juliajager

[juliajager]

It is #portfolioday, so time to shine and share my work! I am Julia, an illustrator and artist based in the Netherlands. I’m looking for work and representation. My focus is on picture/children’s books, book covers, educational illustrations (for books in primary school for example), background and character design, packaging and bird art. My portfolio: 🎨 www.juliajager.com E-mail: ✉ [email protected]

#portfolioday #illustration #picturebookart #childrensbooks #kidlit #educational #characterdesign #publishing #agency #kidlitart #kidlitartists

[juliajager]

I'm so behind on everything, also on posting illustrations I made, that's the reality of being a mom I guess? This is Bassie. We mainly took Bassie, because we thought our other cat Sofia was lonely. In the end they became eachother's mates in a way, but Sofia rarely wanted to cuddle, while Bassie tried again and again, it was kind of endearing to see. Near Sofia's ending she was too tired to resist him and they sat together more often... Now Bassie's alone and it feels weird. He is now this character on his own. He already had a character ofcourse, but now it's a solo show. Even though they weren't the best of friends, Bassie seems very down in the dumps without the presence of Sofia. Something to keep our eye on. Anyway. Besides the grief, Bassie is a very cuddly, full of energy, funny sort of cat, with slightly weird proportions (very small head and a very large body). He came as a friend for Sofia and became a real part of this family. Hope to draw more cats in the future and do commissions and stuff, but still working on that :) will keep you posted when I'm open to cat commissions.

#siberiancat #illustration #cat illustration #cat art #cat #cats of tumblr #dutchillustrators #ginger

[juliajager]

Finally a baby sketch I'm actually happy with, woohoo. Going to keep 'm coming :) Abbey's been sleeping pretty sound in the evenings, and I'm slowly feeling a bit 'normal' again, getting some energy back. So potential time to draw, when I've got my routine in order. Never been very good at routines, but a baby really demands you get better at those, if you want to get anything done at all, so working on my routine and drawing more <3

#drawingbabies #baby #my baby #illustration #sketch #cutebaby #motherhood #procreate

[juliajager]

Since being a mom I've been way more interested in babies then I ever was before (which I didn't really expect, even watching baby documentaries and lots of baby/motherhood series). I thought drawing them would be easy, but oh my, was I wrong. I'm finding it quite hard to draw them appealingly. But, it's a nice practice and something I can sink my teeth into (not my baby, the sketching ;) ) Luckily I've got tons of footage to practice haha. These are some baby sketches I made until now while I'm getting back in the game of illustrating. There's still loads to improve and I'm far from happy, I really want to get it right (at least for me) What do you think? Do you see improvement? ^^"

#baby #sketches #cute #characterdesign #motherhood #babygirl #my baby #illustration #kidlitart #childrensillustrations #dutchillustrators

[juliajager]

This is the birth card of our daughter Abigail, who was born almost one year ago already on the 26th of January. I'm apparently very bad at keeping all my social media accounts up to date, sorry for that. It's almost been one year, 2023 was really the year of Abigail, focused on being a mother mostly, it's been really worth it and I really love it and love Abbey. She's a very happy girl, although I think when she grows up she can be a bit of a handful since she can already be pretty stubborn and impatient. Focusing on my art again this year, alongside motherhood, hope to be more consistent with my sharing. See you soon!

#birth announcement #birth card #floral #red robin #winter scenery #illustration #artwork #dutchillustrator #dutchartists #procreate #photoshop

[juliajager]

Although I haven't shared much, I have been pretty busy. Since one year ago I started testing with sublimation printing and I've worked on new illustrations the past few months to complete the beginning of a new Bird series. I also had a nice conversation with a store nearby in the city yesterday and I'm going to focus on getting my work there before the beginning of October, more details soon! I'm super proud I'm finally reaching one of my goals, even though it's been pretty hectic: I lost my job at the art academy and just before I discovered I have a bun in the oven. That's right, I'm going to become a mama, I'm already a mama, we're going to be parents.. <3 The upcoming months are for me, pursuing my dreams and then I'm going to rest with my partner and get to know my baby. I'm going to share my journey and I hope you'll enjoy it aswell. Thanks for being there and listening <3

#pursuingdreams #illustratedproducts #craft #birds #tumblrbirds #jambufruitdove #asianparadiseflycatcher #blueflycatcher #amurparadiseflycatcher #nest #dutchillustrator #illustrator #sublimationprinting #sublimation

