I like your idea / composition. I like the feeling of the girl & the fish wondering about one another.

I agree with the comments about adding a little space on the left & adjusting the foot / fishes mouth. I like the house and background in the original & agree with other comments that a higher contrast between the fish & the background would be helpful. I really like the girl's pose and the curve of her hair, and how the hair & angles of the girl lead toward the fish's eye. The higher contrast areas of the fish eye, girl's face, & book really draw the focus into that area.

I really like "B". I think she does look like she's yawning & I think it'd be just as good either way--with the roof lifting or just reaching up on the ceiling. I think the perspective on B makes it exciting and interesting. I also like the addition of the family members having items showing what they were doing.

I don't have any experience, but any time you are asked to do more than the original agreement, you can ask for compensation.
You could say something like, "I'd be happy to work on the layout / graphic design as well. I can do it for $---, does that work for your budget?"

@thiskatecreates
Wow! These are great tools! Thanks for sharing them!

@coreyartus
Wow! That Google tool is so cool! Thanks for sharing it!

Writing things out is a good way to think about things, and you've already decided on what is important for you this year, so you are off to a good start!

It sounds like you are already headed this way, but you could make a list of all the things you want to do, and the things you feel like you should do, and explore how you feel about them and why.

You mentioned feeling guilty about things a few times. What are the expectations / pressures you're feeling? Why do you think you feel that way? Sometimes digging down to the root of things can help.

Something that helps me is to think about my expectations, and ask myself if it's really reasonable, then consciously choose another set of expectations.

Acknowledging how you feel is important. I have a friend who was struggling with negative thoughts. She learned something that helped her a lot, which was to say or think (in reply to the negative thought) "Thank you for sharing, I choose to think otherwise." Instead of trying to suppress the thought or shove it away--you deal with it by recognizing that you have the power to choose what you want to focus on. Maybe you could modify this for your situation. Something like, "That would be a good thing to do. Right now, I'm going to stay focused on my goals."

You could also try writing down all the things you are feeling pressure to do (but want to set aside for this year), and then put them all in a box or envelope, and tell yourself that they will all be waiting there for you next year, so you don't have to worry about them anymore. You could even make a note on your calendar to open the box / envelope & see what you wrote down. Whenever your mind starts to wander toward one of those things, you can remind yourself that it's safely waiting for you in the box / envelope.

Good luck!

That must have been fun & exciting to see your favorite band in concert! I hope you have more good times coming this year.

I really like the splatter texture!

Thank you! I hope you have a great year as well!

Happy New Year! I hope this year will be good for you, too! Keep focused on that little clear spot and you'll get through the clouds. There's always something to be grateful for & looking for those things (even the small every-day things) helps me get through the difficult times.

This drawing is a great wish! It is full of possibilities & the characters are interesting. I especially like the bobcat and the pixies (or whatever they are called!).

There are a few tangents--the large bird's wing coming out of the bobcat's eye, the lamp looks like it could be hanging from the bobcat's neck but maybe is attached to the string in the pixie's hand? And the shine of the lamp might be better if it terminates before hitting the frog--&/or darken up the back end of the frog a little more. This frog also gets a little lost next to the bobcat's paw, as does the mouse overlapping the line of the pencil. The goat's horn is just barely touching the girl's hair. I'd also like to see the goat looking at the girl more--he seems a bit dead-eyed. But all the other characters seem so engaging!

It might be nice to have the beak of the large bird completely against the girl's hair--if it's head was tilted up a little--to make it a little simpler. And if the dog's nose came down just a bit, it would give a little more space for the girl's knee, but I really like how you fit the head into the negative space of the girl's legs. I also like the curves in the pencil line, and the way the girl's hair flows upward.

Overall, this is a very fun drawing, and really expresses hope & possibilities!

Uh! Yes, moving a pencil drawing to digital is a pain. I don't know much about it either, but I would suggest going to "Levels" in the "Colors" menu. (I think. I don't have Photoshop right now. I'm using GIMP.) Use the sliders--usually mostly from the right side to adjust the white (but play around with all three), and that can help get your background back to white. It also helps if the pencil sketch is nice and dark (which is my problem, since I often have some light sketchy areas!).

I like the variation of your different ideas.

#2 is my favorite because the poses of the 2 characters are cute and so full of excitement. I like the color splash, and how it reflects the exuberance of the characters, while still leaving some white space to keep it from being too overwhelming. It would be nice to see more variation in the edges of the splatter as in #1

It looks like it will be a fun book.