The featured student for February is Erin McClean! The Q&A with Erin(@ERIBERART) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Erin:

"From writing and illustrating handmade books as a kid, to building full dummy books and creating a portfolio of sweetly stylized characters and their adventures, illustrator Erin McClean has never put aside her goal of creating enjoyable children’s literature. Here are a few of her insights into becoming, and being, a visual storyteller."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

There is still time to submit your work! Post your art to this forum post by March 31st for a chance to be featured for April!

The featured student for Sept was Gary Wilkinson! The Q&A with Gary (@GARY WILKINSON) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Gary:

"If you find yourself immersed in a world of vibrant colors and bold shapes, surrounded by a display of child-inspired imagination, emotion and creativity, you may be reading a book illustrated by Gary Wilkinson. In this Q&A, Gary shares some of his approaches towards his art, goals for the future and some useful advice."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

Don't forget to post your Inktober plan and 1-2 of your best pieces to the October Featured Student post by October 11th for a chance to be featured.

The featured student for August is Lisa Burvant! The Q&A with Lisa (@burvantill) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Lisa:

"This month's featured artist fuels the fire within herself and other members of the SVSLearn community with a tenacious dedication to her craft. If you've been perusing the SVSLearn forums lately, you may know her! Here's a chance to learn from, and about, children's illustrator Lisa Burvant."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

Want to be featured on the homepage? Submit your art to this post by August 10th for a chance to be featured for September!

The featured student for May was Shawn Turek! The Q&A with Shawn(@DRAWNBYSHAWN) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Shawn:

"There are some artists on the SVSLearn forum who consistently post incredible work in a style all their own. If you’re familiar with the forum or the SVSLearn monthly illustration contests, you may instantly recognize the work of one of these illustrators, Shawn Turek. Enjoy the chance to get to know him and his stories, insights and advice in the following Q&A."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

The featured student post for July is looking pretty empty right now. Head over to the post and share your work for a chance to be featured for July! Submissions are due by June 30th.

The featured student for January is Carlianne Tipsey! The Q&A with Carlianne (@CARLIANNE) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Carlianne:

"Some people talk longingly about making art their profession. Others create on the side. Yet there are a few who take the plunge into earning their living from their art without looking back, including Neha Rawat Battish. In this interview, she tells a bit about that process and also shares some of the gems of knowledge that she’s picked up along the way."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

Want to be featured on the homepage? Submit your art to this post by January 31st for a chance to be featured for February!

The featured student for January was Gabby Correia! The Q&A with Gabby is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Gabby:

"If you’re looking for inspiration, you may find just what you need in the following interview with full-time digital painter, Gabby Correia. Her attitude of leveling up and staying focused is producing a display of enjoyable and creative artwork on her journey towards her illustration goals."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

May's Featured Student:
The featured student for May is Eric Castleman! The Q&A with Eric is up on the SVS Learn blog.

Instructions:
This post is a place to share work if you want to get a chance to be featured in the Student Art Gallery on the SVSLearn.com homepage for June. To be considered share 1-2 of your best pieces (you can re-share an image you posted last month, but this is also a great opportunity to push yourself and add a new piece to your portfolio) on this forum post. Make sure to share your image during the first 10 days of May to be considered for June. Also, make sure your images are at least 800 pixels on the shortest side and do not exceed 1mb in size.
Work will be selected based off of how well the work uses the following:

Concept: how well does your illustration convey a clear concept/story. Is it a unique approach? Does it make me want to know more about what is happening in the illustration?

Technique: How is the composition working? Does it have good use of lighting, rendering, mark making, etc.? Does the technique compliment the concept?

If you are selected, we will message you using the chat feature on the forum. Besides your art being displayed on the homepage, you will also be sent some questions for a Q&A blog post that will be shared on the SVS Learn blog.

We have had some amazing work submitted the last two months and I can't wait to see what you share this month!
Austin

The featured student for February is Neha Rawat Battish! The Q&A with Neha Rawat (@NEHA RAWAT) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Neha Rawat:

"When it comes to paving a career in illustration, there is no straight path to follow. SVS Learn student, Carlianne Tipsey, is a great inspiration when it comes to someone who made the decision to pursue art as a child and who traveled on a unique journey to make that dream come true."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

Want to be featured on the homepage? Submit your art to this post by March 2nd for a chance to be featured for March!

Note: Katy luckily reminded me that I completely forgot to share the featured student from April here on the forum. Thanks Katy!

The featured student for April was Elia Murray! The Q&A with Elia(@ELIAMURRAYART) is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Elia:

"From day to day, it may be hard to remember the deepest reasons behind why we create art. What really propels us to put pencil to paper? Who, or what, drives our passion for visual storytelling? Here is a chance to jump into the mind of artist, Elia Murray, as she gives us her perspective on what moves her - from influential parents, to a commitment to joy and laughter, to some of the most heartfelt sources of inspiration."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

There is still time to submit your work for our special MerMay edition of the featured student Q&A! Post your new Mermaid inspired art to this forum post by June 1st for a chance to be featured for June!

