The exciting, the samples and the disappointments

Hello! It's been a little while since my last post. But fear not, I haven't disappeared just been working on a few things. My last post covered a project I was working on that fell through, and since then another project I was yet to start fell through as well.

So as you can imagine that left me feeling pretty deflated. I'm just starting out and yet have already had my share of disappointments! The important thing is to try and pull yourself back from it and not take it too personally (easier said than done I know). Everything in this business takes time, a project coming up, sampling, waiting for feedback, waiting to hear whether you've gotten the job, waiting to start the project, waiting, waiting, waiting.....there is A LOT of this. More than I realised. And even when you've done work for a project and you've gotten the job there are no guarantees (see previous post).

So it's VERY important to remind yourself why you do what you do. It's important to keep working on your portfolio, get yourself out there, Love what you do, put in the hard work and don't give up. 

Anyhoo, enough of that! So the things I've actually been working on, well I've been working alongside my agents and LaB to write my very own chapter book (eek!).  I'm having fun with it and enjoying bouncing ideas off the lovely people at LaB. There isn't much to share just yet, a few sketches and ideas but nothing I can show. But it's all very exciting!

Other than that, some possible projects have come up (one straight after the others falling through) that I've been sampling for. One looks very much up my street and is boys orientated. Here are a few character samples. Fingers crossed they like them!

And the second one, which is very different for me is stories from the Bible. Here's a little sneak at that one.

These are only possible projects so I'm keeping everything crossed :)

And the most exciting news yet! My picture book is being published this month! I can't wait to receive a copy of it. As soon as I do, I will be sure to share a few sneaky peeks. I'm also thinking of sharing some of its process which will include some very rough roughs. Which I hope you'll enjoy. Here's to the next few months!

Mermaids

This was a sample I was asked to do for an activity book by the same publisher of my book. I haven't drawn a mermaid for a long time and it was challenging to do something a bit different. Suffice to say it was described as 'perfect' and means I could be doing a few activity books for them pretty soon :)

Dragons and things

Here are a couple of dragons for you. 

A few close ups.

Can't tell you how much stress the red one was giving me! Couldn't decide what colour to make him. Colour is always a tricky one.

I've been a little quiet recently as I'm waiting to hear back about a possible exciting project. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it all goes ahead! Will share more when I can.

And now for something completely different...

Space

 I've been wanting to do a space related illustration for a while. So here it is.

 

I started sketching this last night not really with a clear idea of what I was doing or where it would end up. Just started with a boy astronaut and it went from there. When I started inking I choose a thinner fineliner than I normally use and wasn't really worried about wobbly lines - I just went with it. Really had fun with this one and hope you like it.

Whisper

Whisper, whisper! A quick sketch which is part of a spread. Fits well with this week's Illustration Friday.

Fairy Tales

Here's my submission for this month's theme over at The Pencil Play Collective. I choose this one too! I thought it might be fun to include a few different fairy tales - see if you can name them all.

I really struggled with this theme and it seems that I can't draw wolves. 

 

A few close ups. 

As usual there are things I like about this piece and things I don't. I'm really happy with how Jack and the giant turned out though.

Mice Marching Band

Some cute little mice for you.

Or maybe they aren't as cute and innocent as they look.

Dinosaur Slide!

This is exactly what I would do if I saw a T- Rex. Well either this or run away. 

This is the dinosaur I had to draw to balance out my last illustration (the girly princess one). I'm not sure I've ever drawn a dinosaur before but I enjoyed doing it. I even went for an open mouth on the little girl too - something I don't normally do. Trying to challenge myself a bit more and there isn't a monkey in sight!