November 2023 Submissions - How To Fix Your Art

[Jeremy Ross]

I hope it’s not too late! I had another idea and thought it would be cool to have a duck and squirrel fly an old Navy Boeing Kaydet.

[RobinCampbellArt]

@michaeldavidh
Hi Michael- your take on the “flight” prompt is neat, these little birds have a mighty tough-looking flight instructor.
The the next thought I had was the plane in the background is compositionally in the instructors mouth which is creating some confusion. It kind of looks like the instructor is eating it. You may only need to adjust the composition to solve, but there are potentially other solutions too. The plane could be blurred slightly along building since they are in the background.
Also the flag behind the instructor is interfering with the silhouette of the flight instructor because it has similar colors…it makes the instructor look like he’s grown a fin. I’d move the either the flag or the instructor, change the color of the flag, or make it so they are not touching.
Is the plane going to be used by the little birds instead of flying with their own wings? The plane may not need to be there or could be on display less prominently if the little birds aren’t planning to use it and it’s more of a prop.
Looking forward to the next “Fix Your Art” live event:-)
Robin

[AustinShurtliff]

@KathrynAdebayo, sorry it took so long to get back to you about this! This is what I was told:

Yeah, I would still say that we do have an age requirement of 18 to use any of SVS's services. Not that there's anything inappropriate in the content, but none of it was developed with kids in mind. SVS has always been geared more toward college age+ students. However, if an under-18 student were using SVS with the guidance of a parent or legal guardian, we would be fine with that.

I hope that helps! Feel free to ask if anything specific comes up.

[michaeldavidh]

@RobinCampbellArt Wow! Thanks for The insights. Well taken.

[KathrynAdebayo]

@AustinShurtliff Hi Austin, thanks very much for getting back to me about that. Sounds good!

[TheresaMuth]

@AustinShurtliff So, this is the first time I've submitted anything for critique (Critique Arena or HTFYA). Is the chosen picture announced ahead of time? Or is it "Tune In to SEE WHO's ART WAS CHOSEN"?
Also, I would love to watch LIVE. It will be next Thursday - 11/16, yes? At What time ?
Thanks!!

[AustinShurtliff]

@TheresaMuth, this week's livestream is on Thursday at 2 p.m. MT. We used to announce who would be selected for the top 16 for Critique Arena a few days early, but we haven't done that with HTFYA.

[TheresaMuth]

@AustinShurtliff 2pm MT. That's great. Thank you!!

[ksfabian]

Anyone else super excited for tomorrow!!

[AustinShurtliff]

Great work, everyone! It was great to see all of your images in the livestream today. If you missed the livestream, it will be up on our YouTube channel for a little while longer if you still want to watch it. Good look with the December prompt!

[Enni Heikura]

@AustinShurtliff Hi! Thank you for a very educational livestream! I have a small suggestion for these HFYA livestreams. It would be great if Will, Jake, and Lee could comment on each drawing with just a few comments, for example, one thing that is good and one thing that could be improved. It could be just whatever comes to mind in that moment. This way, everyone who has invested time and effort into the task would get a bit more out of it. Some works were commented on yesterday, but some were skipped, or the discussion moved to something else while they were on display. I emphasize that the comments don't have to be long, just what is good and what could be improved. There would have been plenty of time for this yesterday when you went through the works one by one. What do others think?

[ksfabian]

@Enni-Heikura I agree it was a little disheartening to have worked so hard on a piece to only have it “skipped past” rather fast, but there’s also not enough time to discuss each one. Maybe a bracket system post stream or something. That way some of the more unsure artists can get an idea of where they measure up and what to aspire for the next month.

[JoshSchouwstra]

@JoshSchouwstra said in November 2023 Submissions - How To Fix Your Art:

To answer @Jake-Parker about what's up with the dragon: I didn't want to show a bird being taught how to fly, so I thought the more unexpected thing was to have a small dragon being taught how to fly. Dragons and other mythical creatures are kinda normal in the story's universe, but obviously I didn't communicate that as well.

[Lee White]

@Enni-Heikura @ksfabian thanks for the suggestion. We know everyone wants a crit, but that is exactly why we created How To Fix Your Art. Our goal is that everyone be able to look at their own work objectively. We just don't have the time to do a crit for everyone. It may seem like we could just say something quickly about each piece, but when we do a crit we want to avoid just a quick hit. We really go in and look at the work. It takes a lot of mental energy to do a crit that is meaningful, but that is the only kind we feel like is truely helpful.

We did open up full extremely detailed full portfolio crits a few months ago, but onlly a few people actually did them. I will say for those few, it was a game changer. We went in and looked at ALL the work in detail and then came up with a plan for the next 6 months to a year for each artist. Seriously, there was nothing like it.

We will be offering those again in the spring for a very limited time. Each teacher will only take a handful of students so be on the lookout if that is someone you are interested in. : )

Good luck in the future prompts. We love seeing everyone's work!

[makekong]

@Lee-White thanks! I hope the next one is similar with each one of you addressing a different issue (composition, structure, light) It was really useful

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @JoshSchouwstra, I love your comic!

I think there’s a few small changes you can make to bring the story home!

[Enni Heikura]

@Lee-White Thank you so much Lee for your reply, I really appreciate it! And I totally understand your point! Looking forward to the upcoming HFYA live streams and prompts