Hey everyone! I'm so excited to be entering a monthly contest for the first time.

Let me introduce you to Twig. She's a brave, fierce girl from a miniature village of tiny elf-like creatures (leaves to scale!). When she caught wind of the goblins' plans to destroy her home, she took it upon herself to find someone who could help.

In my rendition of the prompt, the village is poor in a material sense, but rich in love. The elves are paupers who make do with what they find on the forest floor. Whereas goblins are typically depicted as groveling creatures of the lowest social class, they're snobbish, monocle-wearing posh folk in my story. They no longer value the resources that nature presents, and want to use the land the village sits on for their own purposes...

I'm still chugging along on MerMay. :^) I am both very fond of illustrating mermaids, and very ready to be done.

Whoops! Made my own post asking if people were doing MerMay before seeing this! So cool to see everyone's work. Here's my most recent. We got this y'all.

@AustinShurtliff This is my very first post in the SVS forums, so I hope I’m doing this right. The piece I’m sharing is of my final character designs for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This is maybe the first piece I’ve ever made completely digitally, and definitely the first illustration I’ve made in black and white! I really tried to work outside my comfort zone.

1. How have you improved this year thanks to SVSLearn?
I only joined SVS a few months ago, but I’ve already made my way through several courses — Creative Composition, Children’s Books, Character Design, etc. Before I joined, I was struggling to teach myself everything on my own and getting caught up on where to start. As an aspiring picture book illustrator with no formal illustration education, I’ve really appreciated SVS as a resource. I’m still a beginner in this field, but SVS has helped me organize my creative process, which has been crucial.

2. How did SVSLearn impact the creation of this piece?
I followed the approach Anna Daviscourt laid out in her Character Design course, just with a different story (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and time period (1940s). I played with simple shapes, proportion and wardrobe until I landed on these characters.

I'm making work in preparation for Mermay! These mar-babies make me so happy. I feel like I get closer to my truest artistic voice with every piece I make. But I still have so much to learn. Working my way through SVS classes on the side, starting at square one. (Literally. Working through David Hohn's basic perspective class right now, lol!)

@Julia Here's what I ended up with. You may not be able to tell, but I added very subtle highlights (that "white line" that Nadya was talking about) and shadows where the paper was cut. If you work with collage a lot it may be useful to enhance them afterward like this. In my case I was looking at the way the collage looked in person and adjusting the scan to match. Like I said, this is my first time trying to scan a collage like this, so I have a lot of figuring-out to do. Still doesn't look exactly how I wanted.

Hi guys! I wanted to get your thoughts on what is basically a debate between finishing a project for the sake of finishing, or stopping it early if you've gotten what you wanted out of it.

I am currently 20 illustrations into #MerMay (I've been doing extras to give myself some padding) and am feeling like I've reached a natural stopping point. I've really surprised and impressed myself with the work I've done for this challenge. I've gotten several children's book portfolio pieces out of it, and have gotten closer to the distinct style I see in my head. But now I'm wondering if I should stop here or keep going?

I have 10 illustrations left to officially complete the challenge (I know there are 31 days in May, but I like the neat number 30 better). One one hand, 30 is an arbitrary number, and I feel like I've already reaped the benefits I'm going to reap. I don't want my portfolio to be even more saturated with mermaids.

On the other hand, maybe pushing through in times when you've lost momentum on a project is good practice? Especially for children's book illustration, when I'll eventually have to work on projects for a long time with varying degrees of interest. On the podcast, Lee has also talked about how some of the most creative ideas come 50 or 100 ideas in, when you've already exhausted the cliches.

So I don't know. What do you guys think? What would you do?

Hi fellow art folk,

I just made an iPad sketch for a project I’m doing in an astronomy class (I’m an undergrad). This piece will end up in gouache and collage, so the textures and line quality/weight will be totally different. But I’m trying to resolve the composition and color scheme before I paint. I like the composition (except maybe the stars, which will look different on paper) but am unsure about the color scheme. The dog’s sweaters have to be red and green, and the rocket should have some shade of red, as it is Soviet. The earth should also be some shade of light blue. But it doesn’t feel totally harmonious yet. Could use fresh eyes.

