ashleysillustrations

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Potential Client List

Caterpillar Books

The first client I would love to work with in the future is Caterpillar Books, they are a children's publishers who range their books around 0-7 year olds. They publish work that is based around bold and contemporary illustrations. The client would suit my work as I like to create bold colourful images with the age range being quite young, which I think suits my style of illustration. To get in touch with them I would have to contact Libby Walden who is the editor at ewalden@caterpillarbooks.co.uk

Illustrated by Jack Tickle

Macmillan Children’s Books

The second client that I would love to potentially work with would be Macmillan Children's Books. They have a wide variety of age appropriate styles commissioned for children books for ages between 4-9. I think my work would defiantly suit this client as they accept a wide range of styles. I love to add humour and colour to my illustrations so would suit the age range greatly. I would contact Chris Inns at c.inns@macmillan.co.uk

Illustrated by Steven Lenton

Penguin Random House (Children)

Another potential client I would love to work with is the Penguin Random House (Children). They are a publisher of children books for a age group around 0-12 years. Some of there illustrations merges in with television shows, but they also commission a wide range of illustration styles. I think my work would suit this client as my work is very colourful and fun, it would link in well with some of the illustrated books on there website. To contact this client I would need to email Kristie Billingham at kristie.billingham@uk.penguingroup.com

Illustrated by Garry Parsons

Mathew Price International

A fourth client I would love to work with would be Mathew Price International. They are a children book publishers specialising in flap,pop up and paper engineered titles, with the age range of up to 6 years old. I would say my work is for younger age groups and I would defiantly love the opportunity to illustrate pop up and flap books, they are also international which would be a great opportunity to get my work out there. I would need to contact Mathew Price at either Mathewprice.com or submissions@mathewprice.com

Illustrated by Atsuko Morozumi

Children's Ladybird Books

The fifth client that I would love to work with would be Ladybird Books. They have a wide range of illustrated children's fiction books for ages 0-8. The illustration styles are varied, they are always looking for appealing, age appropriate, up market work, particularly story books. I feel this would be a perfect fit for my work as my illustrations suits the 0-8 age range, my illustrations are age appropriate and mainly follow a story. To get into contact with this client I would need to email Anna Billson at abillson@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

Illustrated by Fred Blunt

Hachette Children's: Flanklin Watts

The sixth client I would love to work with would be Machete Children's: Franklin Watts. They commission a lot of colour illustrations for small format “Early Years” picture books, plus they also commission some black and white works. I think this would be a good fit for my work as I like to illustrate around children subjects. I also love my illustrations to be full of colour and enjoy working with small formats. To get into contact with this client I would need to email Peter Scolding at peter.scolding@hachettechildrens.co.uk

Illustrated by Mark Nicholas

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Best Professional Practice Talk

I think one of the best Professional Practice talks was by the British Illustrator Brian Grimwood, who has worked for The Radio Times, BBC 2, ASDA, Independent Newspaper, Vogue, Rolling Stones and many more. 

It was good to experience how another artist works and hear them talk about how they managed to start their career off as a illustrator/designer, and how they looked for jobs/clients. Brian first talked about how he first started to get work from magazines companies illustrating the front covers, from doing this he once got 6 jobs in 1 week. When he started his career he used to create ruffs to see what colour works, which I have found to be a good idea, as I sometimes struggle with colour. His work is based around puns, he explained he likes to make his work about humour it makes it memorable he added, “Illustration should be about humour.” which I agreed humour makes the illustration fun and exciting. 

At the end of the talk he gave us all one final piece of advise which was “If it looks good on a matchbox its gonna look good on the side of a house.” I think this is the thing that has stuck with me the most throughout his talk, I think it was a very good piece of advise!

http://www.briangrimwood.com

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Portfolio Reviews Summary

Being able to talk to people and have them give advise/constructive criticism on my portfolio has given me confidence in my work and as a human. Before Uni I would have never been able to do this, I have found the experience to be extremely educational and have found there is not one set way of creating or designing a portfolio, everyone seems to have different opinions, which I feel is a good thing. Through my portfolio reviews there have been some reoccurring comments. I have been told that the portfolio was looking professional and the description and layout was working very well, which was something that was important to me as I wanted my portfolio to look clean and straight to the point. I have also been told numerous times that portfolios always look better bigger, but I just cannot bring myself to do this as its not me. A good tip I was advised on doing was to start with a strong piece and end with one, which I have done and I think it makes my portfolio a lot stronger.

