Hello everyone, it's been quiet here for a while, so I thought I would share some photos of my trip to Cal Arts of Santa Clarita, California.

This school is famous, because so many talented creators of our childhoods graduated here. I.e. Pixar.

I have been drawing lately, but not children's books, things that I actually like to draw. Please click the imgur link below.

https://imgur.com/a/cal-arts-feb-26-2025-ejnAj54

@Ari-Sorokin Clip Studio isn't costly, there are two versions, PRO and EX, EX is much more expensive but it only has a couple of extra features that are not that useful for most people.
The PRO version is quite cheap (buy it on sale or on black Friday), I use an EX version on my main work computer and I bought an extra PRO license last year for editing on my secondary computer, I paid about $16 for it and it has a free upgrade to the upcoming new version as well.

I wouldn't go with their monthly subscription, the "updates" you pay with it are not worth it and you can buy a new license or an upgrade for cheap if you really need to have it updated.

You can also try PaintStorm Studio, which is like an updated and evolved version of SAI, really great for painting and I think it's worth around $25.

Hey Pamela, I know the post is a little old and I am definitely too late to reply to this, but I am gonna do it anyway as I believe it can help someone who reads this too.

I am a publishing consultant and I also work with a publishing company. A very good friend of mine who happens to be my client, asked me about this company Kravitz and sons. They reached out to her with these marketing plans that were really promising and eventhough I was already marketing and distributing all her books, I wanted to consider these guys as well just to see if they can do it better than me. However, being in the industry for so long, I wanted to do my research before getting ahead with this. That's when I found your post and the very statement about them being partners with Ingram is a definite lie. In fact the whole plan they sold to your dad is a lie. Not that its not possible, it definitely is. But these guys are gonna drain your pockets to get something done that doesn't cost anything at all.

They must have given a review to your dad's book with critical analysis and everything stating why it is important for him to distribute and promote his books and the potential. That's all bullshit, its all chat GPT. There's no panel doing this critical analysis if that's what they've told him. This is phishing, that's how they do it. And once you pay them, they'll ask you for more and more everytime for a new service. Paying for the services is not the problem here. But what they'll sell you would be the most useless service of all time, and they know it yet they'll charge a highly unreasonable amount for it. So yes, it is a scam, and I hope your dad didn't fall for it.

@Michael-Angelo-Go I think its both. I like the drama but I also don't know who to follow

@kayleenartlover I’m not sure about these, so it’s worth asking here: support@svslearn.com. I didn’t have any purchased items before, so I just bought the package offered on the new site directly.

@Lee-White will svs have a bluesky account? Substack account? Taht would be a neat way to keep in touch for some messaging and between members as well.

Earlier I invited people to join the 3pp premium discord but that is shutting down too with all the new SVS changes so I created a new unofficial 3pp fans discord. Feel free to join if you want another place to chat with fellow kid lit people. Join link here: https://discord.gg/mY4XADKr

@demotlj thankyou for your help :). Ill look into this scanner. I just need it for Photoshop so it should be fine

I'm in the NYC area and never heard of this event 😮 Great to know! I do a lot of cute illustrations and sell at events but tend to cater towards anime crowd, specifically fans of chibis. I do cute and colorful. But would love to attend 🙂

@Avondrood-art Some of them do (Like Posing Characters with Jake Parker) so it's a little inconsistent. The descriptions do seem to all say the name of the teacher at least, though you're right that when you're IN the class there's no obvious info in some of the classes. Good suggestion. Commenting to bump (if that helps) @SVS

@AnthonyWheeler Your video inspires me to get rolling on my cards this year! Thank you Anthony! I have a list in my cart for art supplies... just need to take the plunge and just do it. 🙂

@ArtistErin drivethrurpg has a great couple free guides on ussing affinity publisher

@ArtistErin Thank you, that's really encouraging. Don't think the author is going for the increased rate. But I'm going to focus on creating other things that speak to me.

@Mimi-Simon The product of my insanity hahahahahaHAHA

In case you were looking for an actual explanation:

So if you start at the top of the ring and go clockwise, there are 5 different "loops" representing 5 different people's explanations of how the "hero's journey" story structure works. They all turn out lining up wonderfully, showing how this style of storytelling is kind of like.. magic? Timeless? Nearly universal?

There are different styles of stories, but if you're writing a typical one it'll hold specific components. The character will experience an inciting incident that will force them out of their usual lives. Their adventure will have a rise and then a fall of action. There will be a dark night of the soul. Etc.

It's more of a visual for people (me) who have studied these structures, but it's also not a bad jumping off point for someone to go "so what IS Blake Snyder's Save the Cat structure?" and look it up from there. The references are in verrryyy small text so I am sorry about that, but they're all listed in that little paragraph at the bottom for further research.

@jvartandillustration I really like the movement you have here, your character design and choices in shape, lighting, very nice!!

@ArtistErin @Jeremy-Ross I've had an art account for my social media on several different platforms over the last decade or so.

Recently I stopped using them for a few months because they were making me feel frustrated and demotivated with my art, and then tentatively poked my toes back into them a few weeks ago with the caveat that they are NOT for marketing, they are just for sharing what I'm doing with my art.

Chasing the respective algorithms and trying to "do everything right" (post consistently! go live three times a day! alternate between reels and carousels! wait to respond to comments until you post your next piece of content to encourage people to engage with your newest post when they see your comment!) will drive you crazy.

I worked for a social media marketing company for a while, and I knew how to do everything "right," but it made me not want to make art. I'd rather make art! They can be great platforms, just tread carefully and if you start feeling the urge to "optimize for the algorithm" rather than "create good art," take a break for a month and come back when that itch goes away!