Hi everybody!

I'm Frankie from Brighton, England. I wanted to introduce myself and make some connections with some arty folk as sinse I've left college I don't really get to talk to anybody about this topic anymore.

So this last year I hit a serious hump in my creativity and didn't create anything for about 6 months but nearing the end of the year the passion to draw came back and I am enjoying it so much more this time. I currently work full time on a building site and struggle to stay motivated with art but I have set out a proper schedule and such now, this year I am going to be serious about my craft. My illustrations are usually creature based (dinosaurs a lot of the time) and are done traditionally.

So yeah, don't know if any of you needed or wanted to know any of that but now you do. Just wanted to introduce myself a bit and start some conversation.

I want to start a projec,t to create a body of work. So what's everyone's favourite projects or challenges they've done ??? I'd love to hear. Mine was doing Juwujune (Jurassic June) a couple years ago. I loved drawing dinosaurs every day.

If any of you are interested here a couple bits and bobs of mine and you can see more @frankiedraws on Instagram. I know, what a unique user name

@LisaF I illustrated Drefan and the green Man before joining you guys

@Neha-Rawat I really like the whole concept and agree with you on the dog being in the foreground in the first illustration. Including a light glow in the window in that illustration would help tie the images together too. I really like how little background there is in that last illustration as it creates a sense of loneliness which I imagine the koala is feeling. Make sure to make the side that the boy and dog are on look subtly more inviting to contrast where the koala is coming from. I think what you've got is great. Please make sure to post any progression in here. I'd love to see

@ColbyGreen nice to meet you thank you for the compliments. That first one where I did stylised Pokémon is a slightly cheaper marker but that last one is watercolour.

I came to realise this year that Jurassic June may have not actually been a thing as dinovember is much bigger.

I think I'll give mermay a go this year, it's definitely something I've not played with before. Thanks a bunch for the support

@LauraA hey there. Thanks for the advice, I've just started the curriculum, squeezing in an hour after work each day and am really enjoying it. I think I will share my progress like you say and hopefully interact with some cool other people along the way

@j-sienkowski when it gets to the next step I will definitely alter the footprints to create depth. Hopefully that will help with what I was going for with the raptor as I was wanting is to be quite close to the raptor which is why he appears larger. Hopefully altering the prints in the snow would help scale too

@Neha-Rawat I really like the whole concept and agree with you on the dog being in the foreground in the first illustration. Including a light glow in the window in that illustration would help tie the images together too. I really like how little background there is in that last illustration as it creates a sense of loneliness which I imagine the koala is feeling. Make sure to make the side that the boy and dog are on look subtly more inviting to contrast where the koala is coming from. I think what you've got is great. Please make sure to post any progression in here. I'd love to see

I joined these forums just yesterday and this morning found this month's illustration topic and thought I'd join in even if I get a late start. My take on the prompt see's Will as a feathered Microraptor clinging to a tree trunk looking down at some human fooprints. Originally there was quite a bit of open space but I've moved the two trees at the the side closer together to help direct the viewers eye a bit. I also can't decide on where I want the track to be leading which is why there are two set of tracks marked out. These are rough pencils and I wanted to take the opportunity to get some opinions and advice/critiques before I move forward. So what do people think ???

@Meg-Clayburn-0 that mushroom piece is really impactful

@CharlieLP welcome. I'm new here myself. Everyone seems rather friendly. I'm sure you will be on your way master illustrator in no time with your experience

@LisaF I illustrated Drefan and the green Man before joining you guys

@Roxane-Ferreira doing 100 days of the same thing sounds like an excellent way to improve that skill. I have always failed inktober too. Really going to go for it this year though

@KaraDaniel I will make sure to look into that scbwi thingy

@Eywin thank you and good luck to you too! May it be a successful year for both us

@sisimite-azul thank you. That first image is markers but the dinosaurs drinking from the pool is watercolour. I have been considering joining in with those prompts too