Brian Grimwood

One portfolio review I had was with the British Illustrator Brian Grimwood, he was such a lovely man, he explained to me how he loves big portfolios and that my illustrations would look lovely bigger. He also liked the description at the bottom of the page, he though it looked much more professional. Brian also commented on my textures and explained how well they worked, he also mentioned that my work was very graphic like a graphic designers work, which I was surprised because I had never seen myself as a graphic designer as I'm not comfortable with design like I am with illustrations. Overall I really enjoyed meeting Brian and experiencing a portfolio review with him.

http://www.briangrimwood.com

Mat Roff

Another portfolio review I had was with a British Illustrator called Mat Roff, he was one of my contacts with industry last year, he was kind enough to give me a PDF portfolio review. i found his portfolio review to be very constructive and helpful. He started off by saying my “portfolio was easy to read and the artwork is the main focus, which it should be.” He also said always start off with your favourite pieces, you want to grab the clients/art directors attention from the get go, and to always start off with a piece that shows off your skill set. He explained less is more, keeping it simple is key. Another good point he made was to structure the portfolio into groups, so dinosaurs with dinosaurs, bears with bears and so on. Overall this portfolio review has had an impact on my portfolio and the way I structure it.

http://www.matroff.co.uk

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Tutorial Feedback From Semester 2

Illustrator/Authorstrator

During semester 2, this is were I think the project started to come along and really come together. A really important tutorial in this project for me was a group tutorial on the 13th February 2018. I had created all the illustrations for my children book but needed to decide on what type of font I wanted and where the possible placements where, this tutorial helped me decide this but also helped me add the small details onto each page, especially where there was a lot going on, on the pages. It was also advised to add motion lines to create movement on the pages which in the end made it fun. From this tutorial I only needed to make tweaks to my pages, which eventually lead to creating my first ever children's book!

Future Self Part 2

I think at the beginning of future self part 2 I was still confused on where this project was going, I didn't really have a plan apart from it was going to be based around a dinosaur alphabet. The tutorial that defiantly helped me the most was the most recent one, on the 16th April 2018. This tutorial cleared everything up, the plan was to create a dinosaur poster, 3 pieces of fabric with my dinosaur patterns, flash cards, and maybe creating some dinosaur book ends, all that needed doing at this point was to send it all off as I had done all of the illustrations.

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Tutorial Feedback From Semester 1

Illustrator/Authorstrator 

I think the turning point in semester 1 was definitely the audio feedback. It made me realise how much work I needed to do, as I was falling behind. This lead me to create a full children’s book which I didn’t think I would get done before the audio feedback. During the audio feedback It was mentioned I should create dummy book and a plan to proceed, which I did, I think this was the best thing I did throughout this project as it got me organised and ready for what I had to do next. Another thing that was mentioned was some of the characters needed a few changes as parts of them looked a bit odd or the textures weren't working, theses things were changed, which improved the way my illustrations looked.

Future Self Part 1

At the start of this project I was very happy with the direction I was taking, but slowly started to realise how long a book actually takes to illustrate, I had to also take in consideration the text and design and how long it would take as it was all new to me at the time. Through a group tutorial I was told to look more closely at the colour palette of my double page spreads as they were all completely different to each other. There was a lot of room for play with both text and colour, I think because there was so much room for play I got lost as I had no direction. In the end I chose to illustrate 8 double page spreads and a clay model for the October deadline, some of the double page spreads worked well but some didn't, the text was also something that needed work.

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Skills Audit and Action Plan

Skills Audit

Going through the skills audit I have evaluated my skills out of 5. I think the skills I am the most strongest at would have to be working to tight deadlines and sending high resolution work, as these are both needed when creating children books. I would say I am quite good and creating good consistent character, conveying expression and mood, but I am also ok at understanding sequence and pace through a story. The things I'm not so good at would be interpreting and positioning text, creating my own stories and also creating my own environments in stories.

