So here is my entry. I thought it would be fun to illustrate “Big” without actually illustrating anything that was big, just the suggestion is there.

Here is my first contribution to this contest. Sorry about the image size

Not a whole lot of time this month, so I went with a more simple approach than usual. More of a scribble than a painting. (Digital/Procreate)

This is titled “Lest ye Forget”. (Krampus leaves a parting gift)

Wasn’t sure I’d be able to participating this month due to how busy I’ve been, but yesterday this popped in my head. Hope you all like my “the Moment Before”.

“Love knows no boundaries”
I wasn’t planning on participating in this months prompt, but a side project I’ve been working on seems to fit just fine here. Hope you all like

So I decided to do Krampus this month, but after finishing I didn’t think this would qualify under the October contest as this is more of a parody. Still, this was fun to do and wanted to share it.

A bit closer on the overall look. Decided to keep the straight border with the winding branches.
@chrisaakins I tilted the bird in the second pic as per your suggestion, also did a version of him looking down to bring the line of sight back into the pic. Not sure which I’ll do yet, I’ll digest it for a bit. Also I do like the idea of adding another character, but given the story only has two characters, I think I’m limited on what I can do, maybe a small critter in the boarder.

Hi all, my name is Adrian, I'm new to SVS and have been really enjoying all that is offered here. So here's a little bit about me. I'm 38 (non professional) and up until now I've been working in strictly traditional media, mainly ink and watercolor although I'm familiar with multiple other mediums. I've alway resister digital art in the past, seeing it as a bit of a cheat (at least for myself), preferring the earthy tactile feel of traditional media. Well for several reasons, about a month ago I decided to make the move to digital art and so got set up on an iPad and procreate. now after a sharp learning curve, here's my first piece. its a take on ''Little red ridding hood''. Please any critiques or comments are very welcome. Thanks all.

I’ve been playing around with a part scribble, part crosshatch look. Trying to get a soft feel to it.

@dgal thank you. I currently don’t have any tutorials upload to YouTube yet. They are in process, but are currently a low priority.

@Susan-Marks I've found Brad Colbow's tutorials very useful to me. he has a class up on Udemy.com that I got last year that I found really useful. I currently don't use Photoshop, and found his instruction very understandable. here is one of his youtube videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaiduP_HmIQ&t=31s
in the description there is a link to his course, it's about $10 but I found it worth it, and he's been updating it as new versions of procreate have been coming out.

Welcome welcome, great to have you here.

@CLCanadyArts welcome welcome, great to have you here. I absolutely love your work, watercolor is a joy to work, with and the way you use it is just breathtaking.

Welcome welcome, great to have you here

Pretty much done at this point, and I’m happy with how it turned out. Feel free to critique as you wish. Feedback is always useful.

I’ve got to say, working digital is a weird thing. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store, there are so many directions, styles, colors, little cheats and workarounds you can do, it can get a little overwhelming. One thing I’ve found that I miss (surprisingly) are the limitations inherent in traditional media. Limitations force you to be creative, so that you can get the results you want or hope for, despite the added time or hassle it takes. And often those creative efforts lead to something unexpected, organic or new that you can use latter. But having too many options can lead to a creative traffic jam in your head, or at least in my head. Sometimes these little cheats are a little too good and the picture is left looking stale or just not quite right some how.

I’ve been working digitally for a little over a year now, and I’ve gotten comfortable working in several different styles, but I think I’ve finally found the one that sings to me the most (yay!!) To an extent I’ve limited my approach to a traditional one. Using brushes and colors that replicate a traditional style. And I’m avoiding those brushes and techniques that leave a more digital look.

I always get lost in the smallest details of a picture, and have no issue spending way too much time there. However, in this pic and the last couple I’ve done. I’ve kept the base sketch somewhat loose. As apposed to getting clean crisp edges with even and precise crosshatching, rather I chose a messy scribble that tried to capture the feel of organic shapes fallowed up by only a little cleanup afterwards. This was then followed by color under the sketch, and then white pencil over the sketch. So far I like the results.

I’ve always liked the look of white pencil on toned paper, it brings a sense of realism that graphite on white seems to be missing. I tried to keep that in mind as I worked on the areas with limited color. I particularly like how the bridge and water turned out.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this.

Alternate version.

A little more completed. Thinking of keeping the background image in a limited pallet to avoid competition with the outside characters.

Welcome welcome, glad to have you here.

@Laurasketches love the imagery you have going here. Question, is the mermaid bioluminescent? If so I might suggest a little more reflected light on some of their faces considering how bright the mermaid is, wouldn’t have to be much. Just a thought.

As this relates to his image, I thought this might be of interest. One way I’ve been creating the stained backgrounds is with this image. A little bit ago I saw a whimsical picture where the character was on a parchment background, and I decided to make my own. Modern day parchment is typically just paper that’s been treated with dies to give an old or uneven appearance. I wanted to make something a little more. Originally parchment was made from sheep or goat skins that were prepared so that they could receive inks an pigments for illuminations and manuscripts. If you ever have the chance to see one you’ll notice that there is a grain to it, stretch marks and pores. These marking get more apparent as time passes.
So here’s one of several images I made using a watercolor brush on my iPad. I did my best to mimic the characteristics of real parchment. Made at a high DPI and deeper saturation; just playing with its hue, saturation, and brightness, I’ve found these backgrounds very useful in creating textures.