Learning From my Mistakes
A case studyOctober 31, 2023
Last time I said I would talk about my next painting but, unfortunately, it’s not ready yet (hopefully next month 🤞🏻). Instead, I’ll talk about a commission that didn’t go as well as I expected. As much as I’d like to blame the client, it was entirely my fault.
I obviously won’t be showing the actual illustration as that wouldn’t be fair to the client—nor super professional—so instead I’ll use previous work as examples. They/them/their pronouns used throughout for more anonymity.
My style in 2020 (left) compared to my style in 2023 (right).
When your style changes…
My style has evolved in the past few years, and even more so in 2023. In my quest to add texture, light, and shadows, it’s become more realistic, less flat.
The client, who had commissioned me in the past, reached out this summer for a new portrait. When they emailed me in August, they sent the previous illustration as an example of what they wanted, along with a reference photo for the clothing and colours.
I thought “okay, they want their portrait done” and disregarded the example they sent. Because it’s clear to me that my style has changed, I just assumed that they also knew based on my latest posts and that they wanted a portrait in my new style.
Narrator: They did not.
After sending them the final illustration, the client came back to me to say that they didn’t like the ‘sharp details, shading and darker areas.’ They showed me the example of what they wanted again, saying they wished for the illustration to be “a lot softer in style with lighter lines.”
My first reaction was to feel angry and discouraged. But then I thought about the example, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I hadn’t followed the brief, which was very clear. It’s not their fault they didn’t know about my new style, I hadn’t mentioned anything to them!
So, I set off to amend the illustration. The clothing was easy to adjust as there were just a few parts to make lighter. I had to redraw the face and hair though, and it was weirdly hard. A style that was mine just two years ago was now difficult to re-create! There’s a chance that starting from my new illustration style made it harder. I’d like to think it would have been easier to draw in the old style if I’d started again from scratch, but then again maybe not. Maybe I’ve changed too much in the past two years—as a person and artistically—to access my past style with ease.
Morph for comparison. To be clear, they’re portraits of two different women.
At first it didn’t feel good to know that I hadn’t done the job I’d been hired to do, but it was a useful lesson. Don’t assume that people know where you’re at in your career—or your life for that matter. Even with social media, and in my case a newsletter or two, not everybody will see or read the posts in as much depth as you think! Next time I’m commissioned for an illustration I’ll make sure we’re all on the same page about what’s expected of the final result.
Judith xx
Monthly inspiration
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
How cute are my new concrete pumpkins from Ruby Melo?If you like to create, in whichever capacity, you should read this book! Even though at times Rubin’s pushes too much the idea that ‘art is the most important thing and if the inspiration strikes you should stop whatever you’re doing to pursue it.’ That gave me ‘man abandons wife and kids to pursue dreams’ vibes. But it remains an excellent read that’ll make you want to create. It’s a bit woo-woo (all ideas come from Source), but I’m a bit woo-woo so I liked that aspect of it.
Rubin introduces the book by saying to take what serves you and leave the rest. Turns out that was good advice as it was a more thought-provoking book than I realised. Even more reason to read it.
Want to get this blog directly in your inbox each month? Just subscribe to my Inspired Substack.
With A Little Help From My Friends
Or finally finding inspiration for a new seriesSeptember 26, 2023
My phone showed me one of those ‘on this day a year ago’ photo memories last week, it was from my ‘artist retreat’ in Cornwall last September. The one I created for myself as a way to take time to experiment with mediums outside my iPad screen, without the pressure of creating something ‘good.’ I played with acrylic paint, watercolour and pencil – with varying degrees of success.
Although the retreat didn’t make me switch off my iPad completely, it did make me want to carry on doing more physical art. But instead of sticking with acrylic or watercolour paints to try to improve my skills, I decided to explore yet more mediums. One of them being gouache (pronounced goo-ash).
Café Euphrosyne
I’d wanted to start a new series for a while, but inspiration was elusive. It finally came through thinking about what brings me joy.
My planner has a weekly section called GRATEFUL FOR with three blank spaces. For the past four years, every week I fill one of these spaces with the word ‘friends’. And since the pandemic, seeing a friend gives me a feeling of lightness. Like I’m breathing easier afterwards. As an introvert, I didn’t think social interactions gave me energy. Turns out seeing people you love will do that!
