@MissMushy It doesn't matter where you've been as much as where you're going! If you or anyone else has ideas for more badges let us know!

@Chip-Valecek Love it!

@lmrush It just needs to be tightened up a little... You are trying to balance the loose with the tight and I would assume you are afraid of getting too tight. That's a good thing in some ways because when you get too tight you take away the viewers imagination. There does need to be a good balance and that's the hard part.

@MichaelaH Thank you - I'll put it on our meeting agenda!

Just wanted to poke my head in and let you guys know that we do listen and we are committed to making SVS the best place online to learn the art of making children's books. I can see that some of you are disappointed in the new changes while others are excited about them.

As an artist first and a businessman at a distant second I wanted to let you all know that it has been a huge shock to Jake, Lee and I how much money it takes to make SVS a legit company making constant improvements. We have a list of 20 ideas we'd like to implement to our site but can't afford to do right now because we just don't have the money.

These changes will greatly affect the way you guys learn, the speed at which you learn, the community where you make connections with each other, and the way you find client work. Our vision for what SVS can and should be is something that doesn't currently exist but will if we make the right moves we will be able to pull it off.

We struggle over the decisions to implement these changes and realize that we will disappoint some of you with our decisions and it weighs heavily on our minds. BUT - we are a team and we think that as we roll out these changes and more scheduled later this year it will make many of you very happy.

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to pop in to let you know that Lee, Jake and I are working on a big project. I can't give you all the details but it's going to be a multi module children's book class that will go into great detail on every topic of illustrating children's books. This project is probably going to take us a few years to finish but it won't take that long for you guys to start seeing some of it. That's about all I can share right now but we've begun production! Yay.

REQUEST:

One of the hardest aspects of teaching is showing good examples of bad or beginning artwork to demonstrate the concept of correcting the mistakes. A lot of people are sensitive about having their work shown as an example of what NOT to do. However this is what I need to teach the "Drawing Children" section of the class. I need to be able to draw over work to teach the concepts and principles of drawing cute appealing children.

SO - I'm asking you guys to dig through your old work and give me permission to use your bad art drawings of kids. When I first began as an illustrator back in 1992 I was often told that my illustrated kids look like old people. I will try to find some of my own art to use but unfortunately due to my insecurities during that time - I tossed most of that early work. It kills me that I don't have it and I would caution you guys to at least keep a jpeg of your bad work because you'll never know if you might want to see it someday.

If you're willing to let me use your work please upload it on this thread and I'll download it to a folder for the class.

Thank you!

@lee-white I love it when Lee has to splain himself...I would ask that you guys continue to keep him on his heels

@sarahluann Very good analysis! I often listen to what I say on youtube or our podcast and cringe that I didn't explain my position better. Yes - teaching is a broad term with many levels and that's what I meant to say. That starting out teaching someone below your level forces you to think differently - thinking differently creates new opportunities for epiphanies - teaching makes you better. Thank you ( Also, Lee is wrong)

@jon-anderson

You bring up some great questions as do many who have already commented. This is what we needed so thank you - we have to have a good plan that we think will make the largest percentage happy -otherwise it will be a waste of time and money.

Hey guys,

We are always trying to think of new ways to build SVS and make it more of a valuable tool for artists worldwide. We were talking about the idea of integrating a portfolio upload option for svs subscribers. This is how it would work: Some day in the future you would login or get an email notification and see the option for you to upload your images onto the svslearn.com site. It would allow subscribers to curate their own images and share them with potential clients. It would enable us to share the portfolios with art directors at various publishing houses. Our hope is that it would be a stop for editors and art directors looking for new talent.

In addition there would be an "upvote" option on each image. Anyone logged in could see and up-vote your image(s). We could also hire software developers to create algorithms that would auto select images with the most upvotes to populate a gallery on the front of the svslearn.com page.

*PLEASE Let us know if you think this is a good idea? If you think you would use it? If you think you would NOT use it? Any thoughts are welcome. But we need to hear from you even if you do NOT think you would use this.

Thank you for weighing in!