Developing Your Creative Practice Funding 2021 - 2022

How It Happened

In October 2021 I was awarded funding for the Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) program run by Arts Council England. You would be forgiven if you’d never heard about this funding opportunity before, I hadn’t either until around June 2022, when I saw illustrator Sara Rhys mention it on Instagram.

It is not something I enjoy sharing publicly, but, at the same time, I was a month or so, into dealing with the breakdown of my marriage. I was an emotional mess, I felt worthless, I had no idea what I was going to do, I certainly didn’t know if I could continue down the creative route I was on, and I felt very despondent about my future.

However, part of me became curious. I think part of me wondered if being awarded funding was something I could actually achieve - the part of me, which was trying to reach out and grasp on to positive opportunities and experiences, and back myself. If I’m honest, I think there was also a tiny part of me that thought I could prove that I wasn’t worthy, if I failed to be awarded funding… well Arts Council England must have seen me coming a mile off, they helped me to pull my socks up and face the world.

Sara Rhys, had been awarded funding in the previous round, so I messaged her for a bit more insight, and she kindly sent me in the direction of Cai Burton. Cai is an artist, illustrator, creative producer, and creative mentor. He too had previously been awarded funding, and had started holding workshops to help others with their applications. I saw there was a workshop coming up, so booked myself a space on it – and it was so useful. Cai walked us briefly through the questions we would have to answer, and shared links to previous successful applications, and this guidance was so valuable. I had never applied for any kind of funding before, so when it came to filling out the application, I had no idea what sort of things I should be writing about, and it felt incredibly daunting. Discussing the questions and reading through previous examples helped to get me started and gave me a little bit of confidence.

Cai also mentioned that the current system used to upload your application, “Grantium” is frustrating, and can take longer than you anticipate. I have read that there is a plan to update or replace this system, but if you wanted to apply, do as Cai suggested, give yourself more time than you think you will need.

Cai also offered one-to-one sessions if you wanted him to look over your application, and considering the whole program was so new to me, this felt like a good idea, so I booked a session. Honestly if you, or someone you know is thinking about applying for this funding, I highly recommend Cai’s workshop and one-to-one sessions if they are available, as they were just the support kind of support I needed. It was just little things, like, pointing out that something I had written in my answer for question 1, might actually be better suited in my answer for question 2.

Between the workshop and the one-to-one, I think I had about a week and a half to work on my answers. Answering three questions doesn’t sound particularly hard, or, like it would take a long time, but there is a strict character limit for each answer, and the most time consuming part is making sure you are able to say everything you would like to, as detailed as you can, but as succinctly as possible. If you are applying, do leave yourself lots of time to work on this, every single word counts.

I can’t remember how the process works exactly, but you have to leave yourself plenty of time to apply for a Grantium login. I think I had to request one, and then wait a couple of days. I think once I was able to log in, I also had to fill in another form and wait a couple of days before I could complete the application – what I’m trying to say here, again, is, give yourself plenty of time and don’t leave it until the last minute. You are warned parts of the process could take days once you are logged in, so make sure you read all the information. It is my understanding that Arts Council England are a small, hardworking team – my experience is that they always get back to you, and sort out these admin bits quicker than they say they will, BUT, they are a small team, if they get busy, they just might not be able to get back to you quickly as you need, so send queries and apply in good time.

So, even though the deadline was creeping closer, and I wasn’t entirely confident with what I was doing, my gut instinct told me to focus. I managed to plan my project idea, based on my current work, plus my passions and curiosity, and I submitted my application.

Then I forgot about it.

I honestly didn’t think I stood a chance. Until I had an email, telling me to check my Grantium account because a decision had been made. And there it was, a big long email with lots of information, but importantly, it told me I had been successful. I struggle to put that moment into words, I read it at least four times, convinced that I was as reading it wrong, then I sat In front of my computer screen in disbelief. I cried and then I laughed, and then I realised I would have to get myself organised. 

My Project: Bringing Found Objects & Mediums into Children's Illustration & Storytelling

My current work has involved developing a portfolio for children’s picture book illustration, and with my DYCP project I wanted to find out if I could incorporate found objects into my work, and experiment with how that could be presented, whether traditionally printed, or if it would be more suited to some kind of film or motion. The reason I wanted to experiment with found objects, was partly from curiosity – having played Gish for several years, and having faced the challenge of using unusual objects, which I found very rewarding, and partly because I am interested in encouraging others to make art, even if they have no training or art materials.

I began by researching art and illustration that has already been created, as well as looking at past Gish challenges (which are often influenced by real life artists). i discovered that there is very little children’s illustration created using anything unusual, but there are plenty of artists creating one-off pieces with anything form ballpoint pens to coffee, to stones, to paperclips.

I think the key thing I did take away from this research is that mostly only single images are created from unusual materials, not sequences of images. Nevertheless, I was undeterred and created a list of materials I wanted to try creating pictures with, before collecting them, and trying to work with them.

This stage did bring me promptly back down to earth. For example, I had really been looking forward to working with the natural plants and flowers, as I thought the images by  Vicki Rawlins were so beautiful and charming, but one of the challenges to this stage of my project, was that it fell in January, so it was slim pickings on what was available to use. Still, I collected what I could and had a big bag of twigs and dried hydrangea heads. It wasn’t until I started trying to make pictures with them and several other materials that I realised how difficult they were to use. To create a single image required patience, but to try and move all the different elements carefully enough in order to produce a sequence of images, or any kind of stop-motion inspired animation, seemed to be beyond my skillset, those organic shapes do not go where you want them to go, and it just ended up a bit of a muddled mess. You also had to plan ahead when using things like hydrangea heads, if I were to pull one apart, or tear up those petals, it is a destructive process, and if you only have limited supply, you can’t go back, once something has been destroyed.

If I’m honest, many of the materials I wanted to work with turned out to be a bit of a disappointment because they were impractical to work with; it is hard to film everything you need, when the materials seemed to have a mind of their own. I had even used pepper before, and it had been fine then, but this time I must have been a little heavy handed, as it went right up my nose. There was a lot of sneezing and tears streaming down my face, a silly mistake of my part, but it did put me off.

I also had to consider my working environment. I had intentionally tried to keep things simple, because when it comes to filming, I am an absolute beginner, and I didn’t want to bite off more then I could chew. So, I had requested budget for a ring light, which I used with my phone and my dining room table. It served my learning needs, but I also learned quickly, that not having a designated space, with a designated camera that can stay in place and multiple lights, was very limiting, in terms of the quality of the work I was wanting to create. I think to film anything you ideally need stability rather than a temporary set-up that has to keep moving, but that is what I had, and I was determined to take the opportunity to learn as much as I could. 
I also anticipated that filming would take a long time, but it took even longer, and I found to try and keep up with my activity plan, I couldn’t quite experiment for as long as I would have liked with each material. I think this kind of experimentation is so vast, it could be something that continues to be ongoing.

The other thing I noticed about most of my materials, is that you are very restricted by colour. A lot of the materials resulted in one or two colour images, so you had to rely on contrast, and some materials were more successful than others. The non-recyclable packaging was one exception, there were plenty of colours - but colourful cellophane? Sweet wrappers stick to everything other than your paper, so are incredibly hard to work with, especially in small pieces.

The lack of colour, however, did make me focus more on line and shape, which I found really interesting.

I did enjoy the final image of the tiger head, even though it was using pepper. It was created from two different peppers, but once you start using two fine materials together, such as a powder, or any kind of grain or pulse, you are presented with another hurdle, because you can’t separate and use them again because they get mixed together.

The one material that didn’t let me down was the salt! It has such great contrast on blue or black paper, it is easy to move around and shape, but heavy enough not so go off and do its own thing. 

A strange thing that happened as I tried to move away from still 2D images and transition into film and motion, was I kept thinking of storytelling in the form of poetry, and continuous movement. I watch film and TV all the time, so cutting to different scenes and editing together seems obvious, but I felt a need for everything to move and change within a frame – to have a continuous flow. Maybe, it was because the materials were tricky to manipulate, I wanted to move them slowly and carefully, making sure I filmed everything I needed before it was too late, because you couldn’t go back and recreate the image at a later date, in exactly the same way.

I wrote several poems and a couple of little stories about a handful of the materials, as I wanted the the stories to relate to what they were being created from, and then I created some rough storyboards. I chose to continue with salt, influenced by the TV show Supernatural, where characters are often seen using salt to protect from or trap ghosts, I wrote, recorded and visualised one of my poems. I thought this poem was quite fun, and I love the contrast of the black and the white. The salt, although easy to work with, does leave trails, and I thought this also suited the ghost theme.

When the annual Gish scavenger hunt rolled around again, and I saw there was an animated poem task, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to continue trying to practice my filming and editing skills. Time was limited, so it was created with paper rather than something more unusual, but I still thought the result was quite charming.

As the project progressed, I think I became more interested in filming the process of my learning than I had anticipated, it seemed more important than the final product. I think when we create, we are usually so focused on the end goal, that we fail to notice our process, and just how much work we are doing, and how much we are learning. I have an endless amount of clips of my hands moving material around, trying to see what magic I can make from them, learning by seeing, feeling and doing, and unless I go back and watch them, it is almost like I forget that they ever happened, because I get so lost in the moment of creating.

Part of my project was to also start considering workshops and how I can share my creativity and encourage others to be creative. My confidence and location has meant that, so far I haven’t been able to try this in person, but I have made two video tutorials. One is directed more at adults, and while I had intended for it to include a variety of materials, I quickly discovered while planning that I couldn’t fit in as much as I had hoped into a single tutorial. I wanted to start by using things easily found in the home, but I didn’t want to scare people off by throwing salt and coffee at them straight away, so had planned to start with some basic pencil and pen exercises, but this actually took up the whole of a lesson. It does mean that I have plenty of ideas for future lessons, and i like the idea of creating a series. I found this part of my project really interesting, I haven’t planned any kind of workshop before, and it felt like a huge learning curve, but I found myself really enjoying working out the stages and the structure. Initially I had planned on showing my face in the videos, but I found my discomfort at doing it was stopping me from starting, and I remember during the Project Next course, being told, that if you don’t like showing you face, don’t do it, just don’t let it stop you from creating your course, so I filmed just my hands instead.

I did a similar thing with second tutorial which I made for children. I wanted to find a solution that didn’t involve showing myself, so this time, I created two little paper characters, Lilah and Enzo, who presented the tutorial, showing how they could create their own salt picture. This was obviously far more time consuming than shooting a straight video, but I did really enjoy making it, and I think the result is quite effective. I also have a plan for a second children’s tutorial, using Enzo’s cardboard.

Other activities which I was able to include in my plan, to help me gather knowledge and industry insights, support the progression of my portfolio, and myself as a professional creative, included; one-to-one creative mentoring, a Skillshare subscription, AOI membership, attending multiple, inspiring Orange Beak Studio illustrator talks, (including Benji Davies and Alex T. Smith), and workshops on Creating Picture Book Covers, Creating Characters, and Observation In Illustration. I also took part in two courses run by The Good Ship Illustration; The Picture Book Course and the Find Your Creative Voice Course. Both are such wonderful learning experiences, bursting with talks, advice, and exercises, which really encourage you to practice and develop your illustration skills and find your voice, (I may have even written a new picture book draft thanks to The Picture Book Course). These opportunities have helped to fire me up and feed my imagination and keep me focused throughout a challenging year. 

What I have learned

I think the first thing I have learned is how to, (and in some cases how not to), plan a year long development project. I have never planned a year long project before, and it was hard for me to know how much work I could fit in to a specified time. I’ve learned that in a long project there needs to be a certain amount of flexibility, because you just don’t know how life is going to affect your work over the course of a year. It was definitely an added challenge to try and get some of the filming parts of my project finished and packed away before estate agents were due.

I have learned that I need to allow more time than I think I need. Everything seemed to take a bit longer than I thought, and then I also needed to allow extra time for changes I found myself making along the way – such as animating characters instead of filming a straight video. I also think this is the nature of creativity, one experiment and learning curve can lead to another, and then another, and while it is important not to go off on a tangent, I think this project has left me with things I’d like to continue with further.

I have learned that, although I believe that creativity shouldn’t rely on fancy materials and equipment, and lack of those things certainly wouldn’t stop me or anyone else creating, when it comes to filming, it can be very frustrating without adequate lighting, or filming space. I don’t think it is a big deal, but it just feels noticeable. I didn’t feel like the quality of my filming was good enough to be used as stills for printed images, maybe a more professional camera, lighting and filming space, would have helped with this.

I realise now, that when you do a project like this, you end up wearing a lot of different hats, and you have to learn skills as you work, as they are needed. For example I hadn’t planned a workshop script before, or recorded a voice-over, or recorded multiple voices, or edited video and audio together. I’m not sure how well I did, but importantly, I didn’t know how to do it, but I did it anyway, and now I have something to build and improve upon.

I have remembered how important research and development is, in a world that seems to be driven by end-products. i have learned that it is okay to find the time to experiment, push and play.

I have learned how important planning projects is, even if I have to learn how to make them more flexible. When you have a long term project, it makes you focus, it stops you from being distracted by other creative pretty things, and it helps you to commit.

I have realised that I am more capable than I give myself credit for, and that I am passionate and enthusiastic, and willing to work hard, even if it means working wonky hours. I’ve remembered that I love learning, and that I can do things that make me feel uncomfortable.

