Hi everyone. I'm Janet. I recently signed up for SVS and watched my first critique today which was really inspiring.

I have a biology degree but then studied illustration part-time at Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver. It was good but not as in-depth and focused as SVS so I'm very happy to be here.

I work as the colourist on the Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy middle-grade graphic novel series from Andrews McMeel. That's been fun, and occasionally rather hair-raising but I have learned so much on the job. Who knew comics flatting was a thing?!

I'm working on developing more of my own stories. I want to improve everything especially my drawing, composition, and character design. I work with ink but also make miniatures which I'm starting to incorporate into my artwork. Not sure where that's all going yet, but it's been pretty fun to play with for now. I'm also interested in editorial illustration.

In the next year my goal is to get a dummy book picture book together to pitch to kidlit agents. I'm also trying to take more risks and put more work out there.

One of my characters, Jeff, night manager of a rather unusual supermarket.

Jeff: "Who left this here?"Experimental paper scene with miniature.

And here are some doughnuts. Nom nom nom.

Sounds like you've thought it through well and good to stick to your guns about reasonable payment. You are worth it!

In an illustration class I took, the prof brought in a copy of the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook which had very useful info (at least on the USA side) for things like rates and rights. It went on to my list of books I want to buy.

https://graphicartistsguild.org/product/the-graphic-artists-guild-handbook-pricing-ethical-guidelines/

I should add - it had not just illustration rate info but a ton of other stuff like graphic design, television, greeting cards etc.

@burvantill Hey! Thanks a bunch (:D bad banana joke). The banana was really fun to make although took me ages to get the shape right.

Amazing! Congrats!!!

@burvantill oh excellent! I have not yet dropped the hammer on this. Do you think it's worth buying a copy? And oh I totally agree - the publishing industry just seems so crazy to me. So good to share notes on here and get advice. lol - SVS is the therapy.

Thanks for the welcome! So glad to be part of this community.

@DarleneAnico Thanks! Glad you like crazy Jeff.

@Miriam Ha ha. I don't watch The Office but I know who Dwight is and can totally see Dwight in there. Maybe Jeff needs a name change, or a demotion.

@Braden-Hallett Thanks very much!

@danielerossi Yay Canada and the Maple Glaze doughnut! I wish the doughnuts were real! Thanks for asking about flatting. It's the process of separating areas of a page of linework into colours and then making sure the flats extend properly "behind" the linework for offset printing. I had to teach myself but there are loads of great tutorials out there if you search for "comics flatting". There are also some great plugins out there to speed up the process.

@TessaW Thanks very much for the encouragement.

@demotlj Lol. If only all the doughnuts I ate were this size.

@nyrryl-cadiz Thanks!

@Chip-Valecek Thanks glad to be here.

@TwiggyT Thanks! The wee doughnuts are made of polymer clay, chalk pastels, and acrlyic glaze on the shiny bits.

Thanks! Good to know. I'm definitely going to pick it up before year end.

HI Nicola! Welcome to SVS. I also joined up recently. I love your style. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to with the October competition.

Thanks! Good to know. I'm definitely going to pick it up before year end.

@burvantill oh excellent! I have not yet dropped the hammer on this. Do you think it's worth buying a copy? And oh I totally agree - the publishing industry just seems so crazy to me. So good to share notes on here and get advice. lol - SVS is the therapy.

Sounds like you've thought it through well and good to stick to your guns about reasonable payment. You are worth it!

In an illustration class I took, the prof brought in a copy of the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook which had very useful info (at least on the USA side) for things like rates and rights. It went on to my list of books I want to buy.

https://graphicartistsguild.org/product/the-graphic-artists-guild-handbook-pricing-ethical-guidelines/

I should add - it had not just illustration rate info but a ton of other stuff like graphic design, television, greeting cards etc.

Ha ha this is so excellent. Eat dirt Billy. I love how you've delicately treated Billy's beheading - it's just perfect.

@KathrynAdebayo Thanks so much. I'm hoping to greatly improve all my drawing and composition skills. That stuff does not come easy to me at all and I'm very conscious of learning more toward the writing than the illustration side. So...lots to work on. I checked out your etsy store and your miniature paintings are quite amazing! I love the sea horse especially.

Amazing! Congrats!!!

@neschof Aw thanks - I'm so glad you thought it was real! Here's a fun little vid of the same banana I used in that drawing showing the scale.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByJWMXWhKym/

@burvantill Hey! Thanks a bunch (:D bad banana joke). The banana was really fun to make although took me ages to get the shape right.

HI Nicola! Welcome to SVS. I also joined up recently. I love your style. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to with the October competition.

I really loved this piece when I first saw it in the critique and seeing your process just blows me away. Thanks for sharing how you got to your final work. Also this is such interesting mythology I'd never heard before.