Hi there!

Today I’m sharing an Autumn portfolio brief that will run from Sep-Nov.

If you want to catch up on my previous portfolio briefs and resources, you can access them here:

• May - an illustrated map

• June - a sticker set

• July - an exhibition poster

I’ve had a good break from setting portfolio briefs during August and I’m looking forward to delving deeper these next three months to produce…

A RANGE OF GREETINGS CARDS

Why Greetings cards?

I had been avoiding greetings cards as a new illustrator because, with lots of experience as a market seller in East London, I didn’t want to go down the route of making and selling my own cards.

The cold winter days, warming my well-wrapped-up feet on a piece of cardboard is etched on my memory.

But I’ve recently come around to the idea of licensing my designs to greetings card companies.

And I can’t do that without some greetings cards within my portfolio.

The brief

This time it’s a ‘real’ brief, set for the purposes of pitching to licensing agencies.

Design a range of cards covering the following:

• Birthday - adult

• Birthday - children

• Christmas

• Valentines

• Thank You

• Blank

Something a licensing agency said in a talk I attended recently was:

When someone is buying a card, they see it as a reflection of themselves or the person they are buying it for.

They said that greetings cards also don’t usually feature realistic human characters as they may not relate to the person buying, so avoid these.

So with those points in mind potential ‘safe’ topics:

• Florals

• Animals

• Party

• Type-focused designs

• Cute stuff

• Pattern

Here are some beautifully illustrated cards I came across at the Studio Boketto stand when I attended Top Drawer retail trade fair in London this week.

The brief runs till November with the idea of having cards ready for Christmas to give to loved ones but have a portfolio ready for the new year for agencies.

Getting started

I’ve already got some ideas sketched (which I’ll share soon) and will be leveraging from work I’ve already created.

I’ve been analysing card displays in greetings card shops and what stands out for me and without a doubt it’s COLOUR 🌈

Things to consider

• Format. There seem to be different standard formats and sizes in different countries. Have a search or measure some examples from companies you would want to work for.

• Standing out on the shelf - I’ve found visiting greetings card shops helpful for this. Thinking ‘why does this card stand out more than others?’

• Consistency across the range. As art directors tend to be looking for a consistent style, bear this in mind when deciding on a design

• Broad appeal ‘are people going to want to buy, gift or have your design in their living room?’

Confession Time - As usual I have never designed a greetings card for licensing! So I’m going to be learning as I go. I’m assuming that might be the case for you too. Here are some resources I will be considering using:

Resources

I found this video which seems quite helpful from the well-known illustrator Liz Kohler Brown.

I’ll be researching greetings card retailers online like:

• Hallmark

• Ohh Deer

• Scribbler

I’ve also been following who has been writing about her experience in greetings cards design so I’ll be gleaming some tips from her Substack, like this post ‘Anatomy of a Greetings Card.’

Who’s with me?

If anyone wants to join, I’d be happy to share your stuff on Substack and feature it as a post on The New Illustrator Instagram page.

But am also really happy to have you follow along, if you don’t have time to take part at the moment.

I’ll be sharing my sketches in Substack notes as well as the comments of this post as I go instead of the Substack chat this time. And maybe I’ll do an update post each month with how it’s going….

Thanks for reading!

Look out for my progress, I look forward to seeing yours!

Libby

Hi there!

Today I‘m sharing our JULY portfolio brief and the first as the newly renamed publication ‘The New Illustrator.’

The monthly portfolio brief is designed to inspire new illustrators (like me) to create a portfolio piece that would appeal to potential illustration clients.

The brief aims to provide structure, guidelines and resources to help us push through to completion.

Working on illustration briefs isn’t easy for me but I feel like the 2 briefs I’ve set so far are really helping me shape up my practice - and I’ve learned a tonne!

At the bottom of this post, you’ll see a gallery of the previous portfolio brief outputs for MAY and JUNE.

The July (believable*) brief

At the end of this month, the iconic looks of Taylor Swift will be exhibited at the V&A in London.

As this exhibition will draw a new audience to the museum, they have decided to commission a new poster for the existing exhibit: Design 1900 to Today.

This collection features 250 objects representing design over the last 120 years.

• The museum would like the poster to present a new take representing the design collection and would like it to feature illustrations of at least three objects from the exhibition.

