Narrative Illustration and Visual Storytelling

Wow, I see that it's been a while. Not through any fault of my own. On the afternoon of the 17th, while I was at work, we had a snow squall that came with a massive windstorm. The wind gusts were so strong that the children at school thought we were under attack. Our trampoline was lifted straight off the ground and hurled across our 6-foot fence right into our neighbour's house, punching holes into his siding and taking out our wifi cable. We were left without internet until

Christmas break is coming up. I get two weeks off. I just found out I don't get paid for them--of course. (Shrugs). What's a few more worries about money? It's not like it's not my entire life at this point. (wry face). But still. I am literally being forced to spend two weeks in my studio. That's....awful. Just awful, I tell you. Also, I am turning 40 in in a week. People older then me say I'm still young. My kids think I'm a hundred. Which one I actually feel depends on the

An email landed in my inbox this morning from Barney Davey. https://artmarketingnews.com/good-enough/?sh_kit=127436ec290ddb0d5733423cbc400a61f558509048966c330b8c580127832806 I think the entire article can be summed up in this single sentence: "If you give it your best, it’s going to be good enough—and maybe even excellent." "Sometimes you realize that if you work a little faster and let go a little sooner, you still end up with something excellent, even if it isn’t perfect. I

I am still drawing. I am working both jobs again this week so my output will still be reduced. I will do what I can do. But my stack of papers for this challenge continues to shrink. So on to the next.

I'm nearly finished the stack of papers I set aside for my Three Sketchbook figure challenge, and rather then go all the way and actually finish it I'm prepping for my next challenges. I need to know what I'm doing next because if I don't, and I finish those papers, I will be lose a long chunk of time that I can't afford while I decide what to do next. I'm scared to let go of the momentum I've picked up from doing this figure challenge and I will do everything I can to preven

In the past year, I've been doing a lot of research on illustration, careers, and portfolios. We begin with the definition of 'illustrator' itself: an illustrator is someone who solves visual problems (or solves problems visually). Therefore, if you want people to hire you, you have to be able to prove that you can do that in all sorts of ways. I need a LOT of practice using my imaginaton to solve problems visually. I am well aware of this. I have the basic foundational skil

Things will be different for a bit. I am both early, and late. I missed posting Sunday; My kids are off school for a couple of days before the Remembrance Day holiday and I had no access to my phone, which is where my camera is. I will not be posting tomorrow because I am working my second job for the next few days, and I'll be home too late to do anything. Instead, I'm just going to post everything for the past week. Going forward, instead of posting twice a week, I may jus

I think I'm going to title this blog Adventures of a Never Illustrator: Learning and living illustration in the heart of Southern Alberta farm country with four kids, a spotty internet connection, a job and all the symptoms of undiagnosed AuDHD. The last line is truer than I wish. I saw a psychologist a few years ago to complain that I couldn't seem to get anything done and he said, and I quote, "You don't have ADHD. You have kids." Ha ha. Ha ha ha. But seriously. This is why

I'm back to work again. Mostly. It's getting too cold for me to be hanging out outside with Miss Cookie for long, which means my nice warm studio is once again becoming my cacoon. Lately I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos on the business of illustration and how to make money from it. I say my intent is to learn animation and how to draw for it, but my first love is illustration. Why can't I do both? Ok, that's not exactly the truth. My first first love was stories. Bu

I am working. But I've slowed down a lot. This is part of the reason. This crazy lady is my Cookie, aka The Little Queen. I have been spending every minute of the past week outside feeding her, teasing her, watching her roll on my grass and chase imaginary mice, or worrying why she's not home yet. To be rit: I am obsessed. What's even more ironic is that until she showed up a month ago, I hated cats. She talks to me constantly. She's even started purring. This morning I was a

I looked at my pile of sketchbook paper today and realized that I'm three-quarters of the way finished this challenge. Now comes the hard part--finishing. This place I'm in right now is equivalent to the "ugly stage" in one of my actual artworks. I always need an extra push here. That usually means leaving for a while and doing something else, recharging my batteries for the last leg of the journey, that final foray into finished. I took most of this weekend off. Which is why

My stack of papers for this challenge is getting really small. I need to start thinking about and planning for what I'm going to do when it's finished. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzHFKdxdyHs "The artists who will win in this era are the ones who move like gardeners, not salesmans, who understand that building culture is slower than building clout. That real influence doesn't come from  being seen. It comes from being studied. And you can't be studied unless you build som

You'll notice that I'm beginning to have a certain aesthetic. I like clothing, I like drawing it, and I like how clothing tells so much of the story. I have always loved Degas' paintings of ballerinas. When I was growing up, I was a voracious reader. There wasn't anything else to do in my one-hundred-person town with three tv channels on a two-inch tv and no internet. I read everything. Mysteries, fantasy and romance. Ghost stories, faery tales, legends, mythology, and if I f

I haven't done much this week. I woke up sick Tuesday morning (one of my frequent stomach migraines, not too much turkey, ha ha ha) and tonight (Thursday) is the first night I've had the energy to do anything. And instead of drawing after work I took my boys to the park and now it's dark even though it's barely 7 pm, and I feel like it's bedtime. I feel like it would be amazing to be superwoman. Or a vampire. I mean, can you imagine how much you could get done if you lived fo

This has been an interesting week. After drawing almost 300 pages of figures since June, I can definitely look back and see the difference between my work now and when I started six months ago. There are now these occasional flashes of brilliance in my line work, but I can never seem to replicate them. I've realized that I need to learn to control my line weight, and by doing that, I'll probably move into my own "style," that elusive thing everyone says I need in order to suc

"...In drawing for animation, you must add motive....there has to be a motive so you can draw what's in your character's mind. There has...

The most essential part of illustration is storytelling. Your illustrations must: Tell a compelling story Further a narrative Convey...

" Sketching is an artist's ultimate enlightenment. Constant sketching will...allow you to draw readily, articulately, and facilely."...

I've only drawn one page in the past three days. One of the hardest things to deal with as an artistic minded person --besides the...