Views of Vredehoek

I am slowly, but surely returning to my sketchbook after a month of neglecting it for household D.I.Y. It was a necessary distraction for the leaking pipes, leaking roofs, crumbling courtyards needed immediate attention, but I'm very glad to be over the worst now, and able to concentrate on more artistic pursuits.

We live in the Vredehoek district of Cape Town. Roughly translated, Vredehoek means "peaceful corner" in Afrikaans. It is really quite peaceful, aside from the gale force winds that blow practically every day. The trees are permanently bowed like hunchbacks.

The view out our front gate is amazing: Table Mountain soars above, and there is some of the most beguiling architecture with lacy-white ironwork railings.

Birthday Self-Portrait

Another year has rolled around, and another birthday is past. In continuing with the Birthday Self-Portrait challenge I drew myself in beach gear.

What is Cape Town?

I’ve been in Cape Town for three weeks now; three weeks of frustration punctuated by moments of inspiration.

We’ve been waiting for Telkom to connect our phone/internet for over a month, each time a technician comes to our house he finds another obscure technical fault that needs repair before we can be connected to the grid.At first I was furious, but now I just laugh.What will the technician say today, I wonder?How ridiculous will it be this time?

Life here is a bundle of contradictions, which makes me ask: What is Cape Town?Cape Town is a non sequitor.

The biggest contradiction is probably the clash between the two oceans – the warm Indian and cold Atlantic – over the various mountain ranges makes for interesting and unpredictable weather.It can be cold and cloudy on one side of Table Mountain, and warm and balmy on the other.The wind can blow with gale force speeds in one borough, and whisper gently in others, all depending on the oceans and the mountains.

But there is also a conflict of society, culture, affluence…Every opposition serves to make this place more fascinating.

How many contradictions can I think of?

Windy/calm

Hot/cold

Clean/dirty

Affluent/poor

Wise/foolish

Stylish/grungy

Expensive/cheap

Traditional/irreverent

Beguiling/infuriating

And, there are so many more.

But what I realized, as I was contemplating these differences, that Cape Town can’t be defined by its attributes… rather, the city somehow defines you by how it makes you feel.

Maybe, after all, Cape Town is just a bundle of feelings.

N.B. I haven't been able to post any recent drawings, so above is a little piece of experimental typography.

Cape Town Studio

Slowly but surely we are sorting out the house. On the weekend I set up my studio in one of the spare bedrooms. The table is a hand-me-down from who knows whom, and the chair was from M's Oma (German grandmother). The window looks over our beautiful courtyard with a huge grape arbour, and above that I can see the tip of Devil's Peak.

It is inspiring. So inspiring in fact, that I can hardly concentrate. I tried to get a large chunk of editing done this morning and I was constantly distracted by the view, the butterflies, the sounds...

And then I thought: isn't it ironic that I'm writing a story set on the Northern tip of Africa (Tunisia) and my studio is on the Southern tip of Africa (Cape Town)?

In Cape Town

I've arrived on the bottom-most tip of Africa!

It's been a busy week of moving, cleaning and re-orienting. The house is beginning to feel livable, and I'm almost finished setting up my studio (photos soon, promise...)

There's still much to be done, and we don't have internet set up yet, so my blogging may be more sporadic in the near future.

In the mean time, I wanted to share a quick, unfinished sketch of the profile of Table Mountain. It's the view from M's parent's house, where we were staying before moving in to our own place. I have no scanner, so forgive the fuzzy photograph.

And below, is the view of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak from our back patio. Stunning.

Glamorous Travel

Travel isn't glamorous.

Destinations can be glamorous... New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles...

Travel is mostly horrendous. The stress of packing bags, and then the interminable sitting in an airplane waiting for the minutes to pass before landing (all 12 hours of them).

I dream of travelling in style. I'd wear my skinny jeans and vertiginous pink heals, and carry beautiful luggage (instead of the ratty bags I currently own). And, there would be absolutely no weight restrictions or baggage allowances. Everything I wanted would fit into my bags, just like Mary Poppins.

Of course, if I were Mary Poppins I'd just open my umbrella, catch the next breeze, and float to my destination. Now that is glamour in a nutshell (after all, glamour is old English for 'magic' or 'enchantment').

The importance of doing something else

Illustration by Carl Larsson

As New Year's Day approaches it is natural to take stock of one's life and ambitions. I've always considered myself lucky that I've known exactly what I wanted to do with my life: tell stories through words and pictures. But, this single-minded focus of passion can sometimes be too intense.

