1. Four weeks of drawing and illustrating - why I started and what I’ve learned

Finding joy in creativity

illo there friends!

I hope you’re having a good March so far. Today I’m writing from London, with Harry the cat pacing at my feet. He’s our current cat-sit pal for the week.

According to him, it’s been dinner time since 14:30. It’s now 17:30 and he has an hour to go. We believe in you Harry! 🐈‍⬛

Harry the cat

So here are the beginnings of my story. I look forward to keeping you updated and providing all the tips and recommendations along the way.

How it all started

A few months ago, I met up with a friend. They had recently gone through a big life change.

They had closed down their wonderful shop - a shop, and community that they had built from scratch and spent years nurturing.

Due to reasons that you can probably imagine, the shop was no longer viable and they made the difficult decision to close its doors.

I felt their pain as we connected throughout the process of closure.

I was meeting my friend after what felt like a 6-month grieving period and they were re-emerging into the world, like a Spring bloom.

‘I’m focusing on joy in my life right now’

my friend said, their eyes gleaming with a new sense of purpose.

We had a lovely catch-up and my friend’s beautiful words lingered with me as I left their apartment…

‘focusing on joy’…

They’d recently taken up a new hobby and it seemed to have re-ignited a spark within their soul. They had begun to fill a void left by their recent loss.

Without getting too deep, I’d been battling with a feeling of grief of my own. I was dis-regulated, frustrated and generally feeling sorry for myself.

All this talk of joy made me think about the joy in my life or my current lack of it.

I felt very grateful for many things, but at times, couldn’t understand where I fit in the world.

In the following weeks, I began to consider whether the joy my friend talked about, for me, was creativity and that my feelings were somehow tied to the lack of it.

…Perhaps the joy that was missing for me, lay in the pages of the sketchbook I’d started the previous year.

Picking up a pen and letting loose on the page gave me a sense of clarity and control that so many things in my life lacked.

Cat-sitting sketches

Little Libby 

The sketchbook I mentioned was one of many sketchbooks I’d started over the years.

Picking each one up once or twice when I felt the urge before becoming distracted by work and the drama of the moment.

Keeping a sketchbook was something I’d always done. I’d studied design engineering at university and I loved sketching concepts.

My engineering career was the path I chose close to the end of my school years. Up until then, ‘Little Libby’ wanted to be an artist. But teen Libby wanted to travel and earn cash 💰 so design felt like the wiser choice.

‘I can still do art in my spare time, right?’

It turns out I wasn’t that great at engineering, I just loved being creative.

I ended up working in manufacturing and realised I wasn’t bad at solving problems and making things happen.

Engineer Libby

I met my amazing life partner (now husband) along the way and when I left manufacturing we started a product business together, which involved some design and comms work that I really enjoyed.

I was always left wondering though…

‘what might have been in the alternative universe where I followed my true passion?’

I have no regrets but in the last few months, I’ve been questioning whether it’s too late to follow ‘Little Libby’s’ dreams.

Illustrator Imposter

So as I contemplated this possibility, I picked up my pens.

At times, I felt like I could TOUCH THE SKY, I was brimming with so much excitement. 🤩

After a few weeks, I committed to sketching daily.

Minutes became hours. Ideas were flowing and I started to feel a big shift.

Is it possible I could do this every day forever?

So here we are, 4 or so weeks into my journey, and the start of this blog.

It seems silly (and probably offensive to all illustrators) to think that I can make a career out of something I’ve literally just started.

But everybody has to start somewhere and this isn’t really the beginning.

I understand the road is far from easy and requires a huge amount of work, dedication and determination. I’m here for it and ready to see where the next months take me.

So I’m putting the possibility out into the world. Maybe I could be an illustrator.

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

Marie Curie

The imposter syndrome is real.

What I do know is that I love drawing and creating illustrations.

Whether what I’m doing takes me somewhere professionally (which I hope it does) or this blog just becomes a record of my sideline passion, I’m ok either way.

So that’s how it all started and I’d like to invite you to come along with me.