It has also been a humbling experience, trying something new when you know you’re not going to be very good at it, when you see so many other people around you already producing slick, beautiful, amazing work. But I think that is a really important lesson for us to remember, especially those of us who are that bit older, that it is never too late to start learning something new, from scratch, and it doesn’t matter where other people are on their journey, the only journey that matters is the one that you are on.

What the funding means to me

This funding, that I discovered almost accidentally, and then threw myself into, means the world to me.

For the first few months it felt strange. After first being elated, I then found it hard to believe that I had the funds to buy materials and take part in courses and workshops. I was reluctant to spend it, in case there had been a mistake. I even felt a bit guilty, doubting that I deserved it.

Then I paused, had a think. I was awarded this money because somebody believed in my idea. And that realisation means as much to me as the funding itself. At a time in my life when I felt lost and hardly believed in myself, Arts Council England believed in me, and backed me.

In a practical way is has gifted me time and freedom. You often find yourself in a pattern of creating the same kinds of work, you become known for something, and it is scary to take the time out to try new creative things. Because we feel like our work has to become some kind of end product, we can stop experimenting because we don’t feel like we have the time for things to potentially “fail”. This funding gave me money towards that time, so the fear of something not being a success was removed. I remember working into the night on one occasion, I was filming things over my table, I was moving little bits around, moving back and forth to and from the table, music playing, having a little sing, having a little dance, and that is the freedom that funding can give to a creator - the freedom to create unburdened. That feeling is like nothing else, even though we might be creating on a daily basis, we don’t always feel that, and that is just one of the reasons I’m so grateful to Arts Council England. 

It can sound a bit of a cliche to describe the funding as life-changing – but it really has changed to trajectory of my last year, and while I spent most of the year focussing on my project and other areas of my activity plan, over the last few months, as the project wound down it gave me the time to reflect and realise how grateful I am. 

I am grateful for the opportunities; I have the funds to pay for materials and talks without worrying where the money is coming from. But, emotionally, I am also grateful for how it has changed me as a person, it has made me more confident. By making an activity plan and an expenditure plan, and having to stick to it, you find yourself doing all those things you always knew would help you, but you put off, because maybe they felt a bit intimidating, such as mentoring and portfolio reviews. I am now a person who will seek out mentoring instead of just thinking about it. This funding encourages you to take little leaps forward, and that does wonders for your self-esteem and your practice.

This funding is amazing, but it is about so much more than money, it is about creatives being valued and supported, and it has made me wonder how I can help support creatives, in my own way, in the future, to help pay forward the support I have received. It has changed me, by reminding me I’m not just on my own, I’m part of a larger community.

What I’d like to do next

Before this project I knew I was working towards being a children’s picture book author and illustrator, but since this project, my creative practice feels like it wants to branch out and be more than one thing. I still have the same goal, but I want to include more creative diversity into my practice. I want it to be about living a creative life, not just identifying in one specific role. I like all the different hats I have been wearing. I would like to continue developing workshops and small animations, I feel like I still have so much to learn, there is definitely room for improvement, but I can see my potential, and I would really love to continue to encourage people who avoid any kind of art, to embrace their creativity. I would also like to be able to support other creatives, like I have been supported. I would like to start by qualifying as an EFT practitioner. During the last year I have used EFT to try and help me through an emotionally difficult time, and it occurred to me how beneficial it would be to the creative community, to help others to work through some of their emotional needs. It very much feels like I’m about to embark on something new and exciting, and I am just so grateful for the push and the encouragement that the Develop Your Creative Practice programme has given me.

If anyone reading this is trying to make their way within the arts, and is based on the UK, please consider applying for the Develop Your Creative Practice rewards program. If you are telling yourself you aren’t ready, or that you aren’t worthy, or good enough, please just give it a go anyway, that extra money in your bank really does help push you forward in various ways  – you just never know what your future holds – someone out there might see something in your work and they might believe in you, and they might back you, and while the money is amazing, that belief is priceless.

You can find more information at Arts Council England - DYCP

August 2022 - Saying Goodbye To Some Of The Greats

There has been some sadness within the last few weeks, quite a few well-known people have passed away, notably three people who had a huge impact on some aspect of my childhood.

Firstly, Bernard Cribbins was the voice of my childhood. I would always find such joy from listening to him on TV and on audio cassette, bringing some wonderful story to life. No one can forget Jackanory and The Wombles, but one of my other favourites was Moschops. He was someone who could just magically appear anywhere from Super Gran to Last of the Summer Wine, and it made me so happy as I have grown well into my adult years, seeing him in Doctor Who and Old Jack’s Boat. I don’t have any of my audio cassettes left – they were not built to last – but the one that I do remember, which was narrated by Bernard Cribbins was Bertie’s Escapade, (written by Kenneth Grahame and illustrated by Sandy Nightingale), in the first christmas editon of The Storyteller magazine from Marshall Cavendish. Everybody loves a christmas theme, and it was probably one of the magazines/cassettes that I read/listened to the most. To me, Bernard Cribbins’ voice meant great character, great humour, and comfort, and I am going to miss that very much.

We also, very sadly, lost Olivia Newton-John. What young girl has not spent at least a small part of her childhood singing and dancing to Grease? I’m not sure how old I was, maybe 10, I would watch it every Saturday, recorded on to VHS from the TV, rewinding and watching my favourite songs over and over again. I sang “Hopelessly Devoted To You” a lot, sadly, nowhere near as well as Olivia – she had such a beautiful voice. I didn’t really know much about Olivia outside of Grease, (there is a whole music career I’ve yet to discover, although I do quite like the version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” performed with John Tavolta, which switched the lyrics around), other than we shared a birthday, and she always seemed as wonderful and warm as her character Sandy. It doesn’t matter how many other people come along and play Sandy in the future, it will always be Olivia’s role.

Finally, just a few days ago, we lost Raymond Briggs. This one hit me pretty hard. I do have a confession to make though, I didn’t own a copy of The Snowman until I was in my thirties. Shocking, I know! And, what is more, I didn’t like the animation when I was a kid, but it was nothing to do with the story (which is pure brilliance), or the illustrations, or the animation, it was the damn song (no offence, Aled) – I did rather enjoy Father Christmas though. My real love and appreciation for Raymond Briggs, didn’t actually start until approximately 1992, when I was around 11 or 12, and I came across a copy of The Man (published by Julia MacRae Books), while I was spending some book vouchers, up on the first floor of WHSmith, in Coventry.

It has remained one of my favourite books ever since, and I pick it up to read or flip through, often, (Briggs and the Marshall Cavendish Storytellers, along with maybe a handful of other books are the reason I would love to create my own picture books, I feel like I always carry the magic of them inside me).

What I love about Briggs’ work is that his characters always feel so real and fleshed out, and his illustrations can express so much emotion either with or without words. His storytelling is exquisite. I love that as a reader, even when young, I never felt patronised him. His stories felt honest, and he wasn’t afraid of using humour and sadness within the same space, and that to me, felt like life, things aren’t always happy and colourful all of the time, but within sad moments, there can be some light, a smile and little moments to cherish.

In The Man, a peculiar, tiny, adult man appears in a boy’s room one night, naked and demanding to be dressed. He is rude and not the most likeable house guest, but he is also alone, and so tiny that he can’t do things for himself, and he needs help. I appreciated how Briggs examined friendship, building it up and tearing it down, incorporating themes of gratitude, responsibility, vulnerability, generosity, selfishness, companionship, anger and loss, and there was also so much humour. It is a story that makes you feel a thousand feelings, so you come out the other side a little beaten and weathered but grateful. Briggs put everything into his stories, absolutely everything, love, loss, and wisdom… whole lives, and he will be a huge loss.

Life is short, sing songs, draw pictures, and tell and share stories.

August 2022 - Gish 2022

It is a good job that I finally posted that Gish 2021 round-up in February, because I haven’t posted a blog since, and last week marked Gish 2022 (The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt). It was all a bit different this year, I knew I was having house guests, and that I’d be busy, so rather than approaching the week in the manner of an over-excited, rabid, tasmanian devil, and turning the house upside down, I approached it… well, like an adult. I didn’t get dehydrated, I didn’t put too much pressure on myself, and I didn’t make a mess, (not much mess anyway).

I chose three items from the hunt list on the Saturday, all of which I completed by the time my guests arrived on the Tuesday.

The first task involved taking two short poems, from two different genres, and using all the words (you were allowed to add and take away conjunctions and articles) to make a new poem. I chose “Now We Are Six” by A. A. Milne, and Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep – originally Immortality by Clare Harner. It was tricky because both poems have a repetition of words, so, there was quite a lot of “I”s and ‘now”s. The result is a little abstract, and I’m sure some people would read it and say something like, “Shouldn’t that say ‘were’ instead of ‘was’?” – well, no, because the word ‘were’ wasn’t available. So, try to leave everything you have ever learned about grammar to one side, and just go with it. I called it “Death is Born”, which sounds a little glum, but I like to think that it is about a spirit who is transitioning between passing on from a human life and becoming a reaper. Everything is new, but also old, they are a bit confused, and trying to make sense of the remains of human memories they have mixed up with their new role.

The second item I chose from the hunt list was also related to poetry. It was to create a piece of animation to accompany a poem by Misha Collins, chosen from his book, “Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You”. I chose a poem called “Old Bones”, because I like its warmth, it feels simple but authentic. It was also pretty short, and as I knew I was going to do some kind of stop-motion animation, I wanted to make sure I didn’t bite off more than I could chew, because I didn’t have much time to complete it.

Finally, I chose to create a cover for a graphic novel edition of the podcast audio drama, Bridgewater. I know some of the covers by other teams are absolutely brilliant and feature some of the characters, but again, I decided to keep it simple and concentrate on shapes and the environmental elements. It is an eerie, supernatural story, based on lots of real folklore, and a lot of the action take place at night, so I stuck to black, greys and white. There are some tall swamp trees in the background that can vaguely be seen, then there is a big rock with a ledge, then we have a fire, lit by a cult at one of their meetings, and a cult member with a knife (for carving symbols into the rock). There are also three mysterious balls of light, and general leafy foliage. Intrigued? Bridgewater is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim & Mild, and you can read all about it here, and listen to it pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts.

It does feel a little strange to have only completed three items, to have remained completely calm the whole week, and not be faced with the aftermath… I didn’t even get post-Gish blues this year. I can’t promise the same will happen next year, old habits die hard. Should I end up feeling like I missed out I can always catch up on the Zoom webinars that I missed on YouTube when they become available. The webinars have guests invited to give a talk and share their expertise, and it can be be on any kind of subject, from adventuring to storytelling, to rejection (a few examples from last year). This year I only managed to catch Sam Maggs and Patrick Weekes talking all things writing and fanfic, but it was marvellous, and I look forward to seeing the others.

So after three items, I pulled back from Gish and instead, I tidied the house, went on walks, outside, and saw the sunshine – these things rarely happen in a normal non-Gish week. We even popped to Cowdray to raid the farm shop, look at the ruin and eat a spot of lunch.

I even got to have a little walk alongside the sea, and got a bit high on all the pastel, jewel colours in the evening light, how can anyone not love those colours!

That was my first week of August? How was yours? The second week is looking nowhere near as promising as my neighbour is on the roof repointing the chimney – it is noisy!

Until next time… Now where are my headphones…

A Late Round-Up: Gish – Saturday 31st July - 8th August 2021

I just can’t seem to get back into the habit of blogging, I have photos and videos on my phone that remain unshared, and various rough drafts sitting on devices, and I’m determined not to let them go to waste. The last year has been a bit difficult for me, and I have been very distracted, but I will keep trying to catch up the best I can. This catch-up is all about Gish 2021, I thought I had better get this one posted before Gish 2022 rolls around, it’s only 5 months away…

Oh Gish, how I love thee. For those who haven’t heard me babble on about Gish before, it is a yearly, week-long, global scavenger hunt. You pay to enter, and some of the proceeds of the fee go to charity. You find yourself a team, (it could be people you know, or anyone across the world), or you are automatically placed in a team, and then on the last Saturday of July/first Saturday of August, a list of tasks appear on the website or app. Tasks aim to be fun and weird, they might be artistic, such as creating portraits from spices, or infuriating, such as polishing a coconut. There are tasks that help those in need, or those in your community, such as taking supplies to food banks or dog shelters, or maybe sharing a local dog, that is up for adoption, on social media to help find them a home. There are tasks that raise awareness for groups of people, or world issues, such as LGBTQI+ or the climate emergency, and each year there is also a four day “Change a Life” fundraiser to help specific people or communities. In 2021 money was raised for the children’s ward at “EMERGENCY”, an NGO and charity hospital in Kabul. To be “Gishy”, is to be kind, be supportive, willing, and a bit weird, and it is the loveliest community. This was my fourth Gish, and I’ll be honest, I came very close to not signing up. Life was very much getting in the way, and I just didn’t feel like I had much left in the tank to contribute to my team. Thankfully, my wonderful team captain, Sonya, assured me, they’d rather have me ‘there’ doing nothing, than not be there at all. I am so glad that she convinced me, because it turns out that I had never needed Gish in my life, quite so much.

I didn’t complete as many tasks this year, and the ones I did complete were mostly not fulfilled to the greatest standard, but I did also try to complete a few that were not in my comfort zone. To be clear, my comfort zone is something creative that doesn’t need me in a video – this year I put myself in three videos. It still isn’t something I’m comfortable with, I’m the biggest introvert, so I’m only brave enough to share one of them here, (the other two will be left forgotten, in a folder somewhere on my computer, hopefully to never see the light of day again, unless one day, I really need to remind myself how brave I can be). I guess the point is, I wasn’t in a great place, but Gish still makes me feel safe enough to give things a shot.

