We have lift off!

Celebrating the wins and keeping on course.

Today is a great day because Ghost of Mars, written by the amazing Stuart White, is now published in Earth (Mars publication date tbc…). Buy it here.

To celebrate, here are the four characters I drew from the book. On the left is Eva, Knight, the hero of the story followed by Jay, Quasar and Hercus.

A book birthday is always a special day, when everyone involved can celebrate all the hard work it took to get here. I think its so wonderful that we take the time to celebrate book launches, it’s great to allow ourselves to appreciate the hard work. Tonight is the virtual book launch for Ghosts of Mars. If you want to attend, Sign up here.

It feels like today is also a good day to talk about the current @illoguild monthly prompt: how do you feel good as an illustrator? My experience so far as a children’s illustrator, is that the journey is a rollercoaster no matter where you are on it. I remember my first year as an illustrator, joining in all the art prompts, earning money doing Christmas family portraits, dreaming of being too busy with ‘real jobs’ to do these things. Now I am too busy to do portfolio work, or art prompts, I dream of having an evening to myself to doodle for no reason. As the years have gone on, I can see I am overcoming challenges and improving, but as with anything in life that is important to us, this doesn’t mean things get easier, it means we are faced with new challenges. This can get disheartening, and often if our heart isn’t in it, we give up. I assume this is why I’m not an incredible ultra marathon runner like my sister… (congratulations Rosie! Tarawera Ultra Marathon finisher!) But illustrating a book is a marathon. It’s hard and long and you need to plan ahead or else you will trip up.

And imagine finishing an ultra marathon and not celebrating? So for me, the way to feel good as an illustrator is to celebrate wins. Whatever they may be. Ticking off an annoying job on the to-do list, figuring out a tricky pose, reaching out to someone for feedback or submitting to an agent. Completing a job that felt like it would take forever. Celebrate even if you’re not totally happy with it. Not every drawing will feel like your best. But you are still always getting better and learning. Look back at the journey you have been on see how far you have come. If we don’t allow time to stop and appreciate where we are, then it can feel hard to keep going.

My motto as a freelancer and a creative has always been to keep going. But what does keep going look like? It doesn’t mean plough forward at lightning speed without stopping. We aren’t robots (they haven’t taken our jobs quite yet…). We are human and we need to rest. We need basic things to keep us alive, like food and water, and we need a reason to going. So if we don’t stop and reflect, we can often lose sight of why we’re doing it in the first place.

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to keep in track and feel good about your art. Feel free to get in touch or leave a comment. And don’t forget, other members of the @illoguild have also answered this so make sure you take a look at their thoughts as well.