I haven't participated in a while, due to me trying to improve my portfolio and figuring out my style, but I was really excited to do this one and just went for it! Adding this to the portfolio

Hello! This is my first time posting and entering the contest. I'm also a new SVS member so I'm definitely learning a lot as an illustrator! For the prompt, I went for a two page spread. Was going for the little boy, Will, following the tracks to a bigger reveal. (big foot face planted) I loved the challenge being about illustrating something that's hard to draw. It took me a minute to figure it out.

Hi there!

I have some thumbnails I'd like to share for the November contest, Together!

My idea is to draw a father lovingly laying in bed with his tiny yet silly and rambunctious daughter. The story I'm going for is that the father was using toys, bedtime books, a snack (plate full of crumbs), milk (empty glasses) to get her to fall asleep hence all of the stuff around the bed and on the floor. She's finally asleep and she's an ugly sleeper, hence the puddle of drool and drool coming down her cheeks. And she's sleeping on her dad's tummy for comfort instead of the bed, so the dad has nowhere to go. He'll either be a little awake a looking down smiling at her, or drifting to sleep and smiling at her. Moonlight coming from a window.

I also tried adding a mother in the third thumbnail who is taking all of the covers and is drooling on her husband's arm. And all of the toys and things are on his side of the bed while he lets his wife sleep soundingly. Still smiling at his family. (She's also pregnant)

Which one do you like and why? I'm stuck

I'm trying to figure out how to balance numerous projects, make projects for my website, and still have to paint and clean my house BUT I started this challenging illustration towards the middle of October and it's going to become my slovember project for sure~ I was trying to challenge myself in drawing a whole generational family together interacting with each other while put in a lot of cultural/heritage objects in the scene. It's definitely a WIP as you can tell. HA the faces are GONE AHH ignore the faceless ones, was trying to get my form down first!

Hi there! Here's an update!

Thank you all for the feedback! This has been eye opening! I tried my hand at all 3 to see how I can use your suggestions and still follow what I would like to do. Plus with the time I have left and considering what would make it in time for entering! I chose to do the second one because I wanted to go for more of a emotionally powerful and protective feeling that you'd get from the second one.

Explanation: The dad looking like a giant teddy bear and his arms turning inward to feel like he's cradling his daughter. I did decide to use the first one's idea of them being in the daughter's room because that made more sense story wise, as the dad is trying to get his daughter to sleep in her own bed. I added his index finger on the right hand so that is shows the comforting feeling that his daughter has with him being there. And all of the books on the ground are bedtime story books that actually exist The lighting will be coming from the moonlight and the little kid alarm toy that will give off a soft blue light. I know the perspective has been done before, but also... my thoughts make me wonder what hasn't been done. As long as I make it uniquely mine! I'm so excited!

My question now, is what do you think of this tighter sketch?

@carriecopadraws Thank you so much for the feedback on my site! I totally agree with you! Also I love the idea of having each week be dedicated to a piece in my portfolio. That's a nice way of organizing and tackling all of the work I have to do! Thank you so much

Hi there!

I'm adding to the forum another WIP post of the February Contest of Nightfall. This is what I'm coming up with so far. What do you guys think so far? The colors? Perspective? Can there be more narrative? Just curious what else I can do to make it have more interest! Thank you!

@idid Thank you! Oop! Sorry that wasn't clear! My B. Overall, I was trying to make the father appear big and teddy bear like, kind of like Pacha from Emperor's New Groove. Lol. But, yeah I'm planning to make her look her age and not childlike- I think that would be a bit disturbing because she's pregnant Thanks for the feedback I'll keep these comments in mind!

@Lisa-Pickard I should have included welcome feedback from non illustrators too! I agree! I'm looking at my work right now and I can see what you're seeing with the eyes! I'm not sure what it is that's making them look jarring.. I know it has something to do my rendering though! Thank you for the feedback!

@Braden-Hallett Yes! I was using this image for the sky to make it seem like it's nightfall aka dusk, and I also wanted to include a lake to reflect the sky so I was planning on adding a small boat in the back or a dock or something!

