children's faces can quickly look like old men.

i'm aiming to be an illustrator! a dear friend has asked me to create the drawings for her children's book (though the twist at the end makes it more for the adults in their lives). it's going to be a great challenge, i'm rather excited about it. it requires learning how to draw children's proportions, which i've never done...and figuring out how to draw some things that no one knows what they look like... kid's faces are hard, the subtle expressions are very picky! you look at your reference, that faces is smiling - you look at what you've drawn, and wonder why they look like they're about to cry. fine lines everywhere, you're bound to cross one if not all of them!
i hope she doesnt mind it will take me a while. quite some time has gone by since i really pushed my artistic boundaries! i need that kind of thing, we all do. it's one thing to try something i've never done out of my own curiosity, but another entirely different to try it for someone else - what if i visualize and produce something that isnt at all like what is in her head? i know how i feel when the few things i have a final vision for dont turn out right. it means i start over, or at least start nearly over, and try again. or it means it sits there for a while, perhaps even a long while, till i feel motivated to try again. may God grant me inspiration! that's when the outcomes are always best. that's when i look back at a piece and think, "hey that's actually good!"