So, the first item on the list that I completed was : Tokitae the orca was captured from the Puget Sound 50 years ago and has been imprisoned in a small tank at the Miami Sea Aquarium for years. Her mother and the rest of her pod are alive and living near Washington/Canada. The Lummi Nation has a sea pen ready for her and want to bring her home, where the Lummi people and her pod can care for her and prove that orcas will recognise and accept family even after 50 years, but the owner of the Miami Seaquarium won’t let her go. Write a haiku with a watercolour image of Tokitae about family belonging together.

This is very much within my comfort zone, as I created a haiku for an aye-aye in a previous year. I’m beginning to think that I could start a collection if there is another wildlife based illustration and haiku task in 2022.

The next item I completed was: Salt and pepper go so well together. They are a match made in heaven. Let’s use the magical symbiotic powers of salt and pepper to unite two feuding personalities in art. Take two legendary nemesis and unite them on a cutting board or plate, one depicted in salt and one in pepper.

So, I may have interpreted this one a little clumsily. I read it as “feuding personalities in art”, as in ‘the world of art’, so I chose Pollock and De Kooning (who didn’t feud so much, but were pitted against each other by art critics), but that is okay, Gish likes to be a little offbeat. I figure that at least it was an unorthodox choice compared to more obvious nemeses like Batman and the Joker :D.

Next up: Waffle House. No, no we mean a REAL Waffle House. Let’s see your best flapjack house. Your best Eggo edifice (thank goodness for Stranger Things or anyone outside of the U.S. would be flummoxed). Your best hotcake homestead. Your best crepe condominium. You get the idea.

I made so many waffles, and bought so many waffles and pancakes, but it was definitely worth it. I didn’t have a solid plan for this, and I woke up on the Monday morning feeling really low and sad, but do you know what? By the time I finished that waffle house at 2pm I was in the best mood, talk about therapy (or possibly the consumption of sugar). I highly recommend getting lost in a task that ultimately has no meaning, and can also be eaten – that vegetable patch was delicious. (I’ll also add that my sweet little waffle house made it into the Gish 2021 coffee table book, which can be quite the challenge, so I was very pleased, and I’m also proud of my team mate who made it in there too, it’s the first year we had two images in the book).

The fourth task was (and this is where I start getting a bit shy): Bees communicate through dance, and so do you. Make a beeline to TikTok and show us what the Beeline dance looks like  – and you must be dressed as our cat/bee mascot when you do it. (Every year Gish has a different animal hybrid mascot).

So, this one I don’t mind sharing because it made me laugh so much (which was a real tonic), and I was just so proud (I’m not sure that is necessarily the most accurate word) to do it, because I never put myself on the internet, I really just had to say “screw it, this terrifies me and I’m doing it anyway”. I also realise that it isn’t the most successful costume in the world, but I wanted to create it without spending money and with as little waste as possible (the tail which was made of a pair of tights stuffed with socks, is all back in a drawer ready to use as tights and socks again, and the painted, yellow, paper stripes are in a folder ready to use for collage).

The next two video tasks are just too painful to share, the first one was: Resting B**** Face The Musical! Write a song with happy uplifting lyrics, and perform the whole thing in a monotone, one chord/one-note fashion, with resting b**** face the whole time.

I can confirm that monotone resting b**** face is not an attractive look, it encourages you to create your very best double chin :D, I’ve never looked so bad, but I am bloody good at it – who knew? A skill I never realised I had! I haven’t got a great singing voice, but it is really hard to try not to sing at all and remain monotone, and also not smile or animate your face. I thought my song was quite cheery, it had a little hearty tune, even if I couldn’t use it!  

The third video was me attempting to shout/sing/butcher Pearl Jam, and I won’t inflict that on your ears, it is quite the punishment. The item was: It is International lost in karaoke night & you’re up next! Choose an English language song and translate it into at least 3 different language via google translate, then back to English. Then sing the resulting lyrics.

I chose Evenflow by Pearl Jam, and I think I used Hawaiian and maybe Welsh, I can’t remember, I tried a lot of languages.

Both ‘singing’ tasks were particularly terrifying, and as a result the videos were a bit boring and could have been funnier if I had put more thought into them, but for where I was and how I was feeling at that time, the important thing for me was to just try, and not try to be the best, or do something quirky and outstanding, I literally just wanted to be brave enough to do it, brave enough to submit it, and then forget it ever happened. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a better job next time.

The final item that I completed alone was: Gotta catch ‘em all: rejections that is! You want be the very best (like no one ever was) and to do that you have to collect as many rejections as you can between now and the end of the Hunt! Create a Pokemon-style trading card set of 3 of the lovable “no” monsters you collected, detailing what you asked for, how powerful a “No” it was, and how the experience strengthened you in some way.

As I was very much completing tasks from home, most of the ‘nos’ I experienced came from me restricting myself, and I had to use my imagination a little bit, I didn’t have much negativity to play with, so it was a bit of a stretch, but I do love to draw any kind of character, so I just went with it.

The final task was part of the Gish closing ceremony the following Saturday night. It was a group record breaking attempt: In celebration of 10 years of Gish, we’re attempting to set our first GISH World Record: the most handwritten notes of kindness posted on Instagram in an hour! Encourage all your teammates as well as everyone you know to join this effort.

This was fun and emotional, in all the right ways! Lots of people were on Zoom, and everyone was posting their notes all at the same time, and I spent most of the hour looking at the #GISHnotes hashtag (which you can still look at if you need to read some good and kind words right now), and reading all the beautiful things people had written. Mine was directed at the whole of the GISH community because I was just so grateful (and emotional) to have taken part, it really made me appreciate all the wonderful things that this weird (not so) little game does.

So that was it for another year, or was it? There was a fun, free, participate if you feel like it, “Halloweird” in October (a task a day for 13 days), and I couldn’t resist completing one of the items, to illustrate the poem Black Cat by Misha Collins. I just got it into my head that I wanted to cut out some paper and layer it somehow, just like the waffle house, there was no particular plan, I just sat down and worked it out as I went along, and I think it turned out alright considering I winged it.

I’m pretty sure that is GISH done until summer ‘22 – for me at least – but you can never quite tell. I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

October 2021 - The Isle of Wight (Another catch-up)

Way back in June, I was offered a flat for a weekend, in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. It has been years since I’ve been to the Isle of Wight, we went there for a couple of holidays when I was really young, maybe about 6 or 7. My most vivid memories include my big sister insisting on cockles and mussels after already eating a big bag of chips, and then throwing up on me in the middle of the night; water squirting, cowboy, shooting galleries, and the super creepy, Bradings Wax Works Museum (which is sadly no more), all the classic things you associate with well-loved British holidays.

Goodbye Portsmouth!

So, my friend Lydia booked the ferry, initially Friday morning until Saturday evening, but due to broken down ferries we rescheduled to Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. I haven’t been away with Lyds in ages so it was really exciting to pack ourselves off for a girly weekend. What was even more remarkable was that the weather remained dry (and mostly sunny) for the whole weekend, it didn’t start raining until we were queuing for the ferry home, and then it stayed dry the whole ferry journey back, so we were able to sit outside (because Covid), then it began raining when we got in the car again – thanks Universe! Magic!

Anyway, Lyds is a planner, so she had a bunch of suggestions for things we could try and squash in, in just under 48 hours. By the time we got to Ventnor and had a little sit down in the flat, we were getting well into the evening, so we went out for something to eat. We knew The Spyglass Inn was right on the seafront so headed there. There is nothing nicer for people who spend most of their time inland, being able to sit outside, with nothing interrupting the view between them and the sea – chips and gin are also nice.

(I also took Little Mouse along for a little holiday, he loved it, and I hope he made the most of it really, as I usually forget to take him anywhere). 

On Saturday we had tickets booked for Blackgang Chine – yes we know that we are two adults, and it is for kids, but it was fun. Obviously, I haven’t been there since I was a kid, and it is amazing to see the bits that are still there that I recognise, such as the giant pirate, the big whale with the mouth you can walk into, and the creepy Humpty Dumpty (he has been etched onto my eyeballs for most of my life).

I really enjoyed walking around the dinosaurs, and Lydia was a bit of a legend getting us through the Hedge Maze (it’s not the tallest of mazes, but I am not the tallest of people, so I never go into any maze without having someone with me, otherwise, I know I will be lost forever).

We enjoyed sharing a bag of doughnuts (because we are old enough to realise that a bag each would make us feel ill) and my favourite bit was probably Rumpus Mansion, because its creepy and cute, and I just love stuff that comes to life and moves and tells stories.

In the afternoon we drove south to see St Catherine’s lighthouse, on the southern tip of the island. It wasn’t open, but it was still nice to see and there is a bit of coastal path next to it that we decided to investigate because the day was so beautiful.

Lydia saw some kind of pillar upon a hillock, so she went off-road to investigate that… she is still none the wiser. Then I somehow stepped into some kind of bog, and caked my whole foot in black, boggy mud – lovely.

It was a lovely little walk though, and afterwards we went to the pub up the road, where we had parked, for a late lunch. The pub was called The Buddle Inn and it was an absolute delight. We sat outside because it was sunny, there was a guy singing and playing guitar, the staff were all really friendly and I had fish and chips which included a piece of fish as big as my head. After months of lockdown and Covid, sitting there listening to music, in the sun, having a gin and eating great food, it was like being on another planet – a joyous, carefree planet.

Lydia’s Strawberry and Clotted Cream ice Cream – There is no photographic evidence of my ice cream.

After a little post-meal rest back at the flat, we headed out again to Shanklin. We wanted to go to Shanklin Chine, but were waiting for it to go dark so we could see it lit up, so we walked along the Esplanade and bought ice cream – I was actually able to get vegan ice cream in a decent flavour (it was either toffee or salted caramel, I just remember being really pleased it wasn’t just vanilla or chocolate, although I do love chocolate).

Once we had, had our fill, we headed back to Shanklin Chine for a wonderful walk among the lights and plants, a great way to end an evening.

On Sunday we just packed up and cleaned the flat down before heading back towards Fishbourne for the ferry… but obviously we left enough time to stop off at the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary. I love donkeys, I mean what’s not to like, they are like scrappy horses, but shorter (I relate to both of these things – being scrappy and short, not a horse), and they make really cool honking noises (some who have heard me sing, might say I can relate to that too).

We had lots of fun searching for the donkeys that share the same names as Lydia’s kids (my sister was less amused when I told her there was a donkey with her name), sadly there were no donkey Dawns or Lydias.

I also discovered, as my eyes began to stream and I started a bout of endless sneezing, that face masks are amazing at easing hay fever symptoms. It’s not necessarily something you want to wear during the summer, but anyone who has ever gone into hay fever free-fall, will tell you that a face mask on a warm day is far better than suddenly feeling like you have fallen into a never-ending hell of not being able to see or breath… oh or the unbearable itchy mouth and throat, so yeah, very grateful for my mask on that occasion.

It was an excellent weekend, so thankful to Lyds for driving us and being so organised – I tried to do my bit by plying her with Candy Kittens and bringing most of our bags down two flights of stairs, (so she could stay by the car to pack it, because team work makes the dream work right!).

So that’s it, another catch up complete. I think my next post will be the annual Gish round-up. I enjoyed it a lot this year, I really needed it, but I’m not sure I brought my ‘A’ game. Usually, I try really hard to do things I’m good at, and do them well, but this year I did some things which were… well… less ‘me’, you’ll see what I mean. 

Until then, bye for now. x

October 2021 - Hello Again & New Folksy & Society6 Products

It is hard to believe that is has almost been a year since my last blog post. My last post was full of Inktober 2020 illustrations, and, as I type this I’m around half way through my Inktober 2021 illustrations. In some ways it is like the last year didn’t happen, it has just simply vanished, and in other ways it has been a long, hard, slog. I think, as I reached the end of 2020, and we started the New Year under lots of COVID restrictions and going into another lockdown, I felt like everything was put on pause while we waited to get vaccinated. It felt long, and I simply didn’t feel like writing blog posts – I’m sure a lot of people felt the same way. Then, as we progressed further through the year I had to face some personal difficulties, and as I’m not someone who can act all cheery on the internet if I’m not actually feeling it, I didn’t say anything at all. Things still aren’t sorted for me personally, that’ll take some time, but regardless of how I’ve been feeling, one thing that hasn’t changed, is that I haven’t stopped drawing.

I’m one cover design away from my second ‘rough’ picture book dummy being finished (‘finished’ doesn’t mean full-colour spreads here – it is rough). It is a wordless story about a robot, aiming to encourage slightly older reluctant readers. I like the idea of a book being accessible to any (sighted in this case) person, even if they struggle to read. The structure of the narrative is slightly more complex than a traditional picture book, so it still feels like you are having to read and interpret the story - just without words. I wonder if I would be told it is too complex for younger readers? But, what I always find fascinating about little kids, is how often, when ‘they’ tell a story, there is very little structure, their stories jump around like dreams, and while I think structure in books is important, I’m wondering if kids would be as baffled by a more complex structure, with multiple characters, as adults would think, or would they just take it in their stride? I think it would be interesting in find out.

I’ve also recently reopened my Folksy shop and my Society 6 shop. My Folksy shop is currently only accessible to those in the UK (postage and tax to other countries has become pretty expensive for the time being) and it is selling some of my handmade polymer clay jewellery, (I’ve also made all the polymer clay beads used in the jewellery).

I am now also selling a small selection of greetings cards featuring 5 of my woodland animal illustrations. I can’t decide on my favourite – I love the squirrel’s tail, but the badger is so much fun and the mole looks so sweet! I’m really pleased with them all, so I’m planning on creating more illustrations using the same characters.

For anyone outside of the UK interested in my illustrations, there is a wider range of animal friends (10 characters) available in my Society 6 store on a variety of different products (if you click on a product, others products with the same design will show up at the bottom of that particular product page). People in the UK can purchase from Society 6 too, but watch out for postage and tax, I have no control over these things.

I hopefully won’t leave it another year before I post again, I plan to fill you in on a few things that happened in the year that wasn’t, and I’ll give you a rundown on Inktober 2021 once it is complete. 

Take care and I’ll be back soon. x

September & October 2020 Catch Up

It has been a while! I didn’t attempt to post in September as we were going away at the end of the month, so rather than rushing I thought I would do a quick catch up now, covering both September and October. I’m still not sure there is that much to tell. Most of September was fairly quiet, we managed to see both my in-laws and my parents over one long weekend, that was really nice. We knew they were all doing okay but that is never quite the same as seeing them in the flesh. We also wanted to make sure we squeezed a visit in before the Covid second wave arrived and we potentially weren’t allowed to visit again. It was the first time we had seen my in-laws since February, and my parents since last December. My brother (who I hadn’t seen since January also popped in on his way back from dropping my niece off to her first year at university (fortunately she is in the south, so for now at least, while there are still restrictions to abide by, she is still allowed to have some small classes), so that was wonderful too! Now it is only my sister and her family I haven’t seen in almost a year, I’m really ready for this pandemic to jog on now!

We have continued to squeeze in as many early morning walks at Black Down as we can at the weekend, again we are just waiting for the rules to change, telling us we can’t go. Sunrise walks can make for a very long Saturday, but it is a great way to pack lots into your day, even if the most exciting thing after the walk right now is cleaning and watching Netflix!

The beginning of September also saw the release of the Inktober prompt list, followed not far behind by the Peachtober list. I always appreciate these lists being released early as I prefer to plan ahead rather than come up with an illustration on the day, especially as I knew that this year I would be away for the beginning of the challenge, I knew if I didn’t plan and start early, I would never catch up once I got home.

I decided to use both lists, some illustrations being just Inktober prompts, some just Peachtober prompts, and others were a mash up of the two, which was quite fun. I worked through both lists picking out which words I immediately had ideas for in a random order, chose a selection of coloured pencils for my palette, and then started scribbling down roughs in my sketchbook and giving them a quick colour so I knew roughly, where everything needed to be.

On the 25th of September we headed back up to the Lakes, a holiday we had booked last year. We go self-catering, so apart from having a quick stop at the services (it is a long drive), we hardly had to see anyone for the whole week. As well as doing some walking, we usually pop into a couple of the towns while we are there, but we decided to give that a miss this year. We have everything we need where we stay, including a hot tub, so it was just really quiet and relaxing.

We went for a couple of drives along a couple of the passes, as well as an early morning walk around Buttermere (which was still quite busy) and an early morning walk up Sale Fell.

Sale fell is one of the smallest fells in the Lakes, but on the morning we went up, it was utterly beautiful, and was even worth my husband accidentally taking us along the awkward path rather than the well defined one!
On the drive there we weren’t really expecting as it was dark, grey and foggy, but just a short walk up an incline of the walk took us above they misty clouds. With the pink, orange and purple light from the sunrise, it was strange and magical to see a carpet of cloud below us.

It was also my birthday while we were there and that turned into a really lazy day.I spent most of my morning drinking tea and opening my presents, before spending most of the afternoon in the hot tub and then watching Rocketman, which I really enjoyed, we then had a take out for dinner!

We had a couple of take outs while we were there, the best was probably from Shill’s of Cockermouth. They have a take out tapas menu Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, so we ordered form them (in advance) twice. It isn’t a conventional tapas, but really naughty things like crispy beef, sticky baby back ribs, chorizo and sticky sausages, and the best bit is that you could also order cocktails that came in little premixed bottles – it was so much fun, and I highly recommend the Bon Bon Sour. My photos aren’t great, I was in a hurry to empty things out on to plates and dig in. We didn’t actually eat the meat platter on the same night (that was far too much food) we saved it for lunch the next day.

We have had a number of take outs from various restaurants/pubs since lockdown as eating places try to diversify, and while some of the others have been quite good, Shill’s has done the best job – you have to order in advance, so everything is well organised and works seamlessly, they recognise that not everything on their normal menu would work as a take out, so have a different menu with items which are easy to produce and will keep hot for long enough for you to take them home, and they pre-make cocktails for you - they even supplied ice, I can not rate them highly enough!

The day after we returned home from the Lakes I was off out again for my birthday meal with two of my friends (above), who I hadn’t seen months. One of my friends lives in Rugby so we needed to meet somewhere easy for all of us. We booked a table at The Five Arrows Hotel in Waddesdon and we had such a lovely meal. All the tables were well spread out and the staff we all wearing protective gear so we felt very safe, and my friend had mentioned that I couldn’t have dairy when booking, so our waitress talked me through the whole menu, showing me things I could have and explaining how they could change other items so that I could eat them too. I felt really well looked after and the food was delicious. We had also booked in for a walk around the Waddesdon Manor grounds in the afternoon, but by the time we finished chatting over lunch, we had to get up there quickly before we missed the final entrance slot for the last hour before closing. We had an excellent little post lunch stroll.

My lovely girls also bought me a gorgeous pendant with little Harry Potter charms. I don’t usually like Pandora because I associate them with jangly bracelets, and while I sometimes wear lots of things on my wrists, I personally don’t like the feel of things jangling, so I never think to look at what else they sell, but the pendant is absolutely perfect.

It looks like a normal size pen when the lid is screwed on to the bottom…

We celebrated our anniversary in October - 7 years! We generally don’t do anything too fancy to mark the occasion, even less so this year as we chose not to go out for a meal. However we did exchange our copper gifts, I gave my Mr. a copper bookmark with a Terry Pratchett quote engraved, and he gave me a gorgeous mini copper pen that I can plan and write my stories with (please ignore the grubby finger marks that I’ve already splattered all over it).

…but is actually mini when the pen is on the top!

We then had a Greek kebab take out, (which I ate while drinking some bubbles), because we are classy like that, while watching The Personal History of David Copperfield, which I think is one of my new favourite films, I’ve hardly read any Dickens, and now I want to read them all, it was a great film, with a great cast!

For the rest of October I mostly kept my head down every day working on my Ink/Peachtober illustrations. Each illustration was A4 and created using coloured pencils. Some of them took longer than I had anticipated and if I join in again next year, I am vowing to complete them in A6 and A7 so they don’t take up too much of my time.

I do love taking part, it gives me a great feeling of satisfaction when I get to the end of the month and I have a pile of 31 illustrations, and it is brilliant for proving to yourself that you can push through those “I just can’t draw” days, because you don’t really have time to take a day off, because if you do, you fall behind really quickly.

The only thing that bothers me, is that by the end of the month, you realise that if you went back, you would redraw about 50% of them with some kind of improved composition, as rushing, in my case at least, produces a lot of middle ground illustrations, and once grouped together they can look a bit too similar and not dynamic enough. Still there is a handful I’m really pleased with.

So now, I head into November with a plan in my head to slow down a little, and a to-do list on my desk as long as my arm, hopefully I will find a nice compromise between the two. Today I have already updated this website a bit, added some of the October illustrations to my Pinterest board, made a meal plan and shopping list and ordered the shopping for next week, and I’ve written this post, so I’m still fairly productive.

I really want to make some time to read too, but now I’m off to make tacos, drink a little gin and watch a film.

(Oh and if you think it a little strange that I haven’t mentioned any books, it is because I don’t know where to start as I have lost count of what I have bought over the last two months, I need to regroup, and then hopefully I’ll be able to share a book post at a later date).

August 2020 - Gish 2020, Books and T.V.

We are almost in September and I’m feeling really confused. The year seems to be whizzing by and I can’t seem to keep up, in my head it feels like we should still be in May or June, anyone else feel like that? Admittedly, I have kept myself pretty busy in August. I’ve continued to work towards my picture book pitch, although I am really missing the weekly zoom meetings I had while on the course, it was a great way to stay focused and motivated, and while my motivation has remained high, that little voice of self-doubt has returned, so I end up spending some of my time wrestling that back into its box. At the minute I’m winning, I’m largely doing this by sticking my fingers in my ears and just continuing to ‘do’ (which is quite an accomplishment considering my fingers are in my ears).

The first week of August, for the third year running was the annual Gish scavenger hunt. It took a few days for me to get into it this year, I think my head was still thinking about my picture book, and it was quite hard to just drop that for a week and concentrate on other random tasks, but I did, and by the Tuesday I was in full Gish mode. I only managed six items this year, which was slightly disappointing, but I did spend a ridiculous amount of time on a wedding dress made from plastic bags. Other items of note included a stop-motion animation showing you planting a “seed” that grows into something unexpected, a poster of the Queen and actor Misha Collins as a famous duo from a scene in a classic film (I chose E.T.), and a cryptid created from salt (I chose a kraken).

I was really pleased with how the dress turned out, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed creating an illustration in salt. I’ve created images in spices and in pencil shavings for Gish before and they both went okay, but there is actually something really satisfying about pushing salt around, its much easier than working with powdery spices, and as I was working on black paper, I really enjoyed the contrast of black and white.

I tried to be more sensible with my book buying this month (although I say that most months and it still seems to get out of hand), so my question is, is seven still too many? I fear it might be, considering how long it has taken me to finish Girl, Woman, Other. When I was younger I always had the problem that I would race through a book and finish it far too quickly if I was really enjoying it, and then I’d be disappointed that it was over. Now I have the opposite problem, if I’m really enjoying a book, I savour it and try to make it last for as long as possible. It is a bit like Charlie Bucket when he gently unwraps his Wonka bar, although he never necessarily knew where his next chocolate bar was coming from, and I have unread books coming out of my ears!

So the books I’ve actually finished reading this month are:

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.
Brilliant, so many different stories about women, so many different lives, such great observation of people, and I won’t spoil it, but I thought the ending was wonderful.

This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews
I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog, I’ve had it for such a long time, but it fell victim to the “oh this is so beautiful I need to save it” daft method of thinking. I finally read it and it was as wonderful and as adventurous (and beautiful - obviously) as I hoped it would be.

The Fox, The Wolf, and The Woodsman by Joe Latham
I’ve had this for a while too. It is a great book split into three chapters exploring the perils faced by creatures living in a wood. The illustrations are just wonderful and I love how Joe tells the stories silently, through images alone. I have an idea in my head that I would like to write a wordless picture book, so I have found looking at these images and seeing ‘how’ and ‘what’ they communicate really fascinating.


The book I’m currently reading:

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
I haven’t got very far yet, but I am enjoying what I have read.

The books I’ve bought his month are:

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
I really enjoyed Station Eleven so I thought I would give this a go too.

Smoke by Dan Vyleta and Soot by Dan Vyleta
I have no idea if I’ll like these books, so took a bit of a punt by buying both of them, but I liked the cover designs, and I really like the concept of bad thoughts being made visible by smoke coming from the body.

Llama Glamarama by Simon James Green and Garry Parsons
A dancing llama learning to embrace his individuality? What is not to love???

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I love Matt Haig, I follow him on Twitter and he always seems to have some wise words to share. I’ve also read most of his children’s series starting with The Boy called Christmas, which I love, but I’ve never read any of his adult books. I don’t know why, I’ve always been interested in them but I’ve never ended up buying one, until now - you put the word Library in a title and you push me to make that purchase. I actually ordered my copy from Rossiter Books as it was signed, and if you are interested, when I posted this blog (August 2020) there still seemed to be some available - here. (This was actually one of my instagram impulse purchases, after Rossiter Books posted about it on their feed).

Walking Distance and The Way to Treasure Island by Lizzy Stewart
Speaking of Instagram impulse purchases, Lizzy Stewart mentioned she only had a few copies of Walking Distance left in her shop, and I’ve been meaning to buy it for ages, (and I would much rather give my money to Lizzy than Amazon), and then I accidentally tripped and popped a copy of The Way to Treasure Island in my basket too. I’ve loved Lizzy’s work for years, I used to follow her illustrated blog/diary “Solo”. I have three zines from Solo that I probably bought back around 2012 (ish), I loved Lizzy’s combination of image and a few well chosen words that could communicate so much humour and warmth, and they were just such beautifully observed snippets of life.


What have I been watching this month:

Umbrella Academy Season 2: It feels like we had to wait such a long time for season 2, but when it was finally here, we binged it and really enjoyed it. I feel like the characters had the opportunity to develop this season. Klaus has always been a favourite (Robert Sheehan has been a favourite since Misfits), but I felt like Luther was given the chance to be really funny, and I loved being able to see more of Ben. I also enjoyed the addition of Lila, and I’m really excited to see the direction it seems to be heading in. (I haven’t read any of the comic book series and now I’m watching it, I won’t read any until it finishes, as I don’t like to mix up my TV adaptations and my reading, it’ll just lead to some kind of spoiler or disappointment, I keep them separate).

