Meet the Maker
For the month of March I decided to join Meet the Maker over on Instagram. The challenge, organised by Joanne Hawker, happens every year throughout March, and allows creatives from all over the world to connect and share their practice, promote their business, and give insights into their creative journey.
I’ll admit I didn’t complete all 31 days. I decided to pick out the ones that seemed to fit my own practice the best and stuck to those. Today I thought I’d share…
For the month of March I decided to join Meet the Maker over on Instagram. The challenge, organised by Joanne Hawker, happens every year throughout March, and allows creatives from all over the world to connect and share their practice, promote their business, and give insights into their creative journey.
I’ll admit I didn’t complete all 31 days. I decided to pick out the ones that seemed to fit my own practice the best and stuck to those. Today I thought I’d share some of them with you!
First things first, IG is a funny thing when it comes to sharing insights into a creative practice. As I’d already planned what I was going to post throughout the month, I could easily make it seem as though I was staying busy and churning out a load of work, but in truth, my personal work didn’t really get off the ground this month. There were a lot of delays and obstacles I had to work through, most of them probably self-inflicted, and I started to feel disconnected from my creative flow. There were days where I wasn’t drawing anything, because I was focusing all my energy on more urgent, but less fulfilling tasks.
Here is a snippet from Day 15 which sums up how I was feeling:
Day 15 // Priorities
It’s hard to say what my priorities are atm because honestly, my main goal is just to be happy. I know IG can make it seem like we’re always working and always positive but are any of us really like that? I enjoy working on my illustrations but I also procrastinate a lot and spend days unravelling the MANY negative beliefs I tell myself.
This illustration was a favourite of mine but goodness me it was a struggle to get it out. And it’s not even complicated. I was just so uninspired by the limited colour palette, and I think I’d let the whole project drag on a little too long that I started to loose sight of why I started it in the first place. I just wanted to get it done and move on.
I also had several portrait commissions this month which was amazing, but it meant that my personal projects had to take the back seat for a while. The turn around was so quick for these that I unintentionally burnt myself out and had no energy left to put into my own practice.
By the end of March I started to see where I was going wrong. On one hand I managed to stay consistent with Meet the Maker, but behind the scenes I was feeling uninspired and unfulfilled with my work because I hadn’t left any space for myself. I made an effort to pick up my daily sketchbook (something that I’ve sadly neglected since January) and planned to fill it with really bad drawings - the wonkier the better. I started knitting again, and took myself on walks to try and reconnect to that inner creative voice. It’s still a working progress, but slowly I’m beginning to feel inspired by what I’m making again. I’ll be continuing to share my illustrations on IG this month, but I’ll also be holding some of my energy back for work that I purposefully don’t share. And with that comes a new feeling of relief.
If you’ve followed me on Instagram, I hope you enjoyed my little Meet the Maker series, and I hope this post shines a light on the fact that not everything you see on IG tells the whole story.
Shop Update!
New pet portraits have arrived on my Etsy store this month and I’m super excited to share them with you! They’re postcard sized and completely personalised; this one was for a lovely puss named Crumpet and her owner Emily!
I love making these little prints for you, and I’m excited to add more fury friends to the collection! For more info please check the item description on Etsy!
This and that…
*I’m rewatching this adaptation of Howards End at the moment. It’s such a cosy watch and the book is a firm favourite of mine, especially now it’s Spring!
*I listened to Deep Work by Cal Newport this month and he brings up so many interesting points about technology and distractions that made me revaluate how I balance deep and shallow work.
*Any day with yoga in it is an immediately better day. Recently I enjoyed this one.
*Just for fun, this game has been great for passing the time with friends on zoom.
Okay okay that’s all for now! See you next month.
Catherine
Snow Days and Sprinkles
Hello hello friends. How are you?
February seemed to whiz by as fast as ever and I've tried to take things a little slower this month. I baked a lot, sketched and watched the snow, played animal crossing, and last week celebrated my 23rd birthday!
Hello hello friends. How are you?
February seemed to whiz by as fast as ever and I've tried to take things a little slower this month. I baked a lot, sketched and watched the snow, played animal crossing, and last week celebrated my 23rd birthday!
It was a lovely day that began with warm crumpets and strawberries. I went for a much-needed walk with my family in the countryside, and spent the afternoon watching the Sound of Music and drinking hot chocolate. Honestly despite all of the restrictions, it was a wonderful day.