So, I think it is necessary to cultivate other interests. Sometimes it is important to follow one's curiosity in order to spark more inspiration. And, also, it isn't fun to be 'all work and no play' all the time.

My efforts in doing 'something else' are two-fold. One: I'm rekindling my love for playing piano. And, in the spirit of winter and all things Northern, I'm working my way through my rather heavy book of Edvard Grieg Piano Works. (Hence the Carl Larsson illustration to head this post; more Scandinavian inspiration).

And Two: I'm also contemplating a sabbatical in a rather different hemisphere. Some time-off to tend my creative inspiration and give some breathing space for the soul. (More on that later).

But, for this Christmas season, I want to leave you with a few songs from my Grieg Piano Book to inspire your creative studio time. I won't inflict my own playing on you, instead I've found some other, very accomplished, people on youtube to play them for you instead. Enjoy!

1.

Norwegian Melody

2.

Melodie

3.

Im Balladenton

4.

Matrosenlied

5. (the one I could play 10 years ago, and need to refresh...)

Hochzeitstag auf Troldhaugen

6. And... as a special treat, the piece I have been playing for 10 years, and still working towards perfection.

Poulenc's Novelette #1

.

And the best part of all this is that none of it really matters. Whether I play the pieces well or dismally is of no consequence to me or anyone. All I'm doing is keeping my soul engaged while I grope through the darkness trying to turn my passion into a reality.

One of my heroes, Madeliene L'Engle, often described how she would work tirelessly on perfecting her Bach fugues, because the mathematical precision of them helped her to order the plots of her stories. Perhaps that's what I'm doing, subconsciously... using music to help order my creative mind.

And, thinking about ordering plots... I must escape into my imagination and get back to writing chapter 4.

And, I'm curious about other illustrators 'other interests.' What do you do to keep your creative soul balanced?

Posy Simmonds at Laydeez do Comics

Last night we hosted the Posy Simmonds at our last Laydeez Do Comics of 2010. What a wonderful Christmas treat! She has the most delightful attitude: part comedienne, part anthropologist, examining the motives behind different people. And, she slips easily in and out of character, accent or dialect. For example, when she talks about Raymond Joubert (from Gemma Bovery), she slips into a French accent and her facial expressions and hand movements suggest a middle-aged baker from Normandy. This made her talk delightful and very entertaining.

Here are some of my notes:

Posy studied at the Central School of Art and Design (which later became Central St Martins). She was taught typography more than drawing, and that influence definitely shows through her work. She did all the lettering by hand in Gemma Bovery, and she said she can draw a 12pt font perfectly.

She started out by doing spot illustrations and cartoons for the Guardian. She lived nearby, and they liked to call her to do rush last-minute work, because they knew she could run the finished product over very quickly. Posy said that she probably did about 14-15 illustrations per week. Then, the Guardian started a 'women's page', where they asked Posy to start a comic strip.

Another huge influence in her stories and artwork are things. The stuff people surround themselves with. Those things can say as much about a person's personality or 'class' as their actions. For example, different people have different kinds of coffee makers, and the type of coffee maker they have signifies their taste as well as how wealthy they are.

Her process for creating a strip is threefold: first she scribbles sketches and notes on layout paper to get the feel of the strip. Then she works to find her characters, modifying them slightly so they fit the parts. Then she draws out her rough cells and figures out the on composition. Then, she finishes it.

For writing longer stories, such as her serialized Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe, she works on a huge A2 piece of paper. She divides the paper in half and writes all her stream-of-consciousness ideas for one page of story on the right hand side. Then, she sifts through those notes to create a complete text for the page on the right hand side. That way her notes and text are in the same place, on the same A2 piece of paper.

The reason why Gemma Bovery is in a long-thin format is because that's the space the Guardian gave her when they serialized the comic. So, the newspaper informed the shape of the book. Gemma's gamine look was partly inspired by the way Princess Diana always looked upwards through her fringe.

At the end of the talk Posy answered questions and drew cartoons on an overhead projector. It was wonderful to see her live-drawing. I took a short video of her comparing the process of drawing the two teenagers, Jody and Casey, from Tamara Drewe. I was about to post it on this blog, but then I got a twinge from my conscience. Would Posy want me to post a video of her drawing? I don't know? What do you think?

I had to leave early, because I'm fighting a terrible cold. If you want to read more about the talk (and some of the things I might have missed), go to the Laydeez Blog HERE. Ellen Linder's post should be up in a day or two. Or, go to Sarah McIntyre's exhaustive POST on the evening. And, HERE is a great article about Posy by the Telegraph.

