Best posts made by stacilyn

This is my first doodle on my new iPad...I'm most comfortable with colored pencil, so I am going to try to work on that for awhile.

Hi,
First I have to say that I love this site, the courses and the vibe of the forum! Ages ago I went to art school to do medical illustration. Five years of teaching science and two babies later I have become a stay at home mom that wants to get back into art. The problem is that I can draw realistically, but I am painfully slow and I am not so great at storytelling through art. The courses have been excellent in that regard and I am hoping that this forum will continue to help me get better. I have written books for both of my kids and my goal is to illustrate them this year and I am hoping you guys can be my sounding board as I work through this project. So...thanks in advance

Looking at your work makes me want to be a better artist. Thank you for inspiring me with your work!

Hi,
I'm going to preface this by saying that my strengths lie in drawing and rendering one object. I am not good with making a unified piece with a whole composition, which is probably my problem.
But, I have started and restarted this same piece so many times and it never looks good. At this point I don't know what is wrong. Is it the sketch, the composition, the values, the colors? Or am I just stopping at the ugly stage and I need to keep working past it. Any comment would be helpful. Should I just work on something else?
Does anyone else just have a piece that wrecks your confidence and makes you want to quit?

I am amazed at how much life you have given to you ''stick" people. Wow!

You do such nice work!

That is amazing! Congratulations.

@evilrobot @naroth kean, thank you so much for the input. I really think I need to take your suggestions, especially pushing my colors to emphasize my focal points. I can also move the girl over except this is a book spread and I'm afraid of getting her too close to the gutter. It's a book spread for a personal project.

I really like this piece. Your painting style is really nice. You made it look like pastels. I am struggling with painting and it is nice to see that someone else has been able to push themselves to this quality of work.

I justed watched Lee White's business class and it is great! It was everything that I needed to hear when I was in art school. After watching it, I think that at this point in life I want to pursue educational book illustrations. Call me boring, but with twin toddlers, I could use an overly art directed path. Plus, before kids and after art school, I was a teacher so it just kind of fits.
In putting together a portfolio, do I include pretty much the same things that would be in a trade book illustrators portfolio? Does anyone have any advice or have someplace they can point me to for help?
Thanks!

@Charlie-Eve-Ryan. Thank you very much for your input. Off to work I go!

That's amazing. Congratulations!