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!

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!

@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!

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!

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.

I like them. Is each one from a different interstellar ethnic group?

And a chip-cheerio to you to! I'm also a writer, learning to draw. Your music - story connection is a wonderful idea. Can't wait to hear what you do. Cheers!

Really cute! Not sure if it's just me but his nose/muzzle looks like it's on a slightly different plane than the rest of his head. Like his head is pointed directly to the left side of the frame but his muzzle is pointing at a closer angle to the camera.

There's a museum show opening about fashion illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York. I have a youtube link about it from CBS Morning News. Is it okay to post it?

Wow! This just blows me away!

Hi Alvaro. Were you able to complete enoough of the courses in the 30 days or do you need to complete more of them?

I like both, the first one a little more. Each tells a clear story but the one with the little girl has a strong emotion. Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01yRoSrhQME

Nice profile on the news this morning. Enjoy.

I couldn't sign in to zoom today for the critique. I went through several cycles of the sign in before I got a window saying there was something wrong. Anyone else have this problem? I suppose it could be too many people home and on the internet at one time.

Small indeed. One of my own favorite stories takes place around the air show in Oshkosh. My dad dreamed of being a pilot and we went to a lot of air shows when I was young. I was last there in 2016.

When things get back to normal, maybe we can get together. I live south of Madison but will be north of Milwaukee for part of the summer. My mom's in Kenosha County so I'm there sometimes too.

Writer/illustrator. I hope to create stories and characters that will endure for the long haul. On the low end, I have several stories outlined or written and hope that they will succeed and pay royalties for years, even if those royalties are small. On the high end, two of my ensemble character groups have enough story lines to franchise. My middle school novel has a sequel waiting for an outline. I have a few picture book stories that stand on their own. I may have enough material, if I can produce a high enough quality to sell to a studio someday. I learned to write at Disney, had a feature animation script optioned (by an independent producer) and been read at Blue Sky, Pixar and Bluth Animation. Although I would, possibly, sell to a studio someday, I'm not interested in chasing Hollywood. That's a business that eats its own children and I'm quite happy not being the main course. I joined SVS to learn to be a good illustrator. I'm very happy here. I have income outside of my writing and that gives me a safety net to cover however long it takes for me to get this right. Looking forward to the podcast. Cheers!

I'm thinking you want us to understand the angel is sharing her strength. But putting angel wings on an exhausted doctor in a life threatening situation will likely read as the doctor just died from the virus.

I finished a draft of my story about my electric car, Ruby (yep, she's a real car). It's called, "EV Ruby, Reporting For Duty." In it, Ruby struggles to conserve her battery long enough to get safely back home, while making emergency deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic.

So, how do I find a reputable editor?

I have a couple character design pictures. Typing paper and pencils are my only art supplies at the moment. We'll be under stay at home orders for another few weeks. My plan is to make line drawings and email them, for free, to anyone who has children during this scary time. They can color the drawings in themselves.

I think the story is pretty good and I'd like to complete the illustrations when my skills and my art supplies catch up. Then I'll need to have it edited and start the process of tossing my hook into the publishing pond and see if I catch anything.