Best posts made by MissMarck

Hey everyone! So Inktober is right around the corner. In the past when I've attempted it, I always end up feeling lost/ directionless halfway through. So I decided I needed an overall theme/project to keep me going!

On top of that, I decided to do "Sketchtember", so that I already have 30 drawings all ready for ink on October 1st.

For this project, I'm using a story that's been bouncing around in my head for a while. I wrote out key moments/locations from the story outline, so it's almost like a general storyboard of sorts. Some scenes will be landscape focused, others will be focused on characters. Anyway, I'm kind of hoping the illustrations may be interesting enough to put into an art book, even if I just print it for myself

Here's my list plus the main character

Hello, everyone! I thought it'd be cool to start a thread where we can share the "dream portfolios" we've put together based on @Lee-White's style seminar.

My dream portfolio is heavily influenced by a lot of traditional, Golden Age illustrators, but there are a few contemporaries in there as well
https://www.pinterest.com/missmarck/dream-portfolio/
What I really admire is economical use of shape and line. Not minimal, per se, but very precisely place marks. For the most part, very clean, neat work with some texture. I learned a lot from who I put in the portfolio, and who I left out... Pretty cool mental exercise already!

Who made it into your portfolio and why?

I could tweak this forever, but I'm calling it done! Thanks for the suggestions folks I'm pretty happy with the result!

"What's the Password?"

Here's my instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/missmarck/

Hello, everybody! Long-time SVS lurker here, finally actually participating in the forums! My name is Mary Marck and I live in the US. My main focus is comic writing/illustration, but I'm also interested in book/cover illustration as well. I'm in the Illustration course with Lee White and David Hohn right now, and I'm already really excited about all of the interaction with the other artists there. So I decided to finally pop over here and get started
Here's one of my recent drawings from my sketchbook for starters!

I've been working on watercolors a lot over the last couple of months. Ever since I tried out gouache way back in March, I've really been enjoying the lovely quality of paint. Then a friend gave a me a really good set of watercolors, and I fell in love all over again!
Something I've been trying to challenge myself with is "clean" mixing. I tend to get muddy colors, so I've been working really hard to pay attention to what colors mix well together. My style of inking is pretty clean and bold, so I want my watercolors to have a similar feel. It's easy for me to go overboard with layering, but I find that I prefer to do mixing ahead of time, and then do fewer layers (so the white of the page can add some luminescence...?) I hope that all makes sense! My goal is to one day color an entire comic with watercolors, so I need to find a way of painting that is efficient and consistent.

To me, slow means a) taking my time with my watercolors and b) walking arm-in-arm through the snow. Also uploading on the last possible day!

I've gone through something similar when I totally lost my direction and vision. It was like I had this sudden fear that I'd chosen the wrong major in school, and the wrong career, and I needed to start over in something else immediately.
But the answer that got me back on track was surprisingly simple: I started writing and drawing because I read books/comics that inspired me. My favorite books gave me a chance to not only escape the "real world" but also come back to it refreshed and full of new thoughts. I decided that I wanted to make something that would do that for some other kid.
I literally found a picture of myself when I was little and decided "She's my target audience. I want to write stories she can escape to, stories she can imitate, and stories that will motivate her to be strong."
Have you watched Jake Parker's video on writing a personal manifesto? I really gained a lot from it! Hope things start looking up soon

I really regret not starting this sooner, but I'm still giving it a solid effort! I'm pretty happy with 85% of this painting but my main area of concern is whether or not the background feels flat... I originally had some shrubbery in the middle ground, but it felt too busy, so I painted it out. Now it feels empty... what is your impression? Dead space or resting space?

The title is "What's the Password?" and it's acrylic paint on canvas, if that makes a difference:)

@Jon-Anderson , I just click on "View More Courses" under "Your Student Dashboard" and all SVS courses appear on two pages with a search bar for quickly finding a course (and of course clicking "Video Library" works too!)

It's taking me a little while to "unlearn" my navigation from the old site, so I think I'm creating more clicks for myself

The main thing I noticed was the center of balance seemed off, which tends to flatten a character. Once you have the character firmly balance on their feet, they feel grounded and "real".
The other thing is that the underlying shapes seemed uncertain. I know you said you're in the development stage, but that was the other reason these drawings didn't quite have a 3 dimensional feel.

