The Good Ship Illustration

The Good Ship Illustration
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Welcome to The Good Ship Illustration - the podcast for illustrators who are quietly working away in their sketchbooks thinking… “is it just me?” …it’s not just you! We’re Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell and Tania Willis - three full-time illustrators from three different corners of the industry (and three different age brackets ). We live in the same seaside town in the UK and started having cuppas and chats… and accidentally became illustration agony aunts. Now we record those chats for you! We answer your questions about confidence, tricky clients, pricing your work, creative block, picture books, publishing, and everything in between. ✨ New episodes every Friday. ✨ Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and do send us your questions! P.s. Fancy some freebies? Head to thegoodshipillustration.com for colour workshops, picture book templates, and other treats. Byeeee for now!  x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢🚢🚢

  1. hace 21 h

    "Nobody can hire you if they can't see you". An interview with Mollie off of @ShortSupplyMCR

    "Why does promoting my own work feel so cringe?" HIYA WELCOME BACK! We missed you! Summer holidays are all done here in the UK. Hope you had a good rest too.  This week our Katie's chatting to Mollie Balshaw, one half of Short Supply: Short Supply is an artist-led creative practice founded by Mollie and Rebekah Balshaw. Since 2019, they have helped artists navigate creative careers through exhibitions, publishing, workshops, mentoring and public conversations. Their work makes the hidden structures of the art world more visible, while encouraging artists to take their ideas seriously without waiting for perfect conditions. Their current projects include 100 Ideas and Step One, a series of conversations taking place at Edinburgh Fringe. Short Supply posed this cracker of a question over on Instagram: why is visibility treated like ego, when artists need it to survive?  There's chat about snobbery re; wanting to earn money from your work, the bits of being visible online that you're not warned about, aaaand the boundaries Mollie and Rebekah have built to keep themselves safe. Then there's the can-you-have-a-successful-creative-career-outside-London question, and why "it's local so it must be rubbish" can get into our heads. Unfortunately, the Edinburgh Fringe is finished now 😭 but Step One was Short Supply's project and you can read all about it here: https://www.shortsupply.org/step-one  Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – Intro to Mollie, Rebekah and Short Supply  01:20 – Why is visibility treated like ego?  02:30 – Being talented is admirable, wanting to be seen is embarrassing. Whyyy?  03:30 – Starting Short Supply out of frustration (and wanting an excuse to collaborate)  04:30 – Who the art world isn't built for  05:30 – Snobbery about "commercial", snobbery about social media  06:20 – "Do I have to show my face?"  07:30 – Algorithms, platform politics, visibility  09:20 – Energy and capacity  10:20 – The flip side of a post going big  11:20 – When visibility isn't safe: queer, disabled and racialised artists  12:30 – Boundaries  14:00 – Would you mind a stranger saving it?  15:20 – You don't *need* to be on social media to promote your creative work  16:00 – Edinburgh Fringe as the best word-of-mouth machine in the country  16:40 – Step One: the Fringe show  17:40 – "I'm not telling you my idea in case you nick it"  18:20 – You can't benefit from an idea that stays in your head  20:20 – Smooth peanut butter vs crunchy  21:00 – Manchester  23:00 – Building a creative career outside London.  24:20 – proximity to London still counts for a lot  25:40 – "Manchester's caught up" or has it?  28:40 – Contradicting yourself out loud is just thinking. Allowed.  30:40 – Who are the David Hockneys of Salford right now?  33:00 – Local snobbery, and galleries that don't invite their neighbours  35:00 – Growing up somewhere small and assuming everything local is rubbish  36:30 – You have more choices than you think (a story about Mollie's nan)  38:00 – The joy of a part-time job/everyone else's secret pile of money  39:20 – AI, and being glad it didn't exist at uni  40:40 – "They may have been rubbish, but they were mine" Links mentioned: Short Supply's website: https://www.shortsupply.orgShort Supply on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shortsupplymcrThe Scottish Storytelling Centre, home of Step One: https://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.comByeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) p.s. If you'd like more options for being-visible-without-being-sick-in-your-mouth, that's exactly what we get stuck into in Illustration Business Club! Doors are opening in October and you can read up on it here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  2. 10 jul