[juliajager]

My entry for the contest from Clip Studio Paint Pro with the theme, flowers. I'm quite happy with the result! Maybe I'm going to elaborate on the illustration even further later, maybe the bird is very abundant in decorating it's nest and it keeps on going, haha. That was the idea anyway, I'm learning more about the behavior of birds and found some extraordinarily built nests and some fun mating rituals. No nests with flowers though, so thought that would be cheerful and colorful. I haven't decided yet, maybe the bird decorated its own nest, or a male companion did it, which one is more fun do you think? Anyway, hope you like my submission for the contest :) - made in ProCreate with lots of help from Max Ulichney’s art brushes <3

#cspcontest28 #cspcontest28_timelapse #flowerbird #flowernest #proudbird #clipstudiopaintpro #procreate #maxpacks #art #creaturedesign #illustration #artistsontumblr #childrensbookillustrator #bird #birds_adored #BirdsofTumblr #bird_brilliance #birdsfreaks #animalart #dutchartist #lovelybirds #birdlovers #dutchillustrators

[juliajager]

And the third and last (for now!) storybeat illustration for my children's book in the making. It was so much fun working on the colors of his feathers on his back. Swallows light up so magnificently in the sun, how their feathers reflect the rays of sunshine, it's like they glitter. This is my favorite from the 3 illustrations, just because it's so happy and vibrant. Which one do you like the best?

#picturethis #picturethis2021 #picturebook #sunbeams #raysofsunshine #raysofhope #selflove #selflovejourney #reflection #selfloveisthebestlove #swallowbird #childrensbookstagram #childrensbookillustrator #childrensbook #art #illustration #lighting #composition #wacom #made with wacom #cintiq #photoshop

[juliajager]

Second storybeat illustration for my children's book in the making. I loved to work on the composition and lighting here, also the textures were a good practice. I'm looking forward to portraying more encounters with other birds. This woodpecker likes the rhythm when he drums. Do you know any other European birds that have funny/interesting habits?

#picturethis #picturethis2021 #childrensbookillustrator #childrensbookinthemaking #childrensbookstagram #childrensbookart #illustrationartists #illustrationsforkids #swallowbird #birdstagram #birdfreaks #woodpecker #woodpeckersofinstagram #childrensbooks #made with wacom #photoshop #cintiq #wacom #illustration #artists on tumblr #swallow #composition #lighting

[juliajager]

I'm slightly sad, like this swallow. I participated in the contest Picture This (held by publisher Lemniscaat), but didn't win unfortunately. Yet I am happy I pulled through and entered the contest, sometimes I find it hard to finish my own projects and since I didn't make it last year due to my burn-out, I really wanted to challenge myself this year. And I am very content with the outcome. Also it pushed me to work on my story I would like to publish as a children's book, a story about self-love. I do feel I'm getting my hopes up with some of my actions meant for the future and let my self-worth be dependent on their outcome, still got a lot to work on regarding self-love and just be my usual busy happy self and make new plans. Do you ever let your results affect your self-love? How do you manage?

I will upload the other 2 illustrations in the upcoming days, I'm curious what you think of them. For bigger pictures, check it out on my Tumblr page :) And before I forget: Congratulations to the winners ofcourse :)

#picturethis #picturethis2021 #lemniscaat #swallow #childrensbook #childrensbookillustrator #childrensillustrations #selflove #illustration #artistsoninstagram #artistsontumblr #dutchillustrators #dutch #photoshop #wacom #cintiq

[juliajager]

•Lovely birds• | •Black Capped Chickadee• Another birdie for you guys. You can see in the process video that I'm struggling with the paws and branch, but in the end, by experimenting with all the brushes, I finally found a satisfying way to portray them. I also added a song I recorded; I love to sing while I'm drawing, someone said to me once I should maybe do like live sessions and sing and draw haha, who knows. I just wanted to find a way to share my voice and see what you guys think? And since I sing a lot during drawing, maybe it's a nice way of sharing it through process videos, íf you're interested ofcourse. In Europe we call equivalent birds like these Tits or in this case Great Tit (or in Dutch: Koolmees, kool stands for cole), I always love it when they're on our terrace, hopping around, one came by very often to nibble from the parsley plant, so cute. Which birds in your garden do you like the most?

Will be sharing more bird artwork soon!

