Best posts made by drawnbyshawn

My submission for the July 2019 contest. (This was partly inspired by a “bad design” image I ran across a while back. Here’s a link if you’re interested: http://bit.ly/design-mixup)

Here's my May contest entry – “You’re Never Too Old to be Young”

Here's my entry.

Here's my entry.

Here's my mushroom village.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to get one in this month due to some other projects. I was trying to come up with some kind of unique take on "shocking". This idea wasn't the direction I was going initially, but it kind of stuck with me so I went with it.

(Incidentally, I'm not even sure they make braces this way anymore. I've seen ones that are a bit more subtle, but this is what I had when I was younger.)

Here's my entry for the July 2018 contest "Hidden".

I live in Minnesota, and we've had ... well ... a TON of snow this winter. (And another storm is forecasted for this weekend.) My 4-yr old likes to help me shovel.

I also take part in an open artists prompt on Instagram from The Monster Project called Monster Project UNITE, where kids submit a monster drawing and then artists re-interpret and re-imagine them. Here is my latest one, along with the original.

(As a side-note, Monster Project UNITE is a lot of fun and I would recommend taking part. It's interesting to take the seed of an idea from a child's drawing and running with it. And, often times you'll hear back from the kids or their teachers about how much they like the different artists interpretations.)

My entry for "Godzilla's Next Challenger".

@Aleksey Looks like a great exercise. Along with the “Draw 100 Things”, to really push past an initial batch of ideas and explore all possibilities. I have a habit of settling on ideas earlier, when I could probably do more exploration.

SCBWI has a month "Draw This" prompt (which I kind of just realized), so I figured I would submit for August. All submissions get placed in their online gallery and the winners are featured in their "Insight" email. The prompt is "dress up", and here is my tight sketch. Yeah, I probably should solicit feedback sooner in my process, but it's just not something I've gotten used to. But I really need to, so I'm trying to post more to both get AND give feedback.

Any feedback/critiques appreciated.

FYI, if you're an SCBWI member you can submit by the 20th of each month. The link is here: https://www.scbwi.org/calling-all-illustrators-2/ (although they haven't updated the language on the page for this month).

@drawnbyshawn Thanks again for all of the suggestions. Here's what I settled on. (Or at least, I think I'm finished. Who knows, maybe some minor adjustments before I post to the contest thread.)

@charitymunoz The entire Affinity suite is becoming quite popular as well. Pay-once software vs subscription like with Adobe. In particular, Affinity Designer would be comparable to Photoshop and Illustrator kind of mixed together, and costs $50.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/

I just finished all three courses for "How to Make Money in Illustration" – which are excellent by the way – and I'm trying to figure out where something fits into the types of work an illustrator can do.

How about artwork for toys, games, puzzles, etc? (I'm referring to physical toys/games, not electronic or digital.) Box art, but maybe also artwork that goes on the product itself. That seems closest to "Magic the Gathering", which @Lee-White covered in part 2, but I wanted to see what others (or even Lee) thought. Broadly, that does seem like it fits under "publishing" as well, but wanted to know if others had some specific info on pros, cons, pay structure, artist rights, etc.

Thanks!

Here's a cleaned-up sketch of my idea for "hidden". Looking for comments, suggestions, critiques, etc.

(I go back and forth on whether it is clear enough, but the cookies obviously not hidden since she's going for them. But, she discovered where they have been hidden and is now attempting to get them. It may be overstating the obvious, but just in case it's not, that is my intention. Hopefully it reads that way.)

Thanks!

@donfito Covering the face is an interesting idea. When I first read that, I wasn't sure that was going to work, as I thought it would be important to have her face completely visible. But, I was working on it this afternoon and tried it and ... it does work better I think. I'm not covering it much, but just enough to make a difference. Thanks!

Here's my latest cleaned up sketch.

@shiggins180 Thanks! Yeah, that does help, especially the shirt collar.

I've worked on this one quite a bit, so I figured I'd post where I'm at. I'm going to do more with the boxes on the foreground shelf, and just have "cookies" in there as kind of a placeholder.

I also have two versions. One has a cropping that pulls the character forward a bit more (which I'm liking).

Yeah, I think it does. Really nice! I'd agree with @NessIllustration regarding the size of the horse compared to the human.

One area I would possibly adjust is the curve in the back leg, where it juts back and then down. (How's that for trying to describe horse anatomy.) I think yours is anatomically-correct, but it's possible it may read just a bit better if it's exaggerated a bit. Yours kind of comes down gradually to that point, where it could be more of a definite curve. Something like this image.

Kind of a minor thing really, but it's just something I noticed.

@BichonBistro Oh, good point.