My Intentions

I aim to share my journey as a kind of diary. I want to record the steps I take because:

1. My memory is atrocious 

2. I’ve learnt so much in four weeks already and I need a way of synthesising my learning

3. I’d like to set myself some goals and be accountable to them

4. Journalling is good for the soul and I also have writer imposter syndrome which is something I need to work on

5. I’m going to set myself a curriculum to build a portfolio and all of this might be useful for someone else in my position, trying to follow their passion later in life.

All my resources and what I’ve learned

So here’s the juicy stuff. It’s been 4 weeks of sketching and experimenting with illustration.

Bear in mind I live as a digital nomad so my set-up has to be fairly light. It’s already beginning to grow, but here’s what I started with…

Materials I’ve used

• Cass art A5 spiral bound sketchbook, 100 pages (now full.)

• Cass art branded *waterproof fine liners (*turns out they aren’t waterproof! I would definitely recommend investing in a good brand, now using the beautiful Pigma MICRON, what a difference.)

• A couple of Stabilo Pen 68s - I LOVE THESE. The nibs just feel good and the grey 568/95 is ideal for creating shadows on pen sketches.

• Apple iPad & pencil that I already owned (from a previous 'I’m going to make my own digital illustrations’ phase a couple of years ago…)

• Sketchbook for iPad, upgraded to Procreate (the tutorials and buzz around Procreate were too hard to ignore and it does feel more powerful but I’ve watched videos on Youtube that say they are very similar.)

• Cheap double-ended colour marker pens from Flying Tiger. I’ve just bought these to see if I like using coloured pens and whether I want to invest / how many colours I might need.

• iPhone notes app - I have a HUGE notes file with illustration ideas. I think I might need to move this to notion as it’s getting BIG and unmanageable.

• A foldable ruler which I’ve used quite a bit. A putty rubber, I’ve moved to using a more solid one. I was just used to using the putty one when charcoal drawing.

• A wee sponge and a watercolour set I won in an art competition when I was 16 back in Scotland. The set is just there to look pretty at the moment as I need to watch some watercolour tutorials.

My materials for the first month… wait till I show you month two…

What I’ve learned in the first 4 weeks

NOTE: I’ve decided not to tag the illustrators mentioned in the below sections for the moment. My Imposter Syndrome is lurking heavily. Feel free to give them a search. Most of them are here on Substack!

• Sketching and creating help me relax, focus and forget about my every day worries.

• I feel most confident with a black pen in my hand. I also feel better without doing an initial sketch which can be dangerous and wasteful.

  

  Prompt: My favourite childhood toy

• I want to connect with colour but don’t feel I’ve found my medium yet. I’m doing a lot on Procreate but I’m still getting used to the brushes.

A brief I set myself to illustrate some new statistics on grocery price increases

• I love sharing (currently on Instagram as @libbybdraws) I’m a bit of an oversharer and have returned to Instagram after a long hiatus (to avoid doom scrolling) so I’m struggling a bit with managing this.

• Sketching doesn’t need to take more than 10 minutes a day (and sometimes I need to limit myself!) Ten Minute Artist with Adam Ming (on Substack) helps you keep up the habit with fun group exercises. The Substack comes with an accountability thread where you can share your work and see the work of others which is SUPER helpful when you are new to the online art community.

During this month, I’ve learned a ton. Here are some of the resources I’ve used.

Workshops & Tutorials I’ve taken

• Domestika PLUS FREE 30-day trial - would I recommend it? I’m not sure. I’ve just cancelled PLUS. The platform works as a pay-per-course model or pay-per-month and get *some* courses free. A large proportion of the free courses on PLUS are in Spanish with English subtitles. I don’t usually mind this as a format but when I’m trying to follow an illustration tutorial I find it very difficult to look at both the visual and the text at the same time. With PLUS you can buy credits and get discounted courses at about £5 each) I chose the following:

  • The Art of Sketching: Transform Your Doodles into Art - Mattias Adolfsson. This is fantastic for doodlers turn artists like myself.

  • Procreate for Beginners: Digital Illustration 101 - Brad Woodard. This is OK. It’s a bumper course of over 4 hours. The course lacks step-by-step instructions for certain things and I had to google alongside it to figure out some key points but overall it’s worth doing, especially for the price.

  • Character Creation from Observational Drawings - Sarah van Dongen. This seems great so far. I haven’t finished it but there is a good first section on materials. Sarah’s work is really colourful and she talks about her challenges with drawing which is really endearing.

