2012's Best Digital Illustration Tutorials

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/best-of-2012-illustrator-tutorials/

Click on the above link for a short but impressive list of how-to's:

Create jewel-encrusted gold 3D type - Bring a sense of fun to typography design by adding a golden sheen and sparkling gems.

Texture effects for vector portraits - Trace a face using vectors

Master Illustrator CS6's new Pattern tool - Build repeating objects within vector scenes

Create vintage type styles

Bring the happy to an illustration with fairly basic shapes and colours

Create promotional artwork that sells you to new clients

(Note: the descriptions are lifted directly off the blog post.)

Check out the lists of links over there -->

Illustrators in SCBWI-Michigan, blogs of the other regions of SCBWI, illustration-focus sites, writing-focus sites; there's a lot over there and I've just started.
If you should be on one of the link lists, let me know!

If there isn't something there that surprises you and shows you something new, I'm not doing my job. So let me know what links to add.

If you're not in SCBWI but are curious, WELCOME!!
Here's the main SCBWI site: http://scbwi.org
For a relatively small annual fee ($80, last I checked) you get access to resources that will boost your writing and illustration -- and your access to editors and agents.

I got published because I went to a national SCBWI conference and came home dejected and anxious to learn what I was missing. I started a new story just days after getting off the plane. An agent (http://emliterary.com) found me. The book sold a few months later. Now it's a series.
All because fellow writers and illustrators encouraged me, the SCBWI conference motivated me, and Tomie dePaola (a member of the SCBWI Board of Directors) inspired me to go.
  
Everybody's path to publication is different. SCBWI can help you stay on the path, it can help clear the brush out of the way, and it'll be there to celebrate with you when you hit the big milestones.

So, join SCBWI. Then connect with the writers and illustrators around you.                

Postcard tips

From Molly Idle, a blog post exploring promotional postcards including a few samples and ending on an inspirational note.
http://idleillustration.com/2012/07/02/promo-postcard-planning/

Portfolio tips

Our friends at Midsouth SCBWI have compiled tips for putting together your art portfolio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iExVZ7uF-kM
Thanks, Midsouth!

Bonus: You'll see more fabulous videos on craft by Susan Eaddy, on the sidebar.
This one, entitled Quiet Mouse, shows the process of her clay illustration technique, start to finish. Even just the view of her studio is so juicy! Definitely worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=jUX8oWK_z7g

Hello, Illustrators of SCBWI-MI!

This blog will function as an online scrapbook of resources and events in our region.
Welcome!
As you read, please consider what you'd like to see happen in our area, and let me know.
Let's build Illustration Nation together!