Tales From the Loop: Firstly I love that this is inspired by an art book by Simon Stålenhag. His art is so captivating, his worlds so believable and intriguing, that they made a television series from it, that is just amazing! Secondly, I love the slow, quiet pace of the episodes, how there are whole chunks without dialogue, and the story, the mood, the feelings and opinions you have for a character can be created through visuals alone. I also like how each episode is like a short story for a different character, like we are having a secret little snoop into people’s lives. I can see a lot of people not giving it a chance because it isn’t as loud and brash as programmes we are used to watching, which is a shame because I have found it to be beautiful and nuanced and really inspiring.

What is coming up? I can see September being busy. We will hopefully be seeing some of my family for the first time in months. It’ll be my birthday, although we aren’t planning anything too exciting, this year has taught me not to make too many plans or get my hopes up. I hope to work a bit more on my picture book and potentially start on another story or two. September also usually sees me start planning for Inktober. Anyone who can take part in Inktober, for every day of October without any planning has my respect, if I don’t have a plan I end up spending far too much time on each illustration each day and I fall behind. I’m also tempted to try a few prompts by Furry Little Peach this year too, we will see how I get on, I have a habit of giving myself too much to do! I also want to get back to my Little Mouse Illustrations, he has taken a back seat recently, but I have a whole load of roughs that I need to complete, I’ll let you know how I get on!



All thoughts are my own, I’m not affiliated with anyone mentioned, all purchases were made with my own money and links take you to the sites I either personally made purchases from or that at the time of posting offered the cheapest price. You may prefer purchasing books from independent retailers.

All images are my own ©Dawn Bevins-Johnson 2020

June - July 2020 – Intro to Children's Publishing Course and Buying all the Books!

So much for a monthly blog post! Here is a round-up of the last two months!

Lockdown may have eased a lot in the UK now but I’m still sticking pretty close to home, I find myself thinking that I’ll put something off for one or two weeks more just to see how things go. Maybe I’m being too cautious but I don’t feel trapped or like I’m missing out on anything yet, even though I’ve been staying in a lot. I think this is mostly down to taking part in an eight-week course during June and July, called “Intro to Children’s Publishing” hosted by editor Katy Flint. The course involved a weekly Zoom meeting and homework to continue with during the rest of the week. It was limited to ten participants, which made it feel friendly and intimate, rather than intimidating, and I felt that it was a really useful, informative and encouraging course, which helped to build my confidence.

I made many notes and sketches during the eight weeks!

The course is for both authors and illustrators and its main aim is to give you the knowledge and tools that you will need to approach agents or publishers with your children’s book pitch. In the first three weeks we looked at how a publishing house works, we were given guidance on what a pitch might look like, we looked at how words and pictures work together, and how we could spot trends and gaps in the market.

Playing with some character expressions.

The following fours weeks saw everybody start to develop their own ideas for books (fiction or non-fiction) so they could start working towards their pitch. In week five, six and seven the group then split in two, the authors in one group and the illustrators in the other, so we could discuss the progress of our book ideas in a smaller, more manageable group.

In the final week we discussed how pitching works and who you might pitch to, as well as what to do when facing rejection.

Throughout the course Katy gave a number of talks, but there were also three guest lectures with Q and As. The first was from an art director, the second was from an author and editor, and the final Q and A was with a campaigns manager. It was fantastic to hear from a range of people working in the publishing world, learning what their job role entails and being able to pick their brains.

This course included an abundance of useful information, but I think the reason why it felt so special was down to Katy herself. You can tell how passionate she is about children’s publishing, and how hard she works so she can share her knowledge and experience with those who are new to the industry. She is friendly, approachable and encouraging, allowing everyone space to grow and gain confidence, and has even offered individuals some of her time following on from the course for a month. I’ve never come across such personal dedication from someone running an online course before, she goes above and beyond, making this course a priceless opportunity for anyone interested in creating their own children’s book and pitching it to a publisher.

If you are interested you can find more information on Katy’s website here. I participated in the very first outing of this course, so it is likely to alter and develop slightly over time, but I have definitely found it to be great value for money.

Getting back into narrative drawing during the course has also motivated me to get a bit experimental with my images, so I’ve bought some Sennelier Soft Pastels. I haven’t used any kind of pastels since college because I’ve always hated the mess they make, but for some reason I’m now being drawn to them, so I’m hoping to overcome my creative nemesis!

One problem I’ve had with taking part in a course about children’s publishing has been the need to buy more books! Of course, when I say “need”, it was in no way mandatory to buy any books for the course, but I used it as a good excuse to go wild! A couple of the books in the image were mentioned during the course, but most were already on my wish list, I just decided that my wish list was a great opportunity for learning! :)

Moving on to other books, I’m finally reading “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo, (it really is taking me a while to work through my TBR pile), and I am absolutely loving it, there are so many different strong female characters and stories to explore. I admit it took me a couple of pages to get used to the lack of capital letters and full stops, and the odd line breaks, but I found I soon fell into a steady reading rhythm where none of those things seemed important anymore.

I’ve also added two more books to the TBR pile, the first is “Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge. After the death of George Floyd and the wave of energy through the Black Lives Matter movement, it seemed irresponsible and callous to not sit up and listen or try to do more. I have been taking in so much information, and learning so much from people generously sharing their knowledge on instagram, but I need to do more, I need to learn and understand more and unlearn even more, as I now realise how flawed the society I have grown up in, is.

The second book I bought was The Diet Myth by Professor Tim Spector. Tim is the leader of a microbiome project which has used genetic sequencing in twins to study gut bacteria, (fun fact, my mum and aunt - twins - took part in some of Tim’s twin studies years ago, and still sometimes fill out questionnaires, apparently, according to my mother, Professor Tim was quite the dish!), and as someone that definitely has a peculiar gut I’m interested in what he has to say. This book is a few years old now (published 2016), but Tim has a new book “Spoon-Fed” being published at the end of August so I thought I’d try and get this one in first before reading the next one.

My final book purchase was a birthday present to myself, A special edition of “Pens Ink and Places” by Quentin Blake. I’ve seen this edition online before but it is pretty expensive, but The Tate Shop were selling it in their summer sale with £45 off, so I took it as a sign from the universe that I should get it, and I’m so glad I did, it is beautiful.

My parcel from Mini Gallery Box finally arrived in June, I pre-ordered it months ago, but the lockdown in France (where it was being sent from) meant that even their post offices were shut down, so nothing could go out at all. This was my second Mini Gallery Box purchase, the first featured artist Leigh Ellexson. Each box features some prints, a mini magazine about the artist and a few other items such as pins, notebooks and pencils cases. The artist featured in this box was the Ellie Vs Bear, and it was well worth the wait as it is adorable! I just love those blues, pinks and purples.

Finally we move on to my Instagram impulse purchases! Firstly we have the sensible rather than impulsive purchase of face masks. I bought a couple of plain linen masks from Helen Round for when I feel like blending in, and then two gloriously patterned numbers from Esther Blessed on Etsy. The impulse purchase was the wonderful Esther Blessed wraparound skirt, just look at those colours and the pattern. Now, I don’t wear skirts, I gave up wearing them years ago when they were either too long, or would work their way up my chest as I walked and I had to keep pulling them down. However, a wraparound skirt seems to be the answer, it stays where I put it and will keep me that bit cooler this summer.

My next impulse purchase is this beautiful shades of Indigo rainbow by Natasha Newton. I’ve loved her paintings for years, and I’ve always wanted an original. I would, one day, still like to purchase a canvas of hers, but boy do you have to be quick if you want to buy any of her work from her online shop. I felt very lucky to be able to purchase one of her three rainbows this time around.

Only two more impulse purchases to go! I’m a big believer in supporting picture book illustrators and authors, so as soon as Dapo Adeola mentioned on instagram that his personal online shop was open again for a limited time, I jumped at the opportunity to buy this bundle, a signed copy of Look Up!, a print of Rocket and a pin of Rocket – they are awesome!

And, my final impulse purchase, which was actually prompted by a stock alert email (rather than Instagram), is my new mustard Glosters mug. Glosters mugs have also been flying off their website as soon as they put new stock up, and recently I’ve either not had the money to spare at the right moment, or I’ve been too slow, so I’m so pleased to have nabbed this beauty!

Finally I’ll leave you of a few images from my early morning walk the other day. We went to Black Down for the first time since lockdown, and it was glorious! It was also my first time in the car in ages… which weirdly didn’t feel like it had been that long! I am actually really bad at getting up early, it knocks me sideways for the following four days, but nothing beats early morning air!

All thoughts are my own, I’m not affiliated with anyone mentioned, all purchases were made with my own money and links take you to the sites I personally made purchases from. You may prefer purchasing books from independent retailers.

All images are my own ©Dawn Bevins-Johnson 2020

May 2020 – Keep On Keeping On

A lockdown sure makes writing a monthly blog post daunting, I am quite focused on living in the present and taking each day as it comes, but when I come to actually sit down and write a post, I’m very aware that another month has slipped by and not a lot has happened. Still, so far people I know seem to be safe and healthy, I hope anyone reading this is safe and healthy too. With all this in mind I have tried to cobble together anything that has happened during May.

Inktober 52 prompt - Elephant

Inktober 52 prompt - Bubble

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, I’m still drawing Little Mouse for Inktober 52, however I’m getting really bad at remembering to share on Instagram. I was in a nice routine where I posted every Sunday, but my routine has changed and Sunday has now turned into a lie-in day (after getting up super early on Saturday), where I make time to either read, or as has happened over the last three weeks, watch the current play being streamed by The National Theatre on YouTube, then I spend and hour or two having a video chat with my family.

The National Theatre plays have felt like a real treat. I missed the start of their showings, but I’ve managed to see Frankenstein, Barber Shop Chronicles and A Streetcar Named Desire. They have all been fantastic, I particularly loved Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature in Frankenstein, his physical acting before the creature begins to communicate with words, the use of light and sound, it was utterly mesmerising, I would highly recommend any future showings if you can catch them.

As a little distraction from mice, I also took part in a “Draw This In Your Style” contest, to celebrate The Bright Agency UK reaching 50,000 followers on Instagram. The challenge was to draw your own version of the grumpy crocodile from “Open Very Carefully” by Nicola O’Byrne. I didn’t win, I didn’t even make the shortlist, but as I’ve never had any inclination to draw a crocodile before it was something new to try (and something new is always nice when your days are blending into one), and it was good to draw something that wasn’t a mouse – for a bit – but I’ve been happy to return to the mouse…

…That was until last week, actually it had very little to do with the mouse, I just found that I was struggling to draw. I’m going to blame it on some kind of lockdown drudgery and fatigue, but whatever I touched turned out to be abysmal and it was incredibly frustrating. It was four days until I picked up a pencil to draw again, but in that time I did pick up a pen instead, and I actually jotted some stories down on paper, so maybe one creative block released another. I think it is nearly always best to just keep-on-keeping-on, create something, even if it isn’t what you were expecting.

This month we tried “mochi” for the first time. Curiosity insisted that I buy some after spotting it online, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, it was definitely more gelatinous than I thought it would be, although to be fair the description described it as “…a cross between marshmallow and bubblegum” and that is pretty accurate. I enjoyed the sesame with red bean paste filling, and the green tea with green tea paste filling was pleasant, but the shredded coconut with sesame paste filling had to be given to my husband to finish, I didn’t enjoy it at all, (although my husband preferred that one to the green tea). It was new, it was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll order more.

We also had our first two lockdown Zoom quizzes with our friends. It is so good to have a little catch up with everyone and a bit of fun. We have come last in the quiz both times so far, but maybe we will have more luck in June.

(Excuse the wrinkles, I’m not a big fan of ironing at the best of times, even more so when I’m not actually seeing anyone).

I’ve been trying not to make too many spontaneous purchases in May, I’ve successfully refrained from buying books, but I did buy two t-shirts which I have coveted for a while. They are from Rosie Johnson’s Teemill store, because I think we can all agree, we all love naps and Jessica Fletcher – what an icon! They are also made from organic cotton, and once they are old and worn out and you don’t want them anymore, they can be sent back to Teemill for recycling, amazing!

So there isn’t much else to report. Lockdown in the U.K. is currently starting to ease, although no one I know is in any great hurry to go back to how things were just yet, I think a lot of us are preparing to move forward with caution. Having said that, I think my June will be a little busier so hopefully I’ll be back in around four weeks to share anything of interest.

April 2020 – Another month gone ... but where?!?

You would think that lockdown would result in the days dragging, but April seems to have gone by in a blur of sameness, so it was a bit of a surprise when I realised that it was the last day of the month and it hadn’t occurred to me to start a blog post.

The Guardian

So what has happened in April? Well I finished the week-long instagram illustration challenge “Dream Week”, you can find all of the illustrations posted on my instagram grid. It was good fun, I’d been desperate to include one of my Caran D’ache fluorescent dry highlighters in a palette, and the colours I chose for these drawings were such fun and a bit of a change for me. I do tend to choose bright colours, but there is still usually something quite traditional about the colours I select as a whole. Dream Week saw me using lots of pinks, reds and purples, with some neon yellow thrown in. The highlighter pencil obviously wasn’t ideal for illustration, its a little too waxy, but I’m a big believer in using any medium you have at hand to make art.

‘Little Mouse’ work-in-progress

I’m also continuing to create ‘Little Mouse’ illustrations for the Inktober52 art prompt challenge. I lost a little inspiration this month, and actually considered missing a week, as all the prompts were colours. Colour prompts are great if you are a traditional Inktober participant using black ink, as a pop of colour can be really effective, but if you are already using colour the prompt feels a bit vague. However, I’ve managed to create three illustrations prompted by a colour (well, almost - I should be finishing one now), and I think there will be a final colour prompt later today, so I’m feeling pretty pleased that I didn’t let myself get too despondent or give up.

