Finally feeling more comfortable with vignettes.

Oh, this is exciting! Here's my final assignment from the basic perspective class.

Finished piece! Thank you to everyone who gave input.

Delved into watercolor for the first time! I think I'm in love.

Hello! I’m super excited about this month’s prompt. I spent a long time debating which format I wanted to do and ultimately decided on a book spread.

Here’s my sketch/value study. Critique always welcome!

Hi! My name is Bailey M. Vidler! I am a graphic designer, looking to shift my focus into illustration. A little about me: I am from Arizona. I love the color purple and the smell of rain!

Here is my sketchbook - thanks for checking it out! I appreciate any comments and feedback.

I'm currently preparing sketches for Inktober. (My theme is fairies.) Here's the first two:

Hey everyone! Here's my day 1 (ring) that I'm really proud of!

I love the way you handled the mountains and trees in the background. I think it adds a lot of depth to the image, without becoming too overwhelming from the foreground.

I agree with you that the values on Santa and the values of the midground trees are too similar. It distorts his silhouette and makes it more challenging to see his pose. Maybe separate the midground trees away from Santa so they don't overlap? As for the axe, I think it would naturally hang with the blade facing down, since the blade is the heaviest part.

I really like the concept, and I like the design you gave Santa, with the bulky body and long lanky legs. It's unexpected in an interesting way.

@Coley I love your fairy so much! Congratulations!

@davidhohn @NessIllustration Thank you so much for your responses and reminding me about the scope of distribution. I just sent off an email asking a few clarifying questions and I'm going to hunt down a copy of PEGS. I'll update if the project goes anywhere. Thank you again!

Hi guys! It's been a while since I checked in with SVS, because I was busy with some life stuff, but now that's calmed down and I'm ready to dive back in! I missed you all a lot.

A couple of months ago, I sent out emails to publishers, and today, I got my first response back! I'm super excited, but I also want to make sure I respond correctly.

He asked how much I would charge for a 5" x 8" cover. He gave a brief description of the scene and attached a rough sketch to demonstrate the spatial relationships between the three characters.

I probably need to ask a few questions before giving an accurate quote, right? I'm thinking...

• What is the time frame it needs to be completed within?
• Should I ask what the rights will be? (Licensed vs work-for-hire?)
• Can you think of other things I should ask?

My next question is: what should I charge? Or at least does anyone have any good resources for calculating a cost?

If it helps, we're both located in the United States. It's a small publisher, but they've got a good handful of titles.

@NessIllustration @eriberart @Neha-Rawat @Nyrryl-Cadiz Thank you so much for the encouragement, you've got me smiling like a goof right now! I will start sending it out, and while I'm waiting, build up to 15-ish pieces. Again, thanks so much!

@Griffin Thanks for your feedback! I will revisit that podcast episode. And the gesture class was on my to-do list, so I'll bump that one up!

Hello everyone!

I've been working super hard on overhauling my portfolio recently. Everything is completely new within the past few months. (Whew!) That said, I can feel myself entering a little period of stagnation and I want to power through it! (I've also been staring at it a very long time and need a fresh pair of eyes.)

Would you mind taking a look at it, and perhaps giving me your feedback? My goal is to get into children's publishing. Here are some of the questions I have:

• What does it need? What should I be focusing on improving and adding to it?
• Do any of the pieces not belong and should be replaced?
• Does it look ready to submit to publishers? Agents? Or does it need more work?

Here's the link: www.baileymvidler.com

Thank you so much for your time!

Hi, Kyle! This is super cute! I love the concept; it's very clearly conveyed. I also really love your color palette with the greens and browns.

Here are my suggestions:

• The character gets a little lost in the frames behind him. Maybe increase the contrast between him and the background for more visibility. Or maybe space the frames out a bit, so he has some white space breathing room around him.
• I like the variety you have in your frames, some tall, some wide, some square, some round. It feels eclectic, which is fantastic. I feel like you could push that even further. Maybe different colors or some wild shapes would add some more visual interest.

Hope this helps!

You can place the individual pages of a PDF into InDesign, just like you would an image. However, just like an image, they are not editable. Unfortunately, there is no way to import a PDF into InDesign and edit it. (Really obnoxious, I know.)

I usually use Illustrator or Acrobat to edit PDFs.

@Heather-Boyd Yay! I'm so happy to see the finished piece! I like the vibrant yellow you used for the field. It nicely contrasts the dark storm clouds! Thanks for sharing your progress.

As for white space... I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I think Blythe Russo very effectively uses white in her images. It makes them feel all nice and airy.

That's so exciting, Ness!! It looks gorgeous. Congratulations!!