Sorry for writing a novel on your post, lol... I also would just like to add, I work in researching trends in toys, activities, games, etc. and one thing I have seen over and over again is that kids at this age group like feeling older than they really are. So a character like 10 is muah perfecto

I really like the face of 7! It's a cute face, but it still has an older feeling rather than the other ones before it. I think with how my brain sees this, the bodies between 8 and 10 have an older feeling because the body is taller and longer, which makes them relatable characters to an older kid. When I draw, I usually make younger characters have a cutesy, squished, smaller body. Sometimes when I draw, I also squish an old person to make them appear cuter. Haha. And when I draw older kids, I do the opposite. I think for this age group, I like 10's stance and body! She has more action to her. What if you combined the face of 7 and the body of 10? I think that would make her seem like an older kid, but still cute and innocent. I also love 10's coat with buttons or patches on it! And the scarf! It makes her feel like she's a main character

@chrisaakins Oh wow! Thanks for pointing that out! And thanks for the edit!! That makes a lot more sense. The edit makes it so much easier to understand rather than someone just telling me. I had struggled with some anatomy in my last contest piece when I drew a werewolf girl and I don't want that to happen again Also thank you so much! I was trying to make it have that exact feeling! I wanted it to be special. I'm so glad that I fulfilled it.

Hi there! Here's an update!

Thank you all for the feedback! This has been eye opening! I tried my hand at all 3 to see how I can use your suggestions and still follow what I would like to do. Plus with the time I have left and considering what would make it in time for entering! I chose to do the second one because I wanted to go for more of a emotionally powerful and protective feeling that you'd get from the second one.

Explanation: The dad looking like a giant teddy bear and his arms turning inward to feel like he's cradling his daughter. I did decide to use the first one's idea of them being in the daughter's room because that made more sense story wise, as the dad is trying to get his daughter to sleep in her own bed. I added his index finger on the right hand so that is shows the comforting feeling that his daughter has with him being there. And all of the books on the ground are bedtime story books that actually exist The lighting will be coming from the moonlight and the little kid alarm toy that will give off a soft blue light. I know the perspective has been done before, but also... my thoughts make me wonder what hasn't been done. As long as I make it uniquely mine! I'm so excited!

My question now, is what do you think of this tighter sketch?

@idid Thank you! Oop! Sorry that wasn't clear! My B. Overall, I was trying to make the father appear big and teddy bear like, kind of like Pacha from Emperor's New Groove. Lol. But, yeah I'm planning to make her look her age and not childlike- I think that would be a bit disturbing because she's pregnant Thanks for the feedback I'll keep these comments in mind!

@miranda-hoover Thank you for the feedback! I like that idea a lot! I can have the mother resting on the opening of a door way and have her smiling at them. Love that! Yeah I agree, the right got heavy. I didn't want to show much of the wall where the headboard and the end table is. I'll probably give more width to the canvas then!

I love your style and the rendering so far! I always love seeing kid's plays in illustration and in life lol.
I think I'm a little confused on the story still. I see kids in a shark costume walking towards the kids dressed as coral protecting the fish kid from the shark. Is this right? I think maybe drawing the other coral kids in more exaggerated protective stances like this: (Below) you could probably find kid references of them arguing or upset. I think since the audience is not as important as the kids, maybe dropping a row of people or have them more towards the bottom. Also, since it's still a wip, keep your lighting in mind! The audience especially. In the past, I've made the mistake where my audience became too dark and ended up creating a void that the viewer's eye couldn't escape from.

Hi there!

I have some thumbnails I'd like to share for the November contest, Together!

My idea is to draw a father lovingly laying in bed with his tiny yet silly and rambunctious daughter. The story I'm going for is that the father was using toys, bedtime books, a snack (plate full of crumbs), milk (empty glasses) to get her to fall asleep hence all of the stuff around the bed and on the floor. She's finally asleep and she's an ugly sleeper, hence the puddle of drool and drool coming down her cheeks. And she's sleeping on her dad's tummy for comfort instead of the bed, so the dad has nowhere to go. He'll either be a little awake a looking down smiling at her, or drifting to sleep and smiling at her. Moonlight coming from a window.

I also tried adding a mother in the third thumbnail who is taking all of the covers and is drooling on her husband's arm. And all of the toys and things are on his side of the bed while he lets his wife sleep soundingly. Still smiling at his family. (She's also pregnant)

Which one do you like and why? I'm stuck

@LisaF I'm having trouble too. It says the webinar has expired.

Are they going to be at the same time? I'd like to watch both! And is Lee critiquing both of them? I think this solves a lot of issues that I had felt with it. I stopped participating because I felt like it was unfair since everyone was in a different spot in skill, but I love this idea! Hopefully it works smoothly.