Aside from birthday festivities, I’ve been working on several smaller illustrations after I finished reading Ballet Shoes last month. I wanted to challenge myself with a limited colour palette, and working with single illustrations rather than large picture book spreads has been a new experience! But I love the direction my work is heading in at the moment, and it’s nice to try something a little different!
ALSO! This month I’m offering a 10% discount on all personalised portraits until 19th March, just in time for Mother's day! For more details check the item description on my Etsy shop!
February in a nutshell...
*After several low points this month, this gem of a song got me through the tougher days.
*Of course another project means another pinterest board. This one was inspired by Ballet Shoes and there are so many gloriously old photos on there!
*This month I’m taking part in March Meet the Maker! I've thought about following the challenge for a few years but never found the time to commit, especially with uni work being a priority. But now I have all the time in the world I thought I'd give it a shot! I'll be posting over the coming weeks here, sharing insights into my drawing process and daily snippets of my illustration journey!
And that’s all for now!
Catherine
Prickles the Curious Hedgehog: Scene Process
To begin, I must point out that the process I follow for most book projects is far from coherent. It’s essentially a long stream of problem solving in which I have to, at some point, decide on my characters, colour scheme, narrative flow, setting, the message I’m trying to convey, the number of pages, the size of the book … Right?! So many options. So. Little. Time.
Happy happy New Year!
I hope this first post of 2021 finds you well, and that January was kind to you. Like most of us I transitioned from Christmas to New Year reluctantly, and have spent the first month of the year still at home, trying to balance staying busy with the constant disbelief at what’s happening in the world. Anyhow, I hope this month’s post provides a little light-hearted relief for you. Enjoy!
Today I thought I’d show you a behind the scenes look at how I created this illustration, which is taken from my children’s story about a curious hedgehog named Prickles.
Begin at the beginning
To begin, I must point out that the process I follow for most book projects is far from coherent. It’s essentially a long stream of problem solving in which I have to, at some point, decide on my characters, colour scheme, narrative flow, setting, the message I’m trying to convey, the number of pages, the size of the book … Right?! So many options. So. Little. Time.
I usually start with the text, as it’s the base of my narrative. I wrote this particular story myself, and it’s about 400 words. Once I was happy with the basic narrative outline I then started with visual research. I used to love visiting museums and galleries to begin a project, finding ways I could inject culture and history into my sketches. I also think external sources can add depth and context to images that may seem one dimensional if they haven’t been developed enough. But of course, with the UK being in lockdown yet again my chance of visiting a gallery was zero. So I began with a pinterest board, collating illustrations, fine art paintings for colour and atmosphere, photographs, and anything else that sparked inspiration.
From there I did a huge brain dump of messy, sometimes questionable sketches, of everything and anything I wanted to include within the book. I had to look at a lot of references for the animals, to get the proportions right. Then, with enough research, I started on my storyboards. These are just thumbnail-sized sketches where I plot out the narrative, and decide on what will happen in each scene. As you can see, for this scene I decided fairly early on that the burrow would be the main feature of the page.
This sketch was just smaller than A5.
Development
Then comes development. Fleshing out the narrative by building up characters, finding the perfect setting, asking whether it is day or night? What kind of flowers grow there? Where do the characters live? How do they travel? etc etc. After playing around with the content, I scanned the thumbnail sketch, and sized it up to A3.
Using my lightbox, I then traced the scene onto plain white paper, and worked on the finer details, making sure I could get it as close to the final image as possible (making most of the decisions at this point makes painting the final illustration a lot easier). Of course there are always slight tweaks to be made, like removing the table, or changing the string of lights to tree roots.
Experiment, experiment and experiment some more
Like I said earlier, my whole picture book process is far from coherent, so although this scene looked pretty straight forward, there were other scenes that required a LOT more work, and I can restart them multiple times.
Luckily though, I was happy with the way this scene looked, and I was ready for experimentation. The way I differentiate development and experimentation is this: While development grows your content, characters, story etc, experimentation grows the medium, style, composition. See the difference?
I have to say, this is my least favourite part of the process. I KNOW, controversial, but always find I have the urge to jump to the final artwork as soon as I have the rough sorted. But I know that experimentation can be the difference between a mediocre spread and a spread that really sings. So I reluctantly kept my nice smooth paper away from my desk for a while longer, and worked on some smaller tests first. I think one of the reasons why I don’t love experimenting, is because it’s is the part where self doubt can kick in. As soon as you think you’ve cracked it, you realise there is a better way of doing it and the process starts all over again. I spent about a week making test after test, some days it felt like I’d made no progress. As you can see, I was mainly working out colour, and how the mediums would work together as a whole.
