TODAY'S FEATURED POST

ALA Annual Conference

Winona Nelson

I’m at the ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia PA. This is the big event of the year for picture books, with publishers displaying new and upcoming books to eager librarians. It’s my first time attending, and I haven’t yet met very many people in this field, so I’ve been really excited to get to put a face to the names of some of those I worked with at Simon & Schuster, especially my editor Celia…

READ MORE

EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

Malum Malus

YESTERDAY’S POST

Image

Research Images Like a Pro

Lauren Panepinto

June 12, 2025 - I just did a spurt of portfolio reviews (it's fresh graduates season!) and a topic seemed to come up more than a few times, and that usually means it's worth a Muddy Colors article. So here we go. I don't want to make this sound like a "the kids don't know X" or "back when I was in school we knew how to Y" kind of thing, but I think some old(er) school knowledge might help a growing problem. A growing problem of using search engines for image research. Since I've been reviewing portfolios and commissioning illustrators (for 20ish years now) I have occasionally had to have a conversation with artists about their image research. Sometimes amusingly referred to as "Google-Fu". The most glaring issue was most often reminding an artist — usually one fresh…

READ MORE

POSTS BY CATEGORY

ART

ARTICLES

EDUCATION

EVENTS

INSPIRATION

INTERVIEWS

REVIEWS

RECENT COMMENTS

Recent Comments

ABOUT MUDDY COLORS

Muddy Colors is a collective of more than 20 artists, dedicated to providing a free, online resource for aspiring and professional artists alike.

With a library of thousands of articles, and a new one being posted each day, Muddy Colors is the largest educational website dedicated to the Fantastic Arts.

SUPPORT US ON PATREON

We are using Patreon as an opportunity to ask our readers for support in our endeavors.

These funds will be used to provide better content for our readers, maintain website expenses, and support aspiring artists through Muddy Colors programs and scholarships.