Action Plan

During this year I will need to create an action plan that will directly impact me on my future. The first issue I have is promoting my work, I will need to start posting on my Instagram and facebook pages much more frequently as it doesn't look very professional neglected, plus it will look updated and new regularly. The second issue I have is invoices I have never seen one or completed one in my life so in the future I will have to complete a invoice to know how they work. The third issue I have is interpreting text to my work, in the Future self project I feel I have gained quite a lot of knowledge on text and how to deal with it, but I think I do still need to work on this skill for future projects. The fourth issue is working out a fee for my work, I have no idea what to charge and if I will charge to much or to little. This problem could probably be solved by asking other illustrators or tutors what they charge for a specific piece of work. The final issue I will deal with is the use of colour in my work, I feel like in the future self project I have dealt with colour much better as I stuck to a colour palette, so maybe in the future if I create a suitable colour palette this could help my problem. 

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Here are some test pages for The Skipping Mayor book me and Nayim have worked on. The Top layout, I do not like at all, the text is way to close to the image and it just doesn't fit that well. I think we will have to keep to one image to one page instead of two, as the other pages look fine. Also I think that we shouldn't use bigger and bolder fonts for words like “HAPPY” on the second image, it would look odd as there aren’t many words to do that to, so it wouldn't be constant, but apart from this I think the layouts work and I'm happy with them.

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From the last Adrian Mole book cover I did, I have changed the front text. I have changed the main text to black and added white highlights behind it, I have also added a orange fade behind it to match the solid orange blocks. At the top of the book where it says “The Funniest Book of The Year - Daily Mail” I added a layer of black text to give a 3D effect, I think this works well, it stands out much more than it did on the previous photo. I’m much more happy with this design than the one I originally had, I'm glad my tutors told me what was needed to improve it.

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Discussion Forum - Future in Illustration

Over the past few months the whole group has been having discussion forums about subjects in illustration. I have enjoyed listening to them as it has opened my eyes to the world of illustration. One discussion that was interesting was the future in illustration, we talked about in 10 years or so, the future will be/could be heavily based around the internet more than it is now, and instead of illustrating books we will be illustrating apps for mobile phones, iPads and god knows what next. We also discussed how illustrators talked face to face to there clients if they worked on a brief, nowadays its through email. I guess there are disadvantages and advantages to this, one disadvantage being, illustrators may not get the job compared to if they had met the illustrator face to face as there is a bond, its totally different. I've experienced something similar to this as I wasn't to sure on the project I'm doing now (The Skipping Mayor) but as soon as I met the author of the book I knew that it was going to be a great project. An advantage of not meeting the client face to face is that its so much quicker through email, there no arranging meetings or traveling, its literally a click away from contacting the client. Its also easier for a artist to get there work “out there” as we have so many apps that are on a page global scale, but the disadvantage of this is that the artist has to worry about copyright as anyone can repost/copy the work. Theses are just a few issues I have covered there is so much more, I just thought it was really interesting how the world used to work!

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Portfolio Entry 

I really enjoyed creating this bear in first year, I think it was my turning point in the way I work. I learnt so much from my tutor/s (and still learning) in every aspect of illustration. I can't wait to see what happens in third year!

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Contact With Industry - Steve Brown

My fifth Contact with industry is a children's illustrator called Steve Brown who lives in the uk and is represented by the Bright Agency.

I love your textured work it brings your illustrations to life, what are the 5 things that inspire your work?

Oh God I don’t really know, I’m not quite sure where most of it comes from. I have periods were I am totally inspirationaly numb and then I have times where ill produce something new everyday. I would probably say, if I had to try and narrow things down..

1: stupid and funny stuff my kids say, that sometimes inspires me to write or draw something.

2:watching a lot of cartoons etc with the kids, ive always loved cartoons and grew up in the late 70’s early 80’s when all the best stuff was on tv.

3: I like to look through other illustrators pages on twitter, facebook, instagram etc and sometimes something might spark some inspiration off.

4: Again I like to look at other artists work, I like to study their tecniques and I get ideas for my own stuff sometimes while I do that.

5: I don’t sleep that well, and a lot of ideas for stories and images pop in my head while im laying there so I tend to write a quick  ote then and there so I don’t forget it in the morning.

What type of illustration projects are you most interested in?

My ultimate goal is to write and illustrate my own books, I am currently trying out my writing and sending stuff to my agent, and thankfully getting some good responses from her, and they are being pitched to publishers and book fairs so fingers crossed they will develop into something soon. But I love illustrating anything really, I like things with a good sense of humor, stupid humor and gross stuff. I want to illustrate stuff for kids, I see lots of stuff out there at the moment that are beautiful illustrations but I feel that the stories are for the adult and not the child, kids want fun and adventure and that’s what I want to do. 

