New Card Range For Ohh Deer

I've been with Ohh Deer since their launch in 2011, but over the last few months I've been working hard with them to put out a brand new range of products! These two are the first of a big batch that should be trickling out over the next year.

I wanted to keep things simple and graphic with these two Save The Date and Congratulations cards; opting for a focus on colour palettes, floral designs and hand drawn typography.

You can browse the rest of my Ohh Deer products or grab yourself a card or two here. I'll keep you up to date with the range as new pieces are released! EXCITING!

'Her Idea' Picture Book Review

It's probably a little obvious considering my profession, but I'm a huge fan of picture books. My shelves are stacked full of them and I can barely walk out of a bookshop without a few in tow.  Flying Eye Books (an imprint of Nobrow) publish particularly gorgeous pages of loveliness, so I was more than happy to receive a copy of Rilla Alexander's new picture book 'Her Idea' to have a chat about.

The thing that really grabbed me about Her Idea is the theme - the trials of seeing an idea through to completion - it's something that we all encounter at some point in our lives (professional creative or not), and it certainly hit home for me.  I know that I have sketchbooks full of little drawings and story scribbles that have remained stuck in closed pages for years.  It can be tricky to avoid losing motivation when you first snag a concept; but 'Her Idea' definitely inspires you to grab hold of those little flashes of inspiration and run with them.  

I wanted to find out a little more about Rilla's working process, and she so eloquently described the peaks and troughs of creating (as well as a few other inspirational gems) -

‘Her Idea’ comments on the theme of the struggle to follow through on the first sparks of ideas – is this something you struggle with in your own work? How do you stay motivated?

"I love thinking up ideas – they’re so full of potential and I just can’t wait to be able to give people the finished book/drawing/story/thing. Unfortunately, that initial creative adrenalin can come to a screeching halt once you’ve started work. It might be the moment you put pencil to paper or maybe it doesn’t come until half way through a story when you realise you don’t know how it’s going to end. For me, it is often when I am committing to a final line with ink. Whenever it is – there comes a moment when you you are confronted by the fact that you are not the genius you were hoping you were and that it might be a harder, longer road than you had envisaged.

When you are disappointed by how things are turning out, it can be tempting to simply start another idea and go back to the excitement fuelled energy of beginning. But, of course, that idea looks better – you haven’t discovered its flaws yet!

Instead of thinking about the overwhelming and impossible goal of my finished idea being a masterpiece – I have learnt to concentrate on each step of the process and be satisfied by reaching each milestone. The more small goals, the more satisfaction! I also remind myself that even if I’m not completely satisfied by the finished result, by completing one idea and getting started on the next I will only get better."

When you’re starting work on a book, does the story first spark through visuals or through words? Do you follow a set structure for story creation?

"Ideas for stories normally come to me in words. My idea book is full of notes about things I see around me, memories from dreams, interesting comments I hear on the radio and collections of words I like the sound of. 'The Best Book in the World', for instance, came from seeing a little boy reading a book while sitting on a pile of suitcases on a trolley being pushed by his father through a busy airport. And as I wrote 'Her Idea' I was feeling every bit of the rollercoaster of creation that Sozi (the main character and my alter-ego) was experiencing. 

The process of writing these books was very different – though I am very drawn to meta ideas and writing about my own experiences. No matter what the structure of the story, though, I find writing directly onto spreads (whether you’ve already drawn anything or not) very helpful in solving the story." 

What steps did you take to have Her Idea and The Best Book in the World published?

"Years ago I started a book I never finished because I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the search for a publisher. Now, I would never start a book if I didn’t want to make the book no matter what. Finishing it is the most important thing – even if you don’t have a publisher you can always print it yourself and have an exhibition. I met Nobrow (who published both books) just by making and sharing my work."  

Her Idea features strong, graphic illustration with a limited colour palette and a lot of movement.  Rilla has such a distinct, arresting style that it's instantly recognisable as her work; it's a story with a bold visual voice. There's a great atmosphere to the book and the pace and flow is spot on - you're with Sozi every step of the way!

