Great entries so far, I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Here's my entry! Thank you to everyone who gave feedback and suggestions on the forum!

(Sorry I've been a bit quiet on here recently) Thought I'd share the good news with you guys! I signed with Advocate art this month and my portfolio went live on their site this week. https://www.advocate-art.com/anna-bishop I still can't believe it!
I know from personal experience how easy it is to get disheartened with illustration. Hope this might provide a bit of motivation to anyone on here feeling that way. I graduated 3 years ago and beginning of this year I was feeling pretty demotivated with everything and felt like I hadn't got anywhere. But SVS and the forum have helped so much giving me a push to work on my portfolio and the confidence to put myself out there.
Thank you!!

Here's the latest version! I'm at the stage where I'm not sure if it's finished or not. What do you guys think? Are there any adjustments I could make to improve it?

I've been working on some more portfolio pieces this month

updated version, feeling a bit happier with it now... I think

My historically inaccurate representation of The Pony Express. The theme was suggested by my agent, I'd never heard of The Pony Express before!

One option is to take your own reference photos! I'm often posing like an idiot in front of my webcam to get something like a hand position or
an expression looking right. Or if I'm struggling with a tricky pose I'll get someone else to take a photo of me or I get my very patient boyfriend to pose for me.
Like @Jordi-Ventura said your reference doesn't need to look exactly like what you have in your head it's just a guide. So if the character you're drawing looks nothing like you you can still use a reference picture of yourself or a friend just to get the bare bones of the pose down. Then you can find some more reference if you need it for the details like hair, clothes or proportions. Hope that helps!

This month I've been working on some new portfolio pieces. This one is based on The Fisherman and the Genie from One Thousand and One Nights. I'm pretty happy with it, I love drawing fish for some reason

You're up to your eyeballs in podcast recommendations already but I thought I'd add one. Make It Then Tell Everybody by Dan Berry is great. He interviews illustrators and comic artists. I think Dan has a very calming voice and there are no ads so it's great to listen to while working and not get irritated or distracted by it.

@Jeremy-Ross What a cute yeti! One thing that jumps out at me is the poses look quite unnatural. I think it might help you look at some reference or take your own reference photos just as a rough guide for the body language. Or something they mentioned on the livestream - break the design down into simple shapes to help you visualise how your character would move in a 3D space rather than on a 2D plane. I know this is tricky, I struggle with making poses look natural myself. Hope this helps though!

My historically inaccurate representation of The Pony Express. The theme was suggested by my agent, I'd never heard of The Pony Express before!

@Gaelle-Grizzly Hahah I love your take on the prompt!

I love Steadman's work, couldn't be further from my own style but I think it's great! I remember reading an interview where he mentions using some kind of diffuser or airbrush to spray ink on the page to get the grainy effect you see in the background. Perhaps it's something similar to this?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwPSWajV-NI&ab_channel=artalternatives
Other than that I'd assume you're probably right it's coloured ink or watercolour and maybe some acrylic? If I were you I'd try a master study of one of these. I'm sure it would teach you a lot!

@carriecopadraws @Jacy13 Thank you both!

@Rachel-Horne Thank you!

@djlambson Thank you!

@Braden-Hallett Don't apologise, please Hijack away! I'm glad this has started an interesting conversation about agencies.

@KajsaH Thank you! I totally understand the fear, I put off applying to agents for way too long. Your work looks so professional, I reckon you should just go for it! You've got nothing to lose!