The Good Ship Illustration

This week, our Katie's chatting with Helen and Tania about her favouritest thing and specialism/niche: live illustration. 
What's it like to arrive at a fancy corporate event with an iPad (or a board and some paint), when someone says "ok, draw everything"?
It's a proper deep-dive into the live illustration world, from the adrenalinny (new word) thrill of drawing in real time, including the crying-in-toilets. Is AI a threat to graphic recorders? Spoiler: being a human is, somehow, now a USP. 😂
There's also a crackin' question from Joanna about being asked to work for free for a live illustration agency, and we have Thoughts.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Intro and is live illustration under threat from AI? Katie's honest take
02:00 – Being a human = a selling point
04:00 – Hand-drawn work is more exciting to clients
05:00 – Infographics, AI, and the kinds of work that aren't worth worrying about
08:00 – Why Katie loves working live
09:00 – Helen on the same feeling during school visits and drawing on stage
11:00 – The different flavours of live illustration: corporate, fashion, wedding, events...
12:00 – Joanna's question: should I work for free for a live illustration agency?
14:00 – How to build your portfolio without getting trapped in the free-work loop
15:00 – SEO for live illustrators
17:00 – Helen's local museum project: well-paid, rooted in place, in the collection for 20 years
21:00 – What Katie teaches in her course: synthesising information, calming your brain, and knowing what to leave out
23:00 – How to turn corporate speak into images without just drawing a lightbulb 💡
25:00 – Katie's favourite technique: using the page as a visual timer
27:00 – The early fear vs the hard-won confidence (and yes, the toilet crying 😅)
31:00 – You'll never feel ready, so just start charging anyway
32:00 – The live illustration course opens on 15th May!
Links mentioned:
The Live Illustration Course: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/lic
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
p.s. Curious about live illustration but not 100% sure if it's for you? Come and join Katie for a free Live Illustration Masterclass, it's a good place to start! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/LIM
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 🎙

This week, our Katie is chatting to Nicola Allan, an artist, writer and consulting astrologer based in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. After 12 years working as a lawyer, Nicola pivoted to illustration and has since built a brand that weaves together everything she loves: The Wild Way.
Nicola's a brilliant example of what happens when you stop trying to choose between the things you're drawn to and just bring them aaaall along for the ride. We chat about slowly switching from a regular job to illustration, why crowdfunding is such a powerful way to test if your idea has legs before you make all the things, and how to weave your obsessions (in Nicola's case: astrology) into work that's unmistakably yours.
Plus the maths of email lists vs. social media, why you should start promoting WAY earlier than feels comfortable, decans and scribes, trusting your gut, and the idea that ideas themselves will find someone else if you don't act on them. Mmmm.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Nicola's wiggly path from law to illustration to astrology 
01:00 – Early days of greetings cards and Not On The High Street 
02:00 – Why a slow transition beats quitting cold turkey 
03:00 – Remote lawyering from Mexico 
04:00 – Pandemic, dogs, and the chance encounter that became Nicola's first tarot deck 
05:00 – Why Nicola walked away from a publisher to crowdfund instead 
06:00 – The Kickstarter campaign that ended up on their front page!
08:00 – Coming back to Scotland on a whim and never leaving 
09:00 – The Wild Way oracle deck and the 36 decans 
12:00 – Katie's reading and the literal scribe in her chart 
13:00 – More years studying astrology than law, apparently 
15:00 – Recurrence transits and creative breakthroughs in the birth chart 
16:00 – Why 2026 and 2027 are big collective years 
19:00 – Everyone's wired differently (phew)
20:00 – Self-publishing the Wild Way 
22:00 – Coming up: a 78-card Wild Way tarot deck on Kickstarter in June 
23:00 – Top tips for first-time crowdfunders 
26:00 – Start small: a calendar, an enamel pin, anything 
28:00 – Email list maths 
30:00 – Trusting your gut and listening to the little voices 
32:00 – Ideas have a lifespan and will find someone else if you don't act 
33:00 – Trust yer gut
Links mentioned:
The Wild Way: https://www.the-wild-way.com/
Find Your Creative Voice: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflag
The Wild Way on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewildway_
Nicola on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicola__allan/
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
p.s. If you loved Nicola's "take all your weird interests and weave them into something only you could make" then you'll probs get excited about our Find Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag course, a safe little cocoon to figure out what work is properly yours and start basking in your weirdness. 
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 🎙

