I'm not sure if this is allowed, so just disregard it if it isn't, but I wanted to do some speculative book covers for my portfolio so tried to combine it with this month's theme and did a book cover for Peter Pan

Bit of a simple concept for my piece but to be honest I struggled with robots, not usually my thing haha!

Hi guys,

I just want to share the exciting news that I now have an agent! I’m maybe sharing this a bit pre-maturely as I still need to send over all my work and be put up on the website, but I am excited so feel like I have to share I’m now represented by T2 illustration agency. Thank you for everyone’s comments on my other post where I asked advice I don’t comment as often as I should here (I often think other people can sum up my thoughts better than I can!) but I am an avid lurker and feel like the past few months I have been an SVS member have kept me encouraged and inspired. I am looking forward to the next phase of my illustration journey

I've been a bit quiet here lately. I've been experimenting with combing traditional and digital media lately and made this today

Hi guys, I’m signing off for Christmas so here is my illustration

Here is mine! Not sure if I'm happy with it, but have to say that with everything going on at the minute I'm finding it really hard to be creative or want to do anything creative

I saw this going around on Twitter so thought it would be fun to post here! Pick a piece of artwork from 2009 (or as old a piece you can find if you don’t have one from 2009) and redraw it!
Here’s mine:

Well at least I stopped abusing the burn tool on Photoshop I was 14 when I drew the first picture! And a big fan of Harry Potter, I think that was my OC at the time

Here's a couple of my pieces

Are we allowed to post sequential illustrations?

Hi everyone, I thought for the first time I would tackle the monthly contest here. I wanted to tackle it in quite a light hearted way and make it Christmassy as it is December!
My idea is a naughty kid who overhears her parent talking (on the phone?) to Santa about how she will definitely be on the naughty list this year. I imagine it would be a spread from a picture book.
I’ve done some thumbnailing so far and choose one in particular to go into more detail and do a rough colour sketch. Id love to hear feedback on the composition and colours etc.

Is it obvious that she is hiding under the tree, trying to sneakily open a Christmas present early?
Is it obvious who her parent is talking to? I wanted to add a phone cord so show he was on the phone, but then realised that kids these days would not understand that haha!
Should I add more context of the living room to the background or will that become too cluttered?

Thank you so much ️

Amazing!! Congrats

Looking amazing! I love the colours you have chosen so far. I would maybe add one more accent colour to draw your eye to the father and son, eg maybe their tops could have a touch of a pink/red/orangey warmth instead of yellow. Not sure how it would look against the purple background, the yellow might work better in the end

Enjoyed this episode I have to add - if you are looking for a way to prop up reference books while you're working, get a cook book stand! This is what I do. Works perfectly

As others have said - limiting revisions.
Also needing feedback in a timely manner before deadlines. I took a local job for a poster with a quick turn around of a week. It was only after I submitted sketches that I realised that my contact only worked part time and wasn't working again till the day the illustration was due so I wouldn't be able to receive feedback till then... I don't think they thought that through. I hated that it looked like I wasnt meeting the deadline and I looked unreliable.

Thank you

@xin-li I like the new composition! There feels like more of a connection between the father and son. I also like the scale of the characters, I don't think I would make them any smaller.
I'm not sure if I would understand right away that they were hanging stars, but I'm sure that if we had all the other pages and text that it would make sense in the context of the story anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

@xin-li I think 1 is working better for me compositionally. I love how the father and son are looking at each other. Are they meant to be catching stars? If so you could emphasise this more by having stars in the boat like you did in 2, or having a star caught on the fishing rod.
2 seems a bit cluttered especially around the boat. If you went for this composition I think I would play a bit more with the scale of things. Maybe have a smaller glimpse of the rooftops and hills to give the boat more breathing room.

@idid she actually reached out to me after seeing my work on Instagram! But I think it was based off my illustrations solely as when we Skyped she hadn’t realised I had a couple of competed dummy books

Thank you everyone!

Hi Elena! Are yous planning for this book to be published traditionally and not self published? It is very unusual for an author and illustrator to work together before the book is sent to the publisher for their consideration. Publisher's choose the illustrators themselves for a manuscript, usually the author has very little (if any at all) to do with choosing an illustrator! I just say this so you are aware that it would not be industry standard. I am sure some author and illustrator duos have found success this way, but I would prepare yourself for what would happen if the publisher decided they only wanted the manuscript and not the illustrations, or vice versa and thought they had another project your illustrations are perfect for but didn't like the manuscript. This is just a thought for the both of you to consider. Is he planning to pay you up front, or would your payment be only the advance/royalties from the publisher?

In your response to how to present the project, typically when submitting a dummy book the whole book would be completed in roughs with around 2 full colour spreads and a full colour cover. There's probably a bit of leeway with that though.