The Petra Zone

Please keep me in your prayers, I lost my job before christmas, and have decided it is time I tried to use my art. I am submitting some of my art to childrens book publishers. So please keep me in your prayers. ( I found a good resourse for different childrens book publishers with a list of how they like to receave samples) here is one I am going to have in my churches bullitin for palm sunday ( it will be cropped(on computer only) and in greyscale. I watermarked these cause they are unfinished form. The palm sunday I will finish coloring in after i get the easter drawing colored in greyscale. then after that I will do a colorized version of the easter drawing as well.



this is one I am still working on , just in drawing form to be in my churches bullitin for Easter Sunday

heres the greyscale version
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and here is the colorized version. let me know what you think.

Very nice. But I already told you that on myspace.

It stinks to lose your job; I'll pray you find something soon in children's books.

those pics are great!!!! I love everything related to publish books, I�m sure you�ll have success, God didn�t give you that talent for anything

What type of pencils are you using? Prismacolours on illustration board are good because they are soft and you can get much deeper colours than you're getting now. I think that would be more pleasing visually, less sketchyness. It is also usually favoured in illustrations for very young children, which your simple style would suit best.
Good luck.

epdc wrote:God didn�t give you that talent for anything

Say what??

Thank You Elo, I will kep trying.

Charl-- I use all kinds of colored pencils to get a verity of color including watercolor colored pencils, also i wanted that drawing the way it is, for it to be brighter it would lose the softness I was trying to acheive. plus i like the lines the colored pencils create, and i use drawing paper rather illustration board for now anyway.

Here is another I did

I think what Elo meant was "God gave you that talent for a reason" or something along those lines. She thinks in espanol, remember.

yeah thats what i thought it menat, i meant I would keep submitting my art to publishers.

Sharon,

Wow, those are very cool pix. YOu definitly have a great talent. I truly enjoyed seeing them.

Lord,

Thank You so much for this beautiful talent that You have given to Sharon. What a wonderful gift. Now I want to lift her up to You, because she has such a desire to use that gift that You birthed in her and Lord I pray that You help her to get into the place where her dream will develop more and more. That she will come into touch with publishers who will just love her drawings and will work with her for children's books.
Lord YOu don't just gift someone and just leave it at that. As she's drawing and working and seeking, please open the doors for her. She's not just sitting around, but she's working at her gift at her talent.

What a blessing she will be to many children as they can look upon these wonderful pictures and have their hearts touched. I can see children's eyes light up and smiles on their faces. Please bring about success for her Lord - guide her to the right people in the right places at the right time and help her to hear from You and be sensitive to Your Spirit's wooing.

As she has lost her job and I'm sure is worried about her future, Lord thank YOU that YOU hold her future. We just praise YOu and thank You know for Your wonderful provisions for Sharon and the gift that You have placed inside of her.

In Jesus Name. AMEN.

Thanks shell for translating HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

is just that is true, in spanish, that sentence makes sense

The fact that you already have what has the makings of a signature style in mind is good. Now you have to tweak it to get a really saleable product.
Yes you have definitely achieved the softness you were looking for in the pieces. To maintain that, I would perhaps switch to watercolour pencils for all large sections and watercolour paper then, unless you are familiar with acetone blending. Just to take the edge off of the lines in the large areas.

Of course this is merely one person's opinion, and what you do is totally up to you, but the thing that really throws me is the sketchyness of the bigger sections of colour. The shading is really lovely, but the technique does not have the "done on purpose" look to it because of that. If you want to keep it, I would suggest working on making it look like it does. In the world of illustration, you must perfect your technique. All styles, including simplistic or even "childish" can be done, but they must always look like they were intended to be that way.

ETA: Have you ever tried chalk pastels? A good quality set will have high pigment (and therefore good colour) and can be softened quite nicely with a dry brush and light hand.



Remember, illustration, like all advertising, is a very competetive and exacting field. It may take a lot of hard work, research, rejection, more work and more rejection on your part. One of the reasons I never bothered too much past the first few rejections-I just didn't feel like doing all that work and perfecting my techniques. I am notoriously lazy.

I do hope this doesn't sound too overbearing, just intended as a little constructive criticism, hopefully helpful. It drives me crazy when the only thing people can say about my work is "It's nice". AHHH kiss of DEATH! Anyway, eat the meat and spit out the bones.

Keep working at it!

Overall pretty solid with shape. I think you would benefit from a smudge stick to kind of do some blending with your color fills and shading. Experiment with that.

Additionally, you really have good form when it comes to the human body. Hands and feet are traditionally the most difficult to sketch because of their complexity. If there was something you'd do well to practice, it's hands.

Also, if the eyes were a bit more readable, it would bring a more human look to them. More specifically, the pupils.

You have a great raw talent, and I think if you get better at your hands and eyes, it would really bring it around.

I've been a sketch artist my whole life, so I know where you're coming from.

When I took art classes in high school, I got surprisingly decent at art. But since then, my art skills have declined again - due to lack of practice and interest.

In painting class, I made a painting of Petra (a duplication of the band photo with the blue-purple background on the Beyond Belief cd insert). I also made a painting inspired by the Unseen Power album cover. If I can figure out how to scan those and post them as image files, I'd love to. But my technology skills are more or less as poor as my art skills. (I'd have to ask my older brother, who is a computer technician.)

Okay, I know it's off topic, but I am dying of laughter at that pic of Jonathan.

Go ahead and continue your discussion all you artists.