#lovelybirds #birdsoftumblr #birdstagram #birdsofinstagram #birdfreaks #maxpacks #artistsontumblr #artistsoninstagram #dutchillustrators #instaart #birdlovers #blackcappedchickadee #ipadpro #dutch #characterdesign #animalart #creaturedesign #illustration

[juliajager]

I'm proud to present my new website! www.juliajager.com It had been such a long time since I'd updated the work on my portfolio website and I really felt it was time for a new look of the entire website. It took some work, but now it's done: an entirely new design and my portfolio is up to date. The new template is also more accesible for me to update, so that will come in handy for future works. I'm really happy now that I've selected my work more carefully I'm seeing a pattern and consistency, a body of work that belongs together. What do you think of it? And how often do you update the work on your portfolio? Thanks for watching :)

#newwebsite #newwebsitelaunch #newwebsitealert #artistsofinstagram #portfolio #art #characterdesign #artdirection #animation #illustration #childrensillustration #dutchillustrators

[juliajager]

Haven't posted in a while, had a setback with my wrist (it seems to be an elbow problem rather then a wrist problem though), and despite this I have entered an illustration competition which took up most of my time. Working on my website now, feeling inspired and I have some new goals and dreams 🌅. Had my first vaccination today aswell (sooner because of asthma), so hopefully life can feel less 'in limbo' soon 😄 Anyway I've been going through my work for my website, things I haven't updated in a while now and came across these sketches, which I totally forgot about. Sketches of a mascotte for a music product. When I look back at them now they really look very moving to me, there's a flow in there which I like... What do you guys think?

#oldsketches #artistsoninstagram #lookingback #dutchillustrators #musicalbird #songbird #birdlove #bird #creaturedesign #drawing #digitalart #childrensillustration #education

[juliajager]

Lovely birds • long-tailed tit

Trying to find a nice workflow for illustrating birds and trying lots of brushes. Grateful for @maxulichney ‘s brushes, they’re great. Found it hard to decide whether and when the illustration was finished or not, sometimes it feels finished and sometimes it doesn’t, couldn’t find out why in this picture. But figured it was time to move on. What do you think? When does an illustration feel finished for you? Hope to share some more birds soon, been doing lots of research lately and loving birds more and more!

#lovelybirds #birdsoftumblr #tumblrbirds #birdsofinstagram #birdstagram #birdfreaks #maxpacks #procreate #artistsoninstagram #dutchillustrators #tumblrart #birdlovers #birds_adored #longtailedtit #koreancrowtit #ipadpro #dutch #characterdesign #animalart #creaturedesign

[juliajager]

The Birds

..... Like what? So this just happened...

It was really weird!

I was working behind my desk, looking at my screen and I first saw a pigeon landing on the wall outside. Okay.. cool.. now our cat Sofia, who was chilling on the window sill, has something to look at.

Next thing I know I turn my head and there they all were!

They were all circled around Sofia, looking at her intently...

Didn't have time to make a photo, so I wanted to remember it this way.

Funny part: I just saw Hitchcock's the Birds last weekend 😂

#thebirds #hitchcock #hitchcocksthebirds #thebirdsmovie #whennaturetakesover #whennaturespeaks #tumblrbirds #procreate #ipadpro #dutchillustrators #dutch #artistsoftumblr #whatjusthappened #drawing

[juliajager]

Another illustration I made for Swiss Sense' little children's book. Sleeping blissfully on a fluffy cloud. I'd like that too, wouldn't you?

#swisssense #slapenopeenwolkje #kinderboekenweek #childrensbooks #childrensillustration #swisssensefriend #illustration #creaturedesign #instaart #artistsofinstagram #artistsoftumblr #dutchillustrators #dutch #photoshop #digitalartist #digitalart #igartist #art #wacom #drawing #creative #artwork #characterdesign #sleepingonacloud #dreaming #dreamingisbelieving #kidsbooks #kids #picturebooks #nadinegovers

[juliajager]

Started a new job at the art academy in Breda and ever since I've been having renewed trouble to start drawing. Figured I just had to like, start, and get comfortable with sketching again by first drawing from reference. Guess I did get comfortable, because this time I drew all afternoon working on several sketches 😄 liked this one the best. It's based on a portrait photo by Amber Dawn Mckee found on Pinterest. How do you feel about starting work?

#sketching #procreate #progressnotperfection #ipadpro #drawingfromreference #dutchillustrators #drawdrawdraw #drawing #artistsontumblr #artistsoninstagram #scf.hmu #amberdawnmckee #instaart #tumblrart #dutch