GRAD SHOW ALERT! MA Children's Book Illustration exhibition at Candid Arts Trust!

Illustration by Toby Rampton

I have just completed my MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art! More about that another time!
I just wanted to share that our grad show is at Candid Arts Trust (near Angel tube) in London, from 13th - 17th February 2024.

Come and forage through the exciting jungle of work from around 80 graduating children’s book illustration students from Cambridge School of Art! The exhibits on show include picturebooks (‘dummy books’ which are prototypes containing a few finished spreads and lots of rough drawings), posters, lots of book characters peeking from between shelves, and I’m sure there’ll be some character sculptures and other interesting bits and bobs too!

See below for an idea of what the exhibition will be like from a reel I made last year at the same event. The only difference is there are a lot more exhibitors this year. Presumably the lovely cafe will still be next door so I can commence my one-person cake-eating contest.

I’ll be exhibiting my picturebook dummy ‘A Friend at Fable Hill’, and my comic zine dummy ‘The Neurodivergent Diaries’.

Here’s our grad students’ website.

And our course Instagram account where our work is featured in the lead up to our exhibition!

We hope you can join us and see what we’ve been up to!

Standing with Ukraine - protesting for peace through illustration

There are some wonderful works of art on Instagram illustrating the plight for peace in Ukraine, and putting into image what is sometimes hard to express in words. I wanted to share some that caught my eye over the past couple of days. We want the citizens of Ukraine to know - we stand with you.

I was supposed to be reading a pile of books for my dissertation but couldn’t focus with everything that is going on, so instead put my thoughts on to paper:

If any of the embedded images aren’t visible, it’s likely the artist has removed their Instagram post.

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Online Lockdown Life-drawing sessions

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On a personal level, something positive has transpired as a result of the pandemic - the emergence of online life drawing sessions. I attended a lot of life drawing classes as part of my foundation art diploma course, some during my undergraduate degree in illustration, and one random session in London when I lived there, but nothing since.

I don’t like being the new person, felt daunted by the prospect of joining an established group of advanced life-draw-ers in Cambridge, and am more comfortable in my own space; drawing people out and about. Online life drawing gave me the opportunity to be in my own space whilst drawing from life, and participating in a small community as much or as little as I pleased. Participants ranged from never-drawn-before to trained/untrained and established artists.

Ophelia-inspired life-drawing session with host Miss Muse Melbourne & model in bathtub with water & plants.

Ophelia-inspired life-drawing session with host Miss Muse Melbourne & model in bathtub with water & plants.

See my Figure Studies gallery for more of my life drawing work.

Ophelia lifedrawing in bath.jpg

If you’re interested in online life drawing sessions but haven’t tried one yet, here’s a glimpse of what you can expect (from my experience anyway!) Scroll to the end for a round-up of life drawing organisations that offer online sessions!

Lifedrawing Henley school of art

Through Instagram I discovered that Henley School of Art were organising online life drawing sessions.

I signed up for a pre-Christmas session by purchasing my ticket through their website and receiving an email with the Zoom link and event details. The website shows which model will be posing on specific dates and indicates what their theme or costume will be.

In that session, the female model was in costume with a gift box attached to her head, a cloak, striped stockings, and a string of Christmas tree lights draped around her.

It was a 2 hour session with festive music and a really fun community feel. The host was entertaining and professional - she took time to ensure the model was in a good position and pose, no feet or fingers cut off by the camera! There were timed poses e.g. a few short ones, a couple of longer full length figure poses and a longer close up portrait pose, with a break somewhere in the middle.

The model was in her own home, with webcam on, and posing as instructed. It was an unguided session, so we did our own thing, though Henley School of Art do also offer guided sessions. One important thing to note is that for these sessions you do need to have your webcam on, at least for a bit so they can ensure for the model’s privacy that there’s no funny business going on.