We are excited to announce the new featured student gallery!

Starting this month we are now going to begin featuring the work of our students, and alumni on the homepage. The new gallery is already up. Go check it out!

We'll be featuring new work in our student gallery every week, and posting Q&As with our featured students and alumni a couple times a month. To help us find new work to feature every month we are asking anyone who is interested to share some of their best work (1-2 images) on a monthly Forum post (the post will be titled Featured Students for April this month). Make sure to share your image during the first 10 days of the month to be considered for the following month. Also, make sure your images are at least 800 pixels on the shortest side and do not exceed 1mb in size.

Work will be selected based off of how well the work uses the following:

Concept: how well does your illustration convey a clear concept. Is it a unique approach? Does it make me want to know more about what is happening in the illustration?

Technique: How is the composition working? Does it have good use of lighting, rendering, mark making, etc.? Does the technique compliment the concept?

If you are interested in being featured for next month then go post your illustration on the "Featured Student For April" forum post (its under the Artwork category).

I’m excited to see your work!

Thanks!
Austin

The featured student for January was Gabby Correia! The Q&A with Gabby is up on the blog. Below is an introduction to the Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Gabby:

"If you’re looking for inspiration, you may find just what you need in the following interview with full-time digital painter, Gabby Correia. Her attitude of leveling up and staying focused is producing a display of enjoyable and creative artwork on her journey towards her illustration goals."

Read the whole Q&A on the blog.

Artwork by Li Xin

The Special Edition featured student post for December is up on the SVSLearn blog. We had so many great submission! We ended up selecting 20 artists' pieces to showcase in the post and their answer to the questions of what they learned this last year from SVSLearn. Here is a link to the post to check it out: https://www.svslearn.com/news/2020/12/31/december-featured-student-year-review-edition

One thing I wanted to mention is that we will be changing the formate of the featured student moving forward. For our regular monthly featured student we will be selecting one of the participants that was selected to participate in the previous month's critique arena. We will still be holding a few special editions (like this one and Inktober) were we will still request submission here on the forum. I am so grateful for everyone that has submitted work since we first started the featured student post. If you have any ideas for other special editions of the featured student that we could do, feel free to share them.

Have a Happy New Year!

Still a little more time to post something you have worked on this year!

@cianamacaroni this looks great! Thanks for dropping in!

There is still time to share your work! Please post a piece you made this year and your answers to the two questions by next Monday.

This has been a crazy year for everyone, and we thought a great way to end it was to have everyone share. something they have learned over the 12 months. So, for December’s special edition of the featured student we are asking everyone to share one image they created this year that was impacted by SVSLearn. This could include images that are based on exercises from the new foundations curriculum (or based on the things you learned from it), images made as part of the monthly contest, or images that you shared to the forum and received feedback on from other students.

The hope for the Q&A blogpost is to include a large number of people (with all forum users able to particpate), so we are only asking everyone two questions. Please include the answers to these questions with the image you submit.

1. How have you improved this year thanks to SVSLearn, and
2. How did SVSLearn impact the creation of this piece.

Submissions will be taken until the 6th of December. Because a large amount of students might be selected, we might not be able to include everyones’ individual image on the student gallery.

Instructions:
To be considered share 1 of your best pieces created this year on this forum post with answers to the two questions listed above. Make sure to share your image by the 6h of December to be considered. Also, make sure your images are at least 800 pixels on the shortest side and do not exceed 1mb in size.
Work will be selected based off of how well the work uses the following:

Concept: How well does your illustration convey a clear concept/story. Is it a unique approach? Does it make me want to know more about what is happening in the illustration?

Technique: How is the composition working? Does it have good use of lighting, rendering, mark making, etc.? Does the technique compliment the concept?

I can't wait to see what everyones' work from 2020!

Here is a place you can share the piece you are working on all of November for Slowvember. Feel free to post different stages all throughout the month (including starting by just sharing what you'er planning to do). Haven't heard of this art challenge? Here is a little description:

While Inktober is about making a new image daily, Slowvember is about quality and getting something you really like. Maybe it's a new portfolio piece. Maybe it's a painting you have been thinking about for a long time. Maybe it's time to stretch your skills with a new kind of paint. Whatever the case, we want you to take your time and make something that you care about. The idea is to spend the entire month of November making a piece you are really proud of, one you can put in your portfolio!

Good luck this month!

@sigross yes, that is correct

Hi everyone,
How much would closed captions on the SVSLearn course videos increase their usefulness for you? Please rank the usefulness on a scale of 1-10 (with one being completely useless, and 10 being super useful).

@Maureen its up now