When working for clients do you ever get uninterested or uninspired of a project? If so what motivates you to finish the project?

Yes unfortunately sometimes I get like that, the story can sometimes be a bit boring, especially if they are for really young readers. I try to focus on the character design as that’s a part I really enjoy, I try to think of each project as a learning experience in the business and in my development as an artist, plus I need to pay the mortgage haha so gotta get it done.

 I tend to have creative blocks,do you get them? If so how do you overcome them?

Have that for sure, more often than I like! Don’t know why I get them and don’t know how I get rid of them.. ill have days where everything I do is rubbish or I actually cant think of a thing to do, then all of a sudden something clicks and its gone!.. so im afraid im of no help there, I think all creative get that and you have to just power through as much as possible.

When deciding to become an illustrator how did you start to gain work? what was your strategy?

I was a Paramedic for 9 years but knew I wanted to leave and try to become an illustrator, ( I went to art college when I left school for a few years) and was going to slowly die down the ambulance work and try to break into the illustration world, but I ended up with a bad back injury which put me off work sick for 7 months and I was in constant pain. Drawing was the only thing to that took my mind off it all, I decided  to try and approach agents to see what responses I got. I Got signed after 6 weeks and started from there really, when I finally got better enough to try and go back to work, I only managed 2 shifts and I was back in hospital, came home and my wife told me I wasn’t going back, and wrote my resignation letter right then. If it wasn’t for my wifes amazing support I couldn’t do any of this. I was with that agent for 2 and a bit years, then moved to Bright. Don’t know how I would of got on if I hadn’t got signed by an agent?

Where do your colour pallets come from?

I tend to just put down what feels right for that image.. some publishers like a certain palette for there books which can be hard if I feel it’s a bit too garish but I tend to balance that out with doing a piece of my own to satisfy my needs haha.

 My personal workstation if full of all sorts of paint, pens and book etc… what does your work station consist of and what is your favourite medium to work with?

It consists of a bloody mess!!.. im actually buying a new studio in the next couple of months.. I currently have a summer house at the bottom of the garden but am changing it for a big Log cabin, so will have lots more space.. my desk has my large cintiq on it plus lots of pens and pencils etc, I have lots of books of illustration and childrens books, comics and graphic novels. Loads of full up sketchbooks and spare sketchbooks. I Also have a drawing/art table which is currently full of marvel and star wars toys etc and the od harry potter wand.

I like to doodle in my sketchbook, I used to do a lot of watercolour and copic markers etc but I use photoshop now for my proper finished work, I do love to sketch in my sketchbooks but I really do love to work digitally no.

Is there any advice you would give an illustration student finishing university wanting to become a children's book illustrator?

Make sure you have a lot of savings hahaha I would say make sure you have a passion for it as its hard going being freelance, its hard to not have that certainty of a regular wage. But I think it is worth it, I am 40 in April and the happiest ive ever been. Its an amazing job when you have the work, but also a scary job when it quietens down.

My advice would be keep pushing yourself, say yes to everything and then work out how you’ll do it afterwards, try not to put too many walls up. Doing something new and different is scary but can also be very rewarding.

You can check out Steve's work here -  http://www.stevebrownillustration.co.uk

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Contacts With Industry - Martinus Van Tee

My fourth Contact with industry was a artist called Martinus Van Tee from South Africa, he mostly makes his living off creating caricatures but often does children illustrations for books and magazines.

Hi Ashley.

Fantastic. I'm happy to answer your questions, and thanks again for all the nice comments on Instagram. I've gone into a lot of details for some of these questions. I hope it's not too much!

I love your wacky brilliant drawings it brings your illustrations to life, what are the 5 things that inspire your work?

Thanks for the kind words! 

Many of my paintings are inspired by music. If a lyric or line from a song creates an image in my mind, I often try and re-create that in a painting. Terrapin and Toad, the name of my little illustration business (which I run with my wife, Natasha) is taken from a line from the Woody Guthrie recording of Cumberland Gap, an old folk song.

The line (As far as I can make out) is: 

"As I was going down the road

I met that terrapin and I met that toad

Every time the terrapin sing

Old folks clip that pigeon wing" 

(The pigeon wing is an old type of country style dance).

I particularly enjoy interpreting these old blues and folk songs, because the  songs are shrouded in mystery, and even though the lyrics seem simple, they belie a deeper meaning.

I live in a particularly beautiful part of South Africa, the Stellenbosch winelands, where we are surrounded by vineyards and majestic mountains. The landscapes are a big inspiration to me, and I try and incorporate the local fauna and flora as often as I can.

My day job is as a caricature artist, which entails meeting hundreds of people every week, and then interpreting their faces in my cartoony style. 

When it comes to my illustration work, I use my experience as caricature artist by stealing features and personalities from the people I have drawn at events.

I might use a grumpy businessman's eyebrows on the face of a dragon, or a bride's bubbly smile may end up on a colourful mermaid. 

 I am lucky to have creative friends, and seeing their beautiful work up close and personal is always a huge inspiration to me. Getting to browse through the sketchbooks of talented artists is a great privilege.

My friend Theo Key is a fantastic illustrator, and his work (Particularly the way his characters seem to inhabit the same universe) played a big role in me finding my own style.

Then of course all the fantastic children's books I grew up with. I have always had a particular fondness for the slightly scarier children's books, and I just have to mention Tony Ross' genius children's book " I'm Coming To Get You", which still makes me laugh.

Other favorites are: Dr Seuss, Tove Jansson, Jiri Trnka, and Quentin Blake.

What type of illustration projects are you most interested in?

The projects that are most fun to work on are humorous children's books where there is free reign to be weird.

I'm hoping to write and illustrate my own children's book in the next year or so, which I'm very excited about. The stranger the project, the more fun I have with it.

 When working for clients do you ever get uninterested or uninspired of a project? If so what motivates you to finish the project?

I try to only take on projects that are suited to my style. If there is a project that I don't feel inspired by, I'd rather say no to the project than to do a mediocre job. I strongly believe if you work on a project you have to make it as good as you possibly can.  If you are truly stuck with a project that you aren't inspired by, try to make it inspiring. Add fun elements to it. Try and be creative. A dull text can be made more enjoyable by a great illustration.

 I tend to have creative blocks, do you get them? If so how do you overcome them?

There are three ways I deal with creative blocks. The first is to take time away from the project. Take a day or two off. Do something that isn't connected to the work at hand. Watch a movie, have lunch with friends. I usually find that when I take the pressure out of the equation, and focus on something else, I quickly get out of my creative fog.

If this doesn't work I just sit at my desk doing bad drawings, until the bad drawings turn into better drawings.

One more trick is to ask a friend to give you a simple brief. I find if I can't come up with my own ideas, asking someone else for an idea usually lights a spark.

 When deciding to become an illustrator/artist how did you start to gain work? what was your strategy?

I initially contacted editors at magazines and newspapers, which led to meetings, and my first few stints as editorial illustrator.

Some cold calling really helped, and got me quite a few illustration gigs, but I also got a couple of editors who were not pleased with this approach.

Making contact with editors is hugely important. If you have met them face to face, there's a better chance they will use you then if you have just corresponded by mail.

The market has changed so much in recent years, with so much competition, and so many great artists on social media, so I'm still trying to figure it out. Luckily my wife does a lot of our social media and advertising, which gives me a lot of breathing space to focus on the drawings. 

Where do your colour pallets come from?

All over.

One of my paintings, 'The Librarian' has a colour palette inspired by the colours of Smarty’s. I generally like earthy colours, and dirty greens, paired with maroons and reds. Red and grey-green is probably the most common colour combo in my work, and it's a palette I've used since I was about 15. 

I love using limited palettes and repeating colours throughout an illustration.

My illustrator friend Theo also gave me a great tip; If you are ever in need of an interesting colour palette, take out a photographic book on birds from the library (If you don't have one already-I have about ten). You'll find the colours on a single bird are already so well matched and balanced that they make for a great starting point for a colour palette.

 My personal workstation if full of all sorts of paint, pens and book etc… what does your workstation consist of and what is your favourite medium to work with?

Firstly, my desk is usually a mess. I try and keep it clean, and I always tidy it up before I start work on a new project, but it takes about ten minutes to fall into disarray.