The Moment of Privacy has Passed

The night of December 10th was the opening for The Moment of Privacy has Passed at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. It was a star studded affair; the exhibitors included Grayson Perry, Tom Gauld, Nicola Streeten, Sarah Lightman, Daniel Berry, and of course.... yours truly.

I was delighted to find that my sketchbook was scattered directly underneath Tom Gauld's inimitable sketchbooks. What glorious company I'm keeping in Lincoln! He draws weekly cartoons for the Guardian newspaper, and is a hero of mine. You can see one of his sketchbooks HERE.

My sketchbook contained research drawings for Magic at the Museum. The page the curator John Plowman chose to display was my architectural measurements for the interior of Somerset House. The funny thing is that the page relates to a spread in the book that never got published. Below you see the sketchbooks, and the page from the book.


Here you see someone looking at my sketchbook... or Tom Gauld's sketchbook...?

The opening was packed

Déjà Vu:

The funny thing about being included in this exhibition in Lincoln was that I've been in before Lincoln as a little girl, and never expected to return. At least not as an artist exhibited in their major museum. Here is a picture of me riding on my Dad's shoulders by the castle. I was almost 4, and very camera shy (hence the head turned away from the photographer).
Somehow, the fact that life has come full circle and I'm back in Lincoln doing what I love means a lot to me. It seems to signify that I'm on the right track. Hopefully more synchronicity will occur in the next few months as we prepare for big developments.

A homesick prairie girl

I spent a wonderful, wonderful day in Lincoln yesterday, where I attended the opening of

The Moment of Privacy is Passed

. I'll blog about the exhibition shortly (and my previous connections to Lincoln), but for the moment I want to share my love for the prairies.

Let's play spot the difference..... Which picture is Lincolnshire and which is Manitoba?

Can you tell? Both are flat, both have telephone poles, both have a lone tree, both have snow...

Well, the top is Lincolnshire and the bottom is near my hometown in Steinbach. Similar enough to make any prairie girl pine for home.

Cezanne's Card Players at the Courtauld

Paul Cézanne’s famous paintings of peasant card players and pipe smokers have long been considered to be among his most iconic and powerful works. So says the Courtauld of their new exhibition Cézanne's Card Players.

The rustic card players were some of my favourite paintings when I was studying at the Courtauld. In particular, "Man with a Pipe", and "The Card Players" which depict the same man named Alexandre in two different situations. Alexandre was one of my favourite characters to illustrate in my children's book Magic at the Museum.

Alexandre was a peasant gardener. Cézanne strove to capture the essence of these sun-beaten farmers with the rough application of paint and deep browns.

If you look closely, you will see that his head is very small compared to his body (or, perhaps he is just very tall). I used this feature to advantage in the Magic at the Museum action scenes; Alexandre always looks very strong and powerful. In response to the sometimes odd perspective in his paintings, Cézanne told his critics, "I have a lazy eye."

The famous English critic Roger Fry wrote in 1927: “It is hard to think of any design ... which gives us so extraordinary a sense of monumental gravity and resistance – of something that has found its centre and can never be moved.”

This in an interesting quote, because I imagined Alexandre to be the strong, solid centre of the crack-the-whip game the characters play on the Somerset House Ice Rink. Here you see him holding everyone steady while they whirl around the ice.

Wisdom From Ben Norland - Walker Books

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar led by Ben Norland, art director for Walker Books, and Viviane Schwarz, illustrator and writer.

I wanted to take pictures and make sketches, but I was too busy taking notes instead. Here are some words of wisdom from the wise.

1. Sending samples/submissions to publishers is the least effective way of getting published. Most new projects are found through agents, or via word of mouth. It helps to know someone in the business.

2. Portfolios: Put your best illustrations in the front, and one really good one at the end. Never include something you don't like. If you get a meeting, it's helpful to bring sketchbooks, so you can show your working methods. Also, there might be some great book ideas in your sketchbooks.

3. Agents are really helpful and useful. And, they are always one your side. The publisher isn't necessarily, as they want to make money for themselves. An agent always wants to make money for you. The more money you earn, the more money they earn.

4. Children's book publishers are desperate for more texts. Lots of artists think they can become children's book illustrators, but very few writers aspire to write picture books. If you are an illustrator who can write you double your chances of being published. Publishers are hungry for texts. Ben Norland emphasized this over and over again.

5. Your portfolio is a performance. It should take 15-20 min to look through. That means 12-20 images.

6. Editors always read a story out loud before they accept it. Apparently, at Walker Books, if they're interested in a story, they will gather a few people together and have a 'story time' where they read it out loud to see if it works as a performace. That means that you should read your story out loud to an audience before you submit it to a publisher. Always test-drive your text.