    RIP Hockney & (Art) school's out for summer 🤘 🌴 🍦🩲

    What're you doing this summer? Are you having a little rest? This episode is all about taking breaks and we have a wee look at our plans: Helen is in her illustrator hermit cave for July to get the next Salty Dog book finished before the deadline, with a nice August off as her reward. Tania is working on a museum commission for a 'Gossip Wall' in Berwick Museum, with plans to experiment with texture and line for the first time in ages. (Phwoarrrrr.) And Katie's about to have her first proper 6-week term-time break now that E's in school full time. Whatever your plans are, have a good one! We'll be back in September. Rough Timestamps, for you timestamp enthusiasts: 00:00 – Recording remotely, wheee 01:00 – Camping memories in France (TVs in tents) 03:00 – What does everyone's idea of a summer break look like? 04:00 – Helen's July hermit cave  05:00 – Tania's loose-deadline project 06:00 – the Gossip Wall 09:00 – Working four-hour afternoons 10:00 – Berwick Open Studios, and the Pith Sketchbook Studios workshops on 3rd & 4th October 11:00 – Walk to See, Instagram's Add Yours feature 13:00 – Sketchbooking at the Alan Carr castle auction viewing day 14:00 – Katie's first proper term-time summer break now E's in school 15:00 – Freelance guilt, privilege, trying to "do it all" rarely works 17:00 – Trying and failing to switching your email off 20:00 – RIP David Hockney 24:00 – Planning a Hockney-themed summer party 27:00 – Good luck to Helen with the Salty Dog drawings, and a peek ahead Illustration Business Club returning this autumn! Links mentioned: Byeeee for now!  x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) p.s. Illustration Business Club is coming back into the chat this autumn, join the waiting list here and keep an eye out. https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business  Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  3. 3 jul

    No, you *don't* have imposter syndrome - an interview with Lauren Currie OBE

    What's the point in making all this gorgeous work if you don't have the confidence to share it, eh? EH!? Who better to grill on this subject than Lauren Currie, OBE. Lets gooo: Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – Intro  01:00 – Confidence = the elephant in the room for creatives 02:00 – Lauren on why confidence matters so much, especially for women and marginalised people  05:00 – The shite UN statistic  07:00 – "What would a mediocre middle-aged man do?"  09:00 – Confidence is a team sport, not a solo endeavour  11:00 – Carrying responsibility for how everyone else feels  12:00 – 10 people whose opinions actually matter (and why it's not Jeanie from school's mum's dentist)  14:00 – Imposter syndrome 16:00 – The 1970s research that labelled women with a "syndrome" instead of looking at the system  19:00 – Why self-doubt is healthy 21:00 – Confidence is a muscle  22:00 – Lauren's art 25:00 – Old lady faces 27:00 – Should you have a separate art Instagram?  28:00 – The Barcelona art show story 32:00 – Why 'just' 20 people seeing your work is a LOT of people  33:00 – Lauren's advice for illustrators who are scared to share their work  36:00 – On hiding 38:00 – We need your art!! Links and books etc. mentioned: Lauren's website: https://www.laurencurrie.co/artUpfront: https://www.weareupfront.comBe Upfront by Lauren CurrieWe Need Your Art by Amy McNee https://www.amiemcnee.com/order-we-need-your-art-book-amie-mcneeThe Good Ship Illustration: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.comFind Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag course: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflagCome and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  4. 26 jun

    Help, I’ve forgotten how to draw 🫠

    This week's podcast is a sneaky peek into the live Q&A calls we do for our Find Your Creative Voice; Fly Your Freak Flag students. (They happen monthly at the moment.) WHADDA CHAT. In this episode, we talk about: Pursuing boredom The Artists' WayWhy finding your style doesn’t always feel fun and easy and natural (Instagram's lying to yooou) What to do when you have hundreds of project ideas and no clue which one to choose How to handle agent/client feedback without immediately throwing your laptop into the sea Galleries are better when you don’t try to “eat all the paintings” Pens, colour, sketchbooks and abandoning black linework Quentin Blake, Mr Bingo and free flapjacks. Just a normal day, really.If you'd like to join us, go for it! Enrolment is open right now, and our next live call is happening on Thursday the 16th of July at 7pm UK time. Timestamps 00:00 Art block 00:55 Morning pages 02:00 Wide margins 04:30 Boredom 06:00 Creative sparks 08:15 Creative identity 10:20 Comparison 11:30 Constraints 13:30 Page layouts 15:15 Deadlines 17:15 Oblique Strategies 18:30 Slow looking 21:00 Drawing from home 22:30 Quentin Blake Centre 26:45 Too many ideas 31:10 Feedback 37:30 Coloured linework 39:45 Closing thoughts Stuff we mentioned & links (so many this week, woah) The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron Make Every Day Creative by Marion Deuchars David Hockney (RIP)Brian Eno’s Oblique StrategiesQuentin Blake Centre - Thank you for inviting us to the preview day, team QB!Derwent Pencil MuseumPicture Hooks https://www.picturehooks.org.uk/The Catchpole Agency http://www.thecatchpoleagency.co.uk/Muji fine linersEmma Carlisle / Sarah Dyer https://www.emmacarlisle.com/  https://www.sarahdyer.com/The Good Ship Illustration Art Club https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/?hl=enFly Your Freak Flag https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflagThe Good Ship Illustration colour workshop https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/colourCome and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  5. 19 jun

