What I see of the story is that two children are playing on a seesaw in the snow, and apparently they have had an argument, the girl has ripped up the teddy bear, and she's walking off. I guess my question would be, Why are they in the snow? Why is there a seesaw in the middle of the woods (or is it a backyard)? How long have a they been there for there not to be any other footprints than those of the girl walking away?

In the case of Lee's image, I get that the treehouse looks well-lit and welcoming for the guest who is arriving (2 sets of tracks), and in Jon Klassen's, it's obviously a solitary nature scene with a fox and no humans at all. Your scene is unusual enough to make me curious as to what happened, but I need some more storytelling clues help me understand what's going on. My first thought is maybe to add a house in the background that the seesaw belongs to, but that's by no means the only option.

The image itself is really lovely and I don't think there's a problem with borrowing ideas or techniques to put them together in a new way!

Thanks for posting this! It seems very helpful and your work looks great. I especially love some of those character design/portraits! Did the Oz series get started in the book cover class by chance?

Oh, and perhaps a silly question, but do you mean web transfer? And how does that work? Is it like Dropbox or something? Thanks!

@SarahF I like it! Thanks!!

@SarahF About different book markets: I live in Italy, have been to the Bologna Book Fair and taken some classes here, so I can attest that there is a different sensibility, if not a different style.

Here are a couple of links to what is probably the highest quality children's publisher in Italy:

Orecchio Acerbo catalog

Kite Edizioni, an imprint of Orecchio Acerbo

You can also find information on the Bologna Book Fair website, such as this list of all publishers who display there. I have the page set to Italy, but you can change it:

Bologna Children's Book Fair exhibitor directory

I once heard someone call the style here "intellectual." I would almost call it surrealistic, and I find there is a common style that is more rendered and has more static poses, but that's not everyone, of course.

Here's a major French publisher. I like the French style!

Gallimard Jeunesse

What I can tell from anecdotal experience is that in a country with a smaller market, the overall available audience plays a big part in opportunity (or lack thereof). If you can imagine, it's even harder to make a living in illustration here than in the US, because you just aren't going to get the sales you would in a larger market, and so your advance will be tiny compared to the US. Basically you hope your book will get translated into English. And likewise, many books available in bookstores here are translations of books that were originally written in English, because it's cheaper to translate than it is to support a book from the ground up.

Hope this is helpful in getting you started.

I just listened to this episode this morning and I loved it! I'm taking notes so I can make pieces that address the criteria listed.

Question: I have longed realized that my problem is producing enough pieces to have a portfolio to critique. Part of that is style paralysis, for which I told myself, "Just finish some pieces and you'll figure it out eventually." But there's a bit of a vicious cycle because not having a defined approach to making images slows production. Also, I know enough to look at my work and see the difference between the quality of the work I can do right now and the quality I want (style aside). And thus I'm never pleased enough with anything to put if in my portfolio. And although I'm improving, this lack of, or very slow, production has been going on for two or three years now and it's really getting to be a problem.

One thing I'm doing is taking classes, but I don't have a consistent style even for those.

Anyone got some ideas to get me out of this stuck place? If so, I would be eternally grateful!

https://www.instagram.com/lauraintorino/

@Will-Terry I'm so very, very sorry. There's nothing for this kind of pain but time, tears and prayer. It's going to be hard and for what it helps (I know close real life friends are much more important at this time), know that your SVS family appreciates all your kindness and also your hard work on our behalf, and we are rooting for you. And don't ever feel like you have a to hide behind a mask with us because this is your work. Just be yourself! ️

@Chip-Valecek Thanks! Now to work on that PRO badge...

Oops, I sent a request before I saw the rules. My profile says I joined in January of 2018, though I see I have subscription emails going back to 2016. Anyway, just ignore!

Trevor, I understand what you're saying. You want to build your knowledge of figure drawing in a way that makes what you draw look natural, whether you have the right reference or not. You want the overall expressive needs of illustration to determine the pose, not your reference!

I like what @nyrrylcadiz says here. There's kind of a cycle. You practice drawing from life generally, but maybe you can't always find a model to use as direct reference. You find online references, but they may not be exactly what you want either. You draw from imagination, and then work on making your figures more accurate. All three of these methods reach out and fill gaps that the others don't cover, but they are all important.

When I started doing illustration, I was generally good at figure drawing, but I was rather dismayed at how realistic reference was limiting my illustration and how little confidence I really had without a model. So I am working a lot on drawing from memory and then filling in the gaps by looking in the mirror or with photos I take on my phone, translated into a more childish form. Sometimes I spend a lot of time imagining the pose in 3D, because that's also important. I use the Magic Poser app sometimes as well, but I get frustrated with it because it seems unnatural at times and it's also hard for me to use on my phone. Another hint is to draw something and then looking at it the next day, or get critiques to realize where the problems are. But I don't think there's one method, and which you emphasize may depend on where you feel your weaknesses are.

It's like any other aspect of illustration in that it feels like doing sit ups. You feel weak at first but eventually you start to see progress!

This seems like a particularly strong month! Great work, guys!!! Can't wait to take the book cover class, as well.