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theillustratorscourt-blog · 8 years ago

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Picking yourself up<3

Okay so lets get started.

I had sat down to start working on sketches for a commission from a repeat client (exciting!), but this needed to be addressed first because I am just not in the best head space.

We did not find housing. Nothing is affordable where I’m at (CA). My roommates and I will be parting ways and moving to different states (I’ll be headed to OR with my kids, my boyfriend, near where my folks live) by the end of the year, when the new lease that had to be renewed, is up.

That being said, It actually worked out. (That :“All things happen for a reason,” crap my dad is always saying sometimes rings truer than i’d like to admit.) We all found out it was a lot harder to live together than we thought. Between parenthood, mental health issues, and just the stress of surviving the everyday stuff life throws at you, I have learned a lot about myself. I’ve taken the bad and continuing hurt and stress of what almost seems like an impending “friend breakup,” to back up, breathe and remember: try not to judge people. Be kind. It’s hard, boy is it hard but just know even when you’re doing everything you personally can for a situation, sometimes, it will never be good enough. You may always seemingly fall short for some people and that is okay because YOU CANT PLEASE EVERYBODY.

Another thing I learned? Do NOT ever, under any circumstances, compromise yourself as a person for anyone. YOU are the person that you will live with forever, first and foremost. By all means, change, evolve and work with other people to find compromise and sacrifice to create healthy space but do not compromise who you are. If someone, whether they’re your friend or not, puts you down, they are insecure themselves about something and that’s the truth. My mom would say it to me all growing up but it’s literally taken me to be in the late half of my 20′s to fully realize it and see it in action. You can kindly communicate about something bothering you without shitting all over people, or them on you.

Self care is SO IMPORTANT. Do not neglect yourself! I have gained like 20lbs in the last 2 years that i need to shake off and get back into the swing of walking but, alas, I sit at the computer so often that I just forget. Plus, I personally have kids most of the time so its hard to consistently form a work out routine but its no excuse! There’s ripped mamas out there with less time that I probably have so I should...i dunno...do more squats? lol. I swear, I’m making a list of things to work on upon moving into my own apartment. Cooking and meal planning being one of those things...Hey, I can make a mean sandwich...

^^^Now, back to art. I’m thoroughly enjoying the Will Terry webinars (they’re free and about once a month). I get to see a lot of myself in them and they’ve got some great advice that really ties all artists together with the journey we are on. I’ve yet to take a class but one thing at a time.

I did, however, bite the bullet and sign up for the SCBWI membership (https://www.scbwi.org/) and created a portfolio and profile there. I’m submitting a banner for their consideration for the Oktoberfest fall conference, since I can’t afford to go to the big ones in LA or New York. The fall one is the only one nearish to me. I’m really excited. I had been putting off signed up for ages, as I often do, because I just never have confidence in my artwork. I never think it’s ready or good enough or skilled enough. I’ve just had to get over that and feign a little more confidence in the meantime. Many art teachers of mine have consistently stated that artists never really get over that little fear of, “am i good enough?” Which is good and bad to know. I always hoped it would go away with time and practice but maybe that is just a part of the creation process.

I’ve made 2-3 more digital paintings, made a website logo/banner, (all last month because lately I haven't felt very creative) and I’ve received 2 big commissions. One, as I referred to earlier, is with a previous client. I’m signed on to do the next 2 years of poster campaign work (yay!), and another is a slow progressing graphic novel project.

This brings me to discuss the anxiety of discussing work with clients and answering questions for more than a week, only to have them disappear. There was a very fun children's book project that I discussed with someone for ages and they seemed on board and then just flaked. Two follow up emails about if they’d found someone else, so that I could space that time I had dedicated out, and I received nothing back. That sucks. I try not to let it discourage me but it always leaves me wondering. I had a nice, almost-client, who went with someone else but we had pleasant conversations and she didn't leave me hanging. I wish they could all be like that.

