To be honest, I've actually never read the book before this contest! I'm now somewhere in a middle and enjoying it greatly

Hi! Here's my entry.

I've been posting my work on my local Facebook group for illustrators for a long time. But few days ago, I first post an illustration with a comment that I have a project (picture book) ready to be shared with publishers, just a basic announcement... and in an hour or so two publishers (in my country we don't have agents) approached me and asked for the manuscript. That never happened before, when I was only posting illustrations! And I also did not believe people from publishing houses are actually present in those Facebook groups or following my account. But they are. They were just waiting for a project. So - you, guys from SVS, were right. We need to work on projects and be present on social media, so the right people might find our work.

Does anyone of you also have a success story or almost success story (because I have no idea if it actually will be a success story at the end;) to share? Might be great to hear those!!

Hi everyone,
I had this page in my book (personal project), where the scene should happen in the attic. Before watching draw 50 things, the attic was... well - nearly empty (such a shame!) So I decided to take it to another level. Before moving on a more detailed sketch, a lot of the items are now just a lumpy place holders, I wanted to check with you guys the general composition and value. What do you think? Is there something bothering you? Thank you!

I'm working on a layout for one of my own picture book, trying to participate in mermay (but I've actually never ever draw a mermaid before, so it's freaking me out!), and working on sketches for a book with cute short rhymes for children - I'm very excited about this one, it looks I might get a few nice portfolio pieces out of this.

OK - so I've made a second sketch layer with 58 objects - no place holders this time.
But I'm having trouble with the main character's posture. I want it to translate like she's leaving the attic. But I'm not sure if she looks that way... Any advice?
Thank you!!!!

Sooo.... finally I'm posting my finished #draw50thigs drawing! It was actually finished about half a year ago, but since then life has been super busy and I totally forgot to make an update here... But here it is! It was a great challenge and I'm really glad I give it a try. It definitely helped me with my illustrations. Now I'm not afraid to put much more stuff into a picture, because I know it is worth the effort. So thank you @Will-Terry for coming up with this whole thing!

I’ve been busy working on illustrations for a book about fairies, it’s fun, but it takes a lot time so there’s almost none left for my own projects. Need to find some balance there. And do a better planning next time I take on a job.

Halfway through...

Hi! The work I feel the strongest about probably would be these pictures I've done for a picture book of mine, the name of the book is "Hair" and it's about a little girl with long, but seriously long hair and all the misfortunes she encounters because of it.
I was able to write the story thanks to the writing picture books class and the storytelling class, which are amazing BTW.
Both these illustrations are double spreads.

@verysamish I usually don’t care (when coming up with the price) if the illustration is done traditionally, mixed media or entirely digitally. If it’s done just for one client and I cannot sell the piece multiple times, the price goes up no matter the media. If I do a piece for a client on paper or canvas, I still usually deliver digital files and keep the original (which normally I still can sell, even though I cannot myself do prints and digital copies or sell other rights). Or at least I can keep the original art and hang it in my kiddo’s bedroom knowing that’s the original... So ironically, for me, the illustration I do digitally and can only give out one copy for the client (because he wants an original piece, so it cannot exist otherwise) this illustration I would probably charge more, because after delivery, I cannot sell the original, nor I can’t keep the original (if that makes any sense.) of course in case where I make completely traditional art, this gets pricy as well if I sell the original and cannot make other prints....
hope this loooong rant helps you a bit

@Kevin-Longueil I was wondering the same, even thinking about posting two images side by side one with bleed, one without... but decided to just go with the grid lines, so it’s clear I’m counting with the bleed and they can be sure where everything is placed within the “actual” clean format of the cover... but I don’t like having them there either.

@Kevin-Longueil I totally love it!
Btw, if you’ll be sending the mock-up version, get rid of the bleed marks on your design (well, rather “cut” the design along the bleed marks and with that cropped image create the mock-up, but you probably know that.)

To be honest, I've actually never read the book before this contest! I'm now somewhere in a middle and enjoying it greatly

I did it on time!! Sure, there are still a couple of things I want to change, and there will be a plenty of them once I submit the final image... but for now, I'm pretty happy

@Kim-Hunter Thanks! Will think about that!!

@TessaW Thank you! I love little cute animals, so it was great fun drawing him

And I do have a question for anyone willing to give me their opinion ... in the drawing, I made Dorothy smile, but in the sketch, there’s a hint of more or less surprised/scared look. What do you think would be better for the cover? I want the cover to have a “happy” feel to it, but also with a little bit of an action...

Sooo, I really do hope I’ll make it till the end of month!
I have my characters ready and drawing for the whole illustration finished.
Tomorrow I’ll be doing colour studies.

@xin-li I'm from Czech republic, so usually when I work on a book, it goes to Czechia as well as Slovakia, (the publishers usually have their imprint there and make a translation of the book for them), which helps a little bit with the prices, but still...
The pay for a 32 page book in here would be about 1200 euro, which is really bad in comparison with other countries, but the cost of living is also a lot lower. I work in this industry full time (well, now on maternity leave) and make a living because I now how to work quickly and I also do some work for educational pub - both here and abroad - and that helps to patch my income. But I'm not happy about it.
On the other hand, see my book on the shelf of local bookstore, that's kinda cool!