I've resently attended an Illustrating Children's Books course and the agent and art director mentioned that most publishers prefer traditional art vs digital. The only exception if using digital is if the artist can create art that doesn't look digital by using watercolor brushes and textures. And YES AI is scary for both artists and writers. I bought an iPad Pro and pen a few years ago but haven't yet used Procreate. Will you post about how to tweak traditional art with Procreate in future posts? I found Skillshare helped me to some extent but was not exhaustive.
Thanks Debbie for an interesting article. I am a traditionalist creator using found and leftover materials to create simple sketches through to 8 meter sculpture. My favourite being 2ft x 3ft bas-reliefs of the characters in the Legends I write. That said,.... I have the ambition to create a virtual reality of a massive cave system where the walls are hung with the thousands of the very real framed art prints I own. As I only started to learn a bit of IT this year, please don't hold your breath. Thanks too to all you good folk and your comments/tips. Peace, Maurice
Great post! Just a tip for those of us that work digitally and use Adobe software for our creative work: there is no reason to pay the full price when you have a subscription for the creative suite! Adobe has a secret option that when you complain it’s too expensive they suddenly offer you a much reduced price. I’ve been paying €29/month for years now instead of the full price as I activate the promo price again and again when it expires. You can get this cheaper price either by calling them and complaining that it’s too expensive or to do it online. When you call they could be a bit difficult but stick to your guns and tell them you know people that have the promo price of €29/month, they will eventually give in. But you can also cancel your subscription online to get the promo price. They will warn you that you have to pay a hefty fine, this is actually not true if you switch to the promo price, it’s just a scare tactic! The process should take you through 4 steps (you can already see that there are more steps on step one), they will ask you why you’re cancelling and give you several options, one of them is that it’s too expensive. On the next step Adobe will give you several promo options, a few months for free, or the promo price for €29/month for a year (which is a better option than the free months). Then you just confirm and from then on you pay less! They even refund you the money for the current month. The last time I did this was in September and it worked fine. I have heard from a few people very recently that the offered promo price was not as good this time or that their account was actually canceled after all, but they called Adobe and ended up getting the €29/month promo price after all. For others it still worked fine online though! Anyway, it’s a little bit of trouble to go true but well worth it cause you’ll save a lot of money this way! All of this is for people who have a monthly subscription, if you have an annual subscription you can probably get a similar discount but may need to call them when your subscription is up for renewal.
Hi Debbie, loving this series! Like yourself, I enjoy making art both traditionally and digitally, though admittedly - nothing beats drawing with my Pentel 0.77mm P207 Mechanical Pencil.
Sage advice here. I'm not even sure how to use AI to make an illustration, but it seems like it would skip over all the messy figuring-it-out fun parts.
Seconding the digital art being easier for people with disabilities. I SO admire those who do physical art, but I didn't think I could ever do any art at all until I learned how to do it digitally.
I've resently attended an Illustrating Children's Books course and the agent and art director mentioned that most publishers prefer traditional art vs digital. The only exception if using digital is if the artist can create art that doesn't look digital by using watercolor brushes and textures. And YES AI is scary for both artists and writers. I bought an iPad Pro and pen a few years ago but haven't yet used Procreate. Will you post about how to tweak traditional art with Procreate in future posts? I found Skillshare helped me to some extent but was not exhaustive.
I always love your posts - and I'm not even making picture books (but I want to :)
Thanks Debbie for an interesting article. I am a traditionalist creator using found and leftover materials to create simple sketches through to 8 meter sculpture. My favourite being 2ft x 3ft bas-reliefs of the characters in the Legends I write. That said,.... I have the ambition to create a virtual reality of a massive cave system where the walls are hung with the thousands of the very real framed art prints I own. As I only started to learn a bit of IT this year, please don't hold your breath. Thanks too to all you good folk and your comments/tips. Peace, Maurice
Great post! Just a tip for those of us that work digitally and use Adobe software for our creative work: there is no reason to pay the full price when you have a subscription for the creative suite! Adobe has a secret option that when you complain it’s too expensive they suddenly offer you a much reduced price. I’ve been paying €29/month for years now instead of the full price as I activate the promo price again and again when it expires. You can get this cheaper price either by calling them and complaining that it’s too expensive or to do it online. When you call they could be a bit difficult but stick to your guns and tell them you know people that have the promo price of €29/month, they will eventually give in. But you can also cancel your subscription online to get the promo price. They will warn you that you have to pay a hefty fine, this is actually not true if you switch to the promo price, it’s just a scare tactic! The process should take you through 4 steps (you can already see that there are more steps on step one), they will ask you why you’re cancelling and give you several options, one of them is that it’s too expensive. On the next step Adobe will give you several promo options, a few months for free, or the promo price for €29/month for a year (which is a better option than the free months). Then you just confirm and from then on you pay less! They even refund you the money for the current month. The last time I did this was in September and it worked fine. I have heard from a few people very recently that the offered promo price was not as good this time or that their account was actually canceled after all, but they called Adobe and ended up getting the €29/month promo price after all. For others it still worked fine online though! Anyway, it’s a little bit of trouble to go true but well worth it cause you’ll save a lot of money this way! All of this is for people who have a monthly subscription, if you have an annual subscription you can probably get a similar discount but may need to call them when your subscription is up for renewal.
Hi Debbie, loving this series! Like yourself, I enjoy making art both traditionally and digitally, though admittedly - nothing beats drawing with my Pentel 0.77mm P207 Mechanical Pencil.
Sage advice here. I'm not even sure how to use AI to make an illustration, but it seems like it would skip over all the messy figuring-it-out fun parts.
Seconding the digital art being easier for people with disabilities. I SO admire those who do physical art, but I didn't think I could ever do any art at all until I learned how to do it digitally.
Great write up!