Nobrow and Flying Eye Books publish a lot of cutting edge illustration, and this number is no different - there's a simplicity to it, which works well with the crispness of the linework and a strong sense of dynamic shape. There's just so much character in 'Her Idea', you really feel for Sozi and her story.  Physically, the book's got gorgeously thick, textured paper and vibrant printing.  You can really appreciate how well made it is (and it's one of those books that smells amazing too!).  There's definitely been a lot of care put into it at every stage.

I won't deny feeling a little emotional after reading this, it's just such a great reflection of what it's like to be a creative person, or, in fact, a human in general.  Letting ideas slip away because of a dip in motivation or confidence is so universal - and it takes a leap to go and chase them down.  I wanted to ask Rilla how she tackles her own creative burn-out and how she stays positive and motivated whilst working:

"This year marks my twentieth working year and I have been self employed for 15 of them. I think the most important thing is to keep changing. What might be the perfect situation for you right now, may not be next year. I work very flexibly and probably solve most of my ideas walking my dog or having a rest. I always take weekends – they are just not usually the same days as everyone else’s!"

I don't often write picture book reviews, but I just loved how relevant 'Her Idea' is to a lot of the freelance advice articles I've written recently, and it's a great flash of inspiration if you're struggling for motivation on a project.  

There's so many things that come together to make this book as lovely as it is - and you can tell the story has been written from the heart.  As a creative person, I'm definitely going to be grabbing this book from the shelf when I'm feeling particularly Page 19, and I know I would've absolutely loved reading this when I was little! 

Well then...I'd better go and track down some of my old ideas!

Huge thanks to Flying Eye Books, and to Rilla for the answers.  You can find out more or grab yourself a copy on Rilla's page, or the Flying Eye Books website!

New Website!

Guys, I have something big to tell you...I have a brand new website!

It's great to have a bit of a fresh start for 2015, and this is something I've been thinking of doing for a while. I designed my old website myself and built it up from scratch, and don't get me wrong - I loved it - but I had a brief flash of realisation when I wanted to put new work on my website and had an overwhelming feeling of 'Urgghh...I can't be bothered! I'd rather be drawing!". My old website wasn't the easiest to update: I was using a coded slideshow and had to manually adjust the sizes of my illustrations and thumbnails before adding them in one by one. It wasn't horrendous, but definitely enough to keep it on your to do list for a few days too long.

With my new website I'm using Behance Prosite as a base with some custom coding here and there to make it a little more personal. The main clincher for me is that I can upload my work to Behance (which I've been getting into recently!) and push those projects straight to my website - a million times quicker and easier than I was dealing with before. This means a lot more new work, up to date portfolio and the ability to include a few more illustrations, photos and details in each project.

Social media is far more integrated with this new format, with options to share each illustration on every project page. I think that was really lacking from my other websites, and being such a social media butterfly myself - I think it's a really important way to raise your profile. There are a few things that I would have liked to carry over from my old website style, but honestly the benefits far outweigh the negatives and I'm excited to share my work in this new way.  

I've stripped down my portfolio a little, added a few never-before-seen projects and I'll be rearranging it over the coming weeks; but I do love that you get an instant hit of my style, which should hopefully appease those oh-so-impatient internet goers who give a website a second or two to impress. The internet is a harsh place, and you need to make a solid impact as quickly as possible - so sometimes slideshows can only really hold the attention of the very patient, and we all know how busy clients, agents and art directors can be.

I've included a new tab on the navigation which leads to my freelance advice articles on Medium, definitely something I'm going to be beefing up over the next year, so keep an eye out for those!

I do have to say that it's a real shame that Behance Prosite isn't responsive (how?! It's 2015!), and that's been one of the first things that people have commented on when I've promoted the new site. If I was more confident with coding I would definitely attempt to wrangle some responsiveness in there, but I'm more of a code editor than a start-from-scratch-er, and I'm very concious of breaking it. Behance have been saying for years that an update is just around the corner, and I seriously hope it is - come on guys!

So if you've read this far, you're probably one of those more patient interneters I just mentioned - so if you could take the time to have a little look through the new site, and let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate it. Hopefully everyone feels as excited about it as I do!

