I vote for 2 or 3. 2 looks fun, but I like the boy and the puppy in 3.

I haven't heard of it. What platform is it for?

3 and 5 draw my eyes the most. I think because the images and the text work together more in those.

@nessillustration Thank you! That's super helpful!

@JeaneBean Your postcards look so nice! I love your swamp monster; it looks like a friendly kappa. Please do let us know how the postcard mailing goes. I was thinking about doing a postcard campaign this year, too, so I'm curious what your experiences will be.

@NessIllustration How do you find out who to email submissions to? Do you simply send a link to your portfolio along with a cover letter?

I am so scatter-brained this week I haven't got much done. My step-daughter had her wisdom teeth cut out, and I've been doing a bunch of Christmas shopping, plus we're getting ready to do home renovations, so I feel like my head isn't on straight.

I'm mostly trying to get a portfolio together. Several years ago I did some drawings about memories of my childhood growing up in central WV, so I thought I'd revisit that for my next few portfolio pieces. Here's a sketch I just did for one called "Catching Fireflies."

The child is supposed to be pre-school, so I think I'll need to re-draw his body. I'm just trying to get ideas for kids and poses and such for now.

I've also been adding some of my work to t-shirts and such on TeePublic and RedBubble, which is a full-time job in and of itself.

1. David Wiesner. It's really sad that he's my favorite and I couldn't think of his name to save my life.
2. Leo and Diane Dillon, although Leo passed away several years ago.
3. J. Gandy on Instagram. His work always brings a smile to my face. (www.youhaveawildimagination.com)
4. Judy Schachner had me sold the instant I saw Skippyjon Jones in the bookstore.
5. VixieArts on Instagram.

Thank you for sharing, everyone! I find it amazing what an impression one image can leave with us.
@burvantill Anatole is cute! It looks like the sort of book I would've loved as a kid.

@demotlj I've never heard of Virginia Burton until you mentioned her. Wow, her landscapes are amazing. They're simple and complex at the same time, if that makes sense. The stylization is incredible.
I'd forgotten about Make Way for Ducklings, but now that I see it, I remember this:

@KathrynAdebayo That cover is gorgeous! I stared at it for several minutes, and I'm 37, lol. I love her gold dress, with the touches of blue echoing the sky. It's so flowing and beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

@irina I've never heard of Rie Cramer or Evgheni Rachev before, but their works are beautiful. Ivan Billiban's work never ceases to amaze me. I'm in a group on Facebook called "The Golden Age of Illustration," and Billiban seems to appear every other week or so. They could post the same image and I'd still look at it for quite a while each time.

Chris Oatley's Oatley Academy and Paperwings podcasts are pretty good. I'm not sure how often he updates them.

I like Kendyl Hillegas's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxP10c-UThLulino-AZLuIw

Hi everybody,

I was thinking about picture books I liked when I was a child, and how there are a few images I still think about all these years later. What books had images that you still remember? Would you share them with me if you have an image, or tell me about them? Why did you like a particular illustration (or illustrations)?

When I was a kid, there were 3 books with images that I loved and still remember. One of them was a library book whose name I don't recall, but it had an image of an old lady junebug. I don't have any idea what the rest of this book was about, but I'd love to see that one illustration again. I remember the illustration seemed very polished and tight and realistic, as far as junebugs dressed as old ladies can be realistic.

A second book was about a feral cat that the community took care of. I don't remember the name of the book off-hand, but at the end of the book was an image of the cat pretending to be a tiger in the grass. I remember trying to draw that image in first grade and being disappointed in my attempt, lol. I was my own worst critic even then. Anyway, I think I liked that image because it was cute, and because I liked the idea of an imaginative cat.

The other image I remember was from a book called Frisker, which was about a puppy. In one scene Frisker is in the shelter, and you can see down the aisle of cages and see all the dogs. I loved looking at all the dogs in that spread. Later in life I got the same enjoyment by looking at Jim Borgman's illustrations for the comic Zits, where there were crowded school hallways with all sorts of students. I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for images where there are lots of different characters all together.

Here's the cover of Frisker. I can't find the inside spread online.

And here's on of the Zits comics I'm thinking of: