Patreon & Free Comics!

AAHH I'M FINALLY ON PATREON!! I've set up a brand new page on Patreon to share illustration, comics, and the behind the scenes life of working as a freelance illustrator!

Support on Patreon (via people signing up to pledge $1+ for a month or more) helps me focus on my own projects, and dedicate more time to writing creative industry advice articles, making videos, and brewing new ideas. I love sharing brand new illustrations and comics you won't see anywhere else on Patreon too!

For $1+ a month you get access to exclusive illustrations, WIPs & articles!
For $5+ you also get in depth process posts & unlimited Q&A sessions.
For $10+ I also email you with the PDF edition of my First Signs of Spring comic & a bunch of digital treats.
For $30+ I will also snail mail you your own prints & bonus originals!

See the full list of perks here: Emmeline Pidgen Illustration on Patreon.

I'm working really hard on some of my own projects (more about those on my page!) and any backing from you guys would mean a huge amount. I've got Q&As, process posts, prints & original art up for grabs!

I also made a comic of something silly that happened to me a few weeks ago, and everyone can read the rest for free on my Patreon page: Apple Lattice Comic by Emmeline Pidgen on Patreon!

I'm excited for this new chapter, and I hope you'll come along too!

Emmeline Illustration Q&A at the 'Crazy Animal Face Block Party' Manchester

Last month I was invited to spend an hour talking to an audience about my passion for illustration, creative freelancing, and my life behind the scenes of Emmeline Illustration at the second Crazy Animal Face Block Party!

Okay, I always get a little bit nervous before talks and panels no matter how often I do them; but the atmosphere and crowd were so welcoming (and the venue was so chilled out) it ended up being one of the most casual and comfortable events I've ever done! I was interviewed by the lovely Paul from Crazy Animal Face and we chatted about everything from social media success to inspiration from 90's sci-fi videogames.

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The amazing @emmelinedraws (please check out her incredible illustrations/books/narrative/comics) #sketchnotes from the @crazyanimalface event @hatchmcr #mcr with @jamfactory 🥰 both epic-both #podcasting on #crazyanimalface soooooon

A post shared by Tash Willcocks (@tashwillcocks) on Mar 28, 2019 at 1:40pm PDT

Despite the torrential rain, the venue was completely packed and it was brilliant to get to meet and hang out with so many enthusiastic creatives from all over the country. After my talk, we had the awesome Gavin Strange from Aardman Animation onstage to chat about his inspiration and career path, then we both took members of the audience aside for dedicated one-on-one portfolio reviews and advice!

I love talking honestly about the highs and lows of freelancing, and I think it's important to be open about the challenges that can come up for people in terms of mental health, finding a good work balance, and securing fair contracts (and how navigating challenges can often push you forward into becoming a better creative and businessperson!). I got asked some tough, but really interesting, questions from the audience and I'm happy to say I didn't regret mentioning the audience could ask me anything!

Listening to @emmelinedraws talk about her work at today’s @CrazyAnimalFace #BlocParty @HatchMCR ✨ Love the comic about how to find andromeda! Full house despite the rain! ☔️ pic.twitter.com/DCbBO0PeRO

— Sneaky Raccoon 🦝 (@SneakyRaccoon) March 16, 2019

It was such a lovely event, and the venue (a pile-up of beautifully decorated shipping containers off Oxford Road in Manchester) was awesome. If you didn't manage to snag a ticket to the event, you can listen to my past podcast with Crazy Animal Face over here - CAF interviews Emmeline Pidgen Illustration.

If you or a pal are looking for advice on creative freelancing, finding clients, preparing a perfect portfolio etc you can also buy my Creative Freelance Advice Guide via my Etsy shop!

Thanks again to Paul and Ollie for inviting me to speak at such a brilliant event! I'm definitely keeping an eye out for the next event!

Emmeline In Black Crown Omnibus Comic

What a treat to get this gorgeously hefty copy of Black Crown Omnibus through my door! Last year I was commissioned to create my first internationally published comic for IDW's imprint Black Crown, and you can now see it again in big ol' omnibus format in this new collection!

The book features loads of amazing comics from the issues of Black Crown Quarterly, as well as all of the 'Hey Amateur!' one-page features (like my 'How to spot a galaxy' story) in full, glorious colour.  There are some really incredible stories in this book (yeah, I'm a tiny bit bias, but still...), and it's been a joy to dip into and enjoy reading through it with a brew.

My story is part instructional, with two lovely characters guiding you (and each other) through finding constellations, mythology and galaxies whilst stargazing at the night sky.

I've always loved stargazing, and I (nerdily) spent hours on a VERY slow computer game where you traipsed around the galaxy trying to spot constellations and use those as signposts to find galaxies or specific star clusters - so that inspired this comic heavily!

I love staying curious and I enjoy constantly learning new things, so the Hey Amateur series really spoke to me as both a creator and a reader! I highly recommend them. If you want to read more about the process of creating my 'How To Spot A Galaxy' comic, head to my post here!

If you fancy your own copy of Black Crown Omnibus, you can grab one for yourself online or in your favourite comic shops!

Illustrating For Kate Slater's Refuge Tree Project

I'm SO pleased to have been part of Kate Slater's amazing Refuge Tree project! There's almost a hundred amazing female-identifying illustrators involved, each producing artwork on a section of a huge tree collage, with individual pieces auctioned this week in aid of @Refugecharity (a charity which works to end domestic violence), AND the full tree displayed in London Review Bookshop!

I used Kuretake watercolours, @winsorandnewton gouache and @penteluk fineliners for my blossomy piece. 🌸 The plum tree outside of my house is currently in full blossom, so I couldn't resist adding some beautiful, giant blooms to my painting. I love drawing my characters reading, so I had to sneak a book in there!

The full display looks incredible, so make sure you take a peek on Kate's blog and keep an eye out for how to bid in the auction later this week!

A Year's Worth Of Nona The Ninth Comic Wrapped Up!

I finished making a year's worth of Nona The Ninth comics today! It's been a great challenge to work on a monthly comic, and it feels pretty emotional to wrap up the story arc for now. I've really enjoyed drawing Nona and exploring/researching all kinds of science experiments, Victorian history and silly family moments. I'm looking forward to revisiting her soon (maybe in book form)! But for now I'm feeling pretty good to have achieved this! The last few strips will be in GOOF comic over the next couple of months ❤️

#ArtVsArtist 2019

Am I too late for #ArtVsArtist?! Apparently I'm way into coral and teal colour combos and I'm very ok with that! 🖍️🍃

I've Illustrated A New Non-Fiction Book! ' You Can Two! The Essential Twins Preparation Guide '

A new book I've illustrated is out now! It's called 'You Can Two! The Essential Twins Preparation Guide' written by Jennifer Bonicelli and Meghan Hertzfeldt. It's all about gearing parents up for the arrival of lil' twin babies! Adorable project theme, right?

The team at Rockridge Press got in touch after I'd illustrated their 'No More Bullying Book For Kids' earlier this year, and said my illustrations would be perfect for the calming, cosy and optimistic vibe they were looking for for the book.

The book features twelve full-page colour interior chapter illustrations, as well as small spot illustrations dotted around the pages. The book covers everything from preparing for the delivery, to the best ways to feed twins, as well as looking after yourself!

The breastfeeding holds illustrations in particular took a lot of research to get the poses just right, as the illustrations were instructional as well as decorative! We had a few revisions on the angles and poses to make sure they were as clear as possible, and (although they're greyscale) they ended up being some of my favourite illustrations from the book!

It was such a nice project to illustrate, and it was a joy to be able and encouraged to represent a wide range of families through the illustrations! You can see more of the final illustrations and book shots below, and you can purchase the book here.