A hand washing haiku

The other thing that happened in April was mini-Gish. I’ve mentioned Gish in this blog before, it is a week long, global scavenger hunt that takes place every summer. However, since lots of people are stuck at home, the organisers thought it would be fun to create a 24 hour version, to help raise money for charity and to give people something fun to look forward to. It was a lot of fun and it also taught me that the things I create really don’t have to be perfect. I tell myself this every time I play Gish, but I always find myself trying my very best, and sometimes restarting projects, and giving myself several attempts to ‘get it right’. If you have the luxury of a week, you can do that, but I found in 24 hours the first thing I created stuck, it didn’t matter if it was wonky, imperfect or laughable, because ultimately it didn’t matter, it was just a bit of fun, (I always tell myself this, but this was the first time I truly practised it)

Tim MInchin (supposedly) in pencil shavings

I completed 5 tasks – in the last week-long hunt I achieved 9 tasks – so it just goes to show how my approach to tasks has altered, it has left me wondering just how many I can finish in the summer hunt.

Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes in toothpaste, on a bathroom mirror.

For those wondering I created:
• A haiku about hand washing to be put above the sink.

• A portrait of a favourite famous person created using some kind of household waste (I chose Tim Minchin in pencil shavings, he is pretty wonky but it was 3 am).

• A miniature portrait of someone famous who makes you smile, on a mirror, in toothpaste. I chose Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster.

• A representation of your dream couch carved from a potato.

• A sun hat made from weeds.

I’ve also been trying not to spend too much money this month, I have mostly been putting it towards food parcels. I had two sent to my parents and was fortunate to be on a video chat when one of them arrived. It was really nice to see them get excited about the things they were pulling out of the box. I’m also quite weak-willed when it comes to making spontaneous Instagram purchases, I’ve really tried to resist, but my willpower failed me twice (almost three times, as I almost made another purchase yesterday but you had to pay by card and I couldn’t be bothered to go and fish it out).

I bought a Sofie Hagen ‘Self-Isolation Care Package’ bundle, which included her signed book, access to two of her shows online and a handwritten card. I love Sofie, she is smart, warm and funny, but also doesn’t take any crap! Obviously I haven’t read her book just yet, it has been added to my massive to-be-read pile.

I also bought a beautiful John Bloor print entitled ‘Thrift and Rocks’. John was having a sale on instagram so it seemed rude not to make a purchase. I’ve bought a print from him previously but it was for a gift, so it was really nice to buy a print I could keep for myself this time. You can find this print here.

That was all the excitement I experienced during April 2020, which considering how restricted we are, hasn’t been so bad. I definitely still feel very lucky. I’ll hopefully be back at the end of May for another update!

March 2020 – What The Heck!?! And the January And February Book Haul

It is just over a month since my last blog post and in that time the world seems to have turned on its head! In the UK we are about two weeks in to the main outbreak of COVID-19. It is an odd time and I’m not going to dwell on it too much, there is already plenty to read on social media and I doubt I have anything unique to say on the subject, but so far, all is well here and I hope all is well with anyone reading this. I’m sending warm thoughts of hope and good health to all.

To a certain extent my day-to-day life has largely remained the same, I am still spending most days sitting at my desk drawing. I’ve continued to work on Little Mouse illustrations for Inktober52 and I’m also planning on joining in with another week–long drawing challenge in April, so I’ve been making plans for that, (there will be a catch-up on those here at the end of April). For now, I wanted to share the books that I bought in January and February, I may have gone a little book crazy at the time, but who knew a mere four or five weeks later that buying books would be the last thing on my mind. I’m now feeling very lucky that I have a reading pile to turn to when I want a break from drawing, when I’m avoiding taking in too much news and I’m bored of Netflix (never!).

How to Hide a Lion at Christmas by Helen Stephens
Technically I bought this for myself just before Christmas, directly from Helen’s online shop. The book already came with the print of Lion lying down, but Helen was also offering a free print (the polar bear) with purchases made by Christmas Eve. I think I ordered it on the 23rd but added a message saying not to worry about sending it until after the New Year. I also bought a little original illustration, and a pack of illustrated postcards by Gerry Turley (Helen’s husband). It was such a wonderful parcel to receive, all the artwork is gorgeous, and I absolutely love the book. I’ve been meaning to collect the How to Hide a Lion books for a while, and this is my first one, I could have chosen one of the others but this one was a shiny hardback so I couldn’t resist! It is a really cute story about how Lion doesn’t want the little girl in his family to be sad, when he is left behind when the family go away for Christmas, (they can’t take him because he is too scary).

The Ocean At The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman – illustrated edition with illustrations by Elise Hurst
I already have a hardback copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane but when I caught site of this illustrated version on Forbidden Planet, I threw all my Christmas money at it. It is utterly beautiful and came with a limited edition print. I haven’t read this since it was published in 2013, and I raced through it at the time, so I’m looking forward to pacing myself and really appreciating it the second time around. (There is also an alternative, more affordable illustrated edition without the print).

Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianne Wynn Jones
Like a lot of people, I’m a big fan of Studio Ghibli, so while I’m familiar with this story through the film, I’ve never actually read the book. I saw this version on Folio Society and just knew it was time I added it to my to-be-read pile.

The Night Circus and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
You know when people say “don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well that is absolute tosh, it may have been true once upon a time, but these days I nearly always judge a book by its cover. Publishers know what they are doing, they know what kind of visual language to use to find the right audience, and they aren’t going to waste time and money designing something interesting if they don’t need to. So with these books I decided I liked the covers, plus one is about a circus and the other seems to be about a mysterious book, and both these things appeal to me. I usually post books I’ve read on my instagram, so keep an eye out in the future if you would like to see how I get on with them.

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
I read the first book in this trilogy “A Darker Shade of Magic” at the start of the year (I still need to post that on instagram –whoops!), and while I wouldn’t say I loved it, I did enjoy it and I was left intrigued. I think the only reason I didn’t love it more was because, being the beginning of a longer story, a lot of explanation and back story needed to be included. I also found that although I liked the characters I didn’t feel like I connected with them enough. Having said that, I had a quick glance at the first paragraph of A Gathering of Shadows and felt drawn in immediately, so I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
I bought this book because I thought it sounded interesting after it was mentioned by Miranda Mills on her YouTube channel (when I looked it up, it also happened to be half price at the time, so that was a bonus). It is a gothic tale about a girl living in a big house in Edwardian Norfolk, with her peculiar father. It is the story of secrets, witchcraft and folklore, and it is dark and creepy yet still enticing. Although I did guess the ending a little sooner than I was probably supposed to, I still found it really enjoyable and easy to get lost in.

The Unforgetting by Rose Black.
I spotted this book on Forbidden Planet too, and I was drawn in by the idea of someone disappearing, becoming a ghost and being trapped. You can probably tell that I’m drawn towards creepy, historical books with female characters – I think because female characters from these eras evoke interesting stories because they were usually treated so badly.

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Another story about witchcraft and women! I just can’t help myself. This time based on a remote Norwegian island – I also love nordic countries, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this.

I’m hoping to carve a little more scheduled time for reading while we are stuck at home at the weekends, it is such a great way to forget about what is going on in the world for a short period of time, which I think is something everyone should do to prevent the news from becoming all consuming. As I mentioned above, I try to post mini reviews of books I’ve read on Instagram so keep an eye out at @dawnbevinsillustration.

Who knows what April has in store for us, but hopefully I’ll post again around the end of the month.

NB This post in not an ad and none of the books were gifted. I’m not affiliated with any online book sellers, but have simply linked to the seller with the cheapest stock of a particular title at the time of writing (you can see from the images that many of the titles were purchased from Forbidden Planet, but they no longer have them in stock).

Hello 2020 – Recent Work and Christmas Book Haul – January and February Update

I’ve just had a quick read over my last blog post, and December 2019 Dawn was so looking forward to getting her teeth into the New Year! Little did she know that she would see 2020 in with some crappy throat lurgy that forced her to swallow liquid Nurofen because she couldn’t face swallowing tablets. Thankfully, after staying in bed for most of New Year’s Eve and taking children’s medicine, I managed to make it to our friend’s house in the evening, and then stayed up until 2 am. I’m not saying it was the best idea as far as my health was concerned, but I didn’t lose at Jenga, and I won at Cards Against Humanity (I’m not entirely sure what that says about me), and had a lovely time - I just slept for most of the next two days.

After that bumpy start, I spent the rest of January trying to catch up. I finally updated the work section of this site. I added a few new illustrations that I had been working on, removed a few older pieces and changed some of the sections around. I’m still not entirely happy with it, but I have a clearer idea of where I’m headed and what sort of work I’d like to add to it next.

Illustration-wise, I finally got around to drawing my final (for now) Millie illustration. You may remember from previous blogs, that Millie is a red-headed character that I started drawing at the beginning of 2019. Some of the illustrations can be seen in the ‘work’ section. I’ve quite a collection of scenes that show different things going on, but now I want to pause and consider writing a coherent story that the illustrations seem to be hinting at.

I’ve also been working on some more Ollie the Acorn illustrations. Unlike Millie, who started as a character illustration without a story, Ollie started as a story first, and I started drawing him and getting to know him afterwards. The only problem I’ve found with working like this, is that in my head I think I’ve already created more illustrations than I actually have. It was a bit of a disappointed to realise that I only had four and a half (one I’m not happy with which I’m ditching), I thought I had about twelve! Still that means I have a healthy looking “to do” list to work through.

As you may have seen in previous blog posts, I’ve been participating (successfully) in Jake Parkers Inktober for two years now, (Inktober is a drawing challenge where you are given a different prompt for every day of October), last year I created circular illustrations of a variety of child characters, and the year before the illustrations were based on a witch character called Hattie. Jake Parker has now decided to make Inktober more of an all year affair, by introducing Inktober 52. Inktober in October will still continue, but Inktober 52 will offer a weekly prompt all year. I love a drawing challenge, so I haven’t been able to resist joining in so far (even if I am a little behind on posting them on instagram). I’m working with a character again (I think it is actually easier to work with a recurring character during challenges because then you always have a starting point and aren’t having to pluck ideas from thin air – It is also great practice for character consistency), so far I’m just referring to him as Little Mouse. I think as the year progresses I’ll get to know him a little better, work out what his name is and what his story will be.

I’ve also been trying to edit some of my illustrations so they are ready for print. The idea is that I’ll open up my Folksy shop again (to begin with so I don’t have to start a new store from scratch) and offer a few wildlife cards, postcards and prints, but I’m procrastinating because that means spending money, which will seem like a waste if no one wants to buy them… I know, I know, you don’t know until you try.

In the December blog I also mentioned a Christmas book haul, so here we go, I’ll also have a January/February book haul but I think I’ll need to save that for another post, otherwise this blog will be far too long! .

When Paul Met Artie by G Neri, Illustrated by David Litchfield.
This is the illustrated story of Simon and Garfunkel, and while I know next to nothing about Simon and Garfunkel, I love everything illustrated by David Litchfield. I was so chuffed to receive this from one of my friends, and it is such a sweet story - I had no idea how young they were when they experienced initial success (even if it was followed by some ups and downs).

What Katy Did/What Katy Did At School/What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
These books were such a lovely gift from my mum, they were some of her favourite stories when she was a little girl, but I’ve never read them. I really need to sit down one evening with a hot chocolate and some biscuits and get lost in them.

Family Don’t End With Blood by the cast and fans of Supernatural, edited by Lynn S. Zubernis
I only started watching Supernatural a couple of years ago, but it is a show with a huge, close fanbase, and once you start to fall into it you are lost - but in a good way. The Supernatural fanbase is affectionately referred to as the SPN family, because it feels like a warm, supportive, welcoming family, (and that includes the cast and crew as well as fans), and Lynn S. Zubernis has captured this by bringing together a collection of essays from both fans and actors talking about how Supernatural is more than just a TV show, and how, it can, in a fascinating way, bring people together and change lives.

Lights On Cotton Rock by David Litchfield
Did I mention how much I love David Litchfield???! All of his work is beautiful but the colours he uses in this book are more than stunning. It is the story about a young girl who meets an alien. It’s about friendship and family, and longing and home, and not realising how much you already have in life right in front of your nose.. It’s such a heartwarming story with such amazing illustrations.

Jill and Lion, Jill and Dragon by Lesley Barnes
These two books have been on my wish list for a long time, so I was thrilled to receive them from my husband for Christmas. I adore the illustrations, the use of colour, shape, pattern and texture, they are so dynamic, I love just sitting and turning through each page, absorbing the magic.

Ghost by Illustratus
Originally a successful Kickstarter campaign, Ghost: Thirteen Haunting Tales To Tell, is a selection of poems and stories written for a new generation of young readers, that has all that eerie timeless feel of traditional ghost stories with little twists at the end. This is such a lovely book, the illustrations are both beautiful and creepy, and even as an adult I found the stories a little sinister.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.Rowling Illustrated by Jim Kay
My Husband buys me an illustrated, hardback copy of a Harry Potter book for Christmas, each year one is published. I then save it until October, so I can sit in bed at night over the autumn and winters months, taking my time to read it as we head towards Christmas (we also start watching the films again every October, sometimes we get through them by Christmas, sometimes we don’t). Needless to say I haven’t had a proper look at this yet, I’m saving it, but it is definitely a book I’m looking forward to reading (I’ve read it as a non-illustrated book, just not this version).