• The museum is interested in a poster design that draws influence from different design styles from the last 120 years but that still appeals to those visiting the Taylor Swift exhibition and perhaps the V&A for the first time.

• Some research shows ‘Swifties’ or Taylor Swift fans as 25-44-year-old females.

• The post should be in colour, A1 format or 22” x 34”

*This is a believable brief that has been made up to enable the creation of an illustration suitable for a portfolio and isn’t associated or affiliated with The V&A but you can find out more about them here.

Things to think about

• Which objects would be the most appealing to be featured

• The scale, which will be quite large compared to previous briefs

• Text/font to go alongside the illustration

Switch-up options

Here are some things you could change to make the brief fit your personal portfolio better:

• A poster for a different exhibition or event

• A smaller format flyer

• A poster for the Taylor Swift exhibition itself

Confession Time - As usual I have never designed a poster for paying client! I think the last poster I designed was a recycling poster for high school… So I’m going to be learning as I go. I’m assuming that might be the case for you too. Here are some resources I will be considering using:

Resources

FREE Blogs

• How to Make a Poster Eye-Catching and Effective - Format

• How to create a vintage wine poster in Illustrator - Retro Supply Co

• How to Make a Poster - This is also a lovely page on the Transport for London website with videos of illustrators they have commissioned for posters talking about their process:

  They also have 15,000 poster examples you can view in their online collection!

• You can also browse the V&A shop which includes previous and current exhibition posters

FREE Youtube videos

• Illustration Masterclass: Create an Art Deco Poster - Kyle T. Webster

• Anatomy of Poster Design - Gareth David Studio. Gareth has a whole series of different videos on poster design that might be useful to go through.

Skillshare / Domestika courses

Paid-for courses you may want to try:

• Creating a colourful and conceptual illustrative poster

Project Timeline

There will be 3 stages of the project:

• Week 1: Research & initial sketches (sketch) 1st-7th

• Week 2: 3x concepts for the client (black line) 8th-14th

• Week 3: Final (colour in any medium) 15th-21st

There will be 3 separate Substack chat threads where you can share your progress if you are interested in joining.

If you are subscribing via email, chat is a feature on the Substack website (and app) where all subscribers to a specific publication can chat with each other.

These chat threads will be free and open to anyone, to share the output from each stage:

1. Research

2. Concepts

3. Final

This way you can follow or join in at any point through the month.

Access the New Illustrator chat thread here.

Thank you to everyone for their votes on last month’s concepts. I’ll decide at the concept stage this month on how to gain feedback and choose which to take to the final design.

I'll also be using a Google calendar to keep me right with the deadlines which you are welcome to subscribe to here.

Report-out

You can follow along in the The New Illustrator chat as the month progresses. I’ll then aim to provide a summary of the project work shared in the chat in next month’s (Aug) portfolio brief post.

The MAY Brief

In May I attempted a map for Visit London…. and it’s still in progress but I’m getting there! Thank you for all your encouragement! I’m much further ahead now that I’m learning things in Affinity Designer.

Next, I’d like to add colour and detail to the site-specific illustrations and bring the whole composition together. I’ll be working on this during our digital co-working session tomorrow.

I’m finding the map project is requiring a lot of graphic design skills which I hadn’t anticipated but I’m really enjoying seeing it progress.

You can catch up on my progress to get to the final in the New Illustrator chat.

The JUNE Brief

Here are my final mindfulness stickers for Young Minds.

If I had any criticism for them, I’d say the colours could be more neutral. The pink may not be appealing to everyone.

The design may also not appeal to the age group 15-18 year-olds but due to the positive feedback, I have a plan to finalise the other concepts I came up with. I think these could appeal more to that demographic. You can see the other designs in the chat.

I plan to have them all printed and may even sell some on an online shop so watch this space!

Feedback

I’m really open to questions and ideas to make these briefs better so feel free to comment or reply with anything that comes to mind!

Also, I welcome any feedback on my final designs.

I’m completing these solo at the moment but keep the invite open to anyone feeling inspired to join or use any of the resources shared for your own project.

Don’t forget I’ll also be posting my usual monthly blog of what I’ve been up to in the 3rd week of the month here. You can catch up on my previous posts in the meantime.

Enjoy July and maybe I’ll see you in the chat!

Libby

Hi there!

It has been exactly one month since the first illo there! brief went out and the last month has been the most structured in my illustrator journey.

I still have a long way to getting the ideal working routine but I’m super proud of where I’m heading and working to a brief is certainly helping.

I’ve got a confession to make….

I haven’t finalised my output from the MAY brief (not the best start!)

It’s a long story but after my raster vs vector headaches, I trialled Serif Affinity.

When I went to purchase it after the trial, the license didn’t come through.

I had to contact customer service and I’m still waiting.

So I’ve decided to push ahead and release the June brief on time. At the end of June, I’ll share both outputs.

I thought I’d pair back the complexity this month (hopefully) and design some stickers!

The (believable*) brief

Well-being charity Young Minds is looking to raise awareness of the benefits of mindfulness as a practical way to combat mental health issues alongside talk therapy and other mental health support services.

The team is looking to develop a sticker set to go inside tote bags that will be handed out at an upcoming campaign event that will feature a mindfulness workshop.

• The colour palette and style are open.

• The target audience is young people aged 15-18 years old who may be sitting exams or attending college.

• The team is open to different sticker sizes but having something scaleable would be helpful so that the designs can be adjusted.

• The charity would like to see 3 set design ideas and are aiming for between 5 and 12 stickers in the final set.

• The set doesn’t need to be Young Minds branded.

*This is a believable brief that has been made up to enable the creation of an illustration suitable for a portfolio and isn’t associated or affiliated with Young Minds but you can find out more about their great work here.

Things to think about

• Colour palette. What’s going to be appealing to the age group

• How to convey the concept of mindfulness without too much text

Switch-up options

Here are some things you could change to make the brief fit your personal portfolio better:

• A sticker set for a younger audience perhaps 7-10 age group

• A sticker set with a different theme - pets / flowers / holidays

Confession Time - As usual I have never designed a sticker set! So I’m going to be learning as I go. I’m assuming that might be the case for you too. Here are some resources I will be considering using:

Resources

It’s hard to find in-depth advice on sticker design specifically but here are some resources I found that I’ll be looking through.

FREE Blogs

• The Art of Sticker Design: Technical Tips to Creating Professional Stickers - Amanda Weedmark

• The newbie’s guide to designing stickers in Illustrator - Sticker Mule

• Top 5 Tips for Making Stickers - Clare Lewis Illustration

FREE Youtube videos

• How I design and make stickers from home! ✿ no cricut, step by step for beginners - Sketches By Shay

• How to Design Stickers in Illustrator - Megan Weeks

• How to make Stickers in Procreate - Brave The Woods

Skillshare courses

Paid-for courses you may want to try with a Skillshare subscription:

• Digital illustration for stickers

• Start a sticker business with Printify

Project Timeline

There will be 3 stages of the project:

• Week 1: Research & initial sketches (pencil sketch) 1st-7th

• Week 2: 3x concepts for the client (black line) 8th-14th

• Week 3: Final (colour in any medium) 15th-21st

There will be a separate Substack chat thread for each stage where you can share your progress if you are interested in joining.

Access the illo there! chat thread here.

If you are subscribing via email, chat is a feature on the Substack website (and app) where all subscribers to a specific publication can chat with each other.

This time, once I finish my concepts, I’m going to post my designs into Substack Notes and Instagram Stories to get feedback on which design people like best.

This will help me to decide on the ones to take to final. I'll also be using a Google calendar to keep me right with the deadlines which you are welcome to subscribe to here.

Report-out

You can follow along in the Substack chat as the month progresses. I’ll then aim to provide a summary of the project work shared in the chat in next month’s (July) portfolio brief email.

I’m really open to questions and ideas to make these briefs better so feel free to comment or reply with anything that comes to mind!

Do you have experience designing stickers? Feel free to share any tips or resources you found helpful.

Don’t forget I’ll also be posting my usual monthly blog of what I’ve been up to around the 21st of the month here. You can catch up on my previous posts in the meantime.

Enjoy June and I hope to see you in the chat!

Libby

Hi, I’m Libby, and I’m stepping out into the world of illustration, like a kid in a sweet shop, I want to try everything 🤩 This blog provides me (and perhaps you) with monthly accountability to goals and details all the things that are helping me reach them. I’m so happy you could join me for the bumpy ride…

illo there friends!

Today I’m launching the first illo there! portfolio brief - a monthly project to help me (and perhaps you) build an illustration portfolio to attract paying clients.