  • Children’s Book Illustration: A story in a moment - Mark Hoffman. I found out about Mark on Instagram with his ‘Gab & Doodle’ sessions. I haven’t begun this course yet but I’m looking forward to it. (I just remembered I chose it so I’m loving this blog accountability so far!)

  I’ll keep my free membership on Domestika and buy-per-course I like if one comes up.

• Skillshare FREE 30-day trial - Just started. I’ve taken:

  • Procreate Drawing Party: Digital Illustration on an iPad - Mike Lowery

• Get Creative on Substack -

  Claire Venus
  Sparkle on Substack
  (£11) - This was an essential workshop for a complete Substack newbie! Thank you Claire for guiding me to get started. And I’m following your advice, to just start writing…

Talks I’ve attended

• ILLO GUILD Talks Rejection -

  illoguild
  (Free) - I was blown away by this talk. What a lovely group of people being honest about their journeys in children’s book illustration. I was inspired and encouraged by what they said. Some illustrators talked about the hundreds of rejections they had. I really needed to hear this as I know the journey will not be easy and sometimes it’s going to feel super lonely.

• Gab and doodle with Mark Hoffman - Instagram draw-along (Free)

  • Estrela Lourenco - it was so great to hear her back story and about her children’s book illustration projects. It was lovely to hear about her child’s influence on her journey.

Podcasts & AudioBooks

• Thoughts on Illustration by Mr Tom Froese - an open an honest podcast (I’ve only listened to the interview episodes so far. I’m working my way backwards through the series.)

  • Interview with Adam Ming - great to hear about such a successful late-career changer. Adam’s part of the illo guild and I’m enjoying following his journey.

  • Interview with Andy J Pizza - great to hear from Andy, about ADHD in illustration, ‘pantsing’ which was a new one for me… and the battle to let go of ego to stay creative. This is something I definitely need to work on.

  • Interview with Kyle T. Webster (2 parts) - an insightful 2 parter. I particularly enjoyed part 1 and hearing about Kyle’s back story and I look forward to following his Substack The Accidental Expert

  I must say I’m really enjoying these. I’m also looking forward to some gender diversity in future interviews :)

• The Illustrator’s Guide - James Hughes - a high-level overview of the kinds of things you need to think about to be an illustrator / the business of illustration.

Hard copy books I’ve been reading

Great for inspiration. I went through these during a day at The Barbican Library (Free to browse and a cool place to hang out if you’re ever in London.

• Pictures & Words: New Comic Art and Narrative Illustration - R Bell

• The Cartoonist’s Workbook - Robin Hall - some fun exercises.

• Illustration: A Visual History - Steven Heller

• Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes - Walt Stanchfield - my favourite for sure!

Clubs I’ve been joining

• Draw Brighton: Online Life drawing - Patreon £3/month

• Ten Minute Artist - Adam Ming as mentioned above (Free/Paid subscription on Substack)

• Introvert Drawing Club - Beth Spencer (Free/Paid subscription on Substack) - I’m yet to join a live session but excited to do this soon.

Who I’ve been inspired by

• Adam Ming - for starting his journey to illustrator at 38 and being so open about his journey on the To Froese podcast.

• Beth Spencer - for being endlessly creative and inspiring on a daily basis on Substack and Instagram!

• Tom Froese - for opening up my world of illustrators on his podcast and openly talking about his anxieties around making it.

• Marloes De Vries - for addressing the topic of not wanting to have children through illustration (as I’m inspired to bring other topics like this into illustration) and for making beautiful inspiring travel guides. I’m juggling with belongings nomading at the moment but once we settle I will be collecting some of her pieces.

• Koosje Koene - beautiful sketch booking and sharing on Instagram.

• All the other illustrators I’ve been following, established and new. Thank you for sharing your work and being part of this industry!

What I’m excited about for the next month:

• Being part of Mike Lowery’s ‘Getting paid to Draw’ illustration course. This was my first big investment at $960. I’m a few days in and I can tell it’s going to be worth every penny (cent.)

• Delving into Skillshare and all of Tom Froese’s workshops.

• Following along on Substack of course….

Thank you for reading my number 1 - congrats if you made it this far - see you next month!

Libby