    "I spent ages on the detailed stuff...but they liked the quick sketch." An interview with the brilliant Alice Bowsher

    This week our Katie is chatting to Alice Bowsher, who's work she would like to bite (In a good way. The same way you want to bite very cute babies. Is it called cuteness aggression?) Anyways, there's chat about creative career paths, Glastonbury bags, cardboard bedrooms, Walker Books, baby board books, and the very very important role of biscuits. Mmmm. Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – Intro to Alice 02:00 – From fine art to graphics to illustration 04:00 – The YCN internship, signing with an agent, and learning how the industry works 06:00 – Grand Matter, how commissions work "I'm definitely an agent person" 09:00 – Pricing and getting over the guilt of making it look easy 11:00 – Social media, Instagram vs Substack - Substack feels like old school Tumblr 14:00 – What happens when a brief comes in? 17:00 – Alice's cardboard bedroom 19:00 – Sketchbooking 21:00 – The Glastonbury Guardian bags and seeing your work out in the world 22:30 – Hobbies, exercise, biscuits, and the new-parent juggle 24:30 – Baby board books for Walker Links mentioned: Alice's website: https://www.alicebowsher.co.uk/Alice on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicebowsherAlice's Substack, Easypeeler: https://alicebowsher.substack.com/Grand Matter, Alice's illustration agency: https://grandmatter.com/Fold out guinea pig birthday cards for Wrap: https://wrapmagazine.com/products/guinea-pig-surprise-fold-out-cardWe briefly mentioned Find Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag so here's the link to that too in case you want to bask in your weirdness and make your best work ever: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflagCome and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  6. 12 jun

    And the award for Best Stand at Bologna Children's Book Fair goes to...

    This week, we're STIIIIIILL talking about Bologna Children's Book Fair (for the last time, we promise 😅)  - this episode was supposed to come out as soon as we got home, but the technology gremlins have been fighting with us every step of the way. BACK OFF, GREMLINS.  You'll hear at the very end that we went on talking for three whole blimmin' episodes before we realised the microphones had conked out. We chat about having a stand and exhibiting for the very first time, our Best-Stand award, given to us by the one and only Chloe Savage (sponsored by ham™️), meeting the most brilliant people, and...Mega Duck!  Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – Back from Bologna! The brain dump begins  01:00 – What it was like having a stand for the first time  02:30 – The Best Stand Award wot we won 04:00 – 1,500 stripy bags, tattoos, and the ham situation  06:30 – Meeting podcast listeners in real life  07:00 – A lovely chat with Steve Anthony (Mr. Panda!) and his route into illustration 09:00 – The Cambridge School of Art stand and Good Ship grads 10:00 – Katie interviewing people on the stand with mega microphones  11:30 – Holly's observation about illustrators  13:00 – Why picture book people are the best 15:00 – The Illustrators' Survival Corner 16:30 – Meeting new people and being mistaken for a publisher  18:00 – Jo Overend and the Mega Duck story / Walker Books 22:00 – Lisa Loffredo, the Nami Concours shortlist, and a very good group photo  24:00 – The Good Ship Illustration as a showcase for talent (a big idea brewing...)  26:00 – Our Bolognese Palace  28:00 – Tania on nonfiction illustration 31:00 – How to research publishers from home  33:30 – Whoops, the microphones weren't recording. Goodbye Bologna! Links & people mentioned: 🎨 Steve Antony (Mr. Panda author-illustrator): https://www.steveantony.com/ 🎨 Cambridge School of Art MA in Children's Book Illustration: https://www.aru.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/childrens-book-illustration 🎨 Jo Overend on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joverendillustration/ 🎨 Lisa Loffredo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaloffredo_/ 🎨 The Bologna Children's Book Fair: https://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/ 🎨 The Bookseller (check out the April issue, useful for agents and publishers list): https://www.thebookseller.com/ Byeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) p.s. Heard Jo's story and feelin' a bit inspired? Good! If you want to find your own creative voice and start putting yourself out there, come and fly your freak flag with us. https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflag Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  7. 5 jun

    "Help! I love my rough illustrations and panic on the final piece. How do I get out of my own way?"

