@JennyJones

Thank you for your reply Jenny.
I have been doing a fair bit of research and I do realize that digital art has quite a large influence in children's literature so I am sure that in the not too distant future I will be working with a digital format of some kind.

Thanks again.

@nyrrylcadiz

I have been doing research and I have heard about procreate quite a bit.
I love traditional media so I am reluctant to get into a digital format but I also want to see what I could do with it.
Thank you.

@nyrrylcadiz

I think it looks great. I love narrative pieces and I think you have a great thing going here.
Can I ask what you use to illustrate?
I am a traditional artist using color pencil, watercolor and graphite at this point and painting in acrylic but I feel that it might be a good idea for me to start using a digital platform for my work.

I love the concept of your current project and I think you have a strong sense of what you are communicating.
I can imagine this being interesting to kids.

@lmrush

Great idea. Mine is:

https://www.instagram.com/jessicajolicoeurart/

@Lee-White

I just saw this post today about your video critiques of all of the submissions.
I was captivated by your suggestions to each image and watched the whole thing through.
Thank you very much on the critique, I do use traditional mediums as this point and I am investigating digital formats to bring my work to the next level and hopefully increase interest in my work for children's illustration.

Jessica Jolicoeur

@SundayGirl76

Hello SundayGirl,

Thank you very much for your comment.
I think you are right, I do tend to worry about having different styles but I do think that having a wide variety of styles is ultimately beneficial.
I love to do watercolor flowers and botanicals but I also love to do flowers and landscapes in acrylic paint.

As far as illustration goes, I enjoy drawing more photo-realistically in color pencil and graphite and I am writing a story that I intend to illustrate aswell that is about a group of farm animals and would be drawn in a more photo-realistic style, some viniettes in graphite (think Beatrix Potter, those little drawings that are headers for each chapter) and including full color images done in watercolor.
I do plan on trying to get this story published by a larger, established publishing house. I am not sure how possible it is but I have to try.

As far as the Faeries go, I do think they would lend well to a zine or small book but I think my target audience is children although I think they could be interesting to the tween and older female crowd as well.

I am considering creating and publishing a few copies and selling them locally in my area to get them out there and gauge the interest, we have a small bookstore chain that might be able to carry them as my small community has a lot of resources and support for local artists.
I think they would lend well to a kind of daily inspiration card deck.
Something with a small poem about each faerie and how you can be inspired by the message that faerie brings to you for the day.

I will take a look at your Etsy shop and see what you are talking about.
My only concern about selling them on Etsy is the time that is required to manage the updates, photos, editing, posting and then ultimate shipping.
It seems to be a lot of work (I have an Etsy shop for my accessories) if they are not making enough money for it to be worth it.

I will give it some thought. I suppose I can't know if I don't try right?!

Thanks again for your comment.

Jessica Jolicoeur

@animatosoor

I use a few different mediums depending on the subject matter.
I love using color pencil and watercolor and I am dabbling with the idea of using digital formats for my art.

Ultimately my goal with these images is to have them published and in a book series.

My target audiences are children in the six to 13 category and mainly girls although I am interested in creating a line in this subject matter that is interesting to boys as well.

I don't really want to go the route of selling prints via online store as I feel that it would practically be a full-time job and would take away time and energy required for building my illustration style and writing.

I feel that these faeries and that silhouette style have scope within a broader market.
I can see them lending well to books, art prints in kids rooms, prints on fabric for clothing and bedding.
That may be a stretch but I don't really think so as other artists who do faeries such as Linda Ravenscroft has created a whole market with her art licensed to different products.

If you are not familiar here is her website https://www.lindaravenscroft.com/

She now owns an entire beautiful shop in the U.K.

I am not really quite sure how to get my style out there, ideally, I think I need to start by gaining some interest from publishers who see the validity of this style and who feel that it would be popular for them to print.
The faery market for products and books and all things faery is quite big and more popular than ever and my style lends well to other creatures in this area like mermaids and other mystical creatures.

I will look into that course that you mentioned.
Any ideas on how I get this style published and looked at by publishing houses is greatly appreciated.

Jessica Jolicoeur

Here are the other faeries in the same style.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZWwKQeDhJ7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Hello @animatosoor ,

Thank you very much for responding, I really appreciate that you took the time to comment.

It is interesting that you comment about it being a series as I have done several faeries in this style.
I will insert an image of the other faeries below.
I had only included this one image as it is the only large scale painting that I have of this style and I was in a bit of a rush when I created this post.

My idea is that the poem was inspired by the faerie and would be printed in the forward of the book and that a story inspired by the faery would follow with a couple full images. The images would either be in full color with the faery done in its corresponding color as a silhouette and the cover would be monochromatic as it is in the images below.

I have done a fair bit of R and D on different styles of illustration and art from artists working as illustrators and selling their own work through various marketing platforms.
It has been a while since I have looked up this style of work though and I do think it is a good suggestion.

I think I need to continue to develop this style some more as I have many other ideas for this kind of work and I may continue to stick with my plan to open a shop and sell my prints and generate some interest.

I have considered self-publishing and selling books on my website and establishing my Patreon as I have not done much with it.

Thanks again, I appreciate it!

@burvantill

Very nice, it is looking great.
I love the perspective.