At the end of the session we were invited to share our work by holding it up to our cameras, but there is no expectation to do this and you won’t be put on the spot. You can also choose to share your work on Instagram and @mention and tag the relevant people. Organisations may then share a selection of work produced in the session on their own Instagram account feed/stories. It’s a great way to find new friends and other artists, and see what others produced during the same session!

online life drawing

One of the best things about these online sessions is being able to choose a session with the model you’d like to draw. For those past in-person classes we’d have no idea who the model would be, though it was always a slim white person, or an older model with a few wrinkles to draw if we were lucky. There was an incredible lack of diversity. I’m looking forward to participating in all manner of sessions now, with a wide range of models and themes.

Black Peppa life drawing
lifedrawing black peppa

The ticket costs support not only the independent organisers and established life models, but also actors, fashion models, circus & burlesque performers, artistes, etc from anywhere in the world who are turning to life modelling in these tough economic times. There are even animal life drawing sessions with funds going to animal charities!

If funds are an issue, you can always find free life-drawing videos online, for example the Royal Academy ‘Life Drawing Live’ session can be found here. And some of the live online sessions are by donation - pay what you can. Occasionally you may even see a free session such as this one from Drawing Life who are hosting free sessions throughout February.

Even if you’re drawing from a video where the model is sitting still, it’s so much better than drawing from a photo!

Online Life Drawing Sessions

I hope this post has suitably informed anyone thinking about participating in online life drawing sessions, and I really hope they continue post-pandemic times! Have you participated in any? Or can you recommend any for the list? Please do comment below!

PS this is not an affiliate post, even though I go on about Henley School of Art a lot, they were just my sweet introduction to figure drawing online and I recommend them!

Art materials I've been using for my current studies on MA Children's Book Illustration course

Thought I’d share some of the materials I used for course/sketchbook work during the first module of the Children’s Book Illustration MA at Cambridge School of Art.

For the first module we went out drawing from observation a lot, so I mostly used sketchbooks and pencils to begin with. My range of materials broadened as I experimented further with pastels (but not just any pastels!), inks, paint, and mark-making tools.

Here’s a round up of some of the art materials I’ve found fun to play with, or valuable as a primary material to work with. Click through the links to see the product pages - I’m using affiliate links which give you 10% off your first order (and me a little credit) at Jackson’s Art! I try to balance cost and quality as effectively as possible (I’m a student after all!) so my recommendations are for materials that do a great job whilst still being as affordable as possible. This post is best viewed on a computer/large tablet due to the text/image layout.

  • Caran D'ache Neocolor II : watercolour crayons
    These wax pastels/crayons were a game changer for me. They leave high pigment colour when used alone/dry, or you can add water to your drawing to produce watercolour effects. I enjoyed experimenting with drawing directly onto wet paper with these. My favourite colours are Light Grey, Light Olive, and Ochre.

  • Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils

    As someone who did A/Level art in the late 90s, I was infatuated with Berol’s Karismacolor pencils. They discontinued those luscious, soft, blendable pencils and I’ve been mourning them ever since; to the point where I cried about it on Twitter and someone actually sent me some of their old stash! (Thanks Gavin!) I’ve never found another brand of coloured pencil with the same feel or effect, but Faber Castell’s Polychromos pencils are a close second and are available! On the course we’ve been blending and mixing colours using coloured pencils so they need to be fairly soft. I tried using Caran D’ache Luminance pencils for blending but they have a slightly more waxy finish and didn’t blend well - however they still have their place in my pencil case and heart (see next recommendation)! My favourite Polychromos colour is Indanthrene Blue.

Coloured pencil mixing page in my sketchbook.

Coloured pencil drawing using Polychromos burnt umber.

Coloured pencil drawing using Polychromos burnt umber and Karismacolor grey.

  • Caran D’ache Luminance coloured pencils

    I really like these pencils for their flat colour and they are the most lightfast of all coloured pencils. I have read reviews whereby people manage successful blending with these - it wasn’t the case for me, but perhaps it was due to the colours I used or being a bit inept with blending at the time… they are still really good for professional level work and similarly to the Polychromos pencils, I know a lot of illustrators that use these. My favourite Luminance colour is Payne’s Grey.