'Investing In Stockport' Animation Design

Towards the end of last year I was asked to work on my very first animation for a client! Chog Zoo Animation wanted me on board for a commission to work on an animation for Stockport Council - and I jumped at the chance to work as part of a team, and see my characters in motion!

The animation was based around the not-so-nice proposed budget cuts, and the idea of working with the local community to hear their opinion on moving forwards.

I worked closely with Chog Zoo in creating early concept art, character design and storyboarding before taking the floor and illustrating the assets before they worked their animation wizardry. 

I first illustrated the main character Pippi, and steadily brought in a whole cast of characters to represent the Stockport community and support the narrative. We included backgrounds and buildings showing key locations in Stockport and the surrounding Greater Manchester area; and represented the issues and that Stockport is facing, as well as the progress that is being made.

We were lucky enough to have the oh-so-talented actress Josie Cerise on board for the audio, and I'm very much hoping to work with Chog Zoo and Josie again in the future (maybe on a slightly more fictional piece!). It was fantastic to branch out into moving image, and they're a seriously great bunch of people!

The final video faced some severe editing and script-changes, but it's great to see councils engaging their communities through artistic animation. You can see the full video below!

National Hugging Day 2015

This is a bit of an old illustration, but it's that day again - National Hugging Day! So grab your buddies and show them you care.

Illustrated Advent

Following on from my Inktober challenge a few months ago, I decided to grab that motivation by the horns and take part in 'Illustrated Advent', that is, to create one festive illustration per day in the run up to Christmas.

Sorry, you're probably sick of snowy scenes and Christmas jumpers - but this year I allowed myself some time off and thought this was definitely worth a share post-December.

In a way Illustrated Advent was a little more work than Inktober in that I was creating full colour illustrations each day (rather than a relatively quick ink painting). But, having a festive theme definitely made it easier to snap ideas to life. I did find that there's a fair bit of pressure with the festive theme, just in terms of trying to create something original, there's so so so many Christmas illustrations out there and it can be hard to create something with your stamp on it.

I played around with different formats of illustration: some sweet spot illustrations of snuggly animals, Wintery landscapes, characters, an animated gif for Christmas Day and these collection illustrations of festive knits, treats and foliage! I re-purposed a few of my recent Christmas card illustrations for some of the days, which allowed me to tackle some hefty deadlines I was facing with commissioned work (it's not cheating is it? Nah!).  It's been great to allow myself some introspection over my work, I think it's clear from looking at the full collection that I'm very into my coral, raspberry and teal colour palettes at the moment.  It's one of those things that really makes you evaluate how you're working.

I really love some of the work I came out with through Illustrated Advent (and Inktober), so I do think it's worth taking on challenges like this, if only to force yourself to use your time productively rather than procrastinating.  

These drawing-a-day challenges aren't something I'm going to do all the time, it's hard to maintain a certain level of quality without burning out, and I never like the feeling of something so creative becoming a chore.  But I've had a really great response to them, and you can see the full collection on Pinterest and Behance!

So here we are in 2015, and I've been making a lot of plans.  I have a great couple of commissions on the go (which I should be able to tell you about soon, they're bloomin' exciting!) and some serious creative goals for the coming months. Have a great start of the year!

Draw North West Poster Illustration

As a great little warm up project for the start of 2015, I was asked to illustrate this month's Draw North West poster. You may have seen my post about DNW a few months ago, and hopefully you've popped down to one yourself, but in the simplest form: Draw North West is a Manchester meet up for creatives to chat, drink and scribble silly things.

I've been going to DNW since the first meet a good few years ago, and I've met so many brilliant people so far.  It's definitely worth dragging yourself away from the ol' desk and heading to these sorts of creative gatherings - at least you'll be spending time disconnected from the internet, and you might well just come back with a bucketful of inspiration!

The next meetup is 27th January, 7:30pm in the Kosmonaut Bar basement (Tariff Street, Manchester NQ). Hopefully see you there!

Behind The Scenes - Illustrating The Lavender Blue Dress Picture Book

I often get asked about my creative process, especially with regards to illustrating picture books; but it's not always easy to explain everything without sitting down and talking for an hour or two.  So when Cargo Publishing asked if I could give a little insight into my picture book illustration process and talk about the early concept art for The Lavender Blue Dress, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get everything down on paper and share some of my advice.  The article has been up on the Cargo Publishing website for a little while, but wanted to share it here with my other creative tips as well.  This will hopefully prove useful whether you're just breaking into the industry, need a technique refresher or just fancy a little insight into how picture books come to life.

