Been busy with a lot of projects this month, but I really wanted to enter this month! This was more of a digital painting practice than anything else, but I really enjoyed doing it.

Hello SVS! I finally treated myself to a subscription for Christmas this year and have been lurking around in the classes and the forums. I'm super excited to get involved in the community and really get my hands dirty with illustration this year.

My biggest goal with illustration is to be able to do it full time from my home - right now I'm looking at both freelancing and doing children's books (a long time dream of mine) and to participate in the local and international communities through local conventions, social media, and a YouTube and Twitch page.

Here's a piece I've done recently (also my avatar - I think I will keep it as my avatar across sites for the moment until I have the time to get some more branding done). I'd love to know how I could make it better!

Also - I recently got a scanner and am excited to use nice, high res scans of my work both for online and for printmaking, but I"m finding that the scanner keeps blowing things out - especially my watercolors. Is there a way around this? I've touched this one up in photoshop, but I feel like I can't get the right balance - I feel like the darks end up way too saturated by the time I've gotten the lights balanced.

Anyway, I'm super excited to be here and can't wait to meet everyone! I've gone through Jake's How to Draw Everything and his Inking class and I think I'll get into the Creative Composition class next.

Hey guys! With this month's prompt being a book cover, I know that it might be a lot of people's first time working with bleed and I wanted to offer some helpful tips based on some things I've noticed happening around the forums this month.

Something I'm seeing a lot of (and I'm by no means not guilty! I noticed this happening in my thumbs and that's what inspired this post!) in people's thumbs and comps is text or foreground elements bumping right up against where the bleed lines would be.

It's super important to remember that bleed is going to be CUT OFF! I think a lot of people understand that on a logical level, but it really takes going in and "cutting off" your bleed to see what's going on - it's really unintuitive because you're looking at your entire image and it seems balanced!

Here's the first try at one of my own covers for a personal project (I've done some others but have any I can share right now either due to NDA or having my working files on a separate drive)

At first glance it's okay! Nothing's bumping into each other or fighting each other, nothing important is being cut off, etc. But everything is balanced to the edge of the canvas, not the edge of what's actually going to be published. Here's what happens when you cut off the bleed:

YIKES! You can definitely tell I wasn't thinking! The top text has no space to breathe, the subtitle is about to fall off the cover entirely, and, perhaps the sneakiest part, the DD on my title is about to get lost in the spine (if you look at a book, even a simple stapled book, there's usually some curve at the spine). LUCKILY it's just text and I can just move it around, but I've had this happen with the artwork as well because I wasn't thinking things all the way though. Here's what happens when you fix it!

It almost looks like there's TOO MUCH negative space now, especially since this cover is all white (this was especially noticeable in my back cover, I'll see if I can find that file!) But when you "cut off" the bleed?

MUCH BETTER! I do covers in InDesign which has a handy toggle for "bleed" mode and "preview" mode exactly for this purpose so you can flip it back and forth. For thumbnailing/comps, I'll usually go in and make a layer mask in Procreate or Photoshop that takes away the "extra" bits of my image so I can double check the comp as I go. If I'm working traditionally, I'll 100% go in and do my drawing digitally so that I can double check and then transfer it to my watercolor paper later. It really, really sucks to have an important part of your piece fighting with an edge because you forgot about bleed and it can be a hard mistake to recover from after a certain point, so I've become very careful of remembering it and incorporating it into my process!

I really hoped this helped someone/ I wasn't out of place to write up a mini-lesson! It's not something that's super intuitive unless you've actually done something for print before and I had a hard time finding good info on it when I was starting out, and it's something I still have to remind myself of even though I've been designing for print for years! Let me know if y'all have questions about it!

Day 2: mindless! Had a harder time with this one, both with the medium and the subject, but I think it turned out okay!

I wanted to stop by and thank everyone for their imput on this!!

I ended up switching the values around a little bit in the end - the lighter sky didn't give it as much "oomph" as I would like, and I think having it darker ended up framing the frog character much better. I 100% almost quit this piece, I got so frustrated, but I'm so glad I stuck with it to the end!

@Jana @Chip-Valecek @lmrush @Mara @drawingmelee Thank you all for the super warm welcome!! Sorry for the late reply - I've been arms deep in classes and loving it!

@dulcie Thank you so much! I've only recently (as in 5 months ago!) discovered watercolor and I"m very much enjoying the different textures that are possible with the medium. I haven't had this much fun with a new medium in a very long time! (and am happy to have finally found a medium that's just about perfect for string instruments).

I love your little mouse in your avatar - He's got so much appeal!

And off we go!! (A little late since I was sick... hopefully I can get caught up!)

I’ll be doing all my drawings this year with these two cat characters, they leave magical metallic paw prints wherever they go and are always up to mischief!

Hi there!

I sell prints both online and in person.

I’m going to address shipping stuff first, because that’s by far the easier question.

