It was not technically work because I did it for fun as a new iPad wallpaper but I wanted to share it because I really enjoyed how it flowed when I drew it
I've been drawing space scenes lately. I love playing with colors and nebulas and then filling it with stars of all kinds

It actually came after this:

Hello Alex, congrats! I'm sorry to pop your bubble but I've been there too: a potential client contacts you with so much excitement to make a book and after you ask the right questions they are more likely to disappear... (it happened at least 4 times I can remember now).
Usually it's because they don't know how much it costs so I always try to get a number from the client so you know if it's worth your time or not. Also I ask number of illustrations (pages + cover), if it's colored or B&W, deadline... all the information you should know to estimate a budget.
If you think you can work with the budget he answers (if he answers any number) I would start negotiating. Usually the illustrator would price higher than he expects to earn and usually the clients tend to go lower. Will Terry has an amazing video about this.
Money is not everything but don't let them take advantage of your inexperience.
There are other interests that may compensate a low budget. That's only up on you. But make sure you are comfortable with the project otherwise it will become a nightmare.

Yes, you should definitely make a contract where everything is specified so there are no surprises in the future.
Hope this helps and someone with more experience gives you more tips

Hi y'all! I'm Cris from Barcelona (Spain). I've been building a portfolio for looking for some rep. I already have been with one agency but I left it because it wasn't working for me so now I'm again on the step of sending emails.

My goal is to work either on children's books, picture books, packaging, animation and videogames (I have a background in it). And I'm always open to new projects like stationery, pattern design, etc.

I've narrowed my list to these agencies (and here are the points I like):

• Bright: it is very varied and some artists I like are there.
• Tugeau2: it is a very familiar small agency with few different artists and they are open to new kind of projects you may request.
• Arena illustration: so many years of experience and also a small agency with less than 30 illustrators.
• Good illustration: a familiar agency with only 54 children illustrators and a variety of projects.
• Shannon associates: they have worked with some interesting big clients and they make a variety of projects.

A couple literary and boutique agencies:

• Cat bird: only 44 illustrators with different styles.
• The cat agency: only 47 illustrators. It's a small familiar agency and some artists I like are there.

My question here is if you may add any other agency that may be a good fit for me and if you think it would be better to focus on illustration agencies and leave aside the literary agencies or maybe try to get one literary/boutique agency and an illustration agency because I guess you get more regular jobs with literary agencies (or maybe I'm wrong).

About my portfolio I would like you to take a look and give me some feedback because I feel I'm a bit bored of looking at it so much. Also I recently split the portfolio into illustration and characters because I found it more neat and it was too long to be together (I like to keep my portfolio at around 30 artworks).

Thank you so so much in advance for taking the time and effort!!

Hi Mike!
I've always drew since I was a kid like you but during and the arts baccalaureate it stopped being funny because we had to draw for the sake of filling a 90 page sketchbook every 3 months I guess so I got sick of making drawings like a machine. So the following 8-ish years (university+master+not thinking about drawing) I only drew for class assignments until I started to journal-drawing and making tiny comics of funny things that happened to me only for fun and trying new media but I always struggled with the starting part (sketching blabla) so I tried digital drawing with an oldie wacom bamboo I had from the master and it was hard in the beginning until you get used to it but then it was great! Ctrl+z is a good friend.
It really was life changing when I got my iPad (the regular one, not the pro). Everything feels easier and more natural to me as I can mess without worrying about wasting nice materials plus I have all the colors in the rainbow and looooots of tools and textures and I don't need space to store different materials. I feel that now I have all the tools I needed to achieve what I want to make because for example I realised that my sketching process is not linework as usually people do on paper: I start blocking shapes and then linework (which you can guess it's not that easier using pen and paper...).
Sorry for the super long story but in the end I meant that you have to just try things and find what fits you. You are only drawing for fun so don't put so much pressure on it!
The only thing you have to do to make it something regular on your everyday is start drawing maybe an hour a day then a little bit more and so on. It's like exercising a muscle.
I hope this helps you in someway.

If you have Photoshop ctrl+shift+alt+S (save for web) and then on the top right you can set JPG and choose from low, med or high and at the bottom you can set the size you want then under the preview you will see the actual size on the bottom left corner of the image.
This way you can save new files without resizing the original into what you need. This works great when you have to resize artworks to upload to your portfolio.
Hope it helps!

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Hi! Thanks for your feedback!
You're right about the sequential illustrations, I'm going to work more on that as well as adding adult characters and more interacting.
Thank you for taking the time!

I really like the new approach to the cover design! Congrats!
And with the interior pages makes it so complete.