  • Daler Rowney FW acrylic inks
    I love the intensity in the pigments of these inks, and the effect they give when used for both washes and undiluted. Indigo is my current ink colour of choice, I like to mix it with a little black for a bluey-grey result, create washes, and add further details with concentrated ink on top.

  • Winsor & Newton waterproof ink
    It took me years of experiencing ink bleed with drawings when using water before stumbling upon a video of Quentin Blake describing his technique of using waterproof ink and then painting over it with colour. I immediately researched waterproof ink and found this gem: Winsor & Newton black Indian ink. After a quick drying time, you’re good to go with the watercolours on top!

  • Tombow Mono eraser pens

    I would say these erasers that work like mechanical pencils are essential for erasing details. I’m currently using a Mono Zero ultra fine 2.3mm for my tiny pencil drawing details.

  • Tombow dual tip brush pens
    I’ve been using Tombow’s brush pens for around 13 years now. They used to be the main media for my illustrations, especially for hand lettering, but during the MA I’ve mostly been using very pale grey Tombow brush pens as a foundation to quickly lay down the shape of what I want to draw on paper, then build the image on top with fine-liner, pencils, etc. This is an efficient technique when drawing things that might move very soon - thus was very useful for observational drawing out and about. I also obsessively draw elf hats with the red pens…

  • Pilot G-Tec C4 Microtip rollerball pen
    This is the BEST black fine-liner I’ve ever used, and I’ve been using these for many years. Precision for detail is the main reason, and I draw tiny! The 0.4mm nib draws a 0.2mm line and the ink flows like a dream. Thankfully these days you can get refills for this pen, keeping costs down and more importantly plastic.

Left: A drawing in one of my Moleskine journals that I drew using a Pilot G-Tec C4 fineliner.

  • Posca paint marker pens
    Despite having been around for years, Posca’s paint markers are a very recent discovery for me, and it’s all about the 8mm chisel tip in my opinion! When observational drawing, one can very quickly create a coloured background layer with an 8mm paint marker, and it dries quickly. Then add detail or other media on top. I use it in a similar way to the Tombow but the Posca is a flat, opaque paint effect, whereas the Tombow is more transparent and the brush tip is much smaller.

A college library illustration in my A4 sketchbook made using a dark blue 8mm Posca chisel tip pen & coloured pencils.

  • Daler Rowney & Seawhite stitched sketchbooks

    Most of the sketchbooks I’ve used in the past year have been the Daler Rowney Ebony 150gsm sketchbooks, from A6 to an A3 (large one specifically for lifedrawing). For square or landscape formats I use Seawhite hardcover 140gsm sketchbooks. For very wet media I use inexpensive watercolour paper, as the aforementioned sketchbooks would suffer with warped pages.

  • Pebeo workbox/artist caddy

    I heavily rely on my little double decker toolbox by Pebeo when I’m out drawing. My inks, brushes, and larger items go in the bottom compartment, and pencils, and small bits and bobs in the top. I struggled with a pencil case when sitting on my little stool on a busy street. My toolbox came empty, but you can buy an identical one from Jackson’s Art if you’d also like the contents which are for fabric painting. If not, you can get a different sort with tiers by Daler Rowney.

I hope you’ve found my materials list useful. These are just my current favourite products and opinions, and I’d love to hear what your must-have materials are too! Feel free to leave a comment below :)

Looking at tonal values in illustration

For the Observation and Experiment module of the MA in Children’s Book Illustration I’m studying, we have been focusing on tonal values. I’ve been looking closely at tone in the world around me, and been thinking about how to portray tone in drawings from life.

As part of my research I’ve been studying images that have interesting and inspiring approaches to using a spectrum of values with a variety of perspectives and treatments. Thought I’d share these images in case they are of interest!
Click through to view the original posts on Instagram.

