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IreneShpak

Irene
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No More Copies

2 min read
Hello, mes amis :wave:

I don't write journals very often but today I really feel like making an entry. I've been on DA for... let me have a look... oh dear, five years! In this time I have attracted almost two thousand watchers and I'm very grateful to everyone who liked my art enough to add me as a friend. However, I do realize that I have earned most of my watchers with my earlier work - color pencil portraits. Today somebody left a comment saying that they miss my color pencil drawings... Yes, for about two years now I have been painting and drawing children's illustrations and so those of you who like my old stuff might be disappointed. But please hear me out. What I used to do was copying other people's work. Lovely photos of celebrities mostly. I did feel the need to copy while I was learning color pencil techniques. After a while I felt a slave to reference photos, they allowed very little creativity. Now I feel like a true artist. I create my own images and I have at least one fan of my work - my son, whose face lights up when he looks at the pictures I have painted for him. So, even though I do realize a color pencil drawing of a sad girl on the bed might bring me hundreds of faves, I just can't bring myself to doing this kind of art anymore. Please feel free to remove me from your watch list if you are not interested in my illustrations.

:blowkiss:
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HOGGY

1 min read
A couple of years ago I have written and illustrated a children's book called "Hoggy". It's about a small friendly hedgehog with big ears and an even bigger heart. I really loved the whole experience of creating a book and I definitely have learnt a lot from it. Anne :icontrenchmaker: has been a great help with her insightful feedback and advice and I feel that thanks to her I have made a pretty neat little book I'm not ashamed to show off.

Unfortunately all the publishers I have sent my book to have rejected it and so Hoggy has been hidden in my folders for many months. I have now decided to post a few illustrations from the book so that my lovely little hedgehog gets to see the world and I very much hope that you will like him.

:blowkiss:
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Hello, mes amis,

I thought it's about time I made a new journal, seeing that my last one is almost a year old.

I have recently developed an obsession with children's picture books. I've been collecting them for a while but ever since I realized a few months ago that illustrating children's books is actually my dream job, I have become seriously obsessed. I'm always on a look out for really good illustrations and my list of books to buy is now scary long.  I've also been browsing websites where people post scans of illustrations from all kinds of kids' books, and although I've come across a lot of brilliant stuff, some illustrations I found wierd and even ugly. Then I thought about books that I had when I was a kid and my favourite ones did not necessarily have the most beautiful pictures, funny that. So I just wanted to ask, what made your favourite books special for you when you were little?
Also, I'd be gratefull for any tips on great illustrators and books. Cheers!

Take care

Irene :blowkiss:


:iconstorybook-club:  :icontraditional-artists:
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Hello, mes amis :wave:

Hope you've all been well and happy.

This is just a quick journal to announce that I've started doing commissions, so if you would like me to draw a portrait of you or somebody you love, please let me know. You can find full details and prices here www.irenesart.net/commissions.…


Also, if you wish to buy a drawing of mine, I'm selling a bunch on my website www.irenesart.net. If a drawing you're after is not in this bunch, note me or email me and I'm sure we could arrange something.

Once again, I would like to thank you all for your kind comments and faves, I really appreciate.

Cao :blowkiss:

Irene
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Hello little ones :wave:

Hope you've all been well and happy and enjoying the lovely spring. I have! :dance:  Although in between enjoying life and spring I've been torturing myself with doubt and acrylic paints. Hence my anguished cry for help. I'm really hoping you will kindly respond with advice and critique and help me make a god damn decision. Ok, here's the thing. I've mentioned before that I wanted to make a children's picture book featuring baby sheepies. I've been drawing them for years but they were never proper illustrations, more like doodles and sketches but I thought, how hard can making illustrations be? Turned out, not easy at all, mes amis, not easy at all. If you saw my drawing "JonJo and his butterfly", that's it, my very first attempt in illustrating, and whilst I don't think it's totally crap, I'm not very happy with it. Somebody suggested I try different mediums and seeing that watercolours and acrylics seem to be favourite mediums in children's books business, I thought I'd give them a try. How hard can it be? Oh. Dear. God. I abandoned watercolours pretty quickly, they were just so frustrating, I wanted to cry. Acrylics were a tad better but still very scary and unpredictable.  I'm not defeated though and determined to master this horrid medium. Anyways, I decided to make two illustrations - same scene but one made with acrylics and one with my beloved colour pencils, to see what looks better. Here they are.

Libby Sets Her Balloon Free by IreneShpak

Now, imagine the one made with acrylics is not sloppy (I will get better, I promise) Looking at the pictures, I still can't decide what I prefer - I like vibrancy of acrylics but colour pencils are just too comforting and allow more details and precision. Please let me know your honest opinion (still imagining painting is not sloppy). Also if anybody has any illustrating experience, I would very much appreciate some tips and advice. Ooh and one last thing - I've been thinking about trying special acrylics paper which looks like sheets of canvas. Would anybody recommend using it for illustrations? I'm currently using thick watercolour paper.

I apologize for such a long journal, hope I you are not bored to tears.

Looking forward to your comments!

Many thanks in advance

Irene :blowkiss:
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Featured

No More Copies by IreneShpak, journal

HOGGY by IreneShpak, journal

Your Favourite Picture Books by IreneShpak, journal

Commissions and drawings for sale by IreneShpak, journal

Anguished Cry For Help by IreneShpak, journal