Learning French / May 2013

Merci de votre aide! / Thank you for your help!

Stationnement interdit / No Parking

Quel m’as-tu-vu! / What a show-off!

 Avez-vous un menu en anglais? / Do you have a menu in English?

Il ne mange pas de viande / He does not eat meat

Motel Rocks Illustrations

These are the three illustrations I submitted to the Motel Rocks illustration competition at the end of March. I mostly saw it as an opportunity to have some fun drawing characters and fashion, so I was completely surprised when I won! There's a little interview with me over here on the Motel blog.

Learning French / April 2013

Je ne comprends pas ce qui s’est passé. / I don’t understand what happened.

Elle tricote une écharpe pour son grand frère. / She’s knitting a scarf for her big brother.

Nous voulons des chambres communicantes à l’hôtel. / We want adjoining rooms at the hotel.

J'ai fait une erreur. / I made a mistake.

Shop / Happiness And Two Horses Print

Happy Spring! To celebrate my favourite time of year, there's a new print in my Etsy & Dawanda shops called Happiness And Two Horses. The girl in this illustration was loosely inspired by Elizabeth of the lovely blog Stoic & Pariah.

Tara Stiles & Being Pain-Free

This is a little illustration of Tara Stiles, the coolest yoga lady on the planet. If you don't know her already, check out her YouTube channel! I was lucky enough to meet Tara in London last autumn, so when I went to New York earlier this month I made sure to take some classes at her yoga studio, which is amazing. She also makes cooking videos and she knits great hats!

This is a bit of a different post, but since I hear from more and more illustrators that they're suffering from RSI, I thought I should mention that yoga has helped me so much. When I started drawing for hours every day at university I started to have really bad RSI which got worse over time. For four years I was in pain every day to the point where even lifting heavy cutlery (!) was painful. I also suffered from migraines since the age of 16 or so. 

When I started doing yoga (and running and other gym classes) it slowly got better and I've now been pain-free for about two years. My last migraine was also two years ago. So I'm very grateful to Yoga (as well as running, Zumba and generally going to the gym). I'm not a big fan of throwing out advice, but if you're starting out as an illustrator I definitely recommend beginning to exercise before it gets so bad that you can't work. And it doesn't necessarily have to be yoga, find something you enjoy. The more you sit, the stronger you have to be. It's something I wish they had taught us at university.

Happy Easter 2013

I hope the Easter Bunny is enjoying a nice big relaxing coffee right now. When you think of it, is job is grossly underrated. Santa gets all the credit for delivering all the presents in a single night. But he has flying reindeers, helping elves and he only has to deliver the presents - the Easter Bunny has to hide them, too! So please, let's take a moment to appreciate his efforts and his logistic genius. Happy Easter!

Learning French / March 2013

C’est juste à côté de ce bâtiment-là. / It’s right next to that building there.

Prenez deux comprimés par jour pendant un mois. / 

Take two pills a day for one month.

Avez-vous de la fièvre? / Do you have a fever?

Elle a installé la télévision a écran plat elle-même. / 

She installed the flat screen television herself.

Je vais faire la grasse matinée. / I’m going to sleep in.

Stay Home Club / Pillow Cases

A little while ago, the lovely Olivia Mew of Stay Home Club asked me to illustrate some pillow cases! Good Night/Bonne Nuit were illustrated especially, Vous Etes Ici and Four Dogs are personal pieces from a while ago. I hope you like them! They're now available from the Stay Home Club online shop. (The beautiful photos are curtesy of Olivia.)

Sketchbook Saturdays / 08

For this Sketchbook Saturday I'm sharing some sketchbook bits from when I first started working on the album artwork for Kein Unbeschriebenes Blatt. You'll recognise some bits from the final artwork I posted in the previous two posts. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Kein Unbeschriebenes Blatt / Booklet Artwork

So here's a peek at the booklet artwork for Kein Unbeschriebenes Blatt, the CD I blogged about yesterday. The music is beautiful, even if you don't understand German I think you would enjoy it! You can preview all the tracks on Amazon & iTunes.