Some friends and I were remarking on the Myers-Briggs test for personality types and I took it awhile back (firm INFJ here). Makes me think about the bigger picture and how we need all kinds of personalities and learning types to make the world go round for lack of better words. I’m actually finally getting proper learning disability testing, since my mathematics-conceptualization is nonexistent. It’s been very insightful and I’m excited to finally have paperwork to bring with me on-going to a new school (I was accepted to a university for next year in OR).

Still working on looking over my portfolio for mailer worthy art. I’ll probably make something specific, as the art I've aimlessly made (my favorite kind), isn’t always as kid friendly as i’d probably need for kids book agencies. Although, i’d like to find the right places for my more adult art. The children’s banner I have created to send to the SCBWI will probably double as great mailer material. I’m proud of it and like the fall colors I achieved.

Another thing I've been putting a lot of thought into is the lovely Picasso quote, “good artists copy, great artists steal.” This quote could sum up all art for the rest of time and the importance of it for artists couldn’t be stressed enough. I’ve only recently started learning HOW to actually implement this and how keeping a folder of your favorite art and artists is useful. Kienan Lafferty did an entire video recently on this and I continue to highly recommend his channel. He’s an excellent resource and is fun!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CAlo0IU-UI

I’ll be spending the rest of this year getting my ducks in a row, preparing for the move, working on art for clients and hopefully, getting around to creating mailers and more advertisement! That’s the hardest thing for me is figuring out consistent and real ways to advertise my services! I have a website and I’m trying to manage google analytics. I throw a craigslist add up most weeks (that’s actually gotten me all of my work thus far!) but i need to find where i can send my work and maybe, where I can hang little post cards on physical bulletins. They have those out here in restaurants and such. Community services and what not.

Till next time, I’m guessing i’ll find time again in June to write?

Stay tuned!

Sincerely,

An Illustrator

#self love #body positive #art #artist #artjourney #illustrator #illustration #freelance #artresources #svs #kienanlafferty #willterry #scbwi #kidlit #kidlitart #motherhood #parenthood #momblog #mommyblogger

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mto-art · 5 years ago

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Tysm you're epic 💙💙💙

Lemme add on some stuff where I learned from that might help more:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1FK8n7WgY (understanding color)

for painting: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGgpthBWDbFX2GSljMw-MdQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzni_F_Z4IUJr77GVw3Z-ZQ

(this is quite advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nap7dwHjD9Y&list=PLLmXZMqb_9sbNLM83NrM005vRQHw1yTKn

https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty/playlists

Anatomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVbqoy_JEV0&list=PLflflDShjUKH4EfZyf0vuKEuqeqvlV0Qdhttps://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DoCI83V-cc

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI8GDFj5BQCQrSHITFebzkA/playlists

Also: Study photography tutorials for composition and framingAnd once you sort of know how to translate shit from real life to whatever your style might end up being start experimenting with designing from irl

#refs #kamiwasaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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dicenete · 5 years ago

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Chant Valor - a tiefling bard/fighter concepting PART 1 At work we have this "study group" for art and concept design and we started this assignment to design a character. The final product being a character presentation sheet. A good piece for a portfolio. Some of us took a random generator and got their prompts there, but I wanted to do one for my new dnd character, Chant. A tiefling bard/fighter. We are pretty much following Kienan Lafferty's concept art boot camp for this so most of these design techniques come from that. https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty I had the initial drawings of him and how he would dress so I used those as a base. I like his face and hair and other features so I wanted to concentrate on his clothes and style. Lots of variations. I dropped the guitar for now, but I will add it back once I got his style figured out. I know as a spec there is Neo Swing and it probably isn't showing at all, since it's more of a feel. idk, he would like to dance to neoswing >D

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qnqura · 6 years ago

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Art resources and how to improve!