I have a pin board of some of my own work as a reference for style and colour, and I have pins of photos from my travels, postcards from friends, caricatures of me by friends. I love binge watching shows while I paint, so my laptop is on my desk. (I find series great because I have a short attention span, so if I don't have music playing or a series on in the background I am easily distracted and more easily tempted to check Facebook, which is a quicksand pit of time wasting)

Then I have my paint, water, and brushes, a pile of National Geographic’s and an ever-present pot of Jasmine or Earl Grey tea. 

My medium of choice is gouache. I love its versatility. It can be used completely flat and opaque, or with washes.

I'm trying to get a better hold on watercolour, but it's not an easy medium. I'm enjoying the experiments though.

 Is there any advice you would give an illustration student finishing university wanting to become a children's book illustrator?

Work hard. Draw as often as you can, and keep sending your work out to publishers. I would also advise to work on your own personal projects. Write and illustrate your own stories. A complete book looks great as a portfolio piece, and it will give you a ton of extra experience in maintaining a specific style and colour palette throughout a book.

Draw things that you find challenging. If you aren't great at drawing cars and bicycles (As a personal example), it can double the amount of time you work on a project because you have to learn on the job.

Don't chase trends. Find your own voice. What's popular now, could be old hat in the next month, so rather focus on making art that is personal, and reflects your personality than trying to mimic to a current fad.

You can check out Martinus work here - http://www.martinusvantee.com

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Contacts With Industry - Mat Roff

My third contact with industry is an illustrator called Mat Roff, he has a graphic way of working and his colour pallets are fantastic.

Hi Ashley,

 No problem, i’ll do my best to answer your question.

 I love the detail in your work it brings your illustrations to life, what are the 5 things that inspire your work?

 Inspiration can come from other people’s work, watching films, listening to music, watching documentaries or visiting places such as museums & art galleries.

When you get to a stage where you find your style, you can generate a lot of ideas - it’s keeping up with them all that’s the problem! But mostly, if I’m working on a brief, I look at other work or photographs that share the same subject matters to get inspiration. 

What type of illustration projects are you most interested in?

 I like projects where I don’t have to commit too much time to them - no more than a few weeks, as I get bored quite easily! So doing magazine work is good because its good exposure but also they have quick turn arounds, which suits the way I like to work.

Personally, I love working for bands, because nothing is off limits, so if I create artwork for them its branding the album, the adverts - both on social media and in flyers or posters, logos, anything that visually displays the band.

I’m currently working on a tour poster for a band called Waykopp, who I’m the creative director of - and that is a lot of fun!

When working for clients do you ever get uninterested or uninspired of a project? If so what motivates you to finish the project?

 Absolutely - I’ve had a few where a client is far too precious over an idea, to the point where it’d be easier for them to draw it than me!

I fight my corner, if I know the project isn’t interesting or if the client is unwilling to listen to me, then I will part ways. They are hiring me to design, but also part of that is to advise them on that works and what doesn’t work.

 If they refuse to listen and the project isn’t doing anything for me, then I’m not afraid to turn it down. But that’s taken years of practice.

I tend to have creative blocks, do you get them? If so how do you overcome them?

 Yes I do, and my advice is to listen to your body. If you can’t generate an idea, then you’re either too tired or not inspired by the project yet.

Ideas take time, and it might be good to step away from what you’re doing and focus on something else, or sometimes look at other creative material to get inspiration.

It will either come or it won’t, but never force it.

When deciding to become an illustrator how did you start to gain work? what was your strategy?

 I always wanted to be creative, I knew that from a very early age. At around 5/6 years old I wanted to be a Disney Animator, and became obsessed with drawing. 

Illustration wasn’t a career I had thought about, until my family advised me to maybe do it in my spare time to make a bit of money. I then went onto university to study it, and found I wasn’t half bad.

 I use the internet to find work - mostly through social media. It’s a wonderful resource to connect and reach people. A lot of my biggest jobs have come from people following my work or becoming aware of my work via projects I’ve done via social media posts. I couldn’t go out much in the first few years of my career as I was a full time carer for my Nan, so the only way for me to find work was to search online, email magazines, agents, search for commissions on Twitter, Facebook etc.

 My strategy is to spread myself out and work for as many people as I can. One, it stops me from becoming bored, and two it keeps my career interesting.

I’ve seen a lot of illustrators who get stuck in a rut, producing the same work for the same types of people, when I always believe you should approach your career with as wide of a net as possible. You learn far more that way, and you also learn it far quicker than if you never leave your comfort zone.

Where do your colour pallets come from?

