Friday 8 May 2009

children's book?...

Dear internet people,

The results of the Boll Deevil contest are in! I entered this:
There was definately some fierce competition, a lot of industry veterans as some young guns (like me). Instead being mercilessy gunned down by the big guns, I fared better then I expected!
I got in to the honorable mentions (basically in the last 8, out of 52 entries), and they had this to
say:
Nick Egberts - Everyone loved the humorous "horror" image. Gotta love the
expression on the Boll Deevil! Voted "Most Likely to win a Children's Book
Award"

I was well pleased with the end result, though the text Jon wrote got me wondering. I did approach the giant bug subject with a touch of mirth (the encapsulated dog and sleeping gown) and I always regarded my own style as stylised, textured, a bit whimsical perhaps, and quite detailed. I never tought "children's book suitable" though. I am sure a children's book publisher would never print said piece (in holland we might, we are quite odd), there is certainly a lesson to be learned here. People (and certainly AD's) look art a painting quite differently than it's maker does. I thought I already learned this, but the extent of it surprised me.

I need to keep this mind during my next project. It's gonna be a huge battle scene where five protagonists square off against a load of undead, while the sun is setting. i'll do it fully in photoshop, and its going to be about 14''x40". The idea is that it is supposed to be the crown to my sword n sorcery portfolio, after which Ill submit my work to the lovely folks at Wizard. I would be great if they were my first real clients. I dont believe in this hokey of starting with small €10,- gigs and slowly worming my way to the top. Drive and determination should prove just as useful!

That's all the self indulgent babble of the day folks, catch you all next week.

kind regards,

Nick

p.s. If you have the time check out the artorder blog next tuesday (about noon Pacific time)for the results of the next concept compo.

all images in this blog are (c)2005-2009 Nick Egberts unless noted specifcally otherwise.

2 comments:

  1. I think you could do children book illustration easily - just look at that house in the BW picture. It's a bit stylized, like something from a Tim Burton movie. If you de-horrored it a bit and added some weird Alice-in-Wonderland stuff, children book publishers would bite your hands off trying to get it. ;)

    As for starting small vs. huge breakthrough...hm. I guess I'm the lame guy who's not ambitious enough :D I mean, yeah, I'm planning a few DnD paintings for Jon's ArtDrop when I feel I'm good enough. But all the weekly Tuesday challenges confirm that I don't have it yet.
    I'll keep doing these small jobs and work on my technique a bit more.

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  2. Hey Jan,
    I got your message... so here's my reply :)

    I never considered myself as a potential childeren's book illustrator. Maybe you're right, in any case it might be worth my while to check it out, since i have no clue about that industry.

    One thingthat i neglected to say on small versus big breakthroughs: I have a decent day job, and so does my wife. The only way I can justify pursuing a career as an illustrator is if it has the potential to feed my (growing) family. Thus I have to weigh the 20,- assignments quite carefully (as in what else could i have done to provide for my cosy home in that amount of time). So it is more necessity that drives my views on this matter. Actually when I reread my rant id came across a little haughty, which was cerainly not my intention...

    Thanx for taking the time to visit me in this dark corner of the internet, muchacho.

    cheers,

    Nick

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