One year ago I started out with digital painting and made some decent progress (I think). Many people ask me, how I learned on my own painting in Photoshop in that time. For this reason, I’d like to share with you all my art resources, that I had been using and still often take a look into for repetition. If you have any other tips for us, let me know in the comments! If you don’t want to read all, just click the links! The Basics There is a ton of good tutorials on Youtube for the first easy steps in Photoshop. I started out with some, that I don’t consider good right now, so I want to recommend you another one, that I found much later. The tutorials of CTRL+Paint cover pretty much everything that you need to know about basic painting. They are easy to understand and follow. And they are completely free! https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/ For the next step one should probably decide whether to go for a realistic look or going directly into manga/comic style. I recommend learning first the fundamentals of realism, before getting into styles. This way also your manga/anime art will look much more convincing. Starting with painting realistically The first tutorials I watched to paint humans (full body/ portraiture) were from Ahmed Aldoori (also having a great tutorial for blending!) and Jesus Conde (great skin tutorial and also environments covered!).

Ahmed: https://www.youtube.com/user/revolutions34/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/JesusCondeArtStudio

Other great basic tutorials (but also some more advanced ones) you can find in Draw with Jazza, KNKL and Xia Taptara and Sycra. But be cautious: They are not realistic (some paintings come close though).

Xia: https://www.youtube.com/user/idrawgirls/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra

In addition, I must say that some content is contradictory between these artists and I can just recommend to either try them out yourself and pick one or rely on only one source, that is most attracting you. I decided to rely more on Istebrak, I want to introduce as follows.

My main source for realistic painting though is Istebrak. She is doing some great tutorials, critiques and also has a google community where you can post your (realistically attempted) artwork to get critiques by her and the community. She might sound harsh sometimes, but her content is really professional and helpful. It is a great resource for beginners and advanced people likewise! I was mostly relying on her content to improve in painting and it helped me a lot! Try always to critique the paintings she is showing yourself and watch her suggestions after and you will learn a ton and also be able to train your eyes to actually SEE. Google: https://plus.google.com/communities/106157483273509078501 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Istebrak Comic Style For a more comic oriented approach I recommend Draw with Jazza and for a mixture of comic/anime styles KNKL. But I didn’t use their tutorials often.

https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty

https://www.youtube.com/user/DrawWithJazza

Istebrak also has one tutorial for a realistic approach for anime styled painting. Go and check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF05uz5fd90

I also like the art of Sara Tepes, but it is much stylistic, so I don’t recommend try out that style as a beginner. You can learn a lot from her but please stick with fundamentals first. Other than these I didn’t watch any tutorials on how to do anime style. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWgMcluGLnaVpCWmscaFs_Q

Landscape For my first paintings I needed some information about painting landscapes. I didn’t get too much into it, but I was mainly watching Istebrak’s videos on this matter or Walid Feghali, whose environments look insanely good! And also Jesus Conde, of course. I also got a glimpse on Noah Badleys Landscapes tutorials, but you will need time for these!

https://www.youtube.com/user/Feroyn

https://www.youtube.com/user/noahbradley

Animals For one piece I had to get into painting a tiger. For this I used mainly the tutorials of Aaron Blaise. He works for Disney and can do both- realistic and also stylistic painting. He is a must to check out. https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronBlaiseArt

General (advanced) tutorials you should also watch as beginner

I LOVE Marco Bucci, but he dumped me unfortunately when I asked him to marry me (LUL). But his videos are SO much into depth, entertaining, short but really really informative. You must go check out his tutorials, like NOW.

https://www.youtube.com/user/marcobucci/videos

I also liked the tutorial on how to plan lighting by Tyler Edlin. And the Tutorial series from Swatches is just LOVE (especially the one on values is really valuable… Get it? :D) It is usually for 3D modeling in Blender, but here and there are really good videos also for us painting artists on the channel Blender Guru.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TylerE2284

https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiU1-5VronbfeScuABAJC4A/videos

If you are already more advanced it might be interesting for you to have a look at the levelup series on youtube. They have amazing content and feature many professional artists as well. https://www.youtube.com/user/levelupsessions/videos If you have the money and you want to get good at art really seriously, then you should consider paying for personal mentorship that many artists offer (Istebrak, Swatches, Bucci …) or to buy also purchasable tutorials. Tutorials you need to pay for