Illustrating a picture book is incredibly fun, as you might imagine. With the author’s text in a folder to your left, a pile of neatly sharpened pencils on your desk and a blank storyboard in your hands: you’re standing at the edge of infinite visual possibility.

That said, just beneath the fun is the knowing simmer that you’re shouldering an awful lot of responsibility. It takes a lot of time to really understand the intricacies involved with designing a picture book. I know that when I was younger I assumed it would be easy, but it’s one of those things where the more you learn about it, the more you realise there is so much left to learn.



When I started work on The Lavender Blue Dress with Aidan Moffat and Cargo Publishing, I was lucky in that I knew I was working with a team who would grant me creative freedom, and trust in my skills as an illustrator. Aidan had great initial ideas for some of the scenes and for Mabel’s character design, and we always felt comfortable in discussing each element; working together to make the book as amazing as it should be. I think ultimately that’s been one of the reasons the book has ended up being so special: each of us had so much faith in the project, and the trust that we would all be working together to make something we’re truly proud of.

I usually start a book illustration project by sketching out each and every idea that sparks when I first read the text. It’s surprising how often these very rough early ideas can ignite and become some of the most pivotal visuals in the book! After a few basic storyboards (which, if I’m honest, wouldn’t really be legible to anyone but me) I arrange a rough storyboard to send to the client, along with notes and a number of preliminary character designs.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re storyboarding a picture book. The visuals you use can drastically alter the pace and flow of the book: pages with small, multiple vignette illustrations tend to pick up the pace; whilst full bleed, highly detailed landscapes will slow the reader down. Same goes for use of colour, composition and shape to reflect the emotion in the story. Soft rounded shapes and warm, tonal colours will suggest a cosy, safe, slowed environment; whilst angular shapes and more hectic composition will make the reader feel more alert, emphasising dramatic situations.

You can see in this Lavender Blue Dress double page spread that I’ve used a faster-paced visual style on the left, with small illustrations showing a sort of flashback of Mabel’s family working excitedly on a surprise before she gets home; alongside a single page of warm colours and a rounded background, to really make the reader emphasise with the love and thankfulness that Mabel has for her family at this point in the story. Contrastingly, in the spread below you can see I’ve taken the time to slow the reader down with a sparse, horizontal landscape and cooler colours to suggest time and the solemn thoughts of Mabel’s melancholy walk home.

Thinking about the ‘camera angle’ (if you consider each page like a film shot) is really important too. Close-up shots of the character suggest a really personal connection between the character and reader, as if they’re talking just to you (you’ll be able to see this in action at the end of the book, I won’t spoil it for you!). Straight horizontal shots often give the reader a sense of the movement of time, or with a bit of an angle work very well in setting the scene and showing some of the story’s environment to the reader.

It’s exciting to work with such a vast intangible toolkit to be able to speak the volumes of a story that the words don’t say. What good is it to just illustrate exactly what each line says? There’s so much space for innovation and the suggestion of story-within-a-story, which for me is the absolute joy of being an illustrator.

The Lavender Blue Dress has been one of my very favourite projects to work on in my career. Everything came together so easily and ran so smoothly that you’d think something would go hideously wrong – but it didn’t at all, and we couldn’t be prouder of the picture book we’ve created.

You can see the full article and grab a copy of The Lavender Blue Dress on the Cargo Publishing website here.  You can also find this, and many more of my creative articles on Medium.  If you want to ask me anything, or receive some tailored advice drop me a comment on this post!

Ebb & Flo Bookshop Event

I'm a big supporter of independent bookshops, so I was over the moon to be invited to Ebb & Flo Bookshop in Chorley to host a Lavender Blue Dress picture book event on Small Business Saturday.

I perched on a little chair and read The Lavender Blue Dress in a cosy room above the bookshop - crammed with parents and excited kids; answered questions about my processes, career and illustrations, and signed a few secret copies for Christmas presents!