 That developed over time - mostly through sourcing artwork that I liked, copying a few shades of colour from someone else’s artwork, and then shading and lightening the colours myself - that then creates more colours and when I paint anything new, I now have an wide range of subjects, tones etc. so I keep using the same palette now.

My personal workstation if full of all sorts of paint, pens and book etc… what does your work station consist of and what is your favourite medium to work with?

 It’s a little messy at the moment! I’m moving into my new flat next month, so I’m going to organise the space when I move so that I can have a good work area with everything to hand.

 At the moment I keep all my artwork in folders at the side of my desk, I have my iMac, printer/scanner, Wacom tablet and a lamp - pens and Sharpie pens in pots at the back of my desk, and I have a little plush Pikachu on my printer to brighten it up.

I also put other people’s work around me such as Kim Jung Gi, Caspar Wijingaard; never my own - and plants... lots of plant. Being indoors working means I don’t come into contact with nature as much as I would like, so it’s nice to have my little bonsai tree next to me too.

Is there any advice you would give an illustration student finishing university wanting to become a children's book illustrator?

 Don’t be too hard on yourself, being an illustrator is about enjoying the journey of getting to where you want to get to. 

When I left university I didn’t get work straight away and I felt that I was rubbish or that I was a failure. But you need time to grow and to find out who you are and what you want to focus your work on. You need to be selfish in that respect because its your work, and you need to create images that excite you and that you can look at with pride. There is nothing worse - and I know this from experience - with sharing your older work where you are still developing your style and then 12 months later you can’t escape from it because it’s all over the internet.

 Also, never be afraid to reach out and speak people. I know a lot of artists who say “Oh, I can’t contact him/her for advice” or “I can’t do that job, I’m not good enough” … but it’s not true. You are as good as you are at that time, so never be afraid of failure. Just work hard and embrace those experiences because it will make you a better illustrator.

 And share your work with the world; we are in a very good position right now where people can find us pretty easily, so put sketches, illustrations, designs and your concepts online - it will help build your confidence, and also it will allow people to see how you create your work, and it will widen your net to catch new and exciting clients. But just make the projects you want to do yourself - don’t sit waiting for someone to find you, go out and look for it or showcase your talents through your own projects.

Hope that helps Ash.

Mat

I would like to say thank you to Mat for taking his time out to answer my questions. You can check his work out here - www.matroff.co.uk

[ashleysillustrations]

Contacts With Industry - Sarah Jennings

My Second contact with industry was Sarah Jennings. She is a children's book illustrator who graduated in 2013, she is with an agency called The Bright Agency.

Your illustrations are fantastic the textures just bring them to life, what are the 5 things that inspire your work?

Aw thanks so much for your lovely words about my work! That's a tough question - so many things, but I guess the main things are.....

-Animation/animated movies, preferably anything by Laika!

- Picture books but mainly Illustrators/Authors Judith Kerr and John Burningham, their books are beautiful and I adored them when I was a child. The Avocado Baby and Mog were my most favourite titles! Their use of textures is just so gorgeous!

-My cat (he can be very handy for drawing reference sometimes!) or just someone to draw if I'm struggling to get started!

- My friends, I think it's great to meet other creative people and get together for a chat or even to do crafts! I met some of my best friends this way and I like to think that we inspire each other sometimes! :)

- My family

What type of illustration projects are you most interested in?

Children's book illustration is definitely the area I'm interested in most! Within that area I would love to work on more picture books and also fiction books!

When working for clients do you ever get uninterested or uninspired of a project? If so what motivates you to finish the project?

I think all illustrators will feel like this occasionally - especially if the client is being a bit tricky or the subject matter isn't very interesting but I ultimately think its up to you to find something within that project that interests you (there's always something!) Listening to podcasts or music can also help!

I tend to have creative blocks, do you get them? If so how do you overcome them?

I don't get them as often as I use to! I feel it helps to just work through them, keep scribbling in a sketchbook, keep working and you'll push through it! :)

When deciding to become an illustrator how did you start to gain work? what was your strategy?

I feel like I was incredibly lucky when I graduated! I attended a show called New Designers in London and exhibited my work along with other students from my uni. I made meetings to see publishers and agents in the week I was there and even met some at the show, which led to me signing with the Bright agency a couple of months later! In my opinion shows like these are really great at getting your work out there and providing you with a lot of opportunities! (I think there is also a similar show that you can exhibit your work at called D&AD New Blood) It was after I attended New Designers and signed with Bright that I started to gain work later that year! I also suggest that joining the AOI is really helpful too, especially if you don't want an agent!

