@Chip-Valecek So many great entries!!! good luck everyone and thank you for your help!

@Chip-Valecek Out of time!! Thanks for all of the help everyone! So many great entries!

"and there stepped from behind the large rocks the strangest man the travelers had ever seen. He was quite short and stout, standing no more than three feet high and had a big, oversized head, which was smooth on the top and as flat as a hammer. The head was supported by a thick, long, fat neck full of many layers of wrinkles. But the body had no arms at all, not even stubs."

Still working on Oz portrait redo's when i can - the Hammer-Head has come a long way from the original sketch but you can still see the resemblance - there have been a few iterations before this but i think i have finally got something worth keeping with this one - i feel like this may be a new best for me - maybe work on the scarecrow next..thanks for looking!

A bunch left to do but i'm worried i will miss the deadline if i don't post now(if i get a chance before midnight i'll tweak a few things) - Thank you so much to everyone who helped me along the way!! " finished not perfect" as someone said earlier - good luck everyone

Calling the new Dorothy done - i am so glad i restarted her - Thank you all for your help! I appreciate All of the feedback i received, it has made it a better piece for sure!

I made it Finished not perfect for sure - so many great pieces here!!

Out of time Good luck everyone! so many great pieces here

so much detail lost.....

Yup...another Wizard of Oz piece ... i'm getting there though This is a work in progress - this one really gave me trouble at first but i finally hit on this composition this weekend and i'm liking it - i composed it so that they are facing to left in contrast to most of the other Oz pieces - my idea is that the crow is noticing Dorothy and crew coming toward the trees - curious if the composition is working for folks? Still lots of work to do - any feedback always appreciated

@lee-white - I think these might be the two best for me

So many incredible mermaid pieces so far!! Here is what i've come up with - calling it finished not perfect

@ambiirae I really like the chin! There is something uncommon about the face ...not formulaic maybe? She has a regal air about her. For critique i think making the eyes smaller to fit the scale of the head, increasing the forehead length, maybe give a bit of depth around the eyes, and volume and texture to the cape. I feel like the line work of the nose and mouth are very well done... i could not match your light hand in my quick draw over...so it looks kinda funny .. but i wanted to show the scale of the eyes in the way i was imagining them. You've gotten great feedback already but i wanted to give a vote for
keeping the chin

@Griffin Looks Great! My first thought for feedback is maybe to look at Albert Hurter or the Brothers Hildebrant for warm and inviting interior fairytale spaces. I thinking making warm and cool areas might really liven up the room. You can fake the light sources for effect...maybe the stove is leaking light? Maybe the lamp is throwing an impossible amount of warm light (which seems to be a pretty standard trick) Maybe textured brush and a more varied plank width on the floor walls and ceiling? On can imaging the timbers were hewn by hand so maybe some of them would be massive or have a bit of a live edge here and there? I hope you will forgive the super quick paint over ...was thinking i would splash some warms and cools about to maybe show what i was thinking.

@Meg-Clayburn Toppi… Collected volumes 1 through 5. Sergio Toppi’s line work is truly masterful and unique.

@Melissa-Bailey-0 Number one for me. I think it is the eyes and eyebrows that nail your key words. I took a minute to cut and past the eyes and eyebrows from number one onto the other three and it gave them all the bright-eyed and energetic vibe that one seems to have. I do like the head shape of one too…but they are all very good really

@Jeremy-Ross These are really good!!

@Laurel-Aylesworth-0 i just looked at the hashtag thread on twitter.... I feel much further behind the curve than i did a minute ago...super amazing work!!

@Asyas_illos Love the hair! The piece does look better to me but my thoughts were just in case it was a 2 page spread (i use procreate too - the faux gutter is just a transparent layer with a straight technical pen line down the middle with a couple quick soft airbrush passes over it..takes just a minute to make)

@Asyas_illos this is looking great - the one thing I am wondering is if this is a 2 page spread? I made a mock gutter layer for a project I’m working on - I’ve been putting it on my top layer when sorting out a composition. I applied it to your painting and to me It looks like it might be good to scoot the sand castle/buried parent over a bit if it is a 2 page spread.... but maybe it is not a 2 page spread

@Kevin-Treaccar I forgot about the comps needing to be recent. There were also gentle admonitions to be humble in your comps.. saying that your work will be the next Harry Potter or something of that nature was the example used as something to be avoided.

@HeatherBouteneff Hello Heather. What i am remembering from an incredible Storytellers Academy class titled "Submission Ready" is that including comps is super important." including something like "My book is written for children x years old who enjoy, comp title by x author, comp title by x author , and comp title by x author" is what i am remembering. The class was taught by two longtime editors from Chronicle Books. If i remember correctly, including comps shows that you understand the process and will give a hint that you might be easy to work with too. Also Editors have to pitch the books that they are interested in acquiring to other people... so having accurate comps for them is a very good start. I think i recall that including what the affect on the reader is is also something worth including in a pitch. Your pitch sounds awesome! I would read this book for sure!