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Tove Jansson - Mark-making and Tonal Values

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I recently started studying on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, and we are currently looking at tone and framing.

Tone

We have been studying tonal values within images, and I wanted to share these illustrations by Tove Jansson that show her approaches to using tonal values in her work.

Tove Jansson, via https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/tove-jansson/

Tove Jansson, via https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/tove-jansson-moomin-world/

It’s fascinating to see these two illustration versions made with different types of media. I wonder if the painting on the left was a preparatory study to plan her tonal range for the drawing on the right? I can’t find any information about it, so that’s just my guess.

I’m so intrigued by Tove’s use of mark-making to depict tone, with the light areas and negative space untouched to show the original off-white of the paper, some black areas to contrast and show depth, and then variations of mid-tones drawn as ink dashes, creating a range of values depending on the space between them. Somehow she manages to make the dashes flow effortlessly, whilst describing the solidity and forms of the underwater realm. I’ve never been much of a planner when it comes to illustration, I tend to go straight in to the final piece, but am learning to use more considered approaches to create a more dynamic image. A lot more thought goes into these illustrations than I realised!

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New illustrated greeting cards for birthdays, bat-lovers and wild swimmers!

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Here are some of my new card designs that are available on Thortful - and here’s a 30% off link for your first purchase - yay! Click on the images to see them on Thortful. All of these designs and many of my others start out as hand-illustrated originals for my friends/family and with a little digital pimpage I spruce them up ready for printing and offering to a wider audience.

Does an imaginary pond surrounded by wildflowers and inhabiting nudey peeps and birdies sound like fun? After months of covid lockdown, (somewhat socially-distanced) freedom is on the agenda! #Freeyourbits.

Have a wild birthday card for nature-loving wild things!

Have a wild birthday card for nature-loving wild things!

Birthday greetings brought to you by a couple of onesie-clad pop-drinking elves - available age numbers from 1 to 10 on the balloon.

Happy birthday elves card

Happy birthday elves card

Pardon my French, but I’m crazy about you.
And bats.
I’ve been partial to the adoration of bat populations since accommodating a mother and baby bat on my cabana ceiling in Nicaragua. Followed by attending bat talks, clutching sonar detectors on bat punting safaris, and drawing the little blighters left, right, and centre.

Batshit crazy illustrated card

Batshit crazy illustrated card

Let me know what you think - and come say howdy on Instagram where you’ll find me @makingstrangers with more drawings and lots of sketchbook work.

Freshly Picked - a selection of vegan-friendly gifts for Father's Day from UK Etsy shops

I miss scouring Etsy for interesting, unique items from makers and small businesses, and sharing them as curated collections. Whilst I’m an Etsy affiliate, these are all things that I would personally give as gifts anyway and I usually end up buying some of my picks as well, today being no exception (though I won’t mention which in case my own pa is peeking)!

Here’s my selection of Father’s Day items that also happen to be vegan-friendly, so everyone can enjoy them. Click through each image to see the item listing on Etsy, or click here to shop the collection directly, along with a few extra picks!

If you like the items or are featured, please feel free to share!

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New greeting cards - stay in touch by snail mail

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Introducing my new cards! My ‘stay safe, take care’ and ‘thanks for everything’ cards use the same illustration with different text and were originally a watercolour postcard I made and sent to a friend during the coronavirus lockdown. As people are less able to communicate in person at this isolating time, I also made the design into a free download/printable image for anyone to use (see my free downloads section) - that version has a blank banner so you can write your own message on the front.

The two versions pictured here are available via my Thortful shop now and also my new stockist, the bricks and mortar shop Daily Bread Co-operative in Cambridge in a few days.

Stay safe, take care, and happy posting!

