It may just be something you can solve with layering. Have her try to place the images "behind" the text. Most text wont have backgrounds and youll be able to see through the letters to the background images. Also, if you didn't design these without a background in photoshop even a PNG can have a white background so, a few questions:

1. Are you illustrating these digitally?

• If No, there is little that can be done about the white around traditional art, short of creating complicated clipping paths and masking the white in post editing (photoshop)unless you mess with the layer properties in the final layout software (more about this below).

• If Yes then make sure you dont have a white background on your end. Keep the art (lines and colors) on a separate layer than the "background". Come time to export from photoshop turn off the background layer and export your png. check the "transarency" box and make sure you see the grid in the preview like this:

  

2. Is she designing them on a light colored or textured background?

• If yes, try setting the layer to some sort of transparency in the final design software similar to photoshops "multiply". It'll make the white basically blend in with the the background and not block out big chunks of other elements but only slightly alter the color of your art, like this (pardon the typos):

OK. If none of that works and push comes to shove...drop the jpg into powerpoint, "set transparent color", select the white then right click+save as the image from ppt with the background removed and, voila. PNG with transparent background:

• "set transparent color"
  

• Right click+Save as
  

Hope that all helps!!

(Im a graphic designer by trade, layouts and working with files is a lot of what i do :))

Realized i never posted the final image here. Process video later!

Thanks for all the feedback getting this done and please, let me know what you all think!

First time submitting and love how this pushed me to get something done. I’m a fan of points of view and how a small shift can change everything.

Got some comments about the monster looking to similar to the Monsters Inc. orange monster so changed him up a bit. Also playing with some colors and lighting to set the mood.

Colorized the original monster for kicks to see if it differentiated enough from the Monsters Inc.

@pamela-fraley great point! Also made me think the kid giving has back to the closet might be better too!

@heather-boyd thanks! I played with some other compositions and perspectives but over the shoulder from the closest told a better story (I felt) since the protagonist here is the monster and his is the story I’d like to tell. Also provide more options for big color differences and lighting/shadows.

I think 1 conceptually bends the prompt in a great way. Kind of hidden in plain sight.

Hey fellow (aspiring) artists! Taking a stab at the hidden challenge with this piece. Pretty straight forward monster hidden in the closet from the kid he’s scared of. Not sure if the concept is too simple or the composition to obvious. I wanted to prominently show the monster (protagonist) and design a shot that would let me play with perspective and deep dark shadows nad highlights (from the TV late at night). Just curious on general thoughts on the main composition or if it feels too “easy”?

Wuold

Would love to hear what you all have to say and excited to contribute to such an excellent bunch of art!

(first post on the forum, hi everyone!)

This was a great episode; timely and a little terrifying (as I'm in the middle of illustrating a book for literally a lady i know). Luckily i am a graphic designer and a marketer by trade so can lift a lot of the layout, printing, marketing weight but this is my first venture out the gate doing this and...well, we will see how it goes. We are self publishing and doing a kickstarter to cover the production of a small run of books. At this point we are both in the same boat, we want to be able to point at something and simply say "I made a thing". I have a full time job in marketing so this is a "pointing in the direction of the mountain" type gig and a learning exercise for myself as i steer in the general direction of where i want to go.

question: are "caned" or free contract templates online "good enough" for a first time writer and first time illustrator to get? Should we really hire a lawyer to get this right?