Be Inspired by Your Favourites.

When I was a little girl, my Mum and Dad bought two A2 sized posters to put on my walls. I wasn't allowed to use blu-tack as it might ruin the (rather hideous 1970s) wallpaper, so my Dad bought some plastic slides to go top and bottom, with a bit of thread hanging the posters to the nail in the wall. I remember the posters like they were burned on the inside of my eyelids. Molly Brett.
 
You may never have heard of her, but her cards were well stocked in a shop in Reigate, where I lived. I LOVED her pictures. They were mainly woodland scenes, with fairies, creatures of the forest and teddies all co-habiting. Not only did I have these two enormous pictures on the wall, but I had a collection of postcards that I probably still have somewhere. There was just something about Molly Brett's work that sparked my imagination. Was it really possible that children could live in harmony with cats, geese, hedgehogs and elves?
 
 
This was one of my favourite books, A Surprise for Dumpy.

I was also a bit obsessed with Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World. I especially liked Sven Svenson and Pierre, the Parisian Policeman.
 

Absorbing other people's work is a really helpful thing to do as an artist. Working out how someone made those marks on the page can fuel your own work. I have spent many years looking at the books that sing to me. Sometimes I don't even know why I like a picture; I just know I do. But it doesn't matter why you like it. What counts is how it is going to change you as a maker of image. Here are a few of the people that have shaped my world.

 

 

All of these illustrators have different ways of working and approaching their subjects. I wouldn't want to try to analyse why I like these illustrators for fear of losing a bit of the magic. All I can say is that each one has brought a ray of sunshine to my day each time I have picked up one of their books.

 

So thank you, lovely story makers. You rock my world. xx

 

Drawing with Wet Stuff

Hurricane winds and most of Britain under 3ft of water is not conducive for thinking nice Spring-y, Mad March Hare thoughts, but that is what I have been doing. Book number 5 is well under way. I've been buying daffodils and looking longingly at photos of lambs to try to bring forth the spirit of all things yellow as my colour pallette for The House on Hare Hill is yellow, blue and green. Somehow, I've always seen it as a very sunny book.

I've hoiked the dip pen out of retirement and started drawing with waterproof ink. I've forgotten how beautiful the lines are - and how challenging the medium is. Woe betide those who forget it's still wet and rub their hand over it. With my trusty Staedler pens, you can chuck it around as soon as you've drawn with it. Dip pen is a much more measured approach, needing a lot of coaxing and patience.

 In my Right Brain Business Plan (see this BLOG POST) I have suggested, perhaps unwisely, that I will have this book ready for sale by the end of May. It seemed ages away, but time flies pretty quickly, especially when I have quite a few school visits coming up and exam revision to supervise! 

I am learning a lot about Hares, and in the new book there will be a lot of lovely facts, both true and slightly made up, about the superior cousins of rabbits. Check out the Hare Preservation Trust for more information HERE. For instance, did you know Hares do not live in burrows, but in 'forms', where they scrape away the grass and top soil and hunker down in the undergrowth. Did you also know that Hares can accelerate to 45mph. That's faster than my car!!

Business Lingo and Wild Hares Boxing.

Hurray, we have made it through January without being washed away from Scarlett Inc HQ. As I sit here at home, wrapped up in 65 layers of clothing, the wind is tearing along the south coast of England and chucking a whole load of rain at us for good measure. July 2013 seems such a long time ago, when I was sitting in 40 degrees in my studio.  It seems like a good moment to reflect and plan.

So far my major plan of the year is to publish The House on Hare Hill. I'm still at the tinkering phase at the moment; I have pulled together the first spread but am deciding whether to do black and white drawing and colour digitally or have a mixture of digital and watercolour. What do you think? This is my digital colouring (not finished.)

I do love this part of my job; it's the equivalent of the writer's blank page. I quite often change things as I go along when new ideas or obvious problems jump out at me. 

The other thing I am working on is the marketing side. I had a bit of a eureka moment when I realised I that being a creator of books is just like any other good business idea. Take Lush for example. They started off making their soaps and smellies on their kitchen table and upsized as their customer base expanded. My customers tell me that they really enjoy my product (business speak for bearing my soul in a book) so all I have to do now is crack the market! It is really counter intuitive to use business lingo when you are a creative person describing the love you pour into your project. Stories become Products, friends and customers become Client Base and deciding whether to be in a craft marquee or have your own pitch becomes Competitive Analysis. Luckily I have come across a fabulous book called The Right Brain Business Plan which has helped me enormously.

The last time I wrote a business plan was in 1998 when I applied to the Prince's Youth Business Trust for assistance. It was a dry and crusty affair (the business plan, not the PYBT) full of guesstimates of income and spreadsheets of my outgoings. Nasty. This is what my new business plan looks like.

For more info on The Right Brain Business Plan click Here. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process. Watch this space to see if I really can Expand My Client Base!!