Hi!
I don't think you should focus on how many hours you draw per day, instead pay attention if they are productive hours.
Don't compare yourself to others, that never helps. You can learn from others.
Also drawing is not everything in this career, you have to do many more things so I recommend you that when you don't feel like drawing but you want to be productive start planning or learning things on the business side of the game for example. Or take that online class you have been wanting to take for months.
And please take breaks. Your body can handle what it can handle and if you don't listen to it it will be loud until you have no other choice but to rest.
Believe me, people that say they draw for 10h a day no prob they are probably not as literal as you think... Maybe they actually are 4h doodling while checking FB, 2h on youtube and 4h drawing.
However I knew a starting illustrator who wanted to be a pro but she hardly ever wanted to draw, maybe 3 days a week (and never 8h per day). I find this very weird because if you are planning to make this as a career you should invest more to make a living of it. With this I mean that if you feel somehow like this, maybe you only want it as a hobby.
When I started I was mostly learning things, practicing and having fun. I have to tell you that this is like a muscle so I'm sure that it will be easier for you to draw more hours in a while. Just don't pressure yourself

@Jordi-Ventura I think the 1 is better because the blue background makes everything pop more. In the 2nd one you can see her hands a bit lost in the green. If you put a black layer on top of everything and turn it into Color mode you can tell which values are right between colors so you can avoid that overlapping (if you want to). Keep in mind that if they are complementary colors they will make a contrast even though the values are the same.
And from the other ones I really like the one with the fairy! I think maybe it's because of the color scheme and the lighting.
Hope this helped. You are doing great!

I'm loving so much the scene with him into craziness like a balloon!
Btw I used to watch the cartoons on tv when I was little and loved it!

Hello!
I don't know about pricing logos but you should do some research about it.
For example you have to think if it's a big company or a small one. How much time it wil be used.
In any case never price per hour this kind of jobs.
You have to keep in mind that logos is something very expensive as it is something very very important for a brand and they will use it everywhere.
Hope this kinda helps somehow, good luck on the commission!

It's funny because I've came up with some collaboration gigs that because they are non paid jobs they think they shouldn't arrange a contract which for me sounds absurd. Especially if it's a non paid job I want to have everything clear and tied up.

Looking good! I love how colorful and clean looks!

Congratulations @Gary-Wilkinson !! These look amazing!
I really like that pastel look, so smooth.

@xin-li oh, you're right! That means your book will be published sooner. Good point

I'm not sure where I heard that but I heard that children's books in Europe and in USA are different:
In Europe the cycle of a book is much shorter than in USA so they publish more books in less time. Let's say that in the time in USA they publish a book in Europe they make 4.
So that translates into lower budgets, tight deadlines and probably less quality.
In USA they make a more curated plan for each book: marketing plans to make the book last longer in the market, art director, multiple rounds of reviews, etc. In Europe they burn the life of the book earlier because they don't even invest that amount of money and time.

Specially in educational market... I once was asked to illustrate a 20 pages book for that market in 7 days (however the agent I had told me they were flexible with the deadline). I declined the job for multiple reasons.

It's a crappy reality...
And from what I've heard, yes, the average is 3 months.

@LauraA I'm living in Tokyo with a WH visa so I didn't want my big tablet to maybe get crushed during the trip. Also apartments here are tiny!
Digital made me the illustrator I am. It's so so so good. I can achieve what's in my mind
My next ipad will be a Pro one

I have the ipad 2018 (128GB). I have iCloud and OneDrive and I don't need any more space.
About the size I never felt it was small. I got this size so I can travel with it or carry it in my bag.
I'm not an artist who makes big gesture strokes so this size works for me.
I've been using it for more than a year as my main working tool because I have temporarily moved to another country so I didn't want to bring my big pen&display.
But I always have to tweak colors in PS on my laptop.

The only thing I'm missing from a Pro is the RAM because Procreate usually gets short in layers with the base iPad when you make a big canvas (for printing for example).

Mine only has Wi-fi and never missed the data. It's another expense!
I don't think iPads are that expensive if you value them as your working tool. I think I would see it differently if it only was for fun but anyways I guess mine was around 400€ with the pencil. Not bad for all the use I have given it.

Hello Alex, congrats! I'm sorry to pop your bubble but I've been there too: a potential client contacts you with so much excitement to make a book and after you ask the right questions they are more likely to disappear... (it happened at least 4 times I can remember now).
Usually it's because they don't know how much it costs so I always try to get a number from the client so you know if it's worth your time or not. Also I ask number of illustrations (pages + cover), if it's colored or B&W, deadline... all the information you should know to estimate a budget.
If you think you can work with the budget he answers (if he answers any number) I would start negotiating. Usually the illustrator would price higher than he expects to earn and usually the clients tend to go lower. Will Terry has an amazing video about this.
Money is not everything but don't let them take advantage of your inexperience.
There are other interests that may compensate a low budget. That's only up on you. But make sure you are comfortable with the project otherwise it will become a nightmare.

Yes, you should definitely make a contract where everything is specified so there are no surprises in the future.
Hope this helps and someone with more experience gives you more tips

Well! Here are some color tests. My first choice was 1 but now I also like 2 and 3. The green one is my least favorite because I don't think it works as well as the other ones in this case.
I'm playing with the blueish / red duality so she pops into the moody forest.
The color of the title is not yet decided I only placed it so you know where it's supposed to be placed.
Which one you like more? Thank you!!
Also if you'd like to suggest another color scheme that you think may work better do not hesitate!