Hi from Texas

MirkaH

I've been lurking as a new subscriber for a couple weeks and figured I should introduce myself too. I've been a working "fine art" printmaker for the last 10 years, and am making a shift to children's book illustration. This has been a growing desire over the years and feels great even though I am a little terrified. I've got a website at www.mirkah.com that I tried shuffle around to add a small illustration portfolio to. I feel like I don't have a lot to put in there yet but a lot of sketches and some random things. The posts here and classes have been most helpful in shifting focus and putting ducks in a row. I've got two little kids so I work a couple hours in the mornings and at night, which is the most limiting factor for me right now. What I'm struggling most with is what to put in my portfolio, at what point do I seek for an agent? I have lots of ideas for books too, so thinking I could do both illustrate and write if need be. But would it be easier to firs break ground as an illustrator? I can't go to the SCBWI winter conference but am aiming to make it to the summer one and have a nice portfolio by then to show. Obviously I'm anxious to move faster than summer, but reading the comments here I should compose a better portfolio first. alt text

smceccarelli

Hallo and welcome! You have some really wonderful pieces in your portfolio - your sense of design and typography on top of that is so great! I am always trying to learn that and I feel like I am struggling all the time!
The winter SCBWI will be my first SCBWI conference....I will be "lost in a wide wide sea" to quote Morpurgo.
If you accept a random thought on the polar bear illustration - it is lovely (and great salt texture in the back!), but left me wondering if there would not be a more fun and action-oriented way to illustrate this line. The idea of a bear trying to eat an ice-cream has a lot of potential!
Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

QuietYell

@MirkaH Hi and Welcome from Texas (D/FW)!

Nice work! Glad to see you on here. I so agree that the forum & courses are quite helpful in guiding, focusing, and refining.

Regarding seeking an agent, you've probably seen this post thread already, but your question should be answered in a webinar this next month (or so)! Here's the post: http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/2797/next-3rd-thursday-agents/

Like @smceccarelli, I look forward to seeing more of your work and comments!

MirkaH

Thanks guys. I saw the webinar topic and think it'll be super useful. Thank you for the tip @smceccarelli ill keep that in mind. My concept for this book idea has evolved a little and the kid will be a bit older but I was still going to include this image in the dummy. I keep hearing about monthly (?) illustration prompts and uploading your images. I tried searching the forum but can't find them, where do I find those?

MirkaH

@QuietYell I'm in College Station.

QuietYell

@MirkaH Ahhh Aggie Town! I have a friend who grew up there while her father was a professor at A&M; her family is still there and she goes back often. I'm in Plano (was in Grapevine for 10 years).

I think the "monthly illustration prompts" you are referring to is "3rd Thursday". This has changed formats (a few months or so ago). There are various reasons. If you look back in the forums, you will see a post by @Lee-White discussing this with everyone. The new format is more webinar oriented, covering various topics, like the upcoming agent-focused one or last month's social media engagement & growth one.

I might suggest going back into the archives to see the 3rd Thursday prompts to do them now, and then post them to the forum here. You are sure to get great feedback! You can find the old prompts here: https://svslearn.com/blogListView or here (even with the recorded critiques of the entries): https://www.youtube.com/user/SVSLearn

QuietYell

@MirkaH Here is the post where the new format was defined: http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/2660/new-3rd-thursday-format

Here is one of the earlier posts about it:
http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/2498/3rd-thurdsay-is-evolving

Kevin Longueil

@MirkaH Pretty much blown away by your personal work in your portfolio - so impressed - i love the engravings!!!!!

MirkaH

@QuietYell awesome. Thank you so much for the links. I'll go and read through those tonight. I went to school at UD in Irving, so pretty familiar with the area.

MirkaH

@Kevin-Longueil thanks! Your black and white work is awesome too. Ever thought of woodengraving? Your eye to detail would work well with the media

andyjewett

@MirkaH Great looking work! Welcome (said another newbie)!

Kelly Lane

Welcome fellow Texan to the fray. I'm from San Antonio
Your work looks great! Hope to see you around. All the best and happy new year!