When an Artist Friend Says, “The Dog Looks Plastic…”
Thank you for being a friend. — Andrew Gold, 1978 (made famous by The Golden Girls ) What I had to start I’m so glad she did. This little sleeping pup appears on multiple pages in my book and I almost uploaded the final files with the original version. I thought he looked fine. Cute, even. But then Natasha, a talented artist and my friend, gently pointed out that the dog looked a bit plastic . Her gorgeous pen & ink image is on my parent page of my book and you can read about that and see for yourself on my other thank you post to her, here . At first, I winced. Then I looked closer. She was right. I had drawn and coloured her with care but without much experience in digital tools like Krita, I had missed the subtleties that make illustrations feel soft, textured, and alive. I’ve never studied art formally, and Krita has a steep learning curve when you’re diving in with a full children’s book to finish. So I’m learning on the job constantly. Thanks to her feedba...