Just a little update.

I can't believe it's nearly March... time seems to be going too fast and too slow- as i'm waiting for feedback on my work from publishers...I think it's only been about a week since I sent my work off, i'm quite impatient. The thought of getting feedback has knocked me off my drawing a bit but I have managed to write some stories...some of which I think could actually work and be good picture books, though i'm sure publishers won't see it that way. My stories still need a lot of work.

Today i'm going to try drawing in a different style,in a different medium, drawing a different subject matter...so I can then jump back into my usual styles and ways. Kinda like exercising...I don't know. My Auntie suggested it. Hopefully i'll feel a bit more confident after it. Anyone else ever feel lost after sending work out to important people?... I feel like I have to wait and can't do anything new until I get feedback, which I know is ridiculous...but ahh well! The mind of an illustrator!
Please let me know if you have any hints/tips/ideas to help me or get in touch if you've been feeling like this too!

Desk Companions

These desk companions are part of my promotional pack and I thought it would be nice to share them with you lovely people! All you need to do is print a sheet (or a few sheets for you and your friends), cut the characters out and then fold the bottom flap to help them stand up! If any of you do print and cut them out I would love to see photos!

I went to the Zoo...

Today I went to Blackpool Zoo in hopes to find some inspiration for my portfolio and for writing a story. Nothing has yet clicked and made me cry, " Eureka!" but it was really fun. The weather was rubbish and my toes were frozen (though that was my fault due to wearing converse trainers in Winter) but it was lovely to get some fresh air and see amazing wildlife. These are some of my favourite photographs and drawings that I captured and drew. I hope you enjoy them.

50 random things about me...

I love stuff like this...I always have...enjoy:

1. I have blue eyes
2. I'm a natural blonde
3. I wanted to be an archeologist, Egyptologist and a dog when I was a kid.
4. I love birds and bats.
5. I love eating pasta but get bored cooking it.
6. I was a vegetarian for 7 years but now eat meat again.
7. I have been with my boyfriend for 6 years.
8. I am one of six kids and I am an auntie to 14 (soon to be 15).
9. I enjoy writing handwritten letters.
10. I don't like the word succulent or the phrase " the tender age".
11. Playing trivial pursuit makes me feel stupid.
12. I love being an illustrator but I worry that all my art is crap...I try not to ask my Mum for her opinion because I know she
will say she loves it and i'll say it's crap and then she would be annoyed at me.
13. I have an irrational fear of moths and butterflies. I will cry if one touches me.
14. I have two taxidermy ducks named Frodo and Harvey.
15. I hate that some of my favourite childhood cartoons are being "remade" using CGI.
16. I always feel like I have to explain myself.
17. I worry that i'm clingy and scare people away.
18. I worry a lot.
19. I have been to 7/8 festivals.
20. I don't want to learn to drive as I get road rage even though I can't drive.
21. I get all waffley and ooh and ahh-ish when at art galleries and museums... I feel like I turn a bit pretentious as i'm in love with art and history.
22. I wanted to be a witch so bad when I was a kid.
23. This is my age.
24. I have three dogs, a snake and a gecko.
25. Jurassic Park/the Lion King/Total Recall/Lord of the Rings are my favourite films.
26. Batman and Superman are my favourite heroes.
27. I love cheese.
28. When feeling crap I make up dance moves to cheer myself up.
29. I am slightly OCD about having clean hands and checking the hobs are off before I go to bed.
30. Favourite books: The Lord of the Flies, the Whitby Witches, The Witches, Lord of the Rings.
31. I am 5ft 1".
32. I have had many fillings in my teeth. I'm scared of the dentist.
33. I'm terrified of rollercoasters.
34. I love being the only couple in a cinema screening.
35. I love the smell of paper.
36. I don't like getting butter/little bits of food on my hand when preparing food.
37. I love the moon.
38. My favourite alcohol is southern comfort or pear cider.
39. I enjoy baking. I make a mean victoria sponge/lemon drizzle cake/cookies.
40. I hope to become a published picture book maker in the near future *crosses fingers*.
41. I have a pierced lip and used to have a pierced nose.
42. I have 8 tattoos. One says Bite Me in french on my neck.
43. I hate Disney's The Black Cauldron.
44. I would love to travel the world.
45. I want to hug David Attenborough.
46. I am quite gullible.
47. I listen to songs on repeat...for hours/days.
48. My nickname is Eric and used to be Froggy.
49. I hate seeing my reflections in clothes shops.
50. I like polite people and people who say Good Morning.

New Years Resolutions Review...

So a month has gone already! I thought it would be fun to do a monthly review of how my new years resolutions are going...So far for 2013:

1. Lose weight: started out well, lost a bit then put a bit back on and then lost some more. Keeping at it.

2. Read more! I am trying to read one book a week. So far I have read: Michael Crichton's The Lost World- which is a really brilliant book and i'm so glad I started the year with it. Bridgette Jones' Diary- The Edge of Reason- though a lot of the people in the book annoyed me I found it hard to put down...though that may have something to do with me being a bit nosy. Watership Down-still not finished it due to working on my portfolio, but I will catch up. I will say that the book is brilliant so far!

3. Send my work off to Publishers: Doing it this week. Scared.

4. Save up: not doing so well with that (partly due to lack of job).

5. Use my film cameras more: Not used any of them due to lack of money and not being able to afford film...bought a nice Halina 2000 camera though and used my giant digital SLR camera.

6. Get a new job: I am trying. I even had an interview.

7. Get out of the house more: I went to Bygone Times with my sister, Turbary woods with my friend and James, been for coffee a few times. Would like to go to some galleries though.

