NASA "has made their entire collection of images, sounds, and video available and publicly searchable online. It’s 140,000 photos and other resources available for you to see, or even download and use it any way you like"—copyright free.

Here's an article about it: https://www.diyphotography.net/nasa-makes-entire-media-library-publicly-accessible-copyright-free/?fbclid=IwAR3-2ubYay7E_BkoNy7Kxdn0WIGJcoIBoCRrdl3cJb0yqQQaVp6ydL8TfRs

Edit: Here is the page with details regarding using NASA content: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html

Update I was able to finish inking it, so here's the final version.

If anyone is interested, you can see my WIP here: http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/5913/may-fauxcontest-wip-critiques-welcome. I feel like I've grown a lot with this one!

Thanks again to @jon-anderson & @gary-wilkinson for your helpful critiques!

...or so she thought.

I didn't have time to finish, but I thought I'd share what I have, since I enjoy seeing what everyone else came up with.

And here's my Final, completed with Copic Multiliner pens.

Thanks for the help & support!

Wow, that's a lot of stuff coming up! Thanks for taking the time to let everyone know what's going on and all the work & planning you've been up to lately. As with anything else, I think people are usually understanding once they know more about the challenges of a situation.

Well, I'm excited for the remake, since I haven't finished that class yet! I'll have to watch it from the beginning again when the update comes out. And I'm super excited for the "Live art crit with Will"! I feel like I learn so much from watching critiques!

I think you all are doing a great job and it's awesome to see your dedication to SVS and your students, and your commitment to providing high quality classes.

It sounds like a huge undertaking to continue developing SVS, in addition to juggling the other aspects of your careers. I agree--I feel like I am getting real, applicable information in these classes, since you all work in illustration.

I didn't know there were going to be "Videos for individual purchase only" classes. Can you tell us more about this type of class, and the reason for that format?

I have a suggestion for the list of classes--it would be nice if it could be sorted by newest to oldest (and perhaps vice-versa). That way it'd be easy for people to find the new classes.

When I saw that the theme for the Contest this month is Travel, I thought of my brother, who hates to travel! So I thought I'd try a contra-concept.

Here are my thumbnails so far. It's looking like it could be a sticker, or on a mug (or travel mug?---ha, ha).

Please let me know if you think this design works in the first place, and whether you like the first idea with words about travel & adventure, or if you like the landmark silhouettes idea, or if you think I should try something else. I was also thinking of possibly having a light background of a global map inside the circle.

I would appreciate any comments / critiques (both positive & negative)! Thanks!

@kaylahh
Making art for people you love is awesome! I know I get inspired by making something a family member would like.

Using diagonal lines in your composition will help give a more active, exciting feel to the image. Did you see Ashely Moore's entry in the Travel Contest? http://forum.svslearn.com/topic/5748/april-contest-travel/55 ( @artwithashley )

I also saw a YouTube video on this exact topic by Mark Crilley, so that could be helpful for you! (Oh, when I went to look it up, I see that it was a Godzilla drawing--close enough!) 3-Point Perspective: Worm's Eye View [Narrated Tutorial], by markcrilley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsfK2ZkrEmc

Looking at both of the above examples, you'll see that none of the horizontal or vertical lines are parallel to the edges of the page. Try printing them out and drawing over them to find the perspective lines in a few places to get ideas on different perspectives you could use to create motion in your piece. I really like how both of them chose a lower perspective to emphasize the height of the city buildings.

If your monster robot is in the foreground, maybe you could add some destruction around it, such as overturned vehicles, or a car being crushed under its feet.

@Carey-Bowden
Wow, that is pretty sad & heavy material!

If you are careful with it, it can be good for kids to see that life is rough sometimes, but you can overcome it. I agree that telling a story with animals can soften difficult subjects, and sadly, there are children who deal with this issue.

