@Joshua-Chennault thank you. I ll try that in a few days time if they don't answer already on the forum

Hello! I’m planning an exhibition with character paintings like the one bellow to sell at local, less formal galleries and maybe online (but rather not).

Is there a market for this style, and do they need to look more polished?

Should I stick to a fantasy theme, or can I mix themes if I use the same medium?
I’ve noticed most exhibitions focus on one theme. What’s your advice?

Thanks guys!

Shadow Mare_small.jpg

@Michael-Angelo-Go IMG_0286.jpeg
Hey, I think this is a great start. Two things I might change slightly are to further simplify and strengthen the shape of the mouth, and adjust the shape of the neck. It’s quite a bit thicker in the photo. Also, when drawing the figure, if a squashing action happens on one side of a limb/joint/part of the torso/neck, it will generally always be mirrored by a stretch on the other side and vice versa. Emphasizing this can give your characters more energy.

@Adam-Thornton-0 great question! let me look into that!

@Mimi-Simon Thank you so much for your update! Hopefully, things will progress smoothly toward an agreement, and you'll be able to focus solely on illustration-related work. Of course, it would be much nicer to know by the end of the call whether things are moving forward or not, so there’s no need to dwell on it afterward. Also, thank you for sharing what the agent asked—it’s helpful to prepare for next week and brush up on my English skills as well. 🙂

@Meg-Clayburn if you're worried about him being too centered try doing a few mini thumbnails just playing around with the composition and rearrange some things, try looking at the rule of thirds or other common set ups, I have similar thoughts about my own work and try these methods, hope it helps!! 🙂 🐸

@jenn if you have new questions, we invite you to ask the questions in the new community. technology and society changes and what was right 5 years ago may not be right now. We would be happy to answer any questions!

@cathedralcolors Alcohol is a solvent, so it can dissolve certain other inks. I clean my calligraphy pens with alcohol and it just eats up the inks on my pens, so I can’t use those inks under alcohol markers, just over them once the alcohol has dried.

You’d have to find an ink pen that has an ink that can stand up to solvents. According to my research, Hi Tec C (traditional, NOT collector) gel pens, Zebra Sara (the clip version NOT the normal sarassa), and Pilot G2, as well as Sakura Micron pens have been tested and approved to work with alcohol markers like COPICs.

@ArtistErin This was soooo helpful! Thank you so much for making this for me! I did a rough redo of the character and it's not perfect and needs some work but it is a lot better than before.Messenger Kids_creation_72860357.jpeg

@Meg-Clayburn Oh this is such a great detail, i will try that too, thanks a lot 🌱

Thanks for the responses everyone- really helpful advice!

@Michael-Angelo-Go use glaze or nightshade which we should all be using all the time in the first place. You should be relatively safe with that.

@jvartandillustration You're welcome! Wondering where you're at in this process, it brings me back to my muraling days 🙂 Loved this time of my life... so just vicariously living it again through you if you don't mind!

@Michael-Angelo-Go Messenger_creation_475F9EAF-54FF-4B63-AED2-88ED2877D223.jpeg

Messenger_creation_66F04F83-C212-4187-9D52-61FEA50357BC.jpeg

@demotlj The thing is I'm not sure that exact consistency was that much of a concern. It would be rare to reuse the exact same background in 2 pages, and even then, it doesn't really matter if there are little differences (not like it matters in animation). I'm not sure if this was ever an issue that picture book illustrators of old had to even figure out...

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Yes, you're right about that, thank you for the advice and support! I asked the publisher for a bit more information on what the book will be like, and I’ll decide after that whether it feels like a good fit for me.

@kayleenartlover there ate also the storytelling collective challenges. They are affiliated with Drivethrurpg and roll20 and have several writing courses and challenges going on during the year

I will suggest to get the ideas down on paper. Because whenever you ask if someone is interested you are giving a second seat to your own interest, and that is what will make your work a great read, if you want to write it, so start small, put a deadline on and go for it.
We will be here helping the best we can

@Hannah-England Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback, Hannah! That is a great suggestion. It'll be nice to have something from a different angle and not specifically focussing on the characters. I'll work on something like that.