I thought it would be a great idea to get the children involved in the creativity and hold a little character design workshop after the book reading.  So I pitched the challenge for everyone to draw a friend for the book's main character Mabel, and then that friend's family and pet - roughly following my own process for creating characters and storytelling.  

Some of the children were a little shy with their confidence in drawing people; so I took to a flipchart and covered it in bold, simple shapes and used those as a starting point for creating characters.  They were really inspired by that challenge, and it was great to see some of the shyer kids coming up and really sparking their imaginations with what sort of character each of the shapes suggested (well, we do have one tree as well!).  I found this to be a really good method of breaking down the creative process to its simplest form, giving a bit of an insight into the professional side of things, whilst being fun and accessible for everyone!

It was so nice to see all the drawings at the end of the workshop, I wish I had some of them to show you (if anyone who was there is reading this and wants to send one in, please do!), and it was particularly humbling to hear that some of the children were hoping to be artists and authors when they're older!

You can find out more about The Lavender Blue Dress book events across the country on the Cargo Publishing website here.

Arms & Legs

Sometimes I find it best to just strip everything back in an illustration, and focus on simple linework.  These were great fun to draw, in the style of a study (though they weren't from reference) and arrange some lovely intersecting shapes with the two contrasting line colours.  

I often spend hours on illustrations, and they can become overworked - it's good to shake that feeling off with a few loose sketches and to have something finished within a few minutes! Highly recommended little exercise!

Fentimans Mixer Launch (& Illustration Inspiration!)

Since my 'Best Arts & Culture' blog award I've been lucky enough to be invited to a number of exhibitions and events.  Living near Manchester (and having a bit of a sweet tooth) I thought this launch, for heritage soft drink brand Fentimans' new range, would be an evening well spent (and a welcome break from the studio!).

The launch was at the lovely Great John Street hotel in Manchester, and we had some of the world's best mixologists on hand to whip up some tasty treats.  

The Fentimans range sells itself on being botanically brewed (and established way back in 1905), so it was really interesting to grab the chance to learn about the unconventionally traditional brewing methods for their soft drinks.  It felt a bit like a real life episode of 'How It's Made', but honestly I love to learn about things I've never considered thinking about.

The room was littered with Victorian-curio style pots with various ingredients Fentimans use. I won't deny giving them all a sniff, but I have to say some of them taste far better in a drink than they smell in storage!

There's something that sparks the imagination about cocktails (with or without alcohol!); I think it's the inventive names, odd combinations of flavours and rainbow of colours - something about them suggests personality.  I thought it would be fun to draw up some characters inspired by a few of the soft drinks and cocktails available on the night.  The two that really caught my eye were Rosebud Fizz (a pretty pink Rose Lemonade fizzer, garnished with rose petals!) and CC Sweet & Sour (think Cola with lime and oranges!).

I'm often inspired by colour, and strong limited colour palettes are an obvious focus here.  I set myself a little time to create simple, quick character illustrations which honed in on the ingredients of the drink, the colours, the 'personality' and the slightest hint of Victorian style. 

It's definitely great practice to pull inspiration from odd sources, to be honest I think almost anything has the potential to inspire a character or illustration (no guarantee they'll be amazing if you choose a bin or something though...but prove me wrong!).  

It's worth the challenge to grab the tiniest hints of inspiration you can, and run with them - sketch strange characters, draw odd worlds - you never know what ideas they might spark later.

[P.S Big thanks to Neil Denham for use of his event photos. I had a bit of a disaster and lost all mine, Neil saved the day!]

Colour Collecting

It's been a gorgeous Autumn, and I have more snapshots to share than anyone would have the patience for - but I thought these colour-grabs, from an afternoon adventure to Sizergh Castle in the Lake District, might give a little insight into the simple things I find inspiration in.

Most of these are from a small vegetable garden in the castle grounds, overwhelmingly bursting with colour.  It's great to take inspiration from nature, and these small capsules of fine leafy curls and dusty textures will probably make their way into my work at some point.

So make sure your harddrives aren't completely full of selfies, and take the time to snap anything you think might inspire you in the future.  It's so great to have a collection of forgotten moments and objects that can spark ideas years down the line!