Hello SVS c:

[Pamela Fraley]

Welcome! Glad you are here! Love your work!!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

WOW..... YOUR WORK IS SO AMAZING! I love your use of colors. They are so vibrant. Hands down, you are without a doubt, a professional illustrator. It's really great to have you here with us. I look forward viewing your posts in the future.

[gdbee]

@chip-valecek Thank you so much!!

[gdbee]

@dottyp Definitely will, thank you very much

[gdbee]

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen @pamela-fraley Thank you both! It's been amazing being a part of it so far

[gdbee]

@nyrryl-cadiz It certainly doesn't feel like it at times, especially stacked up with other's skills around here! Thank you kindly. Hopefully will be able to contribute here with everyone else

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@gdbee You are AMAZING. I'm really glad you found SVS.

[gdbee]

@ixspen Greetings from another part of the internet! Yes, I'm super grateful for this publisher, as they've held my hand several times throughout, ha.

[rshellene]

Hi Geneva!

It's lovely to have you here! I've been following you outside on social media, so its such a great thing to find you in a space where you're also sharpening your craft.

Excited to have you!

[Doodleworx]

Welcome! Great stuff; love the colours!

[Andyg]

That’s impressive stuff! So good to have so many talented people to drive me forward and keep improving!

[Sarah LuAnn]

Welcome! SVS is a great place to learn and get support. Beautiful work. I hope you stick around so I can see more of it

[lmrush]

Beautiful colors! Welcome. You are going to love it here!

[JamesH]

Welcome @gdbee! As others have said, gorgeous colours in your work! Look forward to seeing more of it!

[carriecopadraws]

Welcome! I love your colors and shapes! Storytelling is solid too. It's awesome that you're still learning and growing! SVS has been pure gold for me too - I've been stagnant in my abilities for awhile and I'm ready to level up! Your Instagram feed is an inspiration to me. Honored to have you in the community.

[gdbee]

Wow haven't checked my own thread in a while, sorry! But thank you all and it's been great!

[smceccarelli]

Hallo @gdbee and welcome! Your work is stunning, especially your use of color!
I was wondering if you would be willing to share more details of your story - what happened that made you „fail spectacularly“. And also your experience on successful projects if you are willing to share!

[RHirsch]

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing more.

[gdbee]

@smceccarelli Without giving out any specific details, I'll try to describe. Thanks for asking!
I was contacted to illustrate a childrens book by a large publisher. It was super exciting and great timing as I just went freelance in 2016. The career I had before freelance was design-based and I was used to "design by committee" approaches and multiple passes needed, so thought it would be no problem. The art director was incredibly nice and accommodating, but eventually the design by committee was kind of wearing me down, especially with waiting on a reply for weeks and changes to the look of the main character and such almost a year into the project (did not know that it's kind of normal in book publishing). They just weren't liking anything I was putting out and eventually I wasn't liking it either, and that showed. They suggested I just scrap and redo the entire book art from scratch which sounded like a good idea, but there was a major eye surgery coming up and it wouldn't be wise to do it with that going on at the same time, so I asked to be taken off the project. Looking back, it was very embarrassing and I genuinely hope I wasn't a major headache to work with!
Another publisher contacted me a little before and after the surgery was complete, so I used all the knowledge and pitfalls from before to work better with them. Communication and getting feedback was much easier and quicker this time as well. I would say communication from both sides can really make or break a project!

[gdbee]

@rhirsch Thank you kindly!