This is my first illustration submission. It's a bit of a different style from most of the work on here, but I love this community, the podcasts, the courses, feedback, etc, so I thought I'd start entering the monthly contests. I considered adding color but decided to keep it in black and white. It was done originally in pen and ink, traditionally, then I scanned it and added a few digital revisions.

It's about the things we try to protect our kids from, their imaginings at night, sure, but more powerfully, the hurt of the world. As a foster parent, this is something I experience a lot-- trying to shield these little ones from further trauma.

The orphan Mercy and her little brother Davon make a dangerous journey through the Wastelands to seek help for their village before it's too late! Here's my entry!

Hey folks,

My first post! I’m a high school English teacher, and aspiring artist on the side. Been listening to the podcast for a while and got a subscription to the site for Christmas! Im excited! I tried to take some of what I learned from the composition course and apply it to this piece. It’s a local art contest in my town, and it’s sort of an homage to some of my favorite things in town—the coffee shops, the aquarium, and the zoo.

Anyways, I was hoping I could get some feedback from y’all on the composition and anything else, before I do final line work and then color it. Also, I’m not confident at all in my coloring abilities, especially with digital work. I’ve taken the color theory course, but still feel at a loss when it comes to choosing my colors. Maybe it’s just experience/trial and error? Any recommendations with regards to colors, or maybe which other classes would help me most?

Btw a lot of the scratchy lines are more for contours and I won’t be doing final line work over those.

Thanks!
Daniel

So I put a lot of work into this. There's a lot I like, but I'm not sure how the colors work. I took a couple of the color courses. Whew, overload! Hopefully I applied some of it well.

Which "haze" in the background looks best?

I think the anteater needs more detail along his face, since the lemur and jaguar have so much. And I think I need to put something on the pages of the open books. No idea what. Or how. Any references y'all could recommend for that? Any other critiques?

Thanks!

I thought I should post the end result. I was selected as one of the finalists for this local competition, won a cash prize, and got my art put up in the city. (It got complicated when they sent me the final template, but I learned some important lessons along the way.) Thanks very much to all of you for your input!

Working on a million things always at once and lacking direction as usual! Ha. But one thing I've been doing is working through the character design course that @AnnaDaviscourt did. It's so fun! Here's a character I made for a graphic novel I hope to get the confidence to start on!

This stuff has been really helpful for me as I work towards my own resolutions. And I’m a 9th grade English teacher, so in class we’ve been setting goals, and tracking habits—related to reading but also study skills, and any extracurricular interests or passions they have. I used some of these tips in class today! Most of them all started with goals that weren’t realistic, so these tips were perfect for freshmen too.

Excellent feedback from all of you! Really helpful. I’m going through it, processing it, and will play with the composition this week. Thanks!

Thanks a lot, folks. @Nyrryl-Cadiz this is Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I don’t have any critiques to offer. Sorry, looks great to me! Really impressed with how consistent the characters look, which is what I am struggling with. I also am hoping to start making a comic and have been in the conceptual/writing/brainstorming phase. I’m having a hard time keeping characters consistent. What tips or resources or classes have you found helpful for you in this regard?

The orphan Mercy and her little brother Davon make a dangerous journey through the Wastelands to seek help for their village before it's too late! Here's my entry!

Working on a million things always at once and lacking direction as usual! Ha. But one thing I've been doing is working through the character design course that @AnnaDaviscourt did. It's so fun! Here's a character I made for a graphic novel I hope to get the confidence to start on!

@Sarah-Simpson Wow, this is just beautiful! Love the experimentation. Turned out amazing.

@Lee-White oh yea that makes sense. I could definitely see how that would have helped here. Thanks!

Hey Y’all,

I watched and followed along to Lee’s Luminous Lighting in Mixed Media class. I’m a little stuck now, so I could use some advice.

I can’t get the line work down like Lee does without it bleeding everywhere. My next step is to figure out how to do that. Granted, I don’t have any acrylic ink so I’ve tried dark concentrated watercolor and also India ink. Bleeds too much when I wet the paper. If I don’t wet the paper, it doesn’t blend with previous layers at all. Can I only achieve Lee’s effect with acrylic ink? In the past I’ve let the paint dry and done hard lines with brush pens but I really like the organic, sketchy feel that Lee achieves in that class. Any artists have any suggestions on how to proceed with the lines?

One lesson learned is to get better watercolor paper. This isn’t nearly sturdy enough. Maybe that’s why the lines bleed too much too.

(I’m also having a hard time with the big plants on the right side. I tried to avoid crisp edges, but now it looks too blurry/muddy. Not sure. Any advice on any part of this painting is welcome)

I don’t have any critiques to offer. Sorry, looks great to me! Really impressed with how consistent the characters look, which is what I am struggling with. I also am hoping to start making a comic and have been in the conceptual/writing/brainstorming phase. I’m having a hard time keeping characters consistent. What tips or resources or classes have you found helpful for you in this regard?

Thanks a lot, folks. @Nyrryl-Cadiz this is Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I thought I should post the end result. I was selected as one of the finalists for this local competition, won a cash prize, and got my art put up in the city. (It got complicated when they sent me the final template, but I learned some important lessons along the way.) Thanks very much to all of you for your input!

This is my first illustration submission. It's a bit of a different style from most of the work on here, but I love this community, the podcasts, the courses, feedback, etc, so I thought I'd start entering the monthly contests. I considered adding color but decided to keep it in black and white. It was done originally in pen and ink, traditionally, then I scanned it and added a few digital revisions.

It's about the things we try to protect our kids from, their imaginings at night, sure, but more powerfully, the hurt of the world. As a foster parent, this is something I experience a lot-- trying to shield these little ones from further trauma.

Sweet. Yea I think you’re right...I’ll take down the saturation of the haze and stick with the yellow background as it seems to unify it more. I’ll try darkening the Jaguar too. I like the book suggestions! Thanks!