Friday, June 15, 2007

Illustration Friday: "Rejection"

I worked for about 5 years (from sometime in highschool, on into college) for a small publishing company doing illustrations for textbooks. Several of the pieces I did during my stint as an inexperienced in-house illustrator were rejected.

Some were rejected because they said I was making fun of X, Y, or Z. Other's because the ones requesting the illustration didn't understand what they were actually asking for, so when the idea was illustrated, they were aghast. And some were rejected because I put hair on the dog.


I remember I had to do this one over and removed the wig from the little Juliet dog. I'm can't remember what the final print version looked like.

All I remember is I liked the curls on the girl and that's the version I kept for myself.

23 comments:

Tina Poe said...

I adore your drawing! It is so perfectly detailed and the expressions are fantastic. I would have kept her curls too, they're great!

bookbabie said...

What a sweet illo. Why not put a wig on a dog, that's the fun of illustration:)

an9ie said...

And some were rejected because I put hair on the dog.

That made me laugh. I'm glad I wasn't having a drink at the time or I'd be wiping splatters off my screen.

What's wrong with hair on the dog? Sheesh, they're already wearing clothes. Haven't these people ever heard of anthropomorphism?

Very nice illo. Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Cory Godbey said...

Ha! Glad it made you laugh. Thanks for the kind words over on The Photoshop Experiment.

Catalina Alvarez said...

Beautifully executed!
I love the way you use your pencil.

psychopooch said...

awesome! i like the hair on the dog too :)

Eli said...

It was hair on the dog that bit yah, huh. Sorry, couldn't resist, beautiful work by the way, I'm officially jealous.

Tracy said...

Beautiful work! She HAS to have curly hair; she's Juliet! Did they want her to be BALD? :)

claudine hellmuth said...

love it!! I love the curls on the Juliet puppy!!

mike r baker said...

Very cute and superbly done! I like the curls too.

imwithsully said...

Amazing pencil work! I love illustrations of dogs.

Heather said...

At least you were able to keep the one you liked. Sometimes we have to sacrifice but it helps to know we have it the way we want in some special place.

Blankenship said...

Yeah, we all no how rutheless and unforgiving this small publishing company can be. Shucks...I may hang for saying this.

Anonymous said...

I do like her wig too, I also had some rejected sketches from a house publishing, although I didn't post them, was not too proud of them.
But these are great, as always!
saludos!
Marjorie Ann*

Designing Fairy said...

Nice piece. That must have been one frustrating job!

rogério said...

So cute..cool illo...

Gayle Wheatley said...

Great Illustration! Love the blog too.

Matthew Smith said...

awesome characters! well done!

Hello! said...

Beautiful illustration!
I love the curls too, she's adorable!

Brine Blank said...

What is the world coming to when you can't make fun of X, Y, and especially Z...great technique and funny setup on this...

kdhamel said...

How could anyone reject something so cute? I love the saint bernard!

Nancy Bea Miller said...

Wow, your work is just beautiful. I have heard stories like this about textbook illustrating in particular. I'm glad you kept the hair on the Juliet dog for your private copy: she is so sweet!

nicole falk said...

well i think this is just awesome..i liek the hair...very beautiful