Hello Everyone. New kid here. I'm a writer and joined SVS to learn illustration. I have a farm in Wisconsin. Although farming takes a broad knowledge of science and certain skills, the day to day motions of moving feed into one end of an animal and out the other is not always as intellectually stimulating as one might think. As a result, I do a lot of daydreaming while I work. There's a river of words flowing through my head. It never stops and I anthropomorphize everything. So I have a stack of stories based on my goats and my skid steer, Skiddy. I've been working the lessons and exploring the site. I'm really excited to see everyone's work and learning a lot from it already. The art critiques have been, literally, eye opening. I feel blessed to be surrounded by so much talent. Cheers!

My first time posting a picture. Weeeeee! I was having some technical difficulty with getting the photo online and was not able to access any color balance so it's a bit on the blue side. It's color pencil. Cheers!

As a matter of fact, M&Ms can be used to prevent Covid19. If someone gets too close, fling some M&Ms past them. When they go after the candy, you turn and run the other way. Cheers!

I've been working on my taxes. Yikes! Like most farms, my farm usually just gets along but I was a sub-contractor with my goats on a huge, federally funded, project last year. A gift from God. It came out of nowhere but luck favors the prepared. So this is the first time I've had to write those huge checks to the government, just as Lee describes in the life of a free-lance illustrator. Don't spend the windfall until you've paid the tab.

So now, I'm free to work on my illustrations. My first project is illustrations of my horse, Lucy, to give away as thank you gifts to people who donate to the cost of training Lucy to be a therapy horse. I'll post some pix when I have them. Cheers!

I'm watching a youtube video about the Cintiq 16. It is different than the Cintiq 16Pro but only costs about $650. My question is, does the tablet influence the quality of the printed image? Or is that based only on Photoshop? I was leaning toward an iPadPro with Procreate but everyone is saying I would need to go to Photoshop with a Cintiq to bring the image up to CMYK and a printable quality. I want the ability to print my work and can't afford both. I don't mind using a Cintiq with less bells and whistles as long as I can get good quality prints off it. I have a Mac mini and I think the operating system is good enough but I might have to update that too. Any suggestions? Thanks!

@ArtofAleksey

Your drawing looks really cool but there are a few technical flaws, if it matters.

I used to race a Hobie Cat with my dad. It's been many years but what you drew looks a lot like a jib sail. A jib is attached in front of the mast and behaves kind of like a parachute to catch the wind then the wind speed is coming from behind the boat.

The front edge of the jib attaches to a cable, I believe called a stay that runs from the top of the mast to the bow of the boat, to make one side of a triangle. The free corner of the triangle has a rope, called a sheet, on it and that attaches through a block and tackle to the deck. The sail is sheeted in and out by tightening the rope or letting it out.

A main sail would be a right triangle on the back side of the mast with the vertical side attached to the mast and a pole called the boom holding the bottom of the sail straight. Just as the cartoons depict, when you change direction (tack) the boom will swing across the deck and smack you in the head if you're not fast enough.

The pontoons look like a reed boat which would likely have ropes binding the reeds and holding the curve of the bow. However that rope would never be attached to the block and tackle holding the sheets for a sail.

The block and tackle holding the sheets slides from side to side on a rail attached to the deck, depending on which side the wind is coming from.

Finally, the ramp/steps on the bow of the boat would catch the bow wave created by the movement of the boat through the water and weight the front end, pulling it under water and possibly causing the boat to pitch-pole forward and turtle, ie, land upside down in the water.

I've given you enough vocabulary words to google. Hope it helps. And it is a cool looking picture.

Finally, this stirred a lot of wonderful memories of sailing on Lake Michigan with my dad. Thank you for that. He passed in 2016 but we had good times. Cheers!

The yellow gives it more depth of field. The bricks are gold but the mortar would not be gold. See how that change affects it.

You can start by coughing then put your hand on your forehead and ask them how to tell if you have a fever. Beyond that - I get this all the time with my goat grazing business. People act like it's some huge favor to allow me to clean up years of neglect on their property. Sometimes I say, sure, I'll bring my goats over for free if you'll paint my house for free. Or, When you go for a trail ride at the park do you invoice the livery stable for exercising their horse? Or, if all I wanted to do is break even, I'd sell the goats and get a hammock. Throw out a few zingers then sneeze and say, I really think I'm coming down with something.

@carlianne I think you could work under Carlianne, alone. Or make it into a full first and last name - Carli Anne.

@mcucchi I love the top hats!

Very cool!

Stories are built on conflict. The smile waters down the implied conflict.

Mortar - white would be too much contrast but a lesser tint of yellow over gray might work.

The yellow gives it more depth of field. The bricks are gold but the mortar would not be gold. See how that change affects it.

Very cute and cheery. Your round babies are sweet but I think their unicorness would read a little better if the horns were placed a little farther forward and maybe a tad tilted. The horn look, now, like they are growing out of the middle of their backs. Cheers!

Enjoyed yesterday's Jump Into The Studio session. Is there a book cover class already in the SVS online curriculum? Thanks!

I didn't get an email or link to sign in. Bummer.

Nice work. Just don't say it three times.

I love these and could easily see building one in the wooded area of my farm. As illustrations, they are inviting to see who lives there. Cheers!

I think you're right about the default although I tried it on Chrome too. I'll change the default and hopefully it will work better next time. My computer is old so maybe I need to upgrade everything.