WIP_JunePrompt_Text/Spot Illos Process&Feedback

carlianne

Okay so I tried to do a post and then messed up the poll and then couldn't figure out how to delete it properly, so hopefully it's fine I made a new one

I was going to get feedback on my thumbs, but just kinda kept going and got feedback in my critique group instead, so I'll just share my process for now, and if anyone has feedback or encouragement I'm happy to hear whatever!

My original thumbs:

A: alligator hiding behind a tree looking at the monkey bottom
B: full alligator lounging
monkey inside belly with feather
alligator on bottom looking at monkey tail
E: text on alligator belly
F: alligator in foreground looking at monkey in BG
G: close up of Gator, you see monkey in his eyes
H: monkey surrounded by hungry Gators (edited)

I really want to do text for my portfolio, so I was split between B and D

My slightly cleaned up thumbs:

I liked B better for storytelling, but I liked the personality in A, so I went with a hybrid that could increase the story telling:

Coreyartus

I think I "purged" your deleted post so no one can see it. Let me know if it worked on your end.

Regarding your choice to do a page including text--KUDOS!! I struggled to decide if this was an option I wanted to do, and I'm glad you went for it. I really think a LOT of illustration for children's publications is spot illustration to frame pages in the way you've done it, and we so rarely get prompts that have room to embrace that kind of skill development.

I love how sly Clyde looks, and he's presented as menacing without being scary. His back going up the side of the page with his ridges is really fun! And I love how Bongo is looking down the page as from a tree! Clever!

carlianne

@Coreyartus thank you so much for doing that!! I don't see it anymore

And thank you so much for your feedback!! I had been thinking all month about how to do a full page illo and when it suddenly struck my I could do a page of text I got so excited!! I do think it'll help flush out my children's book portfolio as everything in there are full page illos now, and I agree with you that this is such an important skill to show and develop! I actually do a lot of these kinds of things at work, but it's not in my personal style, so I'm excited to do a page like this with my own characters!

Jeremy Ross

Love it @carlianne, and applaud your choice to go full page with the story with cute character illustrations.

carlianne

@Jeremy-Ross thanks so much!

carlianne

Okay, so continuing to work on this, and I got feedback that the text was kinda tight and to try a two page spread, so I'm trying it out. If you have a preference let me know!

I'm thinking the spread is nice legibility wise, but now feels a little sparse illustration wise, I might have to brainstorm some more more details to put in.

Jeremy Ross

Hi @carlianne, both work but I’m drawn to the single page version.

Johanna Kim

@carlianne Your 2-page version works great! I love that you were thinking of layout. Regarding how spare it looks, I think that's fine. You want places with nothing happening for the eyes to rest. But perhaps as you paint these vignettes, you can add details or textures within those areas. Or there can be foliage and bits of fruit growing in from the edges, if this would be a bleed.

Heather Boyd

@carlianne I definitely like the addition of the monkey in one of the corner; unless the alligator had a thought bubble day dreaming about eating a monkey in the same corner/bottom.