Here's part two of our Bologna interviews. Thank you so much for listening, and if you managed to come and find us at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, thank you. We had so much fun meeting everybody, and we’re hoping to do that again one day because it was cool. Okay, see you soon. Enjoy listening to these brave people
🚢🚢🚢
⏱️ Timestamps for our timestamp fans
Lauren
00:00 – Part 2 hiya
00:40 – Lauren: flew in from Chicago for her first Bologna
01:20 – Corporate job, layoff, creative reset
02:00 – Why she chose The Picture Book Course over a Masters in illustration
03:00 – Actually doing the work (not just watching 👀)
03:40 – Approaching a publisher…
04:20 – “Can you send me this book?” (!!!)
05:00 – Bravery > having it all figured out
05:40 – No agent, just going for it :) 
Yves
06:20 – Yves and his genius portfolio move
06:45 – Printing your portfolio as a book 📚
07:30 – How he uses it in reviews
08:00 – Printing panic
08:40 – New style feedback
09:10 – Feeling excited to create again (!!)
09:40 – “You just have to keep going” 

Links an' that wot we mentioned:
Yves Kervoelen on Instagram: @yveskervoelen/ 
Lauren Cox on Instagram: @kareuoneart/
Courses:
The Picture Book Course (the one Lauren mentioned)
Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag 
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 🎙

Interview #1 is with Paulina Zawiska and Kate Osmond.
Interview #2 is with Lorna Burt (begins at 05:30)
Bon apetit! 
We just announced the winners of our iPad giveaway and art supply shop vouchers - come and celebrate the winners with us over on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/ 
Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome to Bologna (the audio isn't perfect but neither are we 🤪)
00:30 – Paulina’s third time… still overwhelmed
01:30 – The illustrator wall and comparisonitis
02:00 – Kate’s first time and top tips for arriving
02:30 – Portfolio reviews: exciting or terrifying?
03:15 – Should you approach publishers at the fair?
04:00 – First Bologna experiences: sensory overload
04:45 – Making a plan (being brave)
05:00 – Good Shippers in the wild 🥹
05:30 – Lorna’s story
06:30 – “You need bears”
07:00 – The work that felt most you = the work that landed
08:00 – Not all feedback is equal
09:00 – Researching portfolio reviewers before you listen to them
10:00 – The danger of trying to fit the mould
11:00 – Letting your “weird” lead the way
12:00 – Using courses to reset when you wobble
13:00 – From fashion designer to children’s book illustrator
14:30 – Fast-tracking your learning vs figuring it out alone
15:00 – Pitching stories
In these interviews we talked about the Find Your Creative Voice course, fly your freak flag! As well as the Picture Book course and last, but not least: Illustration Business Club. 
(Doors to illustration business club will open again in September/October so get your name on the waiting list if you want to join in next time.
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 🎙

Ever worried your work looks a bit too much like somebody else’s? 😬 This one’s for youuuu.
In this episode, our Helen chats with the brilliant Martin Salisbury about plagiarism. The temptation to borrow a bit too heavily when you’re surrounded by endless beautiful work online is real. Hopefully this conversation helps you fly your own freak flag :)
Timestamps:
00:00 Hello Martin Salisbury
01:00 Instagram has changed creative influence
03:00 Art school before the internet
04:00 Drawing from life and finding your voice
06:00 Start with drawing
07:00 Materials, experimentation and “botching it”
09:00 How publishers and agents fuel sameness
10:00 Confidence, privilege and access
12:00 Competitions rewarding over-influenced work
14:00 Imitation and lack of awareness
16:00 Copycat styles
18:00 Learning from artists without copying
19:00 Taste, culture and creative voice
20:00 Everyday life and visual language
21:00 Sketchbooks and what’s behind polished work
23:00 School art and loss of originality
26:00 Finding your voice matters
29:00 Awkward work feels more alive
30:00 Writing and drawing from your own ideas
31:00 Trends and short-lived careers
33:00 What publishers want
35:00 Ambition
38:00 Helen’s journey and taking time out
43:00 Place and lived experience in your work
44:00 Moving on from imitation
45:00 Martin’s upcoming book
Martin Salisbury is Professor of Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, where he leads the renowned MA Children's Book Illustration Programme. He has previously chaired the International Jury at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, and been a member of the jury at the Global Illustration Awards in China. Mr Salisbury is the author of a number of books on the practice and theory of illustration, which have been published in numerous languages around the world.

Links mentioned in this episode:
Martin Salisbury on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/profmartinsalisbury/ 
Cambridge School of Art MA in Children’s Book Illustration: https://www.aru.ac.uk/arts-humanities-education-and-social-sciences/cambridge-school-of-art
Martin’s book Illustrator Sketchbooks - https://www.thamesandhudson.com/products/illustrators-sketchbooks?srsltid=AfmBOorX15ljDyYAhbjtRgg0jWBuOL5Gpg0GWh2lMPDwQ5WvkvcGsITj
Martin’s books Children’s Picturebooks and Play Pen - https://www.laurenceking.com/products/childrens-picturebooks-second-edition?srsltid=AfmBOopfucbQXUzJtWZA1WTMWxKntifcuVquG8WpR7vk5GmmSECaHtn0
Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag with The Good Ship Illustration - https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflag

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 🎙