My Favourite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris
I can’t remember where I heard about this graphic novel, I think it was on a podcast, but thank goodness someone was talking about it, otherwise I wouldn’t have known it existed – both the graphic novel and Emil Ferris had sounded so fascinating to me that I had, had this book on my wish list ever since. Ferris contracted West Nile Fever and became paralysed from the waist down and lost the use of her right hand, so her daughter taped a pen to her hand to help her draw again while she was recovering. My Favourite Thing Is Monsters is what Ferris worked on while she was recovering. The whole novel, which is written in the form of a young girls diary, is drawn in ballpoint pen, so visually, it feels so fresh and interesting compared the usual graphic novel format, and I cant wait to read it.

That’s all my news for now, there are plenty more books (and hopefully illustrations :D ) to follow soon. I hope you have all had a great start to 2020.

(I have added links in the titles of the books mentioned to either Amazon or Wordery, I’m not affiliated with them, they are just places I personally buy books from online. At the time of writing this, the link I chose was the cheapest option – obviously price and stock are subject to change, so it always worth comparing different sites).

December 2019 -The Short, End-of-Year Round-Up

Well it is very nearly the end of 2019, very nearly the end of another decade, and I feel like I should be reflective… but I’m just not feeling it. I don’t believe in making resolutions, they always seem like promises waiting to be broken, I’m just itching to get started on 2020, no plans, lists of goals etc. I just want to start working.

Christmas has been wonderful and relaxing, we were away a whole week visiting family, but the first part of December was a whirlwind of wrapping paper and snotty tissues, as our house came down with the dreaded cold that has been doing the rounds. So as you can imagine, I didn’t get much in the way of drawing done and I’m at the point now where I’m really missing it, I need to get the house back to normal and get back into a normal routine – it sounds like I’m grumpy, I’m not, I absolutely love Christmas, I just feel like I’m in limbo right now.

We usually like to visit some Christmas craft markets as we head into December, but this year I had so many presents organised early that there didn’t seem much point, (we did go to one very briefly and it wasn’t very good), however we did go with out friends to Christmas at Kew, to walk around the light trail.

It was a lovely, magical way to spend an evening, and thankfully (as it has to be booked in advance) it was a dry night. I loved the tunnel of lights, the tunnel of hanging lights, the shards hanging from the tree-top walkway, the fire garden and the laser projections over the water.

I did start several illustrations throughout December, but these were the only two I managed to finish, using Pro-create, in front of the T.V. while watching Christmas films… I’ll complete the others in the New Year.

The first is a nod to the T.V. show Supernatural – Dean does like his pie! The second came from the urge to use specific colours, the neon orange, pink, green and purple. I had a vague idea the figures were fairies.

I also thought I’d share a couple of things I’d bought for myself once I had finished all of my Christmas shopping.

I bought this wonderfully kitsch tree decoration and awesome Jessica Fletcher pin (both made from recycled acrylic) from Rosie Johnson illustrates. I’m also hoping to buy this Jessica Fletcher illustration on a t-shirt in the future too!

I then bought these delightful zines/books from Joe Latham, they have such wonderful and gentle illustrations (and they arrived the very next day after ordering!). Do check out the links in their names if you fancy purchasing any of their work for yourself.

I admit this post isn’t much of a round-up, like I said, I’m not feeling particularly reflective, 2019 hasn’t been a bad year for me in the slightest, but I’m eager not to linger at the tail end of it either, there seems to be a slight sense of urgency in the air – I’m also very aware that the last two weeks of doing very little has left my brain a bit numb and I feel like I’ve lost the ability to structure sentences properly, I’m really struggling to type, and into Yoda, I fear, turning I am.

I’ll be back in the New Year with legible sentences (hopefully) and maybe a Christmas book haul (I have been a very lucky girl this year and have so many beautiful new books to share with you).

See you in 2020 friends.

November 2019

November has been a strange month, I felt a bit flat after Inktober and knew we had a few more days away booked at the start of November, so I started the month at a snails pace.

We began the month by spending four days in Lyme Regis. I haven’t been there in about ten years, but not much has changed, the little shop packed with gemstones down by The Cobb is still there, as is the bookshop, so rammed with books, that it is actually hard to get in. We stayed in a modern bungalow that overlooks The Cobb, which was the perfect location for when we arrived on the 5th of November – because that is where they set off the Lyme Regis fireworks, we had the perfect view (excuse the vertical video, you can blame the husband… and he is the first to complain about vertical video :D).

We had some great weather for November, we only got caught in a shower once.

The weekend seemed as busy as any of the summer months, but Monday and Tuesday were much quieter and had just the right amount of people, you didn’t get in each others way, you could always find a seat when you wanted to eat or drink, but it didn’t feel like a ghost town either.

I loved seeing all colours and textures of coastal life.

We spent our few days pottering in and out of shops and walking up and down the seafront, it was lovely.

When we returned I decided that I would start scanning all my illustrations, as my portfolio is long overdue an update. Scanning is one of my least favourite jobs, so I had been putting it off, so I think I ended up with at least 50 images to scan and then edit. It is nearly December and I still have some more editing to do, I wasn’t happy with some of my original edits so I’m doing them again… I do like making more work for myself :D .

An image as uninspiring as scanning itself. Spot my little alebrije friend from Fuego in Lyme Regis, he was guarding my pile of illustrations that needed scanning.

I’m really missing working in my sketchbook at the minute, I think I’ve spent one afternoon with it in November, and I’m starting to feel frustrated as I’ve lots of things I’d like to be working on. I did spend another afternoon experimenting on my own painted backgrounds – it was a struggle to use the coloured pencils on it, but it was good to try something a bit different and I’m sure it’ll be useful to me at some point. In the meantime, I just keep telling myself to plod on with the less exciting jobs and eventually I can start having fun and churning out some work again.

Finally, having pretty much completed my Christmas shopping by the end of October ( I panic if I leave it too late), I may have treated myself to a few new things this month. Firstly, if you have read any of my earlier blogs, you will know that I have mentioned illustrator, Dan Berry, before, but I was captivated by his “What We Do In The Shadows” Inktober illustrations. I wasn’t familiar with either the original film or the more recent series, so I immediately went to look it up on Amazon Prime. We still need to watch the series, but we absolutely loved the film. Dan released all of his inktober illustrations featuring scenes from both the film and the series in a zine called “What Dan Drew In The Shadows” , so I had to order myself a copy – I highly recommend it, it is absolutely wonderful!

It’s me! Looking pretty pleased with myself in my new Katrina Scarf.

The other item I’ve coveted for a while now is the Katrina Scarf by The Squirrel Collective. Tessa runs her own indie business, crocheting wonderful items to either wear or put in your home. The fact that everything is made by hand, by one person, means that not all products can be in stock in the online shop, all of the time, so it is worth following The Squirrel Collective on instagram (or subscribing to the newsletter) if you want to know when things are in stock. I was lucky enough to get one of a small collection of Katrina scarves that were available in November.

That’s all for now, hopefully I’ll post again at the end of December, with one of those reflective end of year posts… or maybe I’ll just tell you about how much cheese and wine I’ve consumed (that’s actually very unlikely as I can’t eat either, but you never know!).

September & October 2019

I am currently right in the middle of my happy place - Autumn. It may be raining all the time, but I don’t care, blankets and jumpers are coming out of the cupboards and candles are being lit, it is almost time to start talking about Christm… but first, a catch up.

My book gifts and chocolates from Karen!

In September I saw two of my book cover designs on actual physical books for the first time. Originally the designs were created for digital books, but author Karen Pomerantz decided to make both Trapping Honey and Bring The Thunder available for print, and she very kindly sent me a copy of each. I’ve seen lots of my design work in print before but never on a book, and I love books, so being able to hold them in my hands is both surreal and special.

Inktober sketchbook ideas

The official Jake Parker Inktober prompt list was released on September 1st, and as I was going to be away in September and October, I knew that planning would be essential if I was going to make it through the whole month, so I started making scribbles in my sketchbook, noting down ideas for each prompt.

Festival of Light sculpture at Longleat Safari Park.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do for my birthday this year, but remembering how much I enjoyed meeting lemurs in the Lakes last year, we decided it was time to return to Longleat Safari Park, and my husband booked us both a red panda experience.

It was a pretty grey and rainy day, but not torrential. At the time they were beginning to set up the Festival of Light which starts in November, so there were a couple of sculptures already out, and we could see others being built in fenced-off areas, (we considered booking another visit for this, but as we usually head to Frome the night before visiting and stay for two nights, it seemed a bit much to go twice in three months, so maybe next year!).

Our experience wasn’t until the afternoon, so as is tradition we booked tickets on the first bus safari of the day (my husband is never going to agree to going through the monkeys in the car) and we were lucky enough to get front window seats on the top deck. We don’t usually do much on the stop at the African village, but this time I paid for a couple of twigs to feed the giraffes, which was totally worth it.

For the VIP experience, out keeper took us into the red panda enclosure to meet brothers, Kody and Lionel (named after the band Kodaline). Although the brothers were bred in captivity, our keeper told us all about where the red pandas come from, what their diet is like, what dangers they face in the wild (being hunted for their fur) and what work is being done to try and protect them, as well as how breeding programmes work throughout Europe. Fun fact, only red pandas are actual pandas, panda bears are bears.

We fed Kody and Lionel some vegetables and some panda cake – they have bamboo in their enclosure to eat too, but it is really hard for the keepers to monitor how well they are eating, or if they are getting enough to eat (especially as bamboo is so nutritionally poor) if they are just left to eat this way. The panda cake looks like dung balls, but they are made from a special bamboo substance, that is bought in, and then mixed with water so it forms a ball.

Kody and Lionel loved the panda cake! They came down to a table in front of us, we held out the food one piece at a time and they took it from us. Lionel in particular was incredibly gentle when he took food from me. They are the most beautiful animals and it was the perfect birthday gift.

After the experience we went on the Jungle Cruise. I love the Jungle Cruise! Last time we were there it was during the summer holidays so the queue was too long, but this time it was much easier to get on. It is only a short boat ride, and you have to pay for the little pot of fish, but I get so much joy from feeding the sea lions!

Inktober Day 4: Freeze (Musical Statues)

Once back from Frome I gave myself a little head start on Inktober. I’d already chosen the colours I wanted to use and decided that all illustrations were going to be circular, (carrying on a similar theme from my most recent wildlife illustrations). I had prepped by drawing around a plate thirty-one times, so I was ready to start on the actual illustrations straight after my birthday. I had decided not to use ink this year as I wanted to continue working with coloured pencils. I also decided to carry on my character work by drawing children for each prompt either playing, pretending, or taking part in some kind of activity.

Inktober Day 23: Ancient

The plan was to try and get half complete before I went away to the Lake District for a week on October 4th. I had considered taking them with me, but I prefer working in natural light if I can, and I knew by the time we’d been out adventuring every day, It would either be too dark or I would be too tired, then I wouldn’t be able to relax properly because I would have wanted to keep up with the challenge… sometimes you just need to be realistic and make a plan! I was really pleased to get sixteen completed before we left, it also gave me an extra five days breathing room when I got back before Inktober caught up with me.

Our week in the Lakes was the wettest we’d had in a while, but it didn’t matter, it never does. As is tradition, we spent Saturday pottering around Cockermouth visiting Percy House Gallery and The New Bookshop before having lunch at Shills. Sunday, was another kind of tradition, as we always end up at Grasmere. We took the walk around the lake, had lunch at Greens Cafe and Bistro (some good options if you are vegan, or trying to avoid dairy or gluten – I had a jacket potato with hummus and salad) and stopped by the Heaton Cooper Studio as I love picking up a few art supplies from there because it has a lovely atmosphere.

Blea Tarn

We then drove on to take a look at Blea Tarn, which was quite nice, but not as nice as the view of the valley (Great Langdale?) you found if you carried on walking along the pathway that went by the tarn – even on a grey day it was a lovely surprise.

On Monday we decided to visit Carlisle as we hadn’t been before. We went to the castle – I love a bit of history – then after lunch we went in search of bits of Hadrian’s Wall.

Considering everyone has heard of Hadrian’s wall, it seemed a little odd that there are only odd pieces of it left, I mean I’m not surprised so much by how much is left, considering how old it is, but surprised by the combination of how little there is and its fame.

View from Whinlatter, looking out over Keswick and Derwentwater.

A stay in Cockermouth just wouldn’t be the same without a visit to Whinlatter, which is what we decided to do on the Tuesday. It was lovely, it was blinkin’ windy but the sun came out for us and it was beautiful. So far, each time we have walked up Whinlatter, that same view has been completely different.

Derwentwater

After a spot of lunch and meeting various new dog friends, we drove down to the Theatre By The Lake in Keswick, where we picked up a hot drink and then went and sat on the shores of Derwentwater.

The boating hut was closed due to a bad weather forecast, so the whole shoreline seemed strangely quiet compared to other times we have been there, but it was nice. It felt like we were tempting fate as we watched giant clouds roll in, but it is the Lake District, and you can never quite guarantee what the weather is going to do and we were able to sit for ages watching the changing light without being caught in a downpour.

On Wednesday we visited Aira Force Waterfall for the first time. It was quite good, there are plenty of paths to explore, and it gave me an opportunity to try my new walking poles, to help me (and my dodgy knee) get up (but mostly get down) the rocky pathway at the side of the waterfall. There were quite a few people there even though it was a damp day, so I don’t think it is somewhere I would like to visit during the school holidays, it must get swamped with people.

