"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 🎙