    It's all fun and games until someone mentions FINAL ARTWORK. (Arghhhh) Sound familiar? Thought so. So we get stuck into Inky's question: how do you get out of your own way and switch off the overthinking brains?  All three of us wrestle with this in different ways. Also mentioned: expensive paper + a shared fantasy about buying a tiny round Father Ted caravan to draw in. Pour yourself a decaf tea and get comfy. 🫖 Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – The question from "Inky"  02:00 – Why your best work happens when you're distracted  03:00 – Helen's voice coach revelation  05:00 – The "kiss of death" of the final piece  06:00 – First violin nerves and propranolol  07:00 – Why Katie does live illustration  08:00 – ADHD, body doubling and visual timers  09:00 – Tania's surprise panic attack  10:00 – The fear of expensive paper  11:00 – Cheap sketchbooks, and never stretching paper  12:00 – Working on five versions at once  13:00 – Pia Bramley's drawings in the New York Times  14:00 – The dim light box trick  15:00 – Gluing over mistakes  16:00 – Why scaling up kills a drawing  17:00 – The blobby technique, and INCUP  19:00 – Tania loses her portfolio on the bus  20:00 – Katie's secret competitive streak  22:00 – Are illustration competitions worth it?  24:00 – Getting into the zone  25:00 – Rain, gas fires and working audios  27:00 – The dream caravan studio  29:00 – Dressing gowns, woolly hats and working caves  31:00 – Working around kids, and burnout  33:00 – Larks vs owls Links mentioned: Pia Bramley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piabramley/Picture Hooks (mentoring and competitions for picture book makers): https://www.picturehooks.org.uk/The Blindboy Podcast: https://theblindboypodcast.ie/Byeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) p.s. You're v welcome to make your best work ever and come and bask in your weirdness with us here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflag Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

  8. 29 may

    ⚠️ Illustration scams to watch out for

    Ooft, this is a good one. This week we're discussing illustration scams We've all had them land in our inboxes, we see 'em in the Good Ship community (too) regularly, and TBH you need to know what to look out for. 👀 Plus: Salty Dog is in actual bookshops and the Waterstones staff read it and couldn't stop laughing. Weyyy! 🎉 Timestamps, if you like that sort of thing: 00:00 – Why we're talking about scams (community posts, industry warnings, and everyone's inbox) 01:30 – The Mr. Takeshi email - the famous one doing the rounds right now 03:00 – Copy and paste a paragraph into Google. Reddit will know. 04:00 – The overpayment scam 04:30 – "I'm deaf, so please only email me" 05:00 – Katie's hacked email story 06:00 – Tania's mysterious hotel chain job 08:30 – Vanity publishers 10:30 – Real publishers don't advertise for illustrators on their homepage 12:00 – Rebecca Green and legitimate self-publishing (not the same thing!) 14:00 – "Dear Helen, I've written a book, please illustrate it" ...not a scam, but still a no 16:00 – AI emails from Francis. Every single daaaay. Still can't unsubscribe. 18:00 – "I'd like to buy three pieces of your artwork". 20:00 – 🎉 Salty Dog is in Waterstones! And the staff loved it! 21:30 – The terrible/brilliant fake Photoshop of Helen and Katie in the bookshop 23:00 – Could Salty Dog become a Yoto card? (We think yes, and yes we are biased) Links mentioned: 📚 Salty Dog by Helen Stephens and Katie Chappell - find it in all good bookshops: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/salty-dog-and-pals-the-storm-other-stories 🖼️ The AOI (Association of Illustrators) — good source of scam warnings: https://theaoi.com Byeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration 🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

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Welcome to The Good Ship Illustration - the podcast for illustrators who are quietly working away in their sketchbooks thinking… “is it just me?” …it’s not just you! We’re Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell and Tania Willis - three full-time illustrators from three different corners of the industry (and three different age brackets ). We live in the same seaside town in the UK and started having cuppas and chats… and accidentally became illustration agony aunts. Now we record those chats for you! We answer your questions about confidence, tricky clients, pricing your work, creative block, picture books, publishing, and everything in between. ✨ New episodes every Friday. ✨ Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and do send us your questions! P.s. Fancy some freebies? Head to thegoodshipillustration.com for colour workshops, picture book templates, and other treats. Byeeee for now!  x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢🚢🚢

Información

  • Creador
    The Good Ship Illustration
  • Años de actividad
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodios
    120
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Good Ship Illustration
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    The Good Ship Illustration