Illustrating a Pandemic

How illustration found me

I recently wrote a piece for the wonderful people at Write-Mentor about how I found my agent and started my career as a full-time children’s book illustrator. They’re really brilliant so definitely take a look at all their resources and mentorships if you plan to do any creative writing. This month’s call-out from the fabulous IlloGuild crew was ‘How did you become an Illustrator?’. So, with kind permission from Write-Mentor, here is my article on this subject:

I’d like to say I had always dreamed of being a children’s illustrator, but to be honest, that title seemed so incredibly amazing, I didn’t ever imagine it was something that could be possible for me. My parents would often dig out the stories I had written and illustrated as a child to proudly show to friends and relatives. Then squirrel them away again, kept wrapped up so safely like an ancient artefact in a museum, too precious to be out on display. It would be my regular reminder of the potential I had inside, but never fully tapped into. I ended up becoming a graphic designer, and having an enjoyable, if not sometimes stressful career working on anything and everything from websites and mobile apps to novelty gifts and packaging. 

I don’t know what it was about January 2020, but, I decided it was time to try illustration. I was keen to find a style I could call my own. I wanted people to come to me because of the work I did, rather than being prescribed a style to work in, that had often been the case as a designer. I took some illustration courses, but was getting more and more confused about the sort of work I wanted to do. Did I want to draw for kids? Did I have something important to say? I was juggling my freelance design career and being a mum to two young children at the time, so these questions didn’t have the luxury of occupying too much of my brain.

Then the pandemic hit. All freelance work disappeared. The kids were home, nothing was normal. I knew early on I was going to need something for myself to help get me through this strange time, and I leaned into my illustration work. I saw on Instagram there was a challenge starting around the beginning of the first lockdown. It was called The 100 Day Project. It was open to anyone, photographers, poets, knitters, absolutely anyone could join, all you had to do was set yourself a project and do it everyday. I had decided that I wanted to get better at drawing people, so I started drawing my friends in their lockdown lives. I asked them to send any photos of them and their families, with a short caption about how the lockdown had affected their lives. I soon started getting requests from strangers that found me online. I had some really heartwarming and funny stories, as well as sad and shocking ones. It felt very much like I was shouting into the void at first, but I soon began to carve my own little corner of Instagram, and enjoyed reaching out to people all over the world that were also keen to form connections with others, while we were all keeping safe in our homes. 

It had never occurred to me that this could be anything more than a hobby. It was something that was already giving me so much joy to be drawing everyday and to see people enjoying the illustrations. But then it gave me so much more. On day 72 of the 100 Day Project, June 17th 2020, which happened to be my 36th birthday, I received a direct message via Instagram from someone who worked at an illustration agency. I didn’t believe it at first, but yes, this really was an agent wanting to represent me! The expressive, diverse characters I had created and narratives I was telling through my art, just happened to tick all the boxes for a children’s illustration portfolio. So I was now a represented artist, the golden ticket! But of course, like writing, having an agent is no guarantee of work, and it took nearly a year working closely with my agent to get my portfolio up to scratch before I got my first real life illustration book deal. And it was with a small, Jewish publisher in the US. The story was called Alone Together on Dan Street, and it was about a little 5 year old girl in Jerusalem who finds out her family will be celebrating passover during lockdown. She manages to bring her community together, despite needing to stay apart due to the pandemic. As a mother of a 5 year old girl, albeit from a different culture and part of the world, the story felt so familiar. It was so wonderful to be involved in a book that had those universal themes of community and togetherness - that had been so important throughout my 100 day project - at its core.

Creative the work you want to make. Draw like nobody is watching. And for goodness sake, just keep going.