By now I only bought tutorials from Sakimichan and Ross Draws. I recommend Sakimichan, as soon as you got the fundamentals done. I don’t recommend starting with these tutorials, if you never ever painted before. It might take you longer to get things like anatomy, lighting and so on done correctly. RossDraws tutorials are more or less commented videos on his painting process, which is also really interesting to see of course. I am considering buying also Bucci tutorials and the artbook from swatches. I will update as soon as I worked with these! Getting critiques First of all I recommend joining Istebraks Community, because you can get critiques there quickly and all for free. Also, some other youtubers give critiques on Portfolios for free, but you must be really lucky to be “chosen”, e.g. Swatches (but these critiques are sooo good!). Getting critiques is really fundamental for improvement. So, you really should consider to get them, whenever you can. Depending on what you are aiming for I recommend getting one of the mentorships I talked about earlier.

Another way is to join an online class. I found some great looking ones on https://2d.cgmasteracademy.com/ where also my idol teaches. The prices are really tough though. I did not take part in these classes yet, but they look really promising. Resources that are not video tutorials

Another website I can recommend (to train many poses) is Posemaniacs. It will give you many random poses that you quickly need to jot down. http://www.posemaniacs.com/

I will also drop some links here of pages with tutorials that I looked through as well.

https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-secret-to-realistic-painting-how-to-master-value--cms-23457

https://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/13-ways-improve-your-card-art-41619873

https://www.pinterest.de/characterdesigh/

https://www.daz3d.com/animation-and-poses#p=7 (for getting some pose ideas)

PortraitStudio by Istebrak (MUST GET) http://istebrak.com/store/portraitstudio General tips on how to improve (fast) First of all- ART NEEDS TIME. Stop looking for “how to improve fast” videos! And of course, you only learn how to ride a bike, by riding a bike and not watching others riding it. So, get on your bikes now! Painting every day is a must! But to my opinion there is no use to paint everyday only out of one’s head. So, my first tip is: 1. GET REFERENCE This is a lesson I had to learn much too late in my life. It always felt wrong to use references as if I was copying or stealing from others. But fact is: You need to learn seeing first and you need to see things before you can paint them. A dog without reference will never reach realism. Of course, you somehow can improve without referencing BUT it could take you years and years. Take the shortcut, look at references when painting. 2. STUDY It sounds obvious but studying (especially anatomy when painting humans and also doing form studies) is the only way to learn. Try to study everyday (by using references! GOD!), scribble and paint until your fingers start to burn! 3. GET (REAL) CRITIQUES Yes, you can show your painting to your mommy or best friend and they will tell you how amazing you are. But this won’t lead to anything. You need people to tell you what is wrong, what you need to improve. Not friends, artists. Go and ask them. I gave some suggestions in the text above. 4. SETTING GOALS You need to know why you are doing all this. What are you aiming for? Only with the right motivation you can get yourself into painting daily. Also pick some artists that you can set as your personal goal (Melanie Delon for portraiture in my case). 5. KEEP YOUR OLD ARTWORK Sometimes motivation can be a tricky thing so keep your old paintings so that you can see your progress! I even keep steps of each painting to see the progress within that painting! 6. DON’T COMPARE Motivation gets even harder, when you always compare your work to those of great or famous artists. You can get some inspiration from these or just enjoy them. Just stay on your track and focus on your art. Every great artist was a beginner once. 7. DO IT #NOEXCUSES #BECONSISTENT Last but not least, just paint, sketch and draw. Remember that bike thing I was talking earlier about? Yeah. EXTRA: Speedpaints As a general tip: Don’t waste too much time watching speedpaints. They give a REALLY fast insight in how a piece started out and developed, but you won’t know HOW they did it and WHY they made these choices. If you are liking one special artist, consider getting their more in-depth stuff from their patreon or gumroad. I know it is mesmerizing to watch, but you won’t learn much from it. And because they are so addictive, you might lose a whole day without realizing it. It is often good to watch a tutorial instead, but it is even better to just spend your time painting by yourself. Wow! You read the whole thread! GG! Thank you, for making it here. If you liked the content and want to connect with me, feel free to join me either on twitch or follow me on Instagram! https://www.twitch.tv/qnqura https://www.instagram.com/qnqura