As much as I love my husband, a partner isn’t enough to fulfill all your social and emotional needs. That’s one of the reasons why I hate the suggestion that women need to get married to be happy, but that’s a story for another time. Besides, it’s proven that having good friends makes you live longer than having a partner!
So I decided to start a series on friendship. I thought about various places where we meetup with friends. The first one is at a café, which I named Euphrosyne: the greek goddess of joy and mirth. Since the women seemed to be having such a blast, I wanted the title to reflect that.
Illustration close-up
Why gouache?
To be honest, although I DO believe that digital art is real art, it’s hard to ignore that the world at large still doesn’t. And since I’m trying to make a living – at least in part – from my art, I thought adding physical pieces to my shop could help with that goal. 🤞🏻Also, I was once asked if I sold ‘originals’, which don’t exist in digital form unless you sell only one copy, I guess. Or NFTs, but f*ck those.
This led me to gouache. Why gouache as opposed to other types of paint? I can’t quite remember now, but I was probably inspired by Bijou Karman and Laura Callaghan. And maybe by my friend Katty Maurey (again)!
The process
I did a rough sketch on my iPad for composition and colours. Of course, gouache pigments aren’t as bright as what can be produced on screen. A fact I knew yet I was still surprised when I couldn’t find the exact colours I wanted in the arts & craft store. Didn’t help that I bought a cheap ‘starter pack’ to begin with… I quickly realised that I needed to invest in better quality materials.
Initial rough sketchAs you can see, the women were more dressed up in this first iteration. I decided they needed to be more chill. They were only at a café, not a bar! This next sketch is the updated version, closer to the final piece.
Second rough sketch
A few inspirations came from sneaky pics I always take when I’m out and about and see something I like: a woman’s hair at the coffee shop (incidentally), or a woman’s face on the tube. Other inspirations were researched based on what I wanted the character’s style and personality to be like: one more casual, one more dressy. Which type of top, jewellery, footwear, or tattoo. And some inspirations came from researching ethical/sustainable small businesses, because that’s important to me. All the elements were curated through my taste though, obviously.
Two of the independent businesses found in the painting: a bag by Amstein and a necklace by Ray Makes Things. You might have noticed on IG that I actually own that necklace now!
As the scene is set in the morning, I wanted to show the presence of a low morning sun. A great way to incorporate more light and shadows into my work. I struggled when it came time to figuring out how the light should hit the people and objects, as I didn’t have any references, but I’m happy with the shadows on the wall.
I’m already onto my second painting of the series, which I’m hoping to show you next month. I’ll then put both in my shop and be able to say I’m selling originals, yay! I’ll probably also offer a more affordable version as limited edition art prints.
Judith xx
P.S. I realised that I forgot to add something important, so I will have to go back to the painting! The women’s skin is too perfect, they don’t have any moles or scars, which is just not realistic. I’ll have to fix that
Monthly inspiration
I went to see the Chanel exhibition at the V&A last week. It wasn’t the best exhibition ever – and Coco Chanel’s involvement with the Nazis was murky at best – but I still found many things inspiring. The craftsmanship and details of the garments, and how she materialised her ‘revolutionary’ idea that women should always be comfortable in their clothes. I also liked that her career spanned multiple decades and survived a 15 year hiatus. Plus, she started again at age 71, when she went on to create that famous Chanel tweed twinset.
Did you know there’s a chain at the hem of many Chanel jackets? It’s to create a weight so the jacket drapes perfectly after every movement.
Want to get this blog directly in your inbox each month? Just subscribe to my Inspired Substack.
Light and Shadows
And learning to draw treesAugust 29, 2023
Another summer draws to a close*. A summer in which I especially noticed the sunlight. Maybe because here in the UK it seemed like the sun was quiet quitting on us, so every time it did show up I soaked it in as much as I could. Or maybe it’s because I’d started working on the below piece and I was always looking at how the light was reflecting on buildings, nature, people, or things.
Dapper Men of Bow
A few years ago, I took a sneaky picture of two older gentlemen while walking in Bow, a neighbourhood in east London. I had seen them a few times, always walking together and looking neatly dressed, even on weekdays. I liked their style. You can never be overdressed or overeducated, as Oscar Wilde supposedly once said. Anyway, that picture became my reference for this illustration.
