Suggestions for HTFYA prompts
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Would the SVS team be open to suggestions for prompts?
I would love to give some input if that would be welcome.For example, I find the one word topics/short phrases to be more inspiring than the long paragraph ones. It's nice to have room to brainstorm with open ended options.
Please let me know if suggestions would be welcome. Thank you.
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@reberlik the reason for the more wordy prompts is because it's like being given a manuscript for a picture book job, to make a book dummy and pick a couple pages to final stage.
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@kayleenartlover Hi Kayleen, thanks for your reply. Are you the person I should be directing this to? Could you pass on my message to the other svs staff?
I totally understand the value for people who are pursuing traditional publishing working for an art director.
For self publishing folks and author-illustrators trying to build portfolios and practice storytelling skills, it's nice to have a bit more wiggle room.
I'm feeling a bit limited with the next 3 upcoming prompts and I would love to have a second option added for any of them.
That said, I'm grateful to have a chance to participate and enjoy the critiques and commradery of fellow svs rabbits and our awesome instructors!
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No, I'm just a fellow student, but even when I haven't submitted an illustration I've watched every critique livestream. And they always talk about the purpose of the prompts during that, so I was just sharing what you might have missed if this is your first time. You should definitely watch the ending of last month's livestream because they talked about this month's challenge and what they hope we get out of it.
You should also check out the chats on forum where people are sharing their ideas and work-in-progress if you are struggling with how to do the challenge, if you haven't already. Sometimes I draw a blank until I'm inspired by other peoples ideas and they open the door to more ideas.
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@reberlik I also prefer the shorter prompts as you get more freedom of expression for portfolio pieces, and also more variety in the submissions. But I think what they're doing is deliberate, as in the real world you have to follow a brief; there are more constraints. It's also an opportunity to figure out how to make something that feels limiting still feel unique to you.
Take the Godzilla book cover prompt for example, guaranteed there will be submissions that are not a book cover (no title text, illustrated by, a width/height ratio that is not typical for picture books, etc), this will be an opportunity for people to learn to read a brief properly and follow it, and also hopefully get some general pointers on how to layout a book cover well.
If you're a member of SCBWI they have monthly prompts, which are simple one word prompts. This month is 'Prince' for example, I think last month was 'Barbershop.'
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@reberlik, as Kayleen said, the longer prompts are meant to represent getting a manuscript for a book, and you need to create an illustration based on the words that are supposed to go on that page of the book. I try to have a variety of prompt types, but sometimes, the ones the three guys give me don't end up that way. I'll make sure to mention the need to intersperse more single-word prompts.
We actually decided to put a call out for prompt ideas from the forum last week, and the post is up now. Please share prompt ideas you have there (probely a new thread for each prompt suggestion so people can upvote their favorites). Here is a link to the thread.
Austin Shurtliff
austin@svslearn.com -
@AustinShurtliff Hi Austin, thank you so much! I saw the prompt call-out and I'm very excited about it!
Thank you for explaining how the prompt variety is generated and the purpose for more descriptive ones.
I love the single word/short phrases because there's more freedom to insert an emotional narrative.Another interesting one could be a line of character dialogue out of context.
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One other thing to consider regarding the length of the prompt is that, as the illustrator, you can always shorten it. In fact, this can be preferable. A long prompt can result in the drawing being too rigid and even illustrating the text literally, which can lead to a boring composition.
So try picking some of the key words from the long prompt and, as long as your composition aligns with the overall meaning, it can lead to more freedom of expression with some unexpected but fitting elements and a more interesting piece. -
I don't have concrete prompts ideas just some general suggestions what kind of prompts I personally would love to see:
- prompts that include format/genre of illustration like this month Godzilla children book cover. As someone mentioned before it's a great way to practice established illustration formats or illustrations for a specific market
- non-fiction/educational books prompts since many publishers love these. Maybe it's a bit harder to come up with a storytelling focused theme but maybe something like illustrate a chosen topic for geography or history book or a book cover for illustrated biography of a famous person
- design a character/animal/object etc. type of prompt like design a gryphon prompt which I sadly missed because I wasn't a member yet but it's still on my to-do list
- make an illustration for a well-known tale
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@evka8D Hi Evka, if you'd like your ideas to be included in the vote, you can submit them each as a different comment in the thread called Submit your HTFYA prompts (see the link Austin provided)
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@reberlik But is it still going I thought it already ended. Anyways I'd need to think about some concrete prompts in that case
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@evka8D The guys said in yesterday's HTFYA livestream that they would extend the prompt suggestion window until Monday if I remember correctly.