#art improvement #art #resources #tips #howtoimprove #twitch #qnqura #rules #instagram #twitchcreative

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alwynviscomprocess1 · 5 years ago

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Environmental study based on a drawing by Kienan Lafferty / KNKL, one of my biggest art inspirations! His work can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty

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faebelina · 7 years ago

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Hey Faeb, I've been following you ever since you came into Sparty's stream way back when. Your art is awesome, and it's really inspired me to try picking up drawing, I would always try to draw and get discouraged so i would stop trying but i really want to try this time. Do you have any reccomendations of videos/books literally anything on how to help me become better at drawing, from specific body parts to landscapes! Thank you so much, and thank you for all your art, it's all so amazing.

Hi, Anon! Huge disclaimer that I like to leave when I can: take all my recommendations with a grain of salt. I’m not the greatest artist, but these are my favorite things:

All the videos on these YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty

https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/conceptcookie

Books:

Color and Light by James Gurney

Drawing Human Anatomy by Civardi, Giovanni

Tutorials:

Female face-http://www.deviantart.com/art/tutorial-drawing-a-female-face-517588691

Pretty much everything-- http://cgcookie.deviantart.com/gallery/

Hair- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SYIPBS2F0k&index=3&list=WL

Understanding color- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1FK8n7WgY&index=28&list=WL

Landscapes- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=japZUai8jAk&index=47&list=WL

Help blogs/sites:

https://www.ctrlpaint.com/

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/

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nasakii · 7 years ago

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Hello. Any advice on drawing or how to draw for the beginner artist. Stuff like proportions, shapes, form, facial construction, drawing from reference, etc. Also, how do you make time for drawing and stay productive?

Youtube is a great place to find a buttload of free info. One of my favorite drawing channels is the KNKL show: https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty/videos and I’m sure you've seen channels like Sycra’s: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra

As for time and productivity, I usually do my daily drawing the hour before bed. and the comic page on Sunday morning right before I have to update my website. I don’t have very much time for drawing, so I try and squeeze it in whenever possible.

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venusinverted · 7 years ago

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A little kick-start

If anyone out there wants to start drawing but is too afraid, or thinks their art will be terrible, https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty/videos is a YouTube channel I’ve gotten a ton of help from! He does everything from simple anatomy to stylization to even realistic and advanced drawing techniques. Don’t be afraid to draw; everyone starts somewhere.

#art #art help

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justpickupthatpen · 5 years ago

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Ok here’s YouTuber I like will tell and what they do

drawingwiffwaffles: she mostly talks about how draw with different art supplies mostly sketchbooks

jelarts: she talks about art itself but has a lot art tutorials digital and traditional.

KienanLafferty: he talks about character design mostly

And syca: his talks the drawing fundamentals

Anybody have any suggestions on YouTube artists that have good tutorials? Or even apps or anything like that?

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theillustratorscourt-blog · 7 years ago

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Applied to agencies!

It’s August 2017! The year is flying by. Summer is coming to an end (the offspring are back in school in like another week, yikes! good thing it’s a 3 minute walk away)

Things I have done on my to-do list:

I have applied to a few agencies. (Woohoo! about 5-6 of the major ones)

I’ve found some work in OR (illustration here and there, but also getting some part time labor work).

