20 Jun 2020, 15:09

@Corlette-Douglas I think I can see a little where they're coming from... Your work is really great, no doubt about it, but it strikes me more as an animation style than picture books. I think part of the problem is you have a lot of pieces like character turnarounds or standalone illustrations, but I only see one actual children book spread. This one:

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And this image wouldn't reassure an art director that you know how to make children book spread. The character are not emphasized as the main focus of the illustration, they are smack dab in the middle of the gutter (the middle of the spread where the spine will attach the pages) and the text is enormous and a bit garish, not in line with modern typography trends for picture books. My advice would be to study some picture books to learn how to compose a spread for a book, as well as visual trends and typography trends, and incorporate that to your portfolio and style. Fill your portfolio with exactly the kind of work you want to be hired for, so that agents and art directors can better picture your style in that context.

If it helps at all, I used to be in the exact same spot as you. Agents kept telling me they weren't sure my style would work for picture books because it is vector based and they said it looked a bit too clean and commercial. So I decided to take a break from applying to agents and get some work on my own. I was able to get picture book work from a local publisher (not very well paid lol) and created many new personal pieces for my portfolio including some spreads for Harry Potter "as a children's book". After I added all this to my portfolio and sent it to agents again, the result was night and day. Suddenly, they could see my style working for picture books after all! I didn't change my style at all, just formatted it in the right way so that they can see clearly what it would look like in a picture book. Art directors and agents can be very hesitant to take risks. If they don't see exactly what they're going to get, they don't take a chance on it. Your portfolio looks full of personal pieces or character design turnarounds, not work formatted for a professional children's book contract.

I hope this helps! You have great skill and I don't think you really need to change your style at all, just the contents of your portfolio!