Process - why is mine still different every time?
Illoguild - our international critique group of wonderfulness - answer a question together every month. This month we talk about process and I get to the bottom of what is holding me back.
What process do you use - to create the outputs required, to achieve the desired outcomes? In this context we mean pictures (outputs)…for picture books which create an emotional response (outcomes).
Currently my process involves randomly sketching, colouring, scanning, moving objects around until they look pretty and then planning a potential “portfolio piece” in response to an assignment or challenge (which, to be brutally honest, often doesn’t have a focal point). My portfolio does not have a cohesive feel, style, theme or colour palette (YET). Often, I struggle to identify a niche within which I would want to fit. Which is why I am still at the beginning of my adventure to transition into becoming a full time (author) illustrator.
Also, this explains the biggest hurdle yet, which I want to overcome.
What is the process of becoming an illustrator?
Recently I listened to a Masterclass by Shelly Ann Jackson at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It was the very first thing I listened to on my arrival and the most poignant advice I had heard in a wee while. (To read about the rest of my #BCBF23 experience, subscribe to receive my next newsletter!)
On the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge they talk about the stages of:
Building of skills - technical, processes become focussed and creative ideation
Elimination of barriers - such as speed, inner critic, former habits
Weaving of threads = experiences, interests and personality.
All of this combines so that an illustrator can recognise their visual language. I have spent several years working on the 3 items above, not understanding they were a natural progression and I felt pretty smug upon hearing that I could next be moving towards a style which felt authentic and unique to me. (AT LAST)
The 2 most significant activities you can carry out daily, Shelley Ann advises, in order to find your unique style are:
Drawing in your sketchbook every day
Drawing on location (yikes, it is cold in UK for 11.2 months of the year!)
It’s similar to training in the gym. You can’t miss a week or it unravels.
Until you reach this point of commitment, I don’t believe you can have the same process every time. As much as I love to brainstorm, plan, calendarise, colour coordinate stickie-notes and task myself with mini actions - it often falls to pieces when I find something new and shiny to be amazed by. (Process=unravelling) This could be a new pair of scissors; watching videos of pigment sticks; dreaming up a new storyline for a picture book or discovering hidden gems in my sketchbook. If you are still at 1) Building skills - it makes sense to lean in to that and enjoy the ride. But you can’t stay there forever, unless your raison d’etre is just drawing for fun. (There is nothing wrong with that by the way).
And yet, IRL, I’ve got my ducks in a row
I was describing the distractions in my brain, which take me off-piste creatively, to a friend recently and we wondered together whether this might be a symptom of ADHD. I have spent so many years taking my own children through paediatrics to get support for their neurodivergent learning styles, I didn’t invest much time wondering about my own particular way of doing things.
It makes sense that in my newest season of life (approaching menopause) my skewed hormones would make it increasingly difficult to mask/hide the chaotic and empathetic, super-sensory human who last graced my amygdala during teenage years.
Of course, this alter-ego is not welcome all the time, despite being great fun to paint alongside. I work 9-5 for 5 days a week, 6 months at a time as a freelancer. And I have to produce a LOT of GOOD WORK or else I get fired. Much of that effort is spent understanding the landscape, identifying inefficiencies and suggesting improvements, then implementing them. Personally, I enjoy this arrangement as, without the constant threat of discovery (that I prefer spreadsheets to people), I tend to get very lazy.
At the start of each day I ask myself ‘what can I offer my employer today that will make them want to ask me back tomorrow?’. It is a form of Gold Plating, which sets me above the rest. The fidget-monster in me is confined to 40 min slots of concentration, after which she can make coffee, walk around the house, drag heavy washing out the machine and eat crunchy snacks (all emotionally regulating activities, it turns out). Therefore in my day job, I do manage to direct my mental and physical energy towards the right spaces - those which provide greatest benefit to my client and solve their biggest problems. It is a very satisfactory exchange of energy but after several months working on increasing the maturity of a project or programme, my cup is usually empty and I have to recharge.
How do I bring paid-work successes to my illustration practice?
How can I focus my mind during the remaining free hours to make great leaps forward in my illustration practice? The assignment question reads:-
‘What can I bring a publisher or agent that will make them want my book or product more than another’ OR
Which of my skillsets will bring me to front of their mind for a new project?
One such skill might be my ability to understand what the client needs and to research the topic thoroughly, but bring them something EXTRA.
My creative mind will obsessively research something from 100 different angles, disappearing down rabbit holes looking for little nuggets. As a trained scientist, I’m no stranger to scanning long technical reports and looking for patterns; taking a new piece of information and setting off like a bloodhound to see how this could tie in. I enjoy becoming an expert in many different fields. It’s not savant status - that is off-the-charts something else. (N.B. I do have close relatives who could be compared to Old Masters who became savant in engineering, maths, music - anything which contributed to their learning of the world). However my interests and hobbies are wide and varied and this could be associated with a beautifully neurodivergent mind.
Types of research which I enjoy: books; podcasts; courses; sketchbooks; Pinterest and internet searches; library articles; interviews; museums; documentaries and listening. As an introvert, there is much more enjoyment in listening than talking and too much of the latter gives me bronchitis. For me, I love intricate details. Assimilating all of these details and reaching new conclusions which can be interpreted from a fascinating view point is the ultimate aim.
What is the biggest hurdle?
.……..I can draw really well. I have mastered nearly all artistic media. I can tell the coating on a random piece of paper and what it should be used for with my eyes closed. I have experience in interpreting problems and finding solutions through collaboration………But can I tell a story?
If I cannot tell a story with a picture, then illustrating picture books will not be in my future. (Luckily I have studied pattern design, non-fiction illustration and writing at the same time - TADAA!) But this doesn’t sit well.
Problem statement: In order to increase the maturity of my illustration how do I tweak the process from being able to draw to being able to tell a story?
The 3 point perspective suggests asking the following questions as part of your process:
Who are the audience?
What do the audience expect?
What do the audience already know?
Then decide the message and the focal point; what emotion will be conveyed; what atmosphere is required and chose a colour palette and media.
See that last point - the colour palette and type of media come LAST!
If we come full circle to how I started this piece with details of my current (unsuccessful) process - some changes need to be made. The things I am considering first, because I enjoy the thrill of experimentation, need to come last. The research and the planning need to become part of the very first steps and need to differentiate me from my competitors. That’s the USP. The knowledge I already have, about science, neurodiversity and growing vegetables, needs to become my specialist topics. My empathy, sensory skills and attention to detail are my brand.
What stories would I like to tell through my illustrations? For me it would ultimately always link back to kindness. Mainly because there just isn’t enough to go around at the moment. Even the holiest of us need to be reminded now and then - just be kind. Next steps for me will be to take the advice I received at BCBF23 on my style and create portfolio pieces about kindness. But each piece will need to have that little something extra - the Gold Plating of fastidious research.
How do I turn my process on its head and start with research? I think I need to design my own sketchbook, with lined paper at the front, sketching paper in the middle and good quality pad at the back. Or just stack it in a binder in that order.
Whilst writing this, I pulled out my old refillable #Filofax and I think it might be just the ticket! (Stocked at WHSmith or Paperchase #notanad)
Do you need to make any changes to your current process to hit the desired outcome via better outputs?
Has this chat given you anything new to think about?
Ps I really enjoy the Domestika class by Ema Malyauka since she has a brilliant research process which encourages artists like myself to do the hard work first.