Hello from Paris, France

[agathe]

Hello everyone!

I am not sure what the custom is when joining this forum, but I thought I should take a minute to introduce myself.

My name is Agathe Denis, and I am a French-American (by that I mean that I am French and grew up in the United States) illustrator. I grew up reading a lot of beautiful books from both cultures, and learned how to draw as a kid through those books, and with the encouragement of my mom who also loves to draw.

I have never taken any in person art classes (I once took one art class on zoom during the pandemic) and as such do not have much of an artistic community, which I hope to find here.

It has been my lifelong dream to work as a children's book illustrator and author, but I find myself more and more at a loss when it comes to how to enter this world.

I am looking forward to connecting with the other members of this forum and hearing your advice (it's tough not to get discouraged when doing this alone).

Outside of illustration, I am currently working on a PhD in Economics in Paris, I row competitively, and I love to be outside, but mainly any minute where I am not drawing I am thinking about it in some way.

Sorry for the long post, if you want to check out my work my website is here: https://www.agathedenis.com/ and my instagram is @dessin.agathe or https://www.instagram.com/dessin.agathe/?hl=en

[Geoffrey Mégardon]

Hello Agathe!
I am French too, but living in Wales!
Did you do the Children's Book Pro course on SVSLearn? it is a very good start for feeling less lost on what to do. Also the book "What they don't teach at art school" from Will Terry is very helpful.
How do you make your animations?

[agathe]

@Geoffrey-Mégardon Coucou Geoffrey! Nice to meet you! I haven't done it yet, but I am planning on starting it this summer when I have a bit more time to do it regularly. I will check the book out though, that would be a great thing to look at in the meantime, thank you!

For my animations I actually do them all in Procreate, there is an "animation assist" mode you can use to make them. However I am looking to learn after effects and other softwares because procreate is a bit limited when you want to do more than just simple short animations.

[Asyas_illos]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for sharing your portfolio, I especially love the frog on the old bicycle.

[agathe]

@Asyas_illos Thank you very much!

[Tom Harshberger]

Welcome to the group! I work with '3rd culture kids' as part of my day job. It's a real gift to have such a unique perspective! I think that will serve you well in illustration for sure. Your portfolio site is also very clean and well done!
SVS has been very encouraging in the short time I've been a part! Welcome to the party. Best of luck with your pursuits!

[Mike Babich]

Welcome!

[MimiHecher]

@agathe Hi agathe!
I'm sure you will find a lot of encouragement in this forum!

Do you also listen to podcasts? My first contact with the builders of svs was via their podcast "3 point perspective". It's exactly for children's book illustrators and while listening to the episodes I learned SO much about how the children's book industry works and what is expected from an illustrator who wants to join.

So in my opinion:

• Listen to the podcast to get the feeling you already belong to the children's book industry.
• Be active in this forum to connect to fellow illustrators and maybe find some close friends.
• Do lessons from svs-learn to get better and better (also a lot of courses answer frequent questions as well, f.e. how to start a business as an illustrator or how to find an agent)
• If you can spare the money do Children's book Pro, as it is ... incredible helpful. It helps you to find focus and it helps to get connected to some fellow students. I found 3 people there with whom I stay in contact since then (Oct. 2022).

[agathe]

@MimiHecher Hi Mimi, thank you for the advice! I have been listening to the podcast every week for a little over a year now, and I love it, there is such great advice in there. It was also the reason I decided to finally join the forum after hearing about it so much on the podcast, which I am glad I did because everyone seems so kind here!

I don't think I have the budget for Children's book pro just yet, but I would really like to try a couple of courses in the meantime, and hopefully I will get to that soon!

[agathe]

@Tom-Harshberger Thank you so much! It must be interesting to work with 3rd culture kids, I know that personally I am extremely grateful for all the opportunities and perspectives growing up in two cultures has me over the course of my life!

[agathe]

@Mike-Babich Thank you!