8. Hold an owl: I HELD TWO! :D

Promotional Pack.

I am sending some of my work off to some publishers and have created some awesome (if I don't mind saying so myself) postcards as part of a promotional pack. I used moo.com and I was a little worried that they would arrive late - as I needed them by a certain date - but was very happily suprised to find they came just when I wanted them to! So happy! The quality is brilliant and the colours really stand out! I'm definitley using them again. Possibly for some stickers and business cards. The top image shows how I have held my postcards together- just using some paper with some handmade font on it. Simple but effective.

If you go down to the woods today...

Here are some double page spreads that I have made for my portfolio. I know the last one isn't based in the woods/Jungle but it's a detailed double page spread so I couldn't leave it out!
I've been trying to be brave and using colours that you wouldn't always see in nature: purple tree trunks for example. I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out!

Memories...

A few pieces for my portfolio inspired by my childhood and drawn from childhood photographs. 1.My sister and I at the beach. 2.My brother and Sister school photo. 3.My Mum and Odie (the dog) on the settea. ( To be painted).

2012...

IN 2012: I quit the pound shop for another job. I went to London and had an amazing time and met the fantastic Viviane Schwarz. I drew as much as possible. Saw some great bands with great friends. I took place in a Zombie walk. Got my design printed on a comfy cushion. Lost my job but i'm perservering! I also drank a lot of coffee and spent time with my amazing friends.

New Year's Resolutions!

My New Year's Resolutions:

1.) Lose Weight! I would like to get to the weight I was in my second year of University (like in the image above). Being such a chubster at my height is really not good for my health and I aim to live till at least 100...so I best start looking after myself.

2.) READ MORE! I feel like i've not read a proper book in ages...I think the last set of books I read were the Hunger Games trilogy. I aim to go to a charity shop and pick 5 books of different genres and give them a read. ( The small amount of books: Under promise - Over achieve.)

3.) Send my work off to Publishers/Get published... this will be the tricky one. I aim to have my portfolio done by the end of January at the latest. I have a couple of people who are wanting to look at my portfolio, which is exciting but I need to make sure not to get my hopes up too much. It's hard not to sound cheesey saying this, but it really would be a dream come true to have a publisher like my work enough to want to publish it.

4.) Save up! I'm quite terrible with money...I do have a savings account so i'm going to make good use of it so that at somepoint I can go to France/Italy/Germany/Holland...i'd love to travel!

5.) Use my film cameras more/get films developed! I have quite a collection of old cameras and I would love to get some proper use out of them. Plus I have some films from a few years ago that I need to get developed...I think there are photos of my dog in the snow...

6.) Get a new job. This is quite an important one(...though if I work fast and hard enough I MIGHT get to enjoy resolution number 3...) as I need to pay for bills. Boo. I wish I could draw and paint all day.

7. Get out the house more. I'm quite lucky as I have quite a few events lined up: Download Festival, London to watch a few musicals and explore the city and a few music gigs! This is good, though I need to walk my dogs more and just explore Lancashire and my surrounding areas a bit more...as it can be boring just sitting at a computer/desk all day dreaming of the fun things going on in the world. I think I will write a list of all the places to visit this year.

8. Hold an owl (or a vulture) I love all birds and would love to hold an owl.

I wish you all the best of luck with your resolutions and I hope you have a great year!!!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a wonderful (and safe) night and a wonderful 2013!

*please don't give snakes alcohol like in this picture...he's just a naughty snake celebrating it being his year!

Christmas!

This Christmas was quite stress free! Relatives visited us so I got to stay indoors all day, drinking pear cider and watching festive films. We swapped gifts, had a good laugh, watched the Fellowship of the Ring and had a really lovely day! I would of posted a picture of the Christmas dinner, but I was SO hungry and it was SO good that it didn't stand a chance!


I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Oh, Life...

Last week: I was made redundant...not very Christmassy.
I've gone through a variety of emotions about it all and i've decided to take Christmas off. I'm not going to worry about a new job until January. I'm spending this Christmas period working on my portfolio and trying to feel festive.
I have a couple of story ideas that i'm working on and i've come up with a fun promo pack. Once it comes to January i'm going to have to look for a "normal person" job... BOO... but for now i'm going to enjoy myself doing what I love most.

ALSO, I shall be opening up my etsy shop this week. I need to tweak it a bit but please keep your eyes peeled for some wonderful stuff going on sale!

Commisions...

I recently created this portrait for my friend Viv and thought that maybe, (seeing as it's christmas) some lovely people would like to commision me to draw them and their loved one as a gift to their other half...or maybe a nice portrait for your mother of her parents?

Basically: i'm open for commisions! So please don't hesitate! I'm a fast worker so will get the picture to you before christmas.

Temporary Tattoos...

Since my niece and nephews loved the colour in pages I made them, I decided that for christmas I would create an activity book for them. I have decided to use Rabbit and Glenn as the main characters for the activity book and have created some temporary tattoos of the characters for them.

A photo of me sporting one of the tattoos...

Rabbit and Glenn tattoos...

They aren't like the typical temporary tattoos from my childhood where you use water to apply the image...they're more like transparent stickers but they look good if I don't mind saying so myself. I think I will re-open my etsy shop soon and sell some sets of different characters and maybe even commision some.

Introducing a few new characters...

This is Rabbit...

...and this is Glenn who happens to be a lovely dragon.

He might seem a bit scary at first, but then he offers you a toasted marshmallow and a seat by the fire and you can't help but become friends with him.