Buttermere

Our final day was another grey one, but we headed to Buttermere. We arrived fairly early to make sure we could get parking and because as the day goes on, the walk around the lake gets quite busy. We took my walking poles with us, as last time we were there, one part of the walk had quite a lot of rocks and boulders to clamber over… it turns out they have done a fair bit of work since our last visit, and that section of the walk is far more accessible now. I also made friends with two dogs, which always makes me happy.

Inktober Day 27: Coat (of paint).

Since we have been back, I’ve mostly been working on my Inktober illustrations. It was a bit of a struggle as we have had some really dark days, so I was trying to do all the sketching/outline work with the col-erase on dark days, and then working on the colour on brighter days, so rather than completing each illustration one by one, it turned into a bit of a production line.

Inktober Day 18: Misfit

Inktober Day 25: Tasty.

My back also started to complain, I don’t think it appreciated how long I was sitting in my chair every day. It is a very good ergonomic chair, but that doesn’t stop me from gradually leaning forward and twisting to one side while I’m working, without realising. I finished my inktober illustrations with five days to go, which is what I had been striving for. It meant I could reward myself, and my back, by taking a few days off from sitting at the desk. The rest of this week is going to see me sitting sensibly (not lounging) on the sofa with my sketchbook muddling through some new ideas.

August 2019 – GISH

I can’t believe another month has already gone by and that it is pretty much the end of summer! Well maybe I can believe it, when I consider, that for me, August began by having very little sleep, as I stayed up into the wee hours for a week Gishing. I wrote about GISH in my mid-year update last year, but for anyone that hasn’t read that post and is wondering what the hell I’m talking about, GISH stands for ‘Greatest International Scavenger Hunt’. It is a global hunt originally started by american actor (of Supernatural) Misha Collins. People from all over the world join together in teams, for one week each year, to try and complete as many items as possible from a list of over 200. Items might be creative, community minded, near impossible, incredibly simple or just plain weird, all in the name of raising money for charity, doing good, connecting and having fun. I see GISH a bit like a week at summer camp – except I stay at home to do it. This year the money raised went towards clearing unexploded bombs in Laos, left over from the Vietnam War, and also towards paying for prosthetic limbs for children and farmers who have, sadly, already been victims of the bombs.

GISH 2019 saw me make marshmallow for the first time, hammer tin foil, write a haiku, write a poem, create illustrations, decorate my husbands underwear and stick my head in a vice – as you do.

The first item I chose was to toast a portrait of Jared Padalecki (another Supernatural actor, you can just about tell it is him by his hair) onto marshmallow. As my local supermarket was out of marshmallows on a Saturday afternoon I had no choice but to make some of my own. It took ages! It was deliciously soft marshmallow but I can’t see me making it again. Still, I managed to make a nice, flat slab of marshmallow. I toasted the image using a pyrography pen. Interestingly – or not – apart from an initial play, I’ve only ever used my pyrography pen for GISH (last year I toasted words into bread), some people say the most important tool you can have on hand for GISH is a glue gun, but I haven’t touched mine in either year I’ve participated.

Next, I started to try and create the polished bust of a celebrity out of tin foil. My optimistic little brain was convinced that this was something that I could successfully do. My optimistic little brain was very wrong. I chose Amanda Palmer because a) she’s great, and b) I thought trying to capture her up-do would help to make it more recognisable, and it did help a bit, just not enough. I hammered foil for a very long time, twice, and both times the foil began to fall apart, so I had to call it a day before I was entirely happy with either of them. I then had to tweet it to Amanda Palmer – thankfully she ignored it/didn’t see it, so that was a relief!

Item three for me was writing a haiku about an endangered animal on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It was shocking to see just how many species were on the list, and it was quite hard to choose which animal to write about. In the end I opted for the aye-aye, because not only is it really interesting to draw, but having a two syllable name means it was easier to fit into a haiku.

It turns out that the haiku wasn’t enough to fulfil my ‘writing about a small critter needs’ so I then wrote a poem about Pikachu – and then also spent lots of time decorating the poem with Pikachu pictures even though it wasn’t an actual requirement. (Another not-so-interesting-fact is that I would get told by my middle school teacher that, although it was wonderful that I had already written around ten A4 pages of story, maybe it would be better to continue writing and finish the story rather than taking extra time to decorate all the margins – always writing, always drawing).

Still on the subject of drawing, if an item comes up that involves illustrating some kind of children’s story, I find it hard to resist. Last year it was Vinnie the Pooh (Winnie’s mob boss cousin) and this year it was The Very Hungry Asserpillar (which is only really amusing if you watch… yup, you have guessed it, Supernatural). I even tried to replicate Eric Carle’s technique of painting onto white tissue paper with a variety of different colours and then cutting out shapes and collaging them together. This may have been my favourite item (it certainly wasn’t the tin foil).

Last year I roped my poor husband in to help me make a cardboard fort (he made the drawbridge), and I think he thought he was pretty safe this year, as we were getting near the end of the week and the most I had asked for was a trip to Sainsburys. Poor, unsuspecting man. The item I chose next was ‘(f)underwear’ and he agreed to let me decorate his underpants with jokes, balloons and suggestions of fun activities – while he was wearing them. I guess the idea was that no-one would know it was him because the image was just of his pants, and he doesn’t know anyone that takes part in GISH anyway. So, so many people have seen this photo, including those that don’t GISH, and now that includes you too! Oops!

Somehow, I also found myself nominated for the item that asked you to create a trading card for each member of your team (there are fifteen of us), but it was quite fun coming up with stats and powers for each person and doodling on their photos – I do like to draw!

My final item this year was to create an image of Harry Potter had Hagrid never found him and told him that he was a wizard. I decided there would be nothing more depressing than an unwitting, amazing wizard that only ever became a terrible children’s magician.

Of course there is also the photo of me sticking my head where it ‘absolutely does not belong’. I chose a vice, but no one needs to see that.

I’ve already registered to take part again next year, so look out for more illustrations and odd things in 2020.

July – New Books

I mostly buy children’s picture books, but this month has been a bit different, I have bought a comic, a graphic novel and a vegan cookbook.

First up is a comic called “I’m on a Boat” by Dan Berry. I’m a big fan of Dan’s podcast Make It Then Tell Everybody (even though I’m really behind), and while I’ve become used to listening to him talk about comics, I only ever see his work on instagram, so when he started self-producing a comic telling the story of his time spent teaching on a boat, I jumped at the chance to purchase it. I think one of the joys of Dan’s work is how he captures small, but humorous, human moments, such as the reaction of people when they see him drawing in public. His line work looks so natural and relaxed, it seems effortless, he can create expression and movement, and tell a story with the simplest of lines, it is brilliant craftmanship .

Illustration © thingsbydan

Above, is one of my favourite images (I hope Dan doesn’t mind me sharing it), where Dan is signed-off from work. Even though it must have been a worrying and serious time for him, he portrays it in such a warm and funny way, it really makes me smile, (I’m sure many of us can relate to nervously waiting for the blood pressure monitor to produce a reading) – it was a great way for a single image to communicate his health troubles.

At the time of writing this post, Dan was producing these comics in-house priced at £10, if you are interested you can buy one here.

Front cover @ First Second Books

Next we have “This Was Our Pact” by Ryan Andrews. I follow Ryan on Instagram, so I was able to follow the illustrations he produced for this graphic novel as he was working on them. His images are so detailed and beautiful (I love the textures in his pencil work), and seeing them shared over a period of time really made me feel connected to the characters and the story, it also really made you appreciate how much work goes into graphic novels. This is a A5 paperback graphic novel (when I looked there were a few hardbacks available too), but it is pretty chunky, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of it when it arrived, unfortunately I haven’t read it yet so I can’t give it a proper review, but I can’t wait to start it, it looks absolutely beautiful. If you are interested in buying a copy, it is published by First Second Books, and you can find it on Amazon UK here.

Cover image © Mitchell Beazley

Finally, I purchased a copy of “Cook Share Eat Vegan: Delicious plant-based recipes for Everyone” by Áine Carlin, published by Mitchell Beazley. The book has been out for a while in hardback and the paperback is due out in October 2019 – and I’m really looking forward to making something from it (I really enjoyed Áine’s previous two books) , I’m particularly interested in the “Crispy Cinnamon Potato Tacos” (although I need to wait until I have a working oven to try that one) and the “Chip-Shop Vegetable Curry”. Technically I’m not vegan, but I prefer to eat vegan if I can. I find the assumption that most people make, is that vegan food is boring, because vegetables are usually an afterthought plonked on the side of a plate, but if anything, I’ve found cooking far more exciting since I’ve dropped the meat and the dairy. One thing that stands out in this book is the variety of ingredients and flavours, and I don’t mean that it is full of exotic things you have never heard of, I mean that humble vegetables and grains that you find in any supermarket have been given a bit of love and consideration, and have been elevated to the tastiest sounding dishes. If anyone is interested in who Áine is and the food she makes, you might want to check out her old YouTube channel, the video linked is from three years ago, but I’ve made this quesadilla several times, and it is a really quick and tasty lunch. If you are interested in purchasing “Cook Share Eat Vegan” you can find it here.

All books were purchased with my own money, all opinions are my own.

Drawing Dogs – June 2019 Update

I’m currently working on three projects. My plan is to update my portfolio with more in-depth character work, rather than one-off illustrations, but obviously it is going to take a little bit of time! My current work will also show my new love for coloured pencils. I still love my watercolour inks, and I plan on doing more work with them, but since the beginning of the year I’ve started using coloured pencils. It has been a bit of a learning curve, as I haven’t used them since college, and I’ve always hated them, so I’m not exactly sure what has changed, but I feel really comfortable with them at the moment.

Initial scribbles

So back to the projects. I’m still working with the little girl that I mentioned in my February blog post, but now she has a name - Millie. Ive also been experimenting with an acorn as I want to develop my skills in creating characters from objects – I have an idea for a story for that character too. The third project is mostly about dogs, so I’ve been trying to draw lots of dogs from reference photos.

First French Bulldog scribbles

So far I’ve attempted a French Bulldog, a Boston Terrier, a Corgi and a Cairn Terrier. They may not strictly stick to their breed by the time I have finished with them, but it is a good place to start when trying to see their differences and working out how those details can represent different personalities.

I don’t have a story planned for the dogs yet, just a vague idea for where they live and what their names might be, I find these things become more concrete as the drawings develop.

In between project work, I’m also trying to do the odd one-off illustrations. They may not be my best work, but I find it is nice just to finish something when everything else I’m working on is developing. Some Ideas I pluck from thin air, (such as the lady in the dress), others are part of a Draw It In Your Style Challenge (this one is Matcha Girl set by Iraville).

I had planned to take part in the By Bun April Art Challenge, but in the end only did the first two days, here is day two – Knotted (the brown paper was intentional, I wanted to worked on a textured surface).

I’ve also used ArtPrompts.org (The girl with the toys came from the prompt “An adorable little girl with two adorable little heads” – I took that to mean that she had two heads, but I decided to take it in a slightly different direction) .

So that is where I am at right now. I think I may add a couple of posts on two things I’m passionate about soon - picture books and purchases from independent designer/makers. I get a lot of happiness and inspiration from books and independents so it feels right to give them a shout–out, so keep an eye out for that.

Until next time – bye!

A Kids Comic – May 2019 Update

I thought the start of this year was a slow one, but once February was over, time seemed to speed up – how is it nearly June? I really need to blog more, the lack of consistency is embarrassing!

So the challenge I mentioned in my last post was a comic that I wanted to create for the son of my friend, for his birthday, (if you look back through the tiny amount of posts, you will see that last year, I ‘kind of’ produced a picture book for his birthday – which was late!). I’ve not really attempted to create a comic before – I did a two page comic strip based on fears last year (mentioned two posts ago), but that was based on a very loose concept, where I created the story at the same time as the drawings. This time I wrote a basic story outline first (telling myself it would probably be no more than four A4 pages at the most), then I wrote it out in more detail, creating the narration and speech, and making a few quick scribbles of images that I might include.

(The story is an origin story, inspired by several other superhero stories, about a bunch of kids who love superheroes).

Page 3 of Eight Legs Elliott

I’ve heard some comic creators/graphic novelists mention in interviews how they plan pages as they go, rather than planning all of the content and flow in advance, and this always sounded crazy to me. I am a big fan of planning and working out a structure to make sure everything … works! So it was strange to suddenly find myself winging it, planning each page as I got to it. I’m still not sure it was the best way to go about it, but as usual with birthday gifts, I knew if I took the time to plan it all out in advance, it would take me longer and I would miss the birthday. It turned out okay, I would have liked to have filled all the pages neatly into a multiple of four, but I ended up with one blank back page – I figured it couldn’t hurt, (of course it does hurt, every time I think about it, it irks me).

Page 5 of Eight Legs Elliott

The four–page comic that I had envisioned turned out to have 23 pages. It took me much longer than I anticipated, partly because I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with Procreate at the same time (I also took the opportunity to get myself through Gilmore Girls while I coloured things). It was definitely a challenge (the comic, not Gilmore Girls… although), it is really hard to fit everything together, and I feel like I’m only at the beginning of a lesson in comic book fundamentals (as well as Procreate).

Page 9 of Eight Legs Elliott

I am pleased with the end result, but I am also aware of how flawed it is – I have no idea how graphic/comic illustrators keep their details so consistent, I went through looking for mistakes multiple times and I still missed a whole bunch – but I think I have the bug now, I would like to do another, I want to learn more and I know I can do better! It’s just one more thing for the ‘to-do’ list.