Shipping products are ultimately decided by how big you’re printing. For small stuff (anything below letter/legal size, typically, but sometimes people ship 11x14/11x17 prints this way) you have a couple options. I personally use a bubble mailer with chipboard inside, and then I seal the print + receipt + my business card + anything else extra inside a clear cello bag. Other people use rigid cardboard mailers, in much the same way. I like the bubble mailer+chipboard (chipboard keeps it from bending) because it lets me be more flexible with the product I send out. I can’t fit a keychain/my art book, or greeting cards, when I used to do those, into a chipboard mailer but the bubble mailer gives me a lot more wiggle room!

For bigger prints (I ship my 11x14 or 11x17 prints this way) I put them in a clear bag, roll them, and stick them in a poster tube and throw my business card/receipt/any extras down the middle.

To summarize:

Small stuff: You need clear cellophane bags (keeps water out) and EITHER rigid mailers or bubble mailers + chipboard to keep it flat. The cost is about the same for either option, if you want the option to sell packs of 5-10 greeting cards in an order, a bubble mailer will be the more flexible option.

Big, flat stuff: clear cellophane bags and poster tubes that are generous in diameter. The less tightly you need to roll, the better. Heavy stock plus layers of cello take up more room than you think, and you don’t want to crush your print! I think mine are 2” diameter, but when I run out I want to get one size bigger.

I get my clear bags at clearbags.com and my other stuff at wherever I can find a sale.

For the prints themselves, I’ll let others speak to their printer/paper setup. I get my prints done at catprint.com and have always been super thrilled with the quality (plus I can get things like foil finishes/embellishments and other things I wouldn’t be able to get from a home printing setup). I may eventually get a nice printer for my home office (I’ve heard great things about the Epsom EcoTank and the Canon Pixma Pro) but for now it’s more economical and space friendly for me to have prints done out of house (plus not having to worry about being my own tech support for getting the printer/driver set up. I bought a laser printer for my buttons, stickers, and backing cards and one printer is enough headache for a lifetime, thank you very much lol)

If I missed anything or you have further questions, definitely let me know! I’ve got a lot of experience, plus I’m plugged into a bunch of “merch” communities and other resources. I’m an open book, ask me anything about that side and I can probably answer it, and if I can’t I probably know the person who can!

Day 3: Bait

This was actually one of the first ideas I had for the Pawprints Cats on the prompt list! I had a ton of fun with this one. I’m still kinda struggling working with the white gouache but I’m glad I’m trying it.

@Braden-Hallett

I really miss sketch dailies! I think there's a real hole there to be filled and I'd love to fill it some day, but I definitely don't have the energy to get one going on my own right now!

In the absence of an organized daily list, there's almost ALWAYS a monthly challenge going, and I like to flit back and forth between them! Right now it's #worldwatercolormonth and the creator of that has a prompt list! Next month on my radar is #smaugust (and I think a couple of others) which is based around dragons but I find for a lot of the "specific" months like that (mermay, smaugust, etc) the prompts actually work for drawing a lot of different things! There's of course Inktober in October with Jake. I always find out about them usually around the beginning of the month (when the hype is strong!) by browsing Instagram (usually on the more fandom side of instagram as opposed to the kidlit side).

Shameless plug that I run #FebHUEary in February (it's a dead month for me, so I decided to fill it this year with the second goal of providing publishing resources for publishing a book of your drawings at the end of the month!), it's a lot of fun and one that's very traditional art friendly!

For a long time there was a weekly illustration club on facebook, but at least the one I was in fell apart a couple years ago - however there's enough people doing MONTHLY contests that you can usually cobble together a weekly set for yourself! Between SVS and SCBWI you've already gotten two weeks covered, and can target other orgs with social media circles that you'd like to become a part of!

ETA: I think Inktober is doing weekly prompts as well now? As another option for a fairly active set of hashtags on social media if you wanted to add more community things into your rotation!

@Lovsey

Thank you so much!! This painting felt like one big “ugly stage” until I put the stars in. I’m so happy with how it turned out in the end! (But hope that the next one spends less time in the “ugly stage” lol)

@Nyrryl-Cadiz It's ... really unintuitive trying to find them! I haven't found this month's yet.

Last month, I found it using their hashtag #scbwidrawthis and I think it may have been at the very bottom of the monthly newsletter?

I haven't gotten a copy of the newsletter for this month yet, and it wasn't in my regional newsletter. Hopefully we'll hear something soon about this month's - I really need to get it scheduled in since this month's so busy!

I wanted to stop by and thank everyone for their imput on this!!

I ended up switching the values around a little bit in the end - the lighter sky didn't give it as much "oomph" as I would like, and I think having it darker ended up framing the frog character much better. I 100% almost quit this piece, I got so frustrated, but I'm so glad I stuck with it to the end!

Oh wow! Such a WIDE OPEN prompt this month!!

I'm not sure whether to go literal or play to my strengths (dragons!) and do a pun on the word "dragon-fly"

There's going to be a lot to "chew" on this month and I have a feeling getting those 50 thumbnails in is going to be super easy!

I know it's been awhile (I fell off the illustration train for a little bit due to health reasons) but I wanted to pop back in and thank everyone for the feedback!