Once you get the underlying structure nailed down, I think you'll have something to build expressions on Hope this all makes sense!
(Also, I kinda thought a dashed line made a friendly/cute seam.)

I think "I have limited time to create (with 15month twin girls) I have to be smart with my time." is a fabulous answer!
In my case, I've had a few people ask me to draw comics for them. My response is always "I have a couple of personal projects that are really important to me, and I'm only willing to take time away from those for professional (PAYING) jobs." Make it clear that you're not in a position to give time to someone else's personal project
If you need to make the point clearer (without being a jerk), ask them about their plans to publish (not just self-print) and market the book. If they don't have a business plan, consider it a personal project that isn't worth your time.

If you simply make it clear that you have a plan, and it doesn't include their project, I think they'll understand.

Loooong time no see, SVS! I've only participated in one contest before, but after months of working like crazy, I decided to tackle Slowvember! My personal goal was simply to take my time on a single illustration. I wanted both the image and process to be relaxed and deliberate, instead of rushed to make a deadline. So to me, slow means a) taking more than a day to do a painting and b) walking arm-in-arm through the snow.

Below are some notes/revisions I made along the way, if anybody's curious. I was inspired by a few vintage magazine covers, but I still wanted it to have my style. I used W&N Cotman watercolors for the sketches, and then Paul Rubens watercolors for the final illustration




(Glad to be back in these forums!)

I think school does 2 things*: it helps you network via instructors and organizations, and it looks good on paper. Both of those things can help, but they don't guarantee employment or success. Plus, with some hard work, you can network yourself and get jobs. Having jobs on your "resume" look even better than a degree after a while.
So I think your chances possibly could have been better, but it's a several thousand dollar bet that would place you in an inconsistent career with tons of debt.
In short, yeah, maybe you could have had better connections. But there's no promise you would have connections worth the thousands you paid for school.

I mean, I doubt a studio or publisher has ever said, "We love your portfolio, and you've done good work for other people, but since you don't have a degree in Illustration, we can't hire you."

*2 things you can't get by teaching yourself, I mean.

This isn't really advice, but just something to consider: your children's illustration stuff is visual, whereas writing (obviously) isn't. Social media is soooo dependent on visuals, so your illustration naturally lends itself to those platforms.
A blog is a good way to promote writing/lengthy work. Simply because it requires more patience and attention, this tends to naturally attract a more mature audience, in my opinion. So your social media can be mostly pictures (children's illustration), with occasional links to your blog (adult stuff). Plus on a website, you can clearly label pages "Adult Novels" and "Children's Illustrations" all under the same name

But I think the question you need to ask is if one specialty would actually hurt the other. If your adult work is simply more sophisticated, complex fantasy, then don't worry about keeping the two totally separate. But if your adult work is explicit, "rated R" type of stuff, it might turn off a creative director or a publisher of kid's lit because of the reputation they want to maintain.

@mattramsey Cool stuff! I'm following

And here's mine! It's a mixture of reference and inspirational!
https://www.pinterest.com/missmarck

@ben-migliore I considered that... but it felt like too many horizontals. I did create more of a curve, so it (should) look like a hill overlooking the ocean. This is the version I ended up submitting.

I'll need to plan the composition more carefuvefore painting next time!

@kasey-snow I think offering the two options is a clear but non-aggressive way to explain how this kind of project really affects an artist: either a decent sum upfront, or guaranteed income over time. Also, if you're still worried about how little you charged originally, what I have told clients (IF they argue or question my increase) is "My freelance time is at a higher premium now, due to shifts in workload and availability." Most people are understanding... if they aren't, it's a red flag that they might be more trouble than they're worth

So much improvement! I love the second version!
If it feels boring, I think it might be the lighting. Everything has a slight glow, but overall the light source is a little dull/neutral. If you pump up that sunshine to really get a brilliant glow, I think the atmosphere will feel more airy and bright!
Here's a similar lighting situation from Pascal Campion, if that helps.

I love the free, youthful excitement you captured in that cute lil face!

It looks great!
The only thing that I'd suggest is maybe moving Sophie to the left and make her face the other way.
For some reason, having her directly lined up with Michael makes it the composition feel stiff.
(Actually, moving her to either side would probably work! Just something to break that "straight line" from Michael.)

I don't know about watercolors, but this is what Jake Parker uses for his ink and markers:
Hammermill Paper, Color Copy Digital Cover