Hi everyone. I am 45 and listening to this episode made me decide to take a path I had got off of a long time ago. It was so inspiring, I really took the things said to heart.
After secondary school (1 million years ago) I did a foundation course in art and a diploma in graphics and advertising. I had always drawn and painted, from tiny, all the way through school but lost some interest when it came to higher education, so I took a short course in something I thought I could get a job in and then go back to illustration. Well, I actually got a job as an art restorer and loved it so have spent 24 years doing that (I don't regret not following the illustration path at that time at all btw) while drawing and painting on the side (not seriously, hobby work, sold a few bits). That career is now winding down for me and after much soul searching I realised I wanted to give illustration a serious go again. I found the podcast as I was going through this process so I took it as a sign and signed up for the course to help me get started. I plan to work through the phases outlined in the podcast, build up my skills and porfolio and in a couple of years apply for a masters in illustration online course that the University of Falmouth run. I am posting this partly for accountability, partly because I am keen to immerse in the process and the SVS courses. So, hi!

SORRY! This is finished version I forgot a layer before I uploaded. So as I said I wanted a cartoony, Ghibli and synthwavey look to this.

Anatomy is one of those ‘learn the rules to break the rules’ kind of things. If you are making an animal that is a quadruped bipedal you have to break rules, or anthropomorphising their look so far that they look like a person in a suit (biker mice from mars are just men shaped with fur and mouse heads and tails for example and Beatrice Potters creatures are the opposite, they are real creatures) you might want to look at what makes an animal uniquely that animal, what bones are you shifting to make them stand etc and maybe you are fine with just making a human shaped animal because of what you want them to do. That’s where the artist licence happens I guess; what do you need them to do and how can you make them do it? I’d draw the actual animal you are using and then see what their real anatomy allows.

My Mushroom village submission. All in pen and ink. Totally lost my way in the top left corner but that is where a title would go nodnodnod. Really enjoyed doing this, it's the first finished thing I have done in a while. ETA The colours are a little washed out compared to the real thing but I don't have a scanner atm.

@pinky I have done a quick sketch of how this would look if you used mouse anatomy. It does the job, he can wear clothes and carry the strawberry, but it just might not be the look you want. Your guy does look like a person in a mouse suit, but that's Not necessarily ‘wrong’. Make sure you bare consistent, if all the animals in the book are the same then it won’t look out of place and make sure you are also getting the human anatomy right.

This is so cool! The frame of the window is cutting into the figure of the guy in the cone a little much for me, I'd love to see him with the whole window behind him, and agree with Tessa about the arm and leg line.

I can relate to this very much, I also kind of blame this feeling for one reason why I more or less gave up on illustration and art in general.

What I am doing at the minute is trying to just make things and , especially, FINISH THINGS, I'm doing master copies and drawing from life and not really worrying about whether I will be making comics or concept art in the future. I also listen to the Podcast 'creative pep talk' and that has helped me think about think industry as a whole and where I fit. I am also taking the SVS Learn courses and working through them methodically, following the lessons closely (If you aren't using the SVS online course consider doing it, I have learned so much already, my process has changed a lot for the better).

ETA: I don't think of finishing something that you think isn't 'great' a waste of time, you will learn from the process, the next time will be better.

This story you want to tell, don't worry about your artistic strength and just start telling it, you could start with a zine of the characters involved, not a full blown graphic novel and commit to finishing it, just a little 10 page thing or something.

On the subject of personal projects is there a brand or magazine you would like to contribute work towards? If there is make something with them in mind (anything: t-shirts, labels, stickers, album covers, movie posters etc), just something you can finish as a one off, easily, don't worry about the style or how great it is, just finish it.

I found making a board in Pinterest and on Milanote for the dream portfolio lesson really helpful and have added and subtracted people's stuff as I find it, it is easy to see in what seem like very different work what similarities there are and pull out what I like. (For example I love Tove Jansson and Becky Cloonan, they seem very different but when you hold their work up they both use limited pallets, strong lights and darks and inky textures, so that is where my style lays).

I'm 46 soon and I have had a career in something completely unrelated to illustration for 25 years now, I get how you are feeling, hang in there and finish stuff.

lol sorry this got long.

I’m in this year. I’ve started it for a couple of years and never got through the month but this year I am going to. I AM!

I have been using Milanote to build my mood board, apart from being really impressed with a free web-based tool ( use my link to sign up and I get more space but you don't have too XD ) I am amazed at how similar the things I like are when you put them together, I didn't think they would be but there are clear colours and drawing styles I am drawn too. I am also surprised that I have been drawing like some of the people I like forever.
Here is my mood board

@dottyp Thank you for this! I'll look into these. x

I remember this being brought up on scrapbooking sites I used to use years ago and there are some brands of scrap book paper that don't allow the use of their paper in pieces that are to be reproduced commercially without credit to them, it got very messy and didn't cover the thing about 'if you remove copyrighted material...' . this thread here goes into it a bit
There are 'angel' brands that are fine about using their designs out there.
I'd say unless you know for sure don't make the paper an integral part of the piece and change it a little.

I kind of get what he’s saying but looking at his portfolio he clearly does know ‘the fundamentals’ beyond composition and that has come from practising them even if a little unconsciously, no?

@maureen No data plan for my Ipad here either. I love Procreate and have learned so much about digital painting in a really short space of time, not sure I want to use anything else now. I haven't got a scanner and I am not a great photographer so getting my 'real life' work into the ipad is hit and miss but when I do I am happy with it. I have used Bamboos in the past and it is so much better being able to draw on the piece you are working on.

I’m in the UK (London) and thought I was alone in the SVS world. UK people feel free to message me here or Instagram.

I’m in this year. I’ve started it for a couple of years and never got through the month but this year I am going to. I AM!

@pinky I have done a quick sketch of how this would look if you used mouse anatomy. It does the job, he can wear clothes and carry the strawberry, but it just might not be the look you want. Your guy does look like a person in a mouse suit, but that's Not necessarily ‘wrong’. Make sure you bare consistent, if all the animals in the book are the same then it won’t look out of place and make sure you are also getting the human anatomy right.

Anatomy is one of those ‘learn the rules to break the rules’ kind of things. If you are making an animal that is a quadruped bipedal you have to break rules, or anthropomorphising their look so far that they look like a person in a suit (biker mice from mars are just men shaped with fur and mouse heads and tails for example and Beatrice Potters creatures are the opposite, they are real creatures) you might want to look at what makes an animal uniquely that animal, what bones are you shifting to make them stand etc and maybe you are fine with just making a human shaped animal because of what you want them to do. That’s where the artist licence happens I guess; what do you need them to do and how can you make them do it? I’d draw the actual animal you are using and then see what their real anatomy allows.

SORRY! This is finished version I forgot a layer before I uploaded. So as I said I wanted a cartoony, Ghibli and synthwavey look to this.

@cam-royce see you've actually done the thing, you can do it again! I love the idea of world building and having, like, all these little guides to a story; characters and places, machinery. Small, finished zines seems like a good way to finish something while still building your story.