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

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).

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.

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!

End of Year Update - 2018

I guess technically we aren’t quite at the end of the year, but lets face it, it is unlikely I’ll post again before we hit 2019!

What have I been up to since August? Well, as well as continuing with a few watercolour ink portraits, I visited the Lake District at the end of September for my birthday.

As usual we had a great time visiting Grasmere, Whinlatter and Coniston Water, and this time we finally made it to Buttermere too, (it was a gloriously sunny day!).

For my actual birthday we visited The Lake District Wildlife Park; that wasn’t gloriously sunny, it was grey, damp and drizzly, but it didn’t matter because we booked a Lemur Encounter - I highly recommend everyone stroking a lemur on their birthday!

Once we were back home I hit the ground running with Inktober. I failed miserably on my first attempt last year, but this time I was organised. I used Jake Parker’s Inktober prompts and sneakily completed my sketches before we went to the Lakes, so all I needed to do was trace and paint them… The only snag was that I would be starting a five week MATS course mid-October and I didn’t want to be trying to juggle both, so I traced and painted all 31 in the first eleven days of the month.

I tried to keep everything simple, so I stuck with the same little character, a witch called Hattie who is always getting things wrong. I hadn’t intended to stick with one character throughout the whole month initially but she appeared in the first sketch and it just seemed the most obvious thing to do after that - less time spent coming up with ideas, less time thinking about palette, less time wondering how to draw a panda juggling on broken bike etc. (although maybe I’ll do that next year). I think maybe there were memories of Mildred Hubble seeping out from my subconscious, I used to love the Worst Witch books!

During those eleven days I also decided to throw in another Gish challenge about fears, so I decided to create a two page comic strip on the subject. I haven’t actually done any kind of comic strip before, but after listening to Dan Berry’s ‘Make It Then Tell Everybody’ podcast I’ve been inspired and have become really curious about using it as a way of telling stories. It is definitely something I would like to look into and experiment with.

My last main task of the year was the five week ‘Make Art That Sells’, ‘Illustrating Children’s Books’ course. I’ve written a separate post about it which goes into more detail, but basically the course helps you develop a series of images that can be used in your portfolio to help pitch your illustration work. I guess the course is as intense as you make it, it is up to you how much work you do, but I tried really hard, getting up early, working all day and also a majority of evenings, other stuff like cleaning, some cooking and life in general got put on hold. There has been a lot of information to absorb, I need to go back through it all, but mostly I was surprised by how much I could produce in what was a fairly short space of time.

I’ve now caught up on all my Christmas stuff, I’ve tried my best to buy from as many local businesses and independent makers as possible - I love seeking out individual gifts that people may not have come across before. If I remember, I want to take pictures of the things I’ve bought so I can share a bunch of creators in a post in the new year, (I can’t do it now because it will spoil all the surprises). So until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!