@Jeremy-Ross thanks! I feel kinda giddy because I feel like I am starting to hit my stride and can see myself doing this as a second career now. I was struggling and stuck before but I made some breakthroughs with Photoshop recently and feel I can now marry my traditional with my digital and get the best of both worlds. Still need lots of practice. I appreciate your encouragement!
@burvantill hmmm, me too. I really appreciate your encouragement for me and my art. I also enjoy seeing your successes, too. I think you are about to go pro status very soon and it's been cool to see your journey.
Update: Hey everyone! Hahaha! The Mighty Inky piece was featured on @jimbobdrawing's weekly contest! So cool! This was the first time I went for a contest and won. (It was just a feature but gotta start somewhere, right!?)
@chrisaakins wow, thanks. 
@chrisaakins yay, congrats! and I'm glad you're finding your stride with the style and technique that feels right. It seems like that can be a really difficult task and once you're past it you can enjoy the process more and end up with a cohesive portfolio.
I'm still flailing around with all of that but I'm trying not to rush it. Seeing you and others explore and then finally get there is really encouraging.
Hi @chrisaakins, well you are at the right place! From what I see, SVS is breeding high-level professional illustrators that are making a difference in the kid lit world. My dream is to be one among them! Need the mileage though...
Here is another one of my faves. Don't know if I got it right, but...
@chrisaakins This is so cute. It’s one of my favorites from inktober. I’m curious, do you keep your line work on a separate layer that the color? I was just wondering how it would look if you adjusted the lines on the the center moosey’s ears to the same pink hue as the ears but darker so it’s still a line? But not as noticeable.
@chrisaakins I think you nailed the value composition and I think the colors really work well.
The only issue I'm seeing is that I feel like there are some areas of bleed through on the wrought iron in the foreground. It almost looks transparent and I can see through it, so it's just distracting because my brain is interpreting that as something I definitely can't see through. I'm not sure if it's an illusion or not, but I feel like I can see the lines going through some of the circles from the sill.
@jdubz I think it's an optical illusion. I was seeing the same thing, zoomed in, colored it darker, no lines at all. Zoom out and they look transparent. Sigh.
@burvantill I have the original pic on a separate layer. I can give it a whirl.
@chrisaakins It’s kind of what I did with my snow tracks piece. But I changed them all throughout. I don’t think you should do that. Just softly around his cute little ears. 
@chrisaakins This is so cute. It’s one of my favorites from inktober. I’m curious, do you keep your line work on a separate layer that the color? I was just wondering how it would look if you adjusted the lines on the the center moosey’s ears to the same pink hue as the ears but darker so it’s still a line? But not as noticeable.
