HTML help!

Hello fellow artists! Hope you've had a productive summer. The Midwest was rather chilly, so instead of pool time I stayed indoors, rearranged my studio and got down to business. I just put up a fall blog header and buttons on my blog. Feedback is appreciated!

Does anyone have HTML experience? I am shaky, at best. My blog buttons are supposed to link up smoothly together but they have a white space between them. This is my code:






What needs to change? Thanks in advance!

-Lj

ETA: So, I'm noticing that my post shows the images and not the code, and the email shows the images with no space between them. But you'll see the problem on my blog. Argh!

Virtual Blog Tour for What's Wrong with Mud?

Hey everyone! 

My first picture book is here and I am going to host a 

Virtual Blog Tour to celebrate it's arrival!!

Would any of you care to participate?

A Virtual Blog Tour is a way for authors and illustrators to promote their new books through a

"circle of friends" and their blogs. You post an interview or some other post idea to help promote the book and the people who read  your blog see it. 

As the host of the Tour, I post at the beginning of the week, a list of all the blogs (linked) who are participating.

I will also be posting everywhere else I network too.. Twitter, Jacketflap, FB, etc....

The goal is to get the word out about the book and the author/illustrator and to create new traffic to all of the blogs who are participating!

If you would like to participate, email me @ nikki.shoemaker@yahoo.com 

and I will give you more details.

Also, I would like for you all to visit my new website

www.nikkisartroom.com

and let me know what you think!!!

There are a few things I have already noticed need work.. But feel free to give me your suggestions!

It is really a neat idea, and sort of fun too!!!

Need some advice

I have not posted in quite some time. I have finally finished up my fine arts degree. Yeah. I do need some advice. I was asked to do an illustration for a tribute to darth vader. I am excited but I don't know the proper questions to ask. A guy from another blog saw my work from a month ago and asked me to participate. Should I be wary or look at this as an opportunity? Also what pertinent questions should I ask. I anyone had time to look his comment is the last one on my post for IF Legendary. There is link to his blog there. Thanks for your help.

Illustrating Self Published Books

Happy May! Hope the spring months are treating you artists well!

I have a friend of a friend inquiring about my illustrations. She has no desire to be a writer, but has written a children's book and wants to self publish to give the book to friends and family as gifts. She is interested in having me do the illustrations but I have a few reservations.

Is the amount of work put into this project worth it? As someone very much still starting out, is this considered good experience and something to put into a portfolio, or is this a bad business decision? Nikki I know you have been published before, is the little-to-no-pay self published route one to try to get my feet wet?

Advice and opinions please.

Does this work better?

My final crit for our first project went well, overall. But one image needed to be fixed. Here is the original which the teacher said made the flamingo's neck look weird and not clear what he is doing:

So my redo has him more actively building the snow penguin.
Does this work better? Feedback?

Updates!

Hello, ladies! Hope the first month of 2009 went well. It's been a month since I've posted, so I had updates to share: I just started taking a 14-week "Children's Book Illustration" class at an art university, went to a local SCBWI meeting, and am starting a face-to-face illo critique group (first meeting to begin in February).

Anyone else have news?