room to work on stuff that just fun to create.

Yesterday I took my two kids and my niece and nephews to the zoo. There’s a tunnel under the polar bear pool, and this polar bear kept hanging out behind them. He was very playful and was playing catch with himself. It was quite entertaining. I took a photo of my daughter and the bear photobombed, which was really cute. So I thought I’d recreate a scene with all of the kiddos together.

How does the layout look? I would love to add more goofiness to the bear, but I’m stuck in the how to make him goofy.

Thanks a bunch!

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@Shelley-James-0 very nice work. Good job on getting to this point.

I have a few suggestions - I think the biggest thing that is missing here is a true focal point. You need to have something that you want to direct viewers to. It can be anything really, but you need to pick something. Then the image will start suggesting what it wants. For example, if ONE of those little huts starts to get attention, we can start to downplay other areas of the image.

I did a very fast paint over (sorry its so sloppy), but just to sort of show what I mean. Your is the top image and mine is the bottom. I picked that middle right little structure, then just leaned the focal point there by darkening other areas and then trying to add some detail in the area where I want you to look. Thinking this way makes building an image much much easier. : )

Hope this helps some. : )

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These look really nice. Your style reminds me of the illustrator who illustrated Roald Dahls books, Quentin Blake. Nice work mate.

@GabeRobinson said in Feedback requested for portfolio piece:

@Laura-Hunt I just watched the "How To Fix Your Art" episode on Character Design, and I'm not sure this would have occurred to me before, but having just watched that, I feel like this could benefit from more storytelling. Right now I get from it that a teacher is reading a story about kindness and sharing to some kids, but I don't know what their reaction is to it. You said you were interested in comedic pieces, so maybe the kids could be doing the opposite of what the story says--fighting over toys or pulling each others' hair--or maybe most of the kids could be lined up neat and well-behaved like this but one could be in their own world acting out a story of being a dinosaur or...not sure, but for me, seeing some push and pull between what she's offering them and how they're receiving it would increase my interest in the story. I like the style and colors and look of the characters otherwise!

Thank you, that’s a great idea! The truth is, I was making this initially as a gift for my child’s teacher which is why it’s more sweet. But I think what I’ll need to do is give her a print of it a this version and then maybe do. Portfolio version where there’s more of a funny story happening.

@MimiHecher Awww thank you so much! 😊 I didn't realize they tell a story on their own, so that's really good to hear.

You're right- it's not part of the course. But I'm working on a story about a little rabbit, and I think I'm going to use them as a base for designing her house! Thank you so much for the encouragement!

@von_Nimmermehr Thanks for the flowers! 😉 It's doing "all the things Will tells us to do in all the courses about design and color management", but yet not doing them perfectly.

I just finished this class too- it was definitely tough to draw a house so quickly! Your second one looks really good. I love the cylindrical part of the building sticking out like that- it gives the house a lot of character. It's charming!

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WIP Sandcastle contest... Hoping this story makes sense and if I need to adjust anything? Making pieces for portfolio. This was reviewed in the Creative Lab with Aram Kim in the "Creating Picture Books That Soar" intensive in the SCWBI conference last weekend. Aram suggested I add in more color as in a beach scene. I am not sure how to do that without it becoming too busy! Any thoughts?

@willicreate Thank you so much!!! As a complete novice as far as the technical aspect of creating a website, I understand the gist of what you are saying, however I'm not sure how to do that. Is there an example of a site you can show me so I can figure out how this is done? Thank you thank you thank you 🙂 And thank you for the heads up about changing the year...

I spent the whole day yesterday online with the SCBWI virtual conference and it was sooooo enlightening, yet on the other side of that, the anxiety of my website needing more work was enough to keep me up all night! OMG... and so the last hour was an interactive panel with some big names leading the workshops, the experience was so worth the money because they chose me to be a part of their teaching and discussion. A live critique! And then got a few follows on IG, and people looking at my site, so crossing fingers I can keep the momentum going without slipping into total anxiety mode.

Another question: Do you think a blog would be too much? I often feel I want to have a "conversation" and engage with those who are checking out my work. I have heard a mailing list and a newsletter are better. Just wanting some feedback here. After listening to the 3PP episode with Kelly Sonnack (sp?) I realized how important it is to level up in the marketing skills. A zillion thoughts buzzing through my mind, thank you for letting me ramble!!!!

Here is the piece that was critiqued by Aram Kim of Macmillan Press... I am adapting some of the things she mentioned regarding this incredible sandcastle, mainly to add an adult helping build this monument, as it seemed unrealistic that young kids could build something like this. I chose to make him a teenager, their big brother, and they are sort of gloating and laughing at the puny castle the main character is building.

She also said I should add more vibrant color, like a true beach scene. I have had more success from the limited palette approach. I don't want to add too many things that might make it feel overwhelming and busy. Any thoughts? Sandcastle3Teen.jpg

@Griffin-McPherson Hi Griffen, I think this is much better. What do you think mate?
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@Chantal-Goetheer Hi Chantal, Thank you so much for your feedback.I have had a few people coment on the car not fitting in. I liked the design I think It does throw the viewer by it looking so beetleish. My son said to me why did you use a VW beetle? Ill think more about the vehicle and do some other changes. Thank you!

@Cordelia-F Excellent! Glad you think so 😁

@Laura-Hunt My pleasure! Can't wait to see your work in the future. Best of luck with the picture book dummy submission. 🙂

@ArtMelC yes story is unclear I’ve been working on it thanks for the feedback 😊

@Jeremy-Ross Thank you Jeremy!!!! I'm getting anxious to drop some paint 😃