I love you style! Just to throw my 2 cents in. I like the two girls in the background. It makes me think that they are going to pick up their rabbit from its hare cut and lends some urgency to Lucy's problem. I don't think she needs the leash though. The angle of her right arm does throw me off a little bit.
I like the concept of fixing complicated machinery with duct tape. With both of your characters facing off of the page I have a hard time getting 'into' the middle of your composition. Have you tried Lucy in the bottom left and Dad in the top right?
@Charlie-Eve-Ryan. Thank you very much for your input. Off to work I go!
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!
I really love you thursday morning doodle. I like the others as well, but that one is so unique and charming. Have you tried doing a cutesy looking character. I have no idea what I am talking about in terms of children's books, but I would think art directors would want to see a little bit of cute
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.
@LeeHolland, looking at your work you are very good at this type of thing. Need nice! Thank you so much for you lighting suggestions. I tried variations with it lit from the right and I couldn't figure out how to do it without it being backlit. Your lighting will exactly highlight my focal point.
@kelvinburnett3, thank you for your encouraging words. I'll keep pushing thru
@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.
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?
That is amazing! Congratulations.
I don't have any suggestions for animation schools (I went to art school at the University of Michigan). I just wanted to say that I love your work!
I have 2 year old twins. The 'slumped' picture is the story of my life!
I am illustrating a book about/for my daughter. The premise is that she is excited about getting a big girl bed, gets rid of all her baby toys and then is sad. I've uploaded my thumbnails and the first spread. My question is, is it weird to only have 2 pages with spot illustrations if all the rest are spreads. Also, does the leg that is up in the air on the first page look funky? I hav e drawn it so many times I can't tell. Any other suggestions or critiques would be appreciated. Thanks!
Looking at your work makes me want to be a better artist. Thank you for inspiring me with your work!
Congratulations! I really like your composition and I think the babies excitement is reading well so I don't necessarily think that you need to change it to make it look more like a baby. That being said, I agree that it looks more like a one year old than a newborn, mostly because of the head control and the tight grip. You could flip the baby on his back like he's in a swing with his arm spread wide like newborns do when they are excited. But, I really think it reads well as is. Everyone knows storks carry newborns 
Did you do all of this in the past 3 days. I really like the piece and your speed astounds me.
