Isolation breeds Illustration

They say necessity breeds innovation, but my recent experience of Covid19 has altered this well known saying to, ‘Isolation breeds Illustration.’

 

After eighteen months of manging to avoid the dreaded Corona Virus, my teen son caught it at school and brought home and very generously shared it with me, whilst my daughter was off school suffering from flu. My husband sensibly slept on the floor in the Livingroom and worked from the shed, and therefore managed to avoid succumbing to it.

 

Covid aside (it is horrible even if you are double vaccinated), the isolation was long, not helped my Track and Trace making an error and making me isolate for 12 days rather than 10. Usually this would have been fine, but with the children both isolating and schooling virtually we didn’t have enough devices in order for me to continue editing my WIP.

 

I can tell you from experience, there are only so many times you can sort out the wardrobe, or dust the house plants before you start going crazy. Of course I took the time to read, but I needed to be creative, and that’s when I picked up a pencil and returned to my roots.

 

For anyone who doesn’t know, I come from an art back ground. My degree is in fine art, and I have been a successful professional artist some of my work is part of the Magg Collection housed in the Ferne Gallery in Hull. I originally got into the children literary world by endeavouring to pursue a career in illustration.

The illustration I loved and I got to the point of having meetings with agents, and not quite getting taken on but having the door open to go back when I’d improved my portfolio. Many of the agents having seen a rhyming part-illustrated PB text I’d penned about catching a kangaroo, advised me to write too.

 

However having two small children, and living in a touring caravan while the ramshackle house was being knocked down and re-built (before it fell down on its own accord) I had no room to set up and draw/paint. Remember this was when digital art was in its infancy and before I-pads were a thing. So I took the multiple agents advice and picked up a keyboard and began to write.

 

The space issue and the call to the dark side – sorry writing – got me distracted and illustration took a back seat that was until I was prisoner in my own room for twelve days.

 

So isolation boredom got me doodling. Sketching. Developing characters, and eventually constructing compositions. This along with lots of encouragement from the lovely folks of the writing/illustration community – thank you are all my personal cheerleaders and it’s much appreciated - made me think maybe I should take the illustration thing more seriously.

So I am back writing AND illustrating and I love it. Of course I have LOTS to learn about illustration but that is a challenge I’m very happy to embark on. Be it a bit SCARY.

So that is my story, it took a global pandemic to get me doodling again, and so I can report isolation really does bred illustration.

A BIG 

THANK YOU

to very one who encouraged me to illustrate - you know who you are!

Confessions of an X- Doodler

Since the new Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell has been appointed, there has been lots of talk about drawing and doodling. This makes sense as Chris Riddell is not only a gifted wordsmith creating beautiful characters like Ottoline and Goth Girl, but he is also a talented illustrator (to see more details about both his writing and illustration press here to read our Space on the Bookshelf celebration of his work).

Chris Riddell has shared with us all his 5 point plan for his turn as Laureate and used his speech to urge people to ‘Draw something every day’, and to spend time as a family drawing and doodling. Many people have taken his advice and made a conscious effort to doodle every day, like Lou Minns family who challenged themselves to doodle every day for a month, to read about their endeavours press here. It was whist following Lou’s family’s progress that I had an epiphany; I realised that I no longer doodle.

Now this may not seem much to most people BUT let me explain. All my life I’ve been a constant Doodler, no paper was safe, or napkin, or well anything. If there was a pen, pencil, crayon, chalk, lipstick and a scrap of paper (or skin) then it ended up full of intricate drawings and doodles. It caused quite a few fights when I was first married, as if any post was left out, I would not only decorate the envelope but the letter to, even if it was an important document!

My doodling was a gift, I studied Art and Related Arts at university, and many of my strongest works were as a result of doodles. I initially came to writing through the ambition to illustrate, and way back in 2008 I had an meeting with illustration agency Plumb Pudding; their advice – my doodling was far superior to my finished works, and to continue to doodle and work on my finished work (and to stay in touch, ophs!)

So whilst reading all the enthusiastic posts people have been posting about discovering doodling I was amazed to realise that I can’t recall the last time I doodled. This got me thinking what has changed? 

I can’t really put my foot on what it is that has changed or at what point I stopped doodling, and the realisation that I no longer doodle actually makes me rather sad. It is true that the last few years have been hectic; one re-location, three subsequent moves, new EVERYTHING, I’ve had competition successes in writing, scored an agent, blogged, got puppies, and well then all the every day-to-day stuff. Maybe the lack of doodling is a result of the amount of LIFE that has happened?

I do still draw from time to time with my kids, as does my husband. Plus I can take some reassurance that both small people doodle all the time and are gifted artists. However, this is my pledge to myself; I shall doodle, and I shall endeavour to doodle daily.