In the last few weeks, I’ve begun discussing an exciting new project with a new client and friend that involves an illustrated map. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to make MAPS the first illo there! brief and practice my map-making skills.

The (believable*) brief

Visit London (formerly the London Tourist Board) is looking to promote London tourist spots along the River Thames this Summer. They are launching the ‘Thames Weekend’ and require a walking map for tourists displaying at least 10 major tourist destinations along the river during a weekend event.

The map should be aimed at families and suitable for children aged between 5 and 12 and must include the following 5 destinations:

• The Tower of London

• The London Eye

• The London Dungeon

• HMS Belfast

• SEA Life London

5 others can be chosen by the illustrator.

The event will be held on 9th-10th of August.

The map should be A4 size (or US letter 8.5x11 inches) and will be given out at tourist information spots throughout the city in the lead-up to the event.

The map can be single or 2-sided colour. The team are quite open to ideas of how the map is represented but it must feature red and white and the Visit London website can be used for reference.

*This is a believable brief that has been made up to enable the creation of an illustration suitable for a portfolio and isn’t associated or affiliated with Visit London. The event mentioned is also fictional :)

Things to think about

• Accessibility - Are there ways to make the map more accessible for people with visual impairments or disabilities affected by mobility?

• Form - Should the map be folded? If so, down to what size? Will this influence the design?

• Medium - will the map be made using digital (Procreate/Photoshop) or analogue (paint/pen/pencil) techniques or a mix of both?

Switch-up options

Here are some things you could change to make the brief fit your personal portfolio better:

• Destination - the map could be of your home city or one you’ve been wanting to visit

• Theme - the map could be themed for a different season: Halloween or Christmas for example

• Client - the map could be branded for a new brand or product launch

• Consumer - the map could be targeted at adults instead of children

Confession Time - I have never made an illustrated map! So I’m going to be learning as I go. I’m assuming that might be the case for you too. Here are some resources I will be considering using:

Resources

FREE Blogs

• Map illustration: A step-by-step guide - Tom Woolley

• Drawing Tutorial: how to make an illustrated map in 10 steps - Stef Maden

• HOW TO MAKE AN ILLUSTRATED MAP STEP-BY-STEP - Greg Franco

FREE Youtube videos

• Illustrate Your Own Map in Procreate - Peggy Dean

• Doodle Therapy: Illustrating Maps - Catherine Madden & Alice Lee - 2 illustrators in 1! This looks like a very cool Youtube channel I’ll be looking into further!

Skillshare courses

Paid-for courses you may want to try with a Skillshare subscription:

• Inky Maps! Illustrate a Beautiful Map Using Digital and Analog Media - Tom Froese

• Illustrated Maps in Procreate - Peggy Dean

• Illustrated Maps on Your iPad in Procreate + 18 FREE Stamps and Brushes - Liz Kohler-Brown

Project Timeline

There will be 3 stages of the project:

• Week 1: Research & initial sketches (pencil sketch) 1st-7th

• Week 2: 3x concepts for the client (black line) 8th-14th

• Week 3: Final (colour in any medium) 15th-21st

There will be 3 separate Substack chat threads where you can share your progress if you are interested in joining.

If you are subscribing via email, chat is a feature on the Substack website (and app) where all subscribers to a specific publication can chat with each other.

These chat threads will be free and open to anyone, to share the output from each stage:

1. Research

2. Concepts

3. Final

This way you can follow or join in at any point through the month.

Access the illo there! chat thread here.

For a bit of fun, I’ll initially use a random number generator to emulate the client's decision of the concept they like best and maybe throw in some generalised client comments to shape the final piece.

Maybe chat participants could vote on the best at this stage but I have a feeling I might be going solo for a few months so the generator will have me covered!

I'll also be using a Google calendar to keep me right with the deadlines which you are welcome to subscribe to here.

Report-out

You can follow along in the Substack chat as the month progresses. I’ll then aim to provide a summary of the project work shared in the chat in next month’s (June) portfolio brief email.

I’m really open to questions and ideas to make these briefs better so feel free to comment or reply with anything that comes to mind!

Don’t forget I’ll also be posting my usual monthly blog of what I’ve been up to around the 21st of the month here. You can catch up on my previous posts in the meantime.

Have a great month of May and maybe I’ll see you in the chat!