Thanks a bunch.

@Annabishop @Tiffany-Thomas @Melissa-Bailey-0 All good points! Thanks guys. Despite my hesitations, I think I'm going to push through to the finish. I did originally want to prove to myself that I can finish a larger project, so I do want that sense of accomplishment. And you're right Melissa. Part of the reason I wanted to do a longer challenge was to work my way up to making a full dummy, so I do think it's important to get over this stepping stone. Thanks for your advice everyone!

@Annabishop @Braden-Hallett @NessIllustration This was such a great discussion, all of you! I’m nowhere near this stage of my career yet, but am glad to have read your advice before I found myself in this situation. Thank you all!

Hey forum friends,

I just got a request to be a private art tutor for an 11 year old boy one hour a week. The parents asked for my tutoring rate, and I’m not sure what to request. I’m hoping some of you might have some advice. Here are the details:

• I live in Queens, NY but work in Manhattan as an art museum educator
• The family lives near my job so I should be able to walk over there once a week after work.
• I am an experienced art educator with years of teaching under my belt
• I would be planning personalized weekly art activities for one boy

The parents originally suggested $50/hr but my former employer (who put us in touch) suggests $85 to account for my prep and travel time. I feel a little guilty asking that much per week because the family has three kids and seem to be artists themselves.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

@kylebeaudette Omg I love him...

@Annabishop @Braden-Hallett @NessIllustration This was such a great discussion, all of you! I’m nowhere near this stage of my career yet, but am glad to have read your advice before I found myself in this situation. Thank you all!

@Annabishop @Tiffany-Thomas @Melissa-Bailey-0 All good points! Thanks guys. Despite my hesitations, I think I'm going to push through to the finish. I did originally want to prove to myself that I can finish a larger project, so I do want that sense of accomplishment. And you're right Melissa. Part of the reason I wanted to do a longer challenge was to work my way up to making a full dummy, so I do think it's important to get over this stepping stone. Thanks for your advice everyone!

I'm still chugging along on MerMay. :^) I am both very fond of illustrating mermaids, and very ready to be done.

@Tiffany-Thomas Lol! Love the hairy legs and bewildered expressions.

@PieterVanDerBeek AW! Congrats!

This is a SUPER cute design! I think the anatomy might be a little stiff? Specifically in the arm that's swinging back. The pigeon feels a little rigid even though he's in motion. I also don't totally understand the bread? I know pigeons love breadcrumbs, but I'm not sure why this guy would have a suitcase full of sliced bread. It's also hard to tell whether the pigeon is human-sized (because the bread is so small), or if he exists in world full of tiny animal-sized things. I love the personality and overall silhouette of the design though.

Hi guys! I wanted to get your thoughts on what is basically a debate between finishing a project for the sake of finishing, or stopping it early if you've gotten what you wanted out of it.

I am currently 20 illustrations into #MerMay (I've been doing extras to give myself some padding) and am feeling like I've reached a natural stopping point. I've really surprised and impressed myself with the work I've done for this challenge. I've gotten several children's book portfolio pieces out of it, and have gotten closer to the distinct style I see in my head. But now I'm wondering if I should stop here or keep going?

I have 10 illustrations left to officially complete the challenge (I know there are 31 days in May, but I like the neat number 30 better). One one hand, 30 is an arbitrary number, and I feel like I've already reaped the benefits I'm going to reap. I don't want my portfolio to be even more saturated with mermaids.

On the other hand, maybe pushing through in times when you've lost momentum on a project is good practice? Especially for children's book illustration, when I'll eventually have to work on projects for a long time with varying degrees of interest. On the podcast, Lee has also talked about how some of the most creative ideas come 50 or 100 ideas in, when you've already exhausted the cliches.

So I don't know. What do you guys think? What would you do?