Congratulations to all the winners.
Thanks @Lee-White for taking the time to write critics for the Runners up.

These drawings are very fun. the character design is really interesting. It is asymmetric, interesting pose, and full of personality.
I would read a book with this character in it :-).

"Love is magic."
I got lots of help from the SVS family in the forum with this piece. Learned a lot. Thank you so much.

Hey guys.
I came across an interesting contest for children's book writers and illustrators.
https://www.openideo.com/challenge-briefs/early-childhood-book-challenge

Maybe some of you will find it interesting too?
The main contest sounds like they are just look for authors and manuscripts. But if you read the section "Submission Guidelines & How to Participate". They are also looking for illustrators to produce the winner book together with the chosen author.

@Jason-Bowen thank you so much for the suggestion. You paint-over does make the characters pops a lot more. But I do want to keep a little bit more fireflies though, because I want this piece to be a bit surreal and magical. I think I might need tone down a bit the fireflies and lights around the character. Thanks

@lisanganart Very cute concept.
@nyrrylcadiz Wow. the paint over is great. Love the lighting in your paint over.

An updated version of the "Love under starts" painting. Thanks for @Joslyn-Schmitt 's great suggestion.
I also messed around with texture overlay for the background and vivid layer blending mode for the star glow. What do you guys think? Is the photoshop effect overdone?

Anyway, have a lovely sunday.

@Braden-Hallett: -Really lovely concept, and very challenging composition to pull off. So well done. @Kevin-Longueil Love the window idea. It really adds so much to the mood.

@Joslyn-Schmitt
Thanks for the paint over. very interesting. I made one firefly overlapping with the girl, precisely for adding some depth. But I agree that it made the girl less readable. The way you use the size of fireflies definitely added depth. I will definitely try a bit more of the placement of the fireflies.

Here is the second painting, still work-in-progress, the same as the first one, I feel like 85% percent done, and then I lost my focus, could not figure out what I should work on to complete it. I always struggle with the last 10-15% of the painting.