To answer the question, I agree with @Boris-Bayo. At the same time, I also think a head-butt wouldn't be too bad, since goats and sheep use head-butting in their play, and a gentle version of the same gesture would be loving. So the picture wouldn't necessarily be violent on it's own (without the context of the story). I would definitely not show the mother ewe kicking her own lamb, though. (Or any of the other sheep harming it, either.) That would be too harsh.

I think it also depends on how much of the story is spent dwelling on the herd rejecting the lamb. The more time spent on that section of the story, the less inclined I'd be to use an image that might be more disturbing.

Poor little lamb! I'm glad the story ends well for him! Good luck figuring this out!

When I saw that the theme for the Contest this month is Travel, I thought of my brother, who hates to travel!
So I thought I'd try a contra-concept. Travel? Nope.

I like both A & B. I think the design of having the image overlay the background image is working.

Painting the two images with the same style/medium/techniques will help tie them together & reinforce the concept.

@Coreyartus mentioned vignette. I think the straight lines of the rectangle would set off the image without the dark line around it--especially since you've done a good job framing within the illustration with the dark branches and foliage. The light "shadow" around the rectangle helps too--maybe just add more of the white around the sides? (But I like how it's varied & fuzzy/blended, so I wouldn't make it solid.)

If you aren't ready, I don't know who is! (But it's natural to feel that way.)

I've loved seeing your work here. Your style and concepts are absolutely delightful! They will be thrilled to work with you!

@Braden-Hallett - This looks great & the values are adding a lot! I like how the book is lighter than anything else in the treehouse. I agree that the detail of the knot in the wood is such a nice bit to add. It's also fighting with the book for attention though, since they are the only high-contrast points in the dark area. With the knot's hole being brighter, my eye keeps being tugged that way. Do you think you could tone it down & still have it blend with the grass below? Or maybe we could assume a leaf gets in the way & that's what shows through the hole? Just some ideas.

I like how you frame the image with the gradient at the top, the tree on the left & bottom, and the sidewalk to the right. It helps the eye start at the center, and then I naturally look down & get the payoff of the quiet reader.

@Heather-Boyd - I just found a great website that has tabletop games (some are free to play and subscribers get more content & options). It's called tabletopia.com.

I tried a new game called Sub Terra - it's not a resource management game, but it was a fun cooperative game. I haven't looked through all their games yet, but I'm looking forward to playing more.

Let me know if you want to play sometime!

Lisa was having trouble keeping her ranch hands lately. First Joe decided he wanted a farm of his own. Then Jack became a rodeo star. She couldn’t even hold onto the laziest one. Tom got a new job testing mattresses!

She got to work, and created a robot capable of doing the chores of three ranch hands. He could build fences faster than anyone. Lisa’s robot invention worked great... until it did this!

@aprilshin - This rock rhino is very cute! It reminds me of how some people like to paint on small rocks. I like the textures of the rhino & background.

@jdubz - I really like the colors & and the way you created a tunnel look with the light. The ghost character is adorable! I like the shapes and textures of the trees & the shadowy foreground plants.

For some things to work on, the dog's front leg(?) looks kind of like it's coming out of its neck or like it's something hanging off its back. Also, the tree next to the dog seems like it's further away (to me), but the dog's tail is behind the tree.

The log and trail/ground don't seem to be quite up to the quality of the rest of the piece. The dark hole of the log also draws the eye down--without a real "payoff". Maybe put an animal inside? (But I think that would take away from the ghost's loneliness if you saw another animal it could possibly be friends with.) It also looks less organic than the rest of the forest due to the straight cut and the even hollowness inside. Here are some images from a Google search to show what I mean:

Another thing I really like about the lighting is how you gave off a little blue light from the ghost so the tree is lit from one side with warm light and the other side with the cool light. The illustration has a nice balance of warm & cool, and light and dark.

@jdubz - I'm seeing more texture in the Procreate version, too.

@adiba - They are now under "Jump Into The Studio"
https://courses.svslearn.com/courses/jump-into-the-studio

Will & Lee's are posted at the link above, but it looks like Jake's hasn't been added yet.

@chrisaakins, I had also considered fireworks! And I'm still loving these cute and mischievous mice.