Diving In
Inevitably there comes a point when you don’t physically have any more tests left in you, and it’s time for the MAIN EVENT. I chose to do the final illustration on bristol paper because I’m used to working on that, and I find the paint/crayon combo works well on the smooth surface. I used mainly Faber Castell Polychromos and Carandache Supracolor crayons, and acrylic gouache.
To get an accurate outline I used the pencil sketch I’d made earlier, traced this with my lightbox using a peach-coloured pencil, and sat down to paint. I’d say the whole piece took about two days to complete. I then scanned the image, cleaned it up on Photoshop, and added the text.
And there you have it, one scene complete! What do you think of the finished illustration?
Of course, this is by no means the exact way to create a spread. I’m sure most picture book illustrators work differently, this was just an insight into the way I work, and how I navigate my way through a project. I hope it was insightful in some way! I’d love to hear your thoughts, or if you have different ways of working through a project. You can see the finished scene here!
Aside from illustration, here are some things I’ve been loving this month…
*I finished reading Ballet Shoes and it was wonderful. I also got this book for Christmas which I’ve been dipping into intermittently. It’s full of stories from neglected women from history, which is fascinating.
*I’m obsessed with this recipe at the moment, I’ve already made it four times since Christmas. It’s the ultimate comfort food and has enough pasta and cheese to keep me satisfied throughout winter!
*I’ve been loving the sketchbook characters by Claire Powell recently and have been inspired myself to start a small sketchbook project. I’ll be drawing from my pinterest board and posting on instagram over the coming months!
*Since I’ve been busy drawing I’ve needed a lot of music to keep me occupied and I’m slowly working my way through seven years of BTS albums which, as you can imagine, is taking a while. Recently this song has been a favourite, It’s an oldie, but it makes me hopeful for Spring.
Okay that’s enough for now, I can feel a headache coming on.
Sending you all much love and optimism for February. Remember, they can’t cancel the Spring.
Catherine
Merry & Bright
Happy December Friends! ❄️
We’re entering the last slow days of the year and to be honest, it felt like we’d never make it to 2021. But here we are! I hope this month has been a joyful one for you, however you celebrated it.
It’s almost a tradition of mine to read a festive book throughout the month of December, and this year that book was Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild…
Happy December Friends! ❄️
We’re entering the last slow days of the year and to be honest, it felt like we’d never make it to 2021. But here we are! I hope this month has been a joyful one for you, however you celebrated it.
It’s a tradition of mine to read a festive book throughout the month of December, and this year that book was Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. As I worked my way through the pages I soon felt the urge to do a little painting of the three Fossil Sisters celebrating Christmas on a crisp December night. The book is so sweet and nostalgic, I thought it would be a perfect illustration to capture the cosiness of the winter season. I began with this rough sketch which I scanned and resized in Photoshop (the original sketch is tiny!) then traced it onto smooth white paper.
I intuitively tinkered with the composition until I was happy with how the sisters looked, pulled out some deep green and red shades and set to work on adding colour. As you can see I decided to use a mixture of pencil crayon and gouache, as I wanted the colours to be rich, but still keep some of the line work visible. I usually try to make most of my decisions at this point, but somehow the images still manage to change between this stage and final piece. For example, I didn’t include a background in the draft, but in the end decided that it would be better to include the tiled floor for context and perspective. I also changed the bunting to paper chains, and tweaked the patterns on Pauline and Posy’s dress.
In the end, I’m pleased with how the final illustration turned out. Although I painted it just for fun, I still had bouts of low self-esteem whilst working on it, questioning whether it represents my style or if it’s even ‘good enough’ to share. As this was to be the final illustration I’d make in 2020, I had hoped it would be an easier ride! But I have a feeling that will probably never happen. Letting go of expectations has been a major theme of 2020, and it was only when I let go of expecting this painting to be anything less than perfect that I finished it with ease and was proud of how it looked.
So what do you think of it? I hope it does the book and the characters justice, and evokes the smell of hot ginger and fir pine on a wintery December night. Magical.
And that’s it for 2020! I wish you all a warm and joyful New Year,
Catherine x