(Sneaky) reference photo
I decided to remove the cars, make a tighter crop, and change the direction of the light. I wanted the sun to shine on the men and create strong light and shadows. Well, the intention was for it to be strong. I seem to often shy away from using a very dark colour, which would create a more marked contrast with the lighter parts. Is it because I add so many details that I want to make sure nothing is hidden in the shadows? Maybe I should embrace the darkness and draw less details!
Weirdly, I’m happiest with the background. It was my first-time drawing trees since I was a kid, really, and it was a challenge to find a good resolution to the problem: how to show leaves without drawing every single one of them? The answer came from a couple of trial and errors, but mostly it was subconsciously informed by every Japanese animated series I’ve ever watched. You know those shows where the background was beautifully painted — and you could tell which rock was going to fall off the cliff because it was drawn differently?
Probably fresher in my mind were Studio Ghibli animes, which I’ve watched fairly recently. I found the below images after finishing the illustration, but it’s obvious they’re what I was picturing in my head while drawing. Would have done me good to look at these backgrounds before, because the use of light and shadows in them is just amazing.
Paintings by Katty Maurey
I worked on the illustration for many months on and off. I kept stopping to tackle other projects that felt more important, or fun. As it wasn’t client work, and I wasn’t making it with the intention of selling it, sometimes the illustration felt like a ‘useless’ project.
I was already working on it when I did my book cover for My Brilliant Friend, and the dapper couple helped me with the composition for the cover. I was wondering how to depict the girls, and the men walking away from the viewer seemed liked the perfect solution. I could illustrate the protagonists and add as many specifics as possible about their look and environment, while keeping their faces hidden.
So, although I was working on something that seemed of no use, it helped to inform another piece of work. And next time I need to draw trees, I will already have a solution. Everything you do to practice your art feeds into what you’ll create in the future.
Judith xx
*A pet peeve of mine is when people don’t know when seasons end/start, and so I’d like the record to show that I’m aware that summer won’t officially be over until September 21st. But I concede that back to school time does feel like the end of summer.
Illustration close-upsMonthly inspiration
My monthly inspiration is Alice Neel, an American artist whose career spanned from the 1920s to the 1980s. I saw a retrospective of her work at the Barbican recently and it was one of the best exhibitions I’ve seen all year. Fun fact: she painted her first self-portrait at the age of 80. Naked.
Art by Alice Neel
Want to get this blog directly in your inbox each month? Just subscribe to my Inspired Substack.
Inspired Turns Two!
JULY 25, 2023
I feel quite proud to have written something monthly for the past two years. I like writing this newsletter a lot. And I love when you message me about it!
What I like most about writing Inspired is that it makes me understand my art better. Having to explain it inevitably makes me think more about it.
I recently had to describe my style for an artist open call—another submission of mine that wasn’t selected, but that’s a story for another day. Writing about your own work is so hard. It’s like writing your bio. I’ve been tweaking mine forever and I’m still not happy about it!
Writing is hard, full stop. Once in a blue moon this newsletter flows out of me and needs minimum editing. Most times though, and I can tell you this one was one of those, sentences and paragraphs need to be re-arranged, taken out, re-written, tweaked, for everything to make sense. As an art form, it no different from others: creating is a process. I’ve read enough about writers to know that the process is often laborious.
Still, it came as a surprise to me that it would be this difficult. After all I’m not writing a book, this is just a short missive! But I’m trying to make it as interesting as possible. Turns out that takes time.
Speaking of things that take time, I unfortunately don’t have a new illustration to celebrate my two-year milestone. Evidently, summer 2021 was still not ‘back to normal’ and I had more spare time then.
Inspiration from the 1950s
So, I went through my old drawings and found this one, drawn in 2018 and inspired by a photo of Louise Dahl-Wolfe. My style has changed a lot since then! What seems to have stayed is the use of colour, and a propensity to draw people.
I chose this illustration because Dahl-Wolfe’s photography was so beautiful, it’s worth spending some time with.
She was 40 years old when she was hired at Harper's Bazaar by editor-in-chief Carmel Snow, in 1936. It was at Bazaar that she changed fashion photography, alongside fashion editor Diana Vreeland and art director Alexey Brodovitch.
Dahl-Wolfe insisted on correcting her own proofs, tweaking colours to create the exact images she had in mind. This resulted in stunning prints whose subtle hues and unusual gradations in colour set the standard for elegance in the 1940s and 1950s.