Quote By Maurice Sendak to inspire us into the new year

Mail art by Maurice Sendak. Credit: Letters of Note

Mail art by Maurice Sendak. Credit: Letters of Note

Credit: OpenCulture.com

I remember first reading this quote by Where The Wild Things Are writer/illustrator Maurice Sendak somewhere years ago and it truly warmed me up from the inside. I’m sharing it today to spread some warmth around during this cold, bleak January.

Then I shall stick a copy of it above my desk and return to read it often.

Or perhaps I will eat it?

December watercolour observational sketches

Out and about in Cambridge this month with my sketchbook and watercolours. Most of my observational sketches in the cold months are from window views or photographs I take. I prefer to sketch from life directly but not so much when being pelted with freezing rain!

I’m currently experimenting with Kuretake watercolour paints that were a gift for my 40th birthday!

My favourite thing about these paints is the seamless effect of the blended colours when the paint is dry. There is a quality to that blend that I haven’t achieved with other watercolour paints before.

Also they behave nicely on my 140 gsm paper sketchbook pages!

Street musician sketch

Street musician sketch

Watercolour sketches on location in Cambridge, UK

Watercolour sketches on location in Cambridge, UK

I’m so used to over-detailing drawings and paintings, so these sketches are a personal exercise in keeping it simple. Trying to avoid outlines and any details that aren’t completely necessary to communicate the subject.

School children at St John’s College

School children at St John’s College

These school children were on an outing to St John’s College in Cambridge. I was visiting someone in the college and saw a gaggle of them striding across the green outside the window, clattering and chattering as children do, lots of skipping along and enthused chats! More of these soon..

Christmas window shopper yawning

Christmas window shopper yawning

Above depicts an evening window shopper yawning. This is what I refer to as too much detail. This is me trying to be restrained with detail but falling back into habits of outlining!

Figure sketches in the street in Cambridge

Figure sketches in the street in Cambridge

I’m not enthusiastic about this page, but like the way the man looks shifty, even though he wasn’t in real life.

My attempt at depicting his clothing made him look shady, and that side eye adds to it.

As it’s December and everyone seems to have forgotten their gloves, there have been lots of hands in pockets, which is a shame as I like drawing hands.

Don’t forget your gloves!

Autumn sketchbook: observational drawings in Cambridge

Pages from my current sketchbook, drawing at locations in Cambridge. I find that in some places you can almost guess the location from the people; what they say, how they sit, what they wear, etc. I enjoy catching snippets of conversations as people pass by, or sitting in the bus, or at a cafe. I have notebooks full of these snippets, discovering what my city is talking about.

Kettle’s Yard Garden Kitchen cafe, Cambridge

Kettle’s Yard Garden Kitchen cafe, Cambridge

Above and below are drawings from Kettle’s Yard Garden Kitchen. After pondering the exhibits I sat in the cafe with a bowl of soup (delicious - recommended!) and sketched the staff and patrons. Then walked up the garden path to the quaint St Peter’s Church.

Kettle’s Yard Garden Kitchen cafe, Cambridge

St Peter’s Church, Cambridge

Quick line drawings of tourists (and birdies) in the rain by the river at St John’s College.

Cambridge tourists in the rain

Cambridge tourists in the rain

Selfie sticks ahoy!

Selfie sticks ahoy!

Cambridge central library

Cambridge central library

In Cambridge Central library I had a little sit down and draw situation in the newspaper and magazine areas. The elderly man on the left was a wonderfully curious character to observe, removing his glasses and peering over the newspaper. Sometimes I see people out and about that I am aching to draw but they are already gone by the time the thought enters my head. At least with libraries they don’t move so quickly!

I have pages of drawings of people punting, but they are not great - it’s so hard to draw not only the people moving very quickly - not just their bodies, but moving along in the boat at speed. I need some more practice and to find a technique of capturing that speed and movement using fewer (and more expressive) lines.

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Valentine's Cards - best places to find my illustrated Valentine's Day cards

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If you’re interested in buying one of my Valentine’s Day cards (thanks so much!), I thought I’d show where is best to order from depending on location, postage costs and delivery times.

