12 Jan 2023, 20:04

@Solomon-Designs I'm so sorry to hear that you're feeling this way. I don't know of any professionals offering critiques at the moment, but other people here might. I do have a little advise on continuing with your art through the craziness of parenthood though!

Just to warn you, there will probably be several months after your baby gets here that you don't have much time, energy, or focus for art, and this is ok! Give yourself the permission to step back and focus on parenthood for a while, and if you have time for a little sketching on the side, go for it, but if not, don't worry too much. For me, the first 6 months of the "baby year" were the hardest, but after that life seemed to settle back into somewhat of a routine and I was able to have some time for myself again. So just be aware of this and realized that you will eventually have time again!

I've also tried to look at this time when I have really young kids running around the house, and feel so overwhelmed and busy, as a time to lay the groundwork for a future successful illustration career. If I focus on just improving skills with what little time and energy I have, it really helps. I do what I can, when I can, so that someday when I find myself with more time, I can be ready to hit the ground running. Every once in a while on 3PP they do a podcast on starting a career "late." there are plenty of successful illustrators who have started their careers in their late 30s, 40s, and even 50s.

I'm not a professional, but I did take a look at your portfolio. I've got a few thoughts. Feel free to use or discard!

It looks like you've got some good things going on in your portfolio! Your animal characters feel the most natural and appealing to me. For some reason your human characters seem a little less appealing. Maybe styling character design a little more might help with this? I think the illustration of the fox with a key and the chest is one of your strongest pieces. I love your use of color and the composition. I also love the character design of the fox at the table with the bird.

The picture with the farm animals and the cow with the electric guitar is a piece that you might want to consider reworking or removing. The concept is fun, but the design is a little confusing. The one of the iguana painting is also really fun, but I feel like the contrast between the light and shadow is a bit too strong. You could try bringing some warm blues into the light, and working some muted oranges into the shadows, not so much as to change the overall feeling of light and shadow, but just to take the down the contrast a bit.

Overall I love your textures! I think you just need to keep going, learning and improving little by little. You've got a book in your portfolio, which is awesome! That says a lot about your ability to finish a project. Maybe set an achievable goal for yourself every month so that you can see that you're making progress. But please above all be kind to yourself and don't give up!