Libby

Hi, I’m Libby, and I’m stepping out into the world of illustration, like a kid in a sweet shop, I want to try everything 🤩 This blog provides me (and perhaps you) with monthly accountability to goals and details all the things that are helping me reach them. I’m so happy you could join me for the bumpy ride…

illo there friends!

Happy April and hello from ginger cat Pumpkin, who we’re looking after this week…

Pumpkin is providing lots of laughs and many loud meows as he updates us on his every move. He’s been a good home-working pal and is the inspiration for my first-ever illustrated animation!

Getting paid to draw

You may have read in my last blog, that I’m taking Mike Lowery’s portfolio-building illustration industry course ‘Getting Paid to Draw.’

I’m currently on week 3 of 8 and LOVING IT!

The course is really helping me get focused on what I want to achieve in my work over the next few months and beyond.

Before I started the class I’d been drawing daily, was brimming full of ideas but didn’t have much direction.

2 weeks in and I’m already feeling mildly confident about approaching creative directors about my work.

It has also given me an amazing community to connect with other illustrators and a forum to ask for advice and gain feedback.

I’d highly recommend the course, especially to those who don’t have a good overview of the industry yet. I’ll give more of a review in my monthly lowdown, coming out around the 21st of the month.

Putting on my portfolio pants*

*Pants, where I’m from, is the word for underwear: knickers, underpants, panties, boxers, undies, drawers or briefs.

I’m putting on my portfolio pants - taking on the challenge that is building an illustration portfolio.

This sounds grand. The reality is that I have one illustration that needs a couple of tweaks that will form my first-ever portfolio piece.

I’m starting completely from scratch which sounds (and feels) daunting.

I have vague memories of putting together a portfolio 20 years ago when I applied to study design engineering. This was a mixture of fine art, graphic design and design technology projects.

This portfolio will be somewhat different, tailored with real illustration clients in mind.

If I think about the enormity of the task too much, I know I will go into procrastination/freeze mode. This is something I do when it all feels too much. Is this something you experience?

Instead, I want to ride on the joy of Mike’s course and keep up the momentum when the 8 weeks are up.

So here’s the plan…

The illo there! briefs

To give myself the best chance at a solid portfolio, I’ll be setting myself an exercise every month.

These will be posted here on Substack so you can follow my process, or if you’d like to, join in!

On the 1st of each month, I’ll introduce a believable client brief. These will be inspired by real-life publications and brands, working illustrators, competitions and industry trends.

As I haven’t made up my mind on which specific area of illustration I’d like to focus on, I’m not going to limit the exercises in terms of industry or project.

This way, I can keep testing and see what I enjoy.

Perhaps you will be inspired by the exercises to investigate different areas of illustration too.

It’s important to note - I am not a published illustrator and don’t currently work for paying clients, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, right?

By keeping myself accountable to doing monthly work that could be for paying clients, I’ll start to exercise that muscle. Join me if you need to do the same, without judgement.

How it will work

These are my thoughts on how the monthly exercises will run but this might change as it develops.

There will be 3 stages of each project:

• Week 1: Research & initial sketches (pencil sketch)

• Week 2: 3x concepts for the client (black line)

• Week 3: Final (colour in any medium)

In week 1 of each month, I’ll set up 3 separate Substack chat threads.

If you are subscribing via email, chat is a feature on the Substack website (and app) where all subscribers to a specific publication can chat with each other.

These chat threads will be free and open to anyone, to share the output from each stage:

1. Research

2. Concepts

3. Final

This way you can follow or join in at any point through the month.

For a bit of fun, I’ll initially use a random number generator to emulate the client's decision of the concept they like best and maybe throw in some generalised client comments to shape the final piece.

Maybe chat participants could vote on the best at this stage but I have a feeling I might be going solo for a few months so the generator will have me covered!

I’ll look into utilising mock-ups so we can consider making the work stand out in our portfolios.

So if you’re ready, hold onto your hats (and pants!)

I’ll be posting the first brief on May 1st….

I’ll also share my progress under #illotherebriefs on my libbybdraws IG account and invite you to do the same.

If these exercises sound like something that might be helpful to you, let me know in the comments to this post in Substack or by hitting reply.

Libby

Watch out for my next monthly review of everything I’m trying and recommending which lands around the 21st of every month.