And share the final, since I finally got it scanned in!

@Braden-Hallett

I really miss sketch dailies! I think there's a real hole there to be filled and I'd love to fill it some day, but I definitely don't have the energy to get one going on my own right now!

In the absence of an organized daily list, there's almost ALWAYS a monthly challenge going, and I like to flit back and forth between them! Right now it's #worldwatercolormonth and the creator of that has a prompt list! Next month on my radar is #smaugust (and I think a couple of others) which is based around dragons but I find for a lot of the "specific" months like that (mermay, smaugust, etc) the prompts actually work for drawing a lot of different things! There's of course Inktober in October with Jake. I always find out about them usually around the beginning of the month (when the hype is strong!) by browsing Instagram (usually on the more fandom side of instagram as opposed to the kidlit side).

Shameless plug that I run #FebHUEary in February (it's a dead month for me, so I decided to fill it this year with the second goal of providing publishing resources for publishing a book of your drawings at the end of the month!), it's a lot of fun and one that's very traditional art friendly!

For a long time there was a weekly illustration club on facebook, but at least the one I was in fell apart a couple years ago - however there's enough people doing MONTHLY contests that you can usually cobble together a weekly set for yourself! Between SVS and SCBWI you've already gotten two weeks covered, and can target other orgs with social media circles that you'd like to become a part of!

ETA: I think Inktober is doing weekly prompts as well now? As another option for a fairly active set of hashtags on social media if you wanted to add more community things into your rotation!

Hey guys! With this month's prompt being a book cover, I know that it might be a lot of people's first time working with bleed and I wanted to offer some helpful tips based on some things I've noticed happening around the forums this month.

Something I'm seeing a lot of (and I'm by no means not guilty! I noticed this happening in my thumbs and that's what inspired this post!) in people's thumbs and comps is text or foreground elements bumping right up against where the bleed lines would be.

It's super important to remember that bleed is going to be CUT OFF! I think a lot of people understand that on a logical level, but it really takes going in and "cutting off" your bleed to see what's going on - it's really unintuitive because you're looking at your entire image and it seems balanced!

Here's the first try at one of my own covers for a personal project (I've done some others but have any I can share right now either due to NDA or having my working files on a separate drive)

At first glance it's okay! Nothing's bumping into each other or fighting each other, nothing important is being cut off, etc. But everything is balanced to the edge of the canvas, not the edge of what's actually going to be published. Here's what happens when you cut off the bleed:

YIKES! You can definitely tell I wasn't thinking! The top text has no space to breathe, the subtitle is about to fall off the cover entirely, and, perhaps the sneakiest part, the DD on my title is about to get lost in the spine (if you look at a book, even a simple stapled book, there's usually some curve at the spine). LUCKILY it's just text and I can just move it around, but I've had this happen with the artwork as well because I wasn't thinking things all the way though. Here's what happens when you fix it!

It almost looks like there's TOO MUCH negative space now, especially since this cover is all white (this was especially noticeable in my back cover, I'll see if I can find that file!) But when you "cut off" the bleed?

MUCH BETTER! I do covers in InDesign which has a handy toggle for "bleed" mode and "preview" mode exactly for this purpose so you can flip it back and forth. For thumbnailing/comps, I'll usually go in and make a layer mask in Procreate or Photoshop that takes away the "extra" bits of my image so I can double check the comp as I go. If I'm working traditionally, I'll 100% go in and do my drawing digitally so that I can double check and then transfer it to my watercolor paper later. It really, really sucks to have an important part of your piece fighting with an edge because you forgot about bleed and it can be a hard mistake to recover from after a certain point, so I've become very careful of remembering it and incorporating it into my process!

I really hoped this helped someone/ I wasn't out of place to write up a mini-lesson! It's not something that's super intuitive unless you've actually done something for print before and I had a hard time finding good info on it when I was starting out, and it's something I still have to remind myself of even though I've been designing for print for years! Let me know if y'all have questions about it!

It’s that time! Working on some suuuuuuuuuper rough ideas, not all of them are entirely fleshed out but these are my favorite designs out of the 30ish ideas I threw at the wall this last week.

Which do you guys like best? Obviously one of them is much more developed than the others, but are the other ones worth exploring more? (the city at the bottom is my inspiration for the emerald city)

@Jonathon-B-Baker-0

If the protrusion on the bowl in front of your door is intended to be centered/direcly across from the door it's not quite in the right spot. If you want it in front of the door, you would need to move it to the right around the rim of the bowl.

I really like your comp! Your tree is super dope and I love the design of the treehouse.

@miranda-hoover

I find running my images through a web compressor often helps a lot! If you have photoshop, there’s an option for it (I think it’s called save for web? I automated the process to a hot key a while back and don’t remember the exact menu option) when saving! If you don’t have photoshop, there’s definitely programs online that will compress your image for you. When I go into a program like that (or directly in photoshop) usually setting the max width to 1200 and selecting the highest quality compression gets me well under the size limit.