@evilrobot
You are doing a great job! The 2nd sketch really portrays how you described the Barbarian / Warrior. You can see that he's older, and doesn't stand quite as straight and tall as he used to, but he's still strong.

Making his hand into a fist position is a good change. Before, it looked like he might be having a heart attack, and here, it makes him look like he could be struggling a little, (or maybe just straightening his clothes) but he's ok.

@kevin-longueil I like the detail on that helmet--very cool! The textures in this image are nice as well.

I think a lot of people who do this don't realize what they are really asking for in terms of time, effort, etc. And there's the saying, "It never hurts to ask!" I guess that's not always true!

Yes, it's important to be up-front with people and be clear on your expectations.

I would just let them know how much it would cost, or if there's something you'd be willing to trade/barter. If they are saying something like, "it should be free since we're friends" then if you're feeling snarky, ask them what they are going to give to you for free. Let them know how long it would take you to do what they are asking, and they should get the idea, and realize they are asking too much of you. If you don't have time or interest in the project, just let them know as kindly as possible.

Whatever the situation, remember to thank them for the compliment of wanting your work!

@evilrobot
I've been trying to figure out how to digitally paint a drawing without losing the line work as well. What solutions did you find?

@AnneBrierley
Hello!
It took me a bit to figure everything out, too. I made a suggestion to SVS of making a Welcome or Orientation page to include details like how to use the forums (among other things) & they said they are working on it--they just have a lot of things they are doing--esp. with the live classes. They did add a Curriculum page, so you might want to check that out:
https://www.svslearn.com/curriculum/

A few more notes on up-votes:
If you hover your mouse over the number, you can see the names of people who have "voted" (or some of the names if there are several).

If you click on the number, you'll see a whole list, but by their icon instead of their name, and if you put your mouse over the icon, you can see the name, or click to go to their profile page.

On your profile page, you will see some stats at the top, including "reputation". I believe that this number is the sum of your up-votes and down-votes (but I don't think anyone uses the down-vote button here--everyone is supportive and friendly! If they dislike or disagree with something, they either ignore the post, or make their own comment to share their opinion). I suppose the "reputation" is to help determine the reliability of a commenter (and therefore their comments).

Simona Ceccarelli's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Jmz9jr0Evjw_2AMf6V23A

Thanks for making & sharing your videos!

@kathrynadebayo
Yes, I'm missing the warm glow on the last one. I hope you get a chance to take another photo.

I am not very experienced, but as far as I know, watercolors don't scan well. I saw a post where someone else asked a similar question, and Lee White said that he takes photographs. To make a high quality image, he takes more than one photo, then merges them digitally.

This post also gives advice on adding texture back in digitally: http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/3646/taking-photos-of-watercolor-illustrations/5

Here's a post from Lee with an image showing his process for making a digital copy. (The comment is reposted in the thread linked above.) In the comments further down, Lee says he prints onto watercolor paper (so the digital texture wouldn't be necessary in that case):
http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/1881/prints-of-traditional-artwork/10

I think the closed eyes & peaceful expression show a steady, calm strength & fearlessness. It's great to see this type of fearless attitude depicted!

@chip-valecek
re: "I was trying to be silly with that bottom line."
Ok, it works if it's supposed to be a joke! (Maybe add an exclamation point? ...unless it's supposed to be more dead-pan.)

It does work to leave the stamp area. I don't think most people would see it as a problem. (I was just mentioning it as something to think about. Also, I've seen mail where the Post Office put the cancellation stamp in the wrong place, so there's that, too!)

@boris-bayo
Thanks! Yes, your comments have been very helpful!

I was thinking the bird's head was in profile & about eye level, so you can see straight through the beak. That's a good point about seeing down onto the tongue or up into the palate. I will have to keep that in mind in the future.

Oh, I'm glad you thought the colors worked. I did want the rabbit to be bold and stand out. I just wasn't sure if I went too far with the contrast. The 80/20 concept makes sense.

I tried to add shadow before I added the tones. Maybe it's not enough? I wanted the light to come from the left side in a downward direction, but from a little lower angle for a soft morning light. I want to keep the image light--like a bright spring morning.

Here's what it looks like without the shadow layer:

@chip-valecek
I really like the postcard with the photos layout. This was a great solution!

The phrase at the bottom, "Nothing can stop you but the ground." could use a little work. It makes it sound like you are going to hit the ground hard (to me!). And feels almost like a contradiction to the phase at the top "Be free & fearless".

I'd also prefer the 1st phrase to be a formatted differently. Maybe it's supposed to be more free-form, but it's looking a bit messy compared to the rest of the postcard.

On picture postcards, the stamp goes on the opposite side of the postcard (with the addresses and message), and it doesn't get the wavy lines until it's cancelled at the Post Office (in which case, it should have a stamp affixed). But I guess these can be forgiven, since otherwise it wouldn't be clear that it's a postcard, unless you add another postcard peaking out behind this one and have it facing the other way, showing the back. But then it would get confusing because it would be hard to show the difference of the photos being part of this postcard, but the two postcards being separate.

Overall, it looks really good! It would be cool for a skydiving company to offer this design, where you can insert your own photos.