If you were a bogey, I’d pick you!

If you’re in the UK/Europe, purchasing directly from me via my Etsy shop is the most cost effective way, along with being the quickest! If you’re sending to a UK address, you can order my cards from Thortful and have them sent directly to yourself or your recipient with your message printed inside (I receive a commission/royalty for these and Thortful do the printing/posting.) They also offer add-on options such as sending chocolates, socks, etc.

If you’re in USA, it’s worth looking at my cards on Society6 as they ship from USA so it should in theory be cheaper and faster. Last time I ordered from there my package was shipped from Texas to England. This is another platform that does the printing and posting on my behalf and I receive a commission.

My cards are available on Redbubble with the same commission basis as Society6. They state “we have a global network of 3rd party printers that make your orders. Once you place an order on the site, each item is sent to the independent printer closest to you.”

I love you more than sloths love hibiscus!

I love you more than sloths love hibiscus!

I’m sticking with you card.

I’m sticking with you card.

I also have a Valentine’s mug gift available via Etsy!

If you were a bogey, I’d pick you - mug.

If you were a bogey, I’d pick you - mug.

I’m open to suggestions of other platforms to offer my designs via. Please do let me know your favourite place to buy cards by illustrators online!

Nature journal & design sites

Hello!
I’ve been squirrelling away behind the scenes uploading my illustrations to websites such as Redbubble, Society6 and Zazzle.

These platforms do everything from taking your product orders, to printing and manufacturing the items, to delivering the orders.

My most recent illustration, available as the printed front cover of ‘my nature book’, a sketchbook/journal for drawing nature finds, mindful musings, fungi identifications, or what ever one decides to create within.

My most recent illustration, available as the printed front cover of ‘my nature book’, a sketchbook/journal for drawing nature finds, mindful musings, fungi identifications, or what ever one decides to create within.

The designers receive a commission from each product sold. Orders are anonymous and are sent directly from the company to the customer.

The range of products on offer varies from site to site. The products I’m personally offering with my designs are varied too depending on the format and size of the original image files and what the fit onto. If it wasn’t for these sites I wouldn’t be able to offer my images on e.g. side tables or duvet covers which is fun!

‘There’s gnome place like home’ cushion. Click image to see listing on Redbubble.

‘There’s gnome place like home’ cushion. Click image to see listing on Redbubble.

Time for tea? Click image to see listing on Redbubble.

Time for tea? Click image to see listing on Redbubble.

For future reference, my online shop/product links can be found under Shop —> Stockists in the navigation menu of my website.

Thanks for looking!

New prints in my Etsy shop

Some new prints of my illustrations are now available in my Etsy shop! Click on the images to view the shop listings on Etsy.

Thanks for looking!

Personalised travel/hiking journals

I’ve just listed a couple of new hiking journals in my Etsy shop – inspired by a friend who is currently hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (trail from Mexico to Canada). These are small, lightweight Moleskine brand journals that are easily stashed in a backpack or pocket, and are altered to include a name/place/word above the hand-drawn hiker illustration.

I always carry my own journal to write anything from travel notes to diary entries, and lots of sketches too! I figured these would make thoughtful gifts for hikers, hill walkers, adventurers and explorers ready for their next journey.

Hiker journal with cut-out boots and hiker illustration.

Hiker journal with cut-out boots and hiker illustration.

Hiker journal with cut-out heart and hiker/backpacker illustration.

Hiker journal with cut-out heart and hiker/backpacker illustration.

One of a kind personalised journals for hikers.

One of a kind personalised journals for hikers.

I have journals just like these from my 8 month backpacking adventure in Central America and several months spent in Canada. I thoroughly enjoy reminiscing with them and reflecting upon those times. Much of what I wrote was day-to-day life observations but it’s those details that set the scene and atmosphere realistically. The bits you might not remember because they didn’t stand out so much, but they help paint the whole picture, emotions included.

Do you write, draw, or take notes when you're out and about?