Where do your colour pallets come from?

It generally depends on the project and what I'm trying to convey in a particular illustration. I tend to save lots of colours that I mix in photoshop whilst working on projects and end up with lots of lovely swatches I can use again. I also love to scan in wrapping paper or anything that I think has a cool colour scheme and recycle colours from these too!

My personal workstation if full of all sorts of paint, pens and book etc… what does your work station consist of and what is your favourite medium to work with?

My desk is organised chaos! I have lots of paints, inks etc with my trusty computer and tablet squashed in the corner! I have so many pots of pens and pencils - it's getting a bit out of control! I really love working with pen, water colour and coloured pencils. I tend to scan these textures into my computer and bring them together in photoshop to create my illustrations! I love to work traditionally but this isn't always pheasible when the time frame for a project is quite tight so I find working a little more digitally helps speed things along!

Is there any advice you would give an illustration student finishing university wanting to become a children's book illustrator?

Work hard and try to showcase your work as much as possible - whether this is sharing it via social media or contacting publishers/agents directly to show them your portfolio! Don't feel discouraged by criticism or if your emails don't get a reply! I have found that having an agent has helped me immensely so I would recommend looking into that too! :)

You can check our Sarah's work here - http://sarahjenningsillustration.com

[ashleysillustrations]

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The best piece of advice I have been given this year was just before the Easter break when me and Nayim were told that our biro working method/process wasn't working, there was something else needed! This piece of advice was very helpful to use as we went away, figured out how we were going to create our illustrations and went and did it. We were told also to incorporate textures so the illustrations weren't boring and flat, we went away and did this, also we incorporated shadows to add in a hierarchy, this made some of our illustrations look 3d which helped. The advice made us aware of the problem and what was needed to be done, also it helped because sometimes you can spend to much time working on an illustration and not see what others see. I always take on other peoples advice as this will help me improve and grow as an illustrator which will help in the future as I want to become a children’s book illustrator. I also think that the advice we were given helped with the quality of work, it now looks much more professional like it belongs in a book. I am very happy with the outcome and standard we have brought it to.

[ashleysillustrations]

I Wish I’d Done This

http://www.jamesloram.com

The above image is a illustration by James Loram. This illustration was created for Issue 21 Storytime Magazine. I wish I had done this piece, as a whole it looks fantastic, the colours stand out from one another, they create a calm mood, this works well as the crocodile is waiting patiently for the cheeky money so all the emphasis is on those two characters, which in my opinion makes the image stronger. My favourite part of this illustration has got to be the characters, they convey so much personality and humour which is what I would like to try and create within my drawings.

In the scene you can see that there is a middelground, background and a foreground this is something I need to concentrate on with my illustrations, it brings more depth to the drawing and completes it. This is something I have realise whilst looking at this drawing and looking at James illustrations in general, they are so inspiring. Also I think how James has kept it relatively simple has helped him draw emphasis to the characters, its not to cramped in the middleground or the background. This is worth taking a note of for future illustrations/projects.

James uses his own photoshop brushes to create his marks and textures, this is something that I have started doing in my work, it has helped bring my illustrations to life much more, as before they were very flat with block colour and shading, it keeps it exciting rather that using the same old boring process. James has also used odd colours like purples and blues for the bushes in the background I'm guessing he's used it for the shades and shadows, this could be interesting to play around with in my own work as I haven't done this at all before, its also done in the foreground but with darker shades, this gives off the effect that the illustration is far away deep in the forest.

I think over the summer I want to try and create quite a few illustrations that include sense of place and humour, this would make my portfolio stronger and would help me understand backgrounds and moods much more than I do now. Also I will carry on incorporating textures into my work (handmade and photoshop brushes) as this has helped my develop my style and working method I could also keep adding textures to my texture folder to gather more of a gallery for future projects in and out of uni.

[ashleysillustrations]

Here are some of the final illustrations for the Skipping Mayor book, that me and Nayim have created. I think the easter break was the turning point for us as we were told what needed to happen and we made it happen. All that is left to do now is to place the illustrations within the book on indesign, I feel nervous using indesign as I haven't had much experience with it but I'm sure we will figure it out!