Jack and Jill - 20260702
July's Kidlit Art Postcard Day. First Thursday of the month. I always look forward to this one.This time I chose Jack and Jill. Deliberately. It's one of those nursery rhymes everyone knows before they're old enough to wonder why someone breaking a crown is in a children's song, and I wanted to draw the happy part — the moment before all of that. Jack and Jill walking up the hill together, hand in hand, perfectly cheerful, completely unaware of what's about to happen.
Jill is in a bright pink dress carrying a wooden pail. Jack is in blue with a little gold crown, which felt like the right touch for a nursery rhyme character. The path winds up a green hill toward a stone well with a red roof at the top. Blue sky, fluffy clouds, soft rolling landscape. The nursery rhyme text sits on the right side of the spread, balanced against the illustration on the left. Postcard format, picture book feel.
This is also a portfolio piece. Looking at it alongside my earlier work, the improvement is real — character design, colour harmony, expressions, the overall sense that a scene is actually happening. I can see it. The poses could be more natural, the composition stronger, the storytelling clearer. But the gap between where I started and where I am now is visible in this piece, and that matters.
I'd still love feedback from a professional kidlit illustrator. Someone who knows picture books and can tell me what's working and what needs the most attention next.
For now — Jack and Jill are heading up the hill, and everything is absolutely fine. For the moment.Jul 2, 2026
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