I’ve taken on new illustration projects. (Super exciting! My clients are always so nice)

My style index has sort of stagnated in favor or work and doodles but I’ll continue it, don’t worry. I did some character design that’ll be portfolio worthy down the line (that’s the shame about big projects: the work you do may not be able to be posted for a year+)

I’ve begun attempting to be on top of my mental health with self care and medication. Currently seeing a counselor once a week but I never have much faith in that... not that I don’t appreciate taking the time to talk about issues but it’s usually focused on hearing the same things I’m already doing for myself: walking, drinking water, sticking to medication, taking care of yourself by doing de-stressor activities.. At least I feel like I am doing something positive for myself (and my kids). The exhaustion is ever present. Some days i feel like a bear who needs to hibernate but the create days are uplifting and I just think of those on the bad days. I’ll always get back to the good days! I will be honest, I haven't been walking as much lately but the summer heat is to blame, haha.. Maybe brisk winter walks will be better. I’ll certainly have to get used to snow if I’m headed to OR!

I’ve been compiling more ideas for self initiated projects and organizing my reference folders on the desktop. I’d always saved work I liked aimlessly but recently, I've really put the effort into breaking them up into folders like: kids, adults, elderly, anatomy, color/light, environments, outdoors, interiors, objects, clothing, animals, animal-people. It’s been helpful when seeking resource while drawing instead of browsing hundreds of unorganized images.

Food branding and packaging always comes to mind for projects but I’ve also written some children’s books topics to focus on making skeleton manuscripts for or thumbnails for character ideas.

I’ve stacked on a wishlist the art and work related things I’d like to own (besides the major expensive big things...hello imac pro...i see you coming this year *sobs*). This list includes: Anastasiy’s Magic Picker and MixColors (I already have “Derricks Brush box”, which i like, so i don’t really need the Magic Squire Anastasiy offers), along with some subscriptions that i’ve mentioned (SVSLearn, Schoolism...). So yea, I’ll be looking into getting those things. When I eventually figure out next years taxes, it’ll be cool learning what I can deduct. There are a handful of helpful resources out there for taxes for freelancers and freelance illustrators that i’ll probably link in another post entirely. :)

Anastasiy’s photoshop/illustrator plugins (MagicPicker is a better color wheel plugin and Mix Colors is a realistic paint mixing plugin: https://anastasiy.com/panels

Derrick Barth’s “Brush Box” is a lovely brush tool organizer where you can have a favorites list and it’s great (plus endorsed by Kyle T. Webster of Kyle’s Brushes : https://gumroad.com/l/brushbox

I never miss an opportunity to buy and endorse Kyle’s brushes, they're the bees knees: https://www.kylebrush.com/

Well, I don’t feel like I really updated a lot in this but it’s pretty hectic with the “unsure where i’ll be in the next 6 months” thing looming. Still need to create mailers (let’s see how many times i can put that in my posts, lol). By October, i’ll possibly have more news (so expect a post then or before based on the new project i will be undertaking), and i would think definitely more news by end of December. Crossing my fingers of creating a brand new set up for illustration between January and Feb! Cant wait to get my cintiq out of storage.. stay sane fellow freelancers!

Sincerely,

An illustrator

____________

Helpful Resources and LINKS:

The visible women and visibleNB tags online (twitter, instagram, tumblr) are lovely!! Lots of inspirational people’s art to oggle.

I’ve been continuing to listen to Will Terry’s webinars, which are a fantastic wealth of knowledge (SVSLearn is about to raise its prices so i’m scrambling to see if there’s any hope since it’s my birthday month, of getting an annual subscription before that happens). The webinars are free when they’re live so if you register, they’ll remind you and you can watch and listen in the moment but then they go into the SVSLearn archive that can be accessed with a subscription (all are worth watching).

Speaking of webinars, I discovered this utter gem on the Graphics Artists Guild website (absolutely chocked full of info on being a creative professional, copyrights, publishing, illustrating) : https://graphicartistsguild.org/tools_resources/ask-a-pro

and the KNKL show has its concept art boot camp going right now (always a fun, helpful watch for digital artists) : https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty/videos

Giuseppe Castellano, I follow on all media, as he’s an amazing resource. This entry particularly about SCBWI, was great: http://www.gcastellano.com/arttips/on-scbwi

((and this video about his article condenses the major point if you're more visual by Jesse Engle (She’s a good follow too): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AK1507zSsk ))

#illustration #kidlit #kidlitart #blogging #motherhood

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