Hi SVS peers!

I am sharing some of my sketches and color studies for the June 3rd Thursday. The prompt I decided on is:

• "Izzy is the only octopus in her family who doesn't like to camouflage"

The idea is that Izzy likes to be colorful and exposed, dressing herself in ocean plant life crowns and eccentric accessories scavenged from shipwrecks and buried treasure.

I know that there are some brilliant creative brains among this forum, so please if you have any thoughts or critiques, please share

Happy visual storytelling!

I played around with Izzy a bit and the illusion of a gown. I think it might be fun to put her in a classroom... maybe the class is called Camouflage 101, and she's off doing her own thing while the other students are learning camouflage.

Ooooh! There's quite a few on here I haven't heard of, how cool!
Here's what I have to share:

Let's Get Busy (interviews with Kid-lit illustrators and Authors)
Your dreams my nightmares (Interviews with illustrators and designers)
Chris Oatley's Artcast (Artist interviews)
Frannerd's Youtube Channel (lifestyle and art video blog)

I love the Creative Pep Talk! it's probably my favorite

Happy Podcasting

I liked how in previous 3rd Thursday episodes we were able to see everyone else's work being scrolled through. It would be cool to see what people submitted even if they didn't make the 'final cut.' If it's too much to put in the video, maybe another solution could be considered.

Otherwise it was great! I really enjoy watching the critiques, combined with the great forum community feedback it feels more and more classroom-like. What a great resource to learn and grow.

@gimmehummus, The bird character here is so charming and your color choices are lovely. I'm a bit of a typography nerd so I thought I'd share an idea for the type.

Maybe the light could be coming from the bottom left instead of the top right, this could push the tree back a bit so the type is more readable. I changed the colors and set them on a curve as if they were coming in around the tree.

I really love what you've done, beautiful work :).

@Cyd
Also!!!

James Gurney's Youtube is a brilliant resource

Fantastic job on the revisions! The shadow of the monster tail reads much better.

@Kevin-Longueil Mary Blair is amazing, I'm a big fan of her concept work for Disney, especially Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. The fact my work reminds you of her is a compliment, thank you

Currently working on some ways that Izzy's classmates from "Camouflage 101" practice their hiding techniques:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGwb9_ZPjdd/?taken-by=cydkay

I played around with Izzy a bit and the illusion of a gown. I think it might be fun to put her in a classroom... maybe the class is called Camouflage 101, and she's off doing her own thing while the other students are learning camouflage.

I remember your piece from the critique! Thanks for sharing your process video for the remake.

@Christine-Garner I don't have experience with those programs, but if your familiar in Photoshop they do have a feature called Timeline. It's a nice transition into something like Adobe After Effects.

I checked out your blog and enjoyed looking at your art! Best of luck with your animation adventure

@evilrobot, I'll have to explore the idea of Izzy dragging her tentacles behind her like a ball gown. That's clever! Thank you for your input

I feel like the bear closest to us in the image is getting a bit lost and could use some separation from the other characters for a faster read... maybe it's significantly darker for contrast?

I adore the expressiveness of your characters, lovely!

I bought a copy of Sophie's Fish after watching, so clever AAAAAGGGHH

@Kevin-Longueil Mary Blair is amazing, I'm a big fan of her concept work for Disney, especially Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. The fact my work reminds you of her is a compliment, thank you

@NickA I appreciate the thorough input, thank you!

@Cyd
Also!!!

James Gurney's Youtube is a brilliant resource