I teach a couple of animation classes at the high school level. Each year I always off Inktober as a BIG extra credit opportunity (if they do all 31 days, they get excused from an assignment of their choice). Today, as I brought it up, some students asked about the controversy. We ended up having an interesting discussion about the topic, and about cancel culture in general. I really wanted to make sure that students understood the importance of researching stuff like this controversy on their own, then forming their own conclusions. I gave them my opinion about how I didn't think there was enough evidence to really support a copyright claim, and also told them the importance of handling things like this privately, rather than letting the Internet be judge, jury and executioner, like what's happening right now.

I think the essence of Inktober has always been to develop good drawing habits and inking skills. For me at least, it's not just about Jake Parker (although I love that he created the challenge). It's more about me getting more confidence in my own art. So I told the students if they still want to participate, to definitely do it. I care more about them developing good habits, even if it's through doing a different month long challenge, then I do with them blindly agreeing with everything I say simply because they think they need to.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience.

I’m working on some cute animal development and ideas for an aquarium story. I’m so happy I could convey at least a little cuteness.

I couldn’t believe how much art I was able to make last month. I’ve already starting various projects, including some personal ones and my next book!

My sweet boy Seb always keeps me company while working.

Hey everyone! I'm celebrating that my third book Ralph Can Read will be released through Amazon publishing later this week! I'm so proud of this book, already I see such an improvement between this book and the last. I have been blessed to have a wonderful client to work with who is very supportive of my developing career. I have learned so much from this forum and SVS in general that has helped me grow in my skills. I'm looking forward to developing my skills further with future books and assignments, but for now it'll be a couple of months off so that I can focus on developing my portfolio more and some personal projects!

Almost missed the deadline, but the first time I'm entering the contest! I'm proud of the way this turned out and thanks to those who gave feedback!

While I’m not doing nearly as many finished pieces this month as I did last month I thought I’d share the first draft of my next book cover!

I’m hoping to finish all of these old inktober prompts from last year this month!

Ok, last post about this today since you’ve all been so wonderful! Am I heading into the right direction?

I'm doing a 1920s theme...at the time I came up with it I thought 2020 was going to be a fun year (oh, to be that simple again )

I was a bit hesitant to post work on social media, given the controversy and the fact that I know a lot of my former college classmates think Jake plagarized and so they're trying to cancel Inktober. But you know what, I love the challenge, I love the community, so post I shall!

As a high school art teacher, thank you for pointing out that at that age it's important that the teacher have at least some skills. Not all art teachers continue to practice art as they teach (I think I'm the only one at my school that does personal work and has a freelance business for instance), but they should be able to show techniques and guide students, whether they want to be an artist or are just taking the class, into realizing their own skill and creativity.

@Melissa-Bailey-0 interesting…I wonder why it works for me. I learned that in the first non-animation class I took in college after I failed my last portfolio review. It’s always worked for some reason. The only thing I wish I remembered was what we used to treat the plywood we use for drawing boards. I’ve thought about getting a new one made but I have no idea what sort of thing we put on it to stop it from warping

@Frogpunzel I’ll be honest, I inherited a massive stack of watercolor so it’s been a long time since I’ve bought any. Best info I can give you is that it’s cold press watercolor paper, the stuff you buy in sheets.

Yeah, I will usually prep my paper at least half a day (or in my current case, two months‍️) beforehand

@Melissa-Bailey-0 I also started completely wetting the paper (like soaking it in the tub wet), and using that tape that gets activated when wet. I tape my blank paper to a piece of plywood that I waterproof and then wait. Once it's dry it'll never warp.

See if I was advising my high school students, here’s the advice I’d give: yes being paid for your work is an awesome feeling and you should never work for “experience”…I’d also say you will do better work if you specialize and try to focus on a field you like. For instance, I don’t care how much I’d get paid (and from what I’ve seen it’d be a lot), I will most likely NEVER illustrate erotic art. Yes it’s illustration, yes it’s freelance work and paid, but because of personal beliefs it’s something I’ll never do. On a somewhat similar note I have never felt to drawing illustrations for board books for kids.

If I remember correctly based on what I’ve seen of you around the forum, you’re either in high school or just out of it, is that correct? So my advice (and others can weigh in on this), I would concentrate more on building your portfolio and doing work that excites you…that will point you in a better direction.

I absolutely agree with Will, Jake, and Lee, there are going to be times where you take anything you can get, I just worry you might be jumping too far into that in such a short time? Again, if you want to go into educational work that’s one thing, but try exploring the other markets as well!

@Janette let us know what happens!

@tomparsonsart my way may not be the most practical, but what I do is make a copy of the layer then make adjustments to that new copy

@Frost-Drive I’ll also ask…do you want to work in that field? Based on your post it may not seem that way (I don’t know many who would cal something g they want to work in “the bottom of the barrel”)

@Frost-Drive Start by looking at educational publishing companies, even a simple Google search will yield a lot. I'd even suggest looking at teaching materials or textbooks to see who published them. You won't find any artist names listed most likely but it'll get you started.

@carlianne I'm curious to hear more about the "outside company time" thing. I feel like that'd be hard to justify and/or enforce?