Posts made by NatLundeen

@deborah-Haagenson Thank you so much, Deborah! I really appreciate your input!

@smceccarelli Simona, thank you SO much for taking the time to go so in depth on this! Everything you've said is so helpful. I will think about how I can reorganize what's in my main portfolio and I think you're right about losing the purely decorative wall art and fine art stuff. I guess I can see a lot of that wall art being used as a board book style so I didn't want to lose it, but I'll figure that out.

I appreciate the mention about losing those three darker images as well--it's hard for me to get rid of some of my babies but I think you're right.

And that's funny you say that about the European thing--pretty much every illustrator I really love is European, or an American with a European style. Definitely something to consider!

Thank you so much again!

@TessaW Thank you so much, Tessa! I appreciate the input on losing the fine art section--I've been on the fence about losing that so it's good to get an outside opinion. And thanks for the suggestion on adding those couple images, I agree.

P.S. I loooooove that nightfall piece you did! So beautiful!!

@CosmoglotJay Hi! I have a background in fine art and I feel your pain! Why do you want to get into illustration instead of continuing down the road of landscape painting? Ultimately I think you should keep going with whatever interests you most because--at least in my experience--there is no easy road with art, so the more you love what you do the better chance for success you have because you'll want to keep going. I love painting landscapes too, but I was a lot more excited overall about children's illustration and completely changed my style and have spent the last several years building a new skill set to go after that. If it's something that excites you, go for it! Enjoy putting characters in your landscapes and playing with it and see where it takes you.

@Katie-Kordesh I keep having to kill things like that in my illustrations. I just want everything to be bright and pretty!

@Katie-Kordesh

This is looking so good! I agree with the pink sky--it's pretty but definitely draws my eye away from the kids.

@Rachel-Horne I think it would help to have the sidewalk in front of the cafe--the way it is now makes my eye search all over trying to figure out what to focus on and wrapping the sidewalk around would help frame the cafe and let me know I should look at what's going on in there.

Hi Miranda! You have so much to work with here, don't despair! This is a longer road than some of us expected, but it's normal! Just one person's opinion, but I think you are really close and just a couple of small tweaks would make a really big difference. What has already been said about making the eyes match the rest of your illustrations with that same texture I think would make a huge difference. It seems to me like that airbrushed, commercial game board character look conflicts with the textured look you also have going that is more suitable for children's books and the result is that probably your work doesn't quite fit into either genre. If you want to get work for children's books I would lose that smooth airbrushed quality you have with parts of your illustrations. Either that or go all the way with it if you prefer that style and lose the texture. I'm not as familiar with what markets look for that more slick look, but I don't see a lot of that in children's books. Hope that helps!!

@Braden-Hallett said in Would you make any small changes to this postcard design?:

I don't have anything helpful to add, just to say it looks awesome!

@lindsayturtle definitely found some favorites through Instagram, and lots and lots of trips to the library—I’m a bit obsessed and love using my kid as an excuse to get books for myself!

@Katie-Kordesh oh thank you so much!! If I could I would do every single piece just straight on, it’s fun to work without having to work your brains!

@AnnaDaviscourt I love these characters and how they seem to glow!

@xin-li I love this, Li! So many fun things to look at.

I like the style! I don’t think it’s too simple, I like your color choices and I think the expressions communicate. One thing I wanted to point out is to pay attention to the gutter and where that will cut your illos. The trout’s head looks like it’s going to be right in the middle if that is a double page spread.

Hi Katie! I love your work! I got a portfolio review from an agency last year and one of the biggest things was needing to show several sequential pieces with the same characters to show that you can hold the character and take them through a story. You have that with your bat character which is awesome, but probably need a bunch more variety of different characters. Also showing kids of all ages—actually from babies up to grandparent ages so they can see how you handle them. Another thing is showing a variety of viewpoints—like birds eye view, wide environment scenes, close ups, etc, not just a straight on view like they are characters on a stage. I’ve been working on my portfolio for months and still haven’t checked all the boxes—it’s a lot of work! But I’m sure you can get creative with nailing a bunch of things in one illo!

@carlianne Oh I love your full name! I was thinking how lyrical your name is! It matches well with your sweet illos.

@Lobalyss Ooh, lovely mood!

@eriberart Ooh, love this Erin!

When you're afraid of the dark...