“Sally Hester, Pioneer” excerpt from an illustration by Mark Mitchell for “Appleseeds” magazine
Art
How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator
Mark Mitchell's blog on children's book illustration and artists
“Sally Hester, Pioneer” excerpt from an illustration by Mark Mitchell for “Appleseeds” magazine
How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator 
I love this type of illustration. I have no experience doing watercolors. I can see how talented you are, and lucky! So, as a water colorist, do you find that you have to work quickly? How different is this to using water color pencils, something I’m interested in trying?
Hi Cynthia!
Watercolor pencils are another way of using watercolor and a great way to introduce yourself to watercolor. They can lead to the “hard stuff” — using tube watercolors. 🙂
You can use both mediums in the same illustration, too!
As for painting speeds — its always variable! There are times in a watercolor painting where you do have to work and react quickly and other times when you can slow way down and work incrementally.
Thank you for your nice comments!
Mark
I really like your watercolour style as well! I’ve always loved watercolour and would like to know how you achieve the fine linings in a painting, are you using a very fine brush to do the detailed work?