She pioneered the active yet sophisticated image of the "New Woman"—I’m a sucker for a story where someone does something innovative after the age of 40—and incorporated art themes into her photographs.
I’ve come to realise that photography is an integral part of my practice as an artist, both taking photos and looking at other people’s. When I take photos, I train my brain to think about composition, and my eye to find what will look the best on an image.
And looking at other people’s photos inspires me for character poses, teaches me about light and shadow, how fabric folds, how to create moods and ambiances, how to tell a story. Another reminder that other people’s art is crucial for mine to exist.
Judith xx
Want to get this blog directly in your inbox each month? Just subscribe to my Inspired Substack.
Hello, May I Speak to The Publishing Industry Please?
JUNE 27, 2023
Based on most of the illustrations I sell on my shop and the many recommendations I’ve given in this newsletter, it’s no secret that I love books. They’ve been a constant in my life ever since I can remember (except for a 5-year period in my 20s when work, making clothes, and TV took over). When I was a kid, books were the only purchases my mum always said “yes” to. My love for a well-designed book started then. Remember those educational books with the transparent sheet that had a ‘reveal’? Weren’t they amazing? As I grew older and the illustrations and interesting page layouts disappeared from inside my books, I transferred my interest onto the book covers.
I still love those to be honest
I first learnt that book cover designer/illustrator was an actual job when I was 10 or 11 years old. A woman came to my primary school to talk about illustrating the covers for her author mum’s books. She may have been a nepo baby, but I liked her work. And she made it sound possible to draw for a living. I was fascinated, but for some reason I quickly forgot about that career option.
I started thinking about it again last year and decided to do something about it. Seeing as I’ve been drawing again for 6 years now, and I’m graphic designer, I figured I have the right skillset. Never mind trying to get into a new industry, yet again, at 42 years old...
We all know the classic vicious circle where you can’t get hired to do something because you’re never given the chance to prove you can do it. So, I decided to create a portfolio of self-initiated book cover projects. I’ve done one so far. I thought it would be interesting to talk about the process behind it.
My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante is the first book of the superb Neapolitan Quartet. I chose it because a) it’s an amazing story and b) I’ve not found any satisfying covers out there, in bookstores or online. Might as well do my own version!
Here’s the process, broken down into a few steps:
Step 1: The idea
Without giving too much of the story away, the girl dropping the book is symbolic.
Set in the 1940’s in a deprived area of Naples, the buildings and overall look of the street needed to reflect this. I found many images of Naples from that era showing clothing lines hanging between buildings. It gave me the idea to have a drying sheet blowing in the wind in the foreground, onto which I could place the book’s title.
I established a rough composition for the illustration and the type.
Step 2: The cleaner sketch
I began thinking about the specifics. The girls had to be dressed in simple frocks. Being working class, their parents wouldn’t have had the money to provide them with dresses full of detailing, or anything that would use a lot of fabric.
In the same vein, the buildings shouldn’t look pristine. Thankfully, I found a great reference photo for the background.
Step 3: Thinking a bit more about type
Step 4: Asking your partner for feedback and begrudgingly agreeing with him
With the background 98% finished, I made the decision to add a bra on a clothing line (which was actually on the reference photo), referencing the fact that in the course of the book the girls become teenagers. I also decided that the door at the end of the alley would be shut. What’s behind it, the girls’ future, is still unknown to them and full of possibilities.
Step 5: Trying to get the clothes right (again)
Step 6: Will I ever get the movement right?
It seemed like every time I started working more closely on one element, I had to change it from my initial sketch (the angle of the feet, the way Lenu was holding the book, Lila’s hand, the sole of their shoes…). That’s what happens when you don’t plan every single thing before you start. But sometimes you’re just in a hurry to get to the fun part and start drawing.
Step 7: Aaaand done
It was now time to add the words. I was relatively happy with the below solution, but my unofficial art director (partner) suggested I should look at Italian posters from the 1940’s to get some inspiration… He was right, once again.
So there you have it, the finished book cover. I probably need to create many more, including some that aren’t going down the illustration route, before I’m taken seriously by art directors in the publishing industry!
Judith xx
The various steps
Montly inspiration
And don’t be discouraged by the index of characters at the beginning of the book, it’s just there as a reference. The story is easy to follow.
Want to get this blog directly in your inbox each month? Just subscribe to my Inspired Substack.