7. A story book is a performance script: the adult is the narrator, the child is the audience, and the book is the stage.

8. Three things that really matter in a children's book: consistency of characterization, context and place (the world of the book), and humour.

9. A dummy doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to show potential.

And there you have it... an entire afternoon boiled down to 9 wise words.

Why get books signed?

Why get authors and illustrators to sign books?

I contemplated this question whilst standing in a long-ish queue to get books signed by Helen Oxenbury and John Burningham.

A modern book is, by its nature, a mass produced object. The author/illustrator may put hours of work into the writing and artwork, but we consumers don't get to see that personal effort. We can't experience those hours, or touch the artwork. Instead, we hold bundles of pages that were printed and bound in a factory (probably in China).

So, we get to buy a piece of the author/illustrator's creative psyche, but there isn't a physical connection to the person. We can't see, hear or touch them: they don't perform on stages like musicians.

All we really want is an emotional connection to the creative people we admire. Getting a book signed is that connection. A moment of conversation. Eye contact. Their handwriting is physical evidence that they transformed the book from a mass-produced object into a unique work of art.

I like to take it one step further when I sign, and actually sign my books with the original pen I used to draw the illustrations. This takes the experience full circle: from my studio, to the factory, and back to my studio again (so to speak).

I'm certainly guilty of standing in long queues to get books signed. As a result I've met some fantastic authors and illustrators. Above is my London collection of signed books. You can see: Helen Oxenbury, John Burningham, Roz Streeten, Philip Pullman, Lea Stirling, John Lowden, Freya Blackwood, Sarah McIntyre, Audrey Niffenegger, Chris Ware.

There are more, oh yes, I've met so many more authors and illustrators. But, I didn't always have a book on hand for them to sign. And, there are so many more whom I'd like to meet.

Do you have any signed books?

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Those ancient Egyptians: they knew how to wield a pen-nib with the utmost accuracy and simplicity. I am amazed how the scribes could express so much emotion with one stroke. You would think they were modern graphic designers schooled in the art of vector linework. But, no... they lived and worked 3000 years ago on papyrus and linen (not even paper was available!). Truly, truly extraordinary.

If you're lucky enough to be in London this winter, don't miss the

Egyptian Book of the Dead

at the British Museum.

Determination

... and how does a chair relate to determination?

This is how a book or story has to start.

Something rings in my head, like Great Tom. A knell...

Then I must invoke the magic word.

Oh, yes -- there is one.

All truly successful writers know it.

I shall whisper it in your ear:

BIC.

It stands for

Butt In Chair.

Really. Hard work is the only real magic there is...if the book in your head is to get onto the page.

Jane Yolen

"Take Joy" (p. 84)

Oh, and what a chair it is! The most creative, writery chair of my acquaintance. Something Hemingway would happily sit in whilst smoking and drinking gin.

The various chairs around our house have aided me in editing (re-writing) 3830 words of my 45000 word story. Three days of work: one thousand words per day (minimum). They say Stephen King writes 2000 words per day, but he's special, I'm sure. Or, he has some amazing chairs.

Hopefully my chairs will continue to cooperate in the next month, as I pull and push my characters around a dusty town in North Africa.

Athens for Archaeology Lovers and Santorini

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I was stunned by Athens.  I love history, archaeology, and all things ancient. Then we spent a week relaxing on the island of Santorini.  I'm lost for words, it was heaven.  Just take a look.  

Santorini....

20 Questions with... Lauren Castillo

Image © Lauren Castillo

This morning I woke to a wonderful surprise in my inbox: an interview from Lauren Castillo. A few months ago, I asked Lauren Castillo to do a 20 questions interview for my blog; she said that she'd love to, but she was quite busy and might have time come October. I pencilled her name into my October calendar and forgot about it as I concentrated on other things. They say wonderful things come to you when you're not waiting for them; and this is the perfect example! :-)

I have always admired Lauren's work. I first heard her name when I was stalking the web pages of the School of Visual Arts in New York.

(This was my dream school, where I wanted to do a masters of illustration IF... if i could afford it.... if I had gotten in.... if I and hadn't fallen in love with someone in the UK....)

And, since then I have enjoyed reading her blog and keeping up with her children's books.

And, without further procrastination, here is her interview!

1. What was your first illustrating job?

I did a small emergent reader book back in 2004. But my first actual project as a children's book illustrator was offered to me in 2005, titled WHAT HAPPENS ON WEDNESDAYS, by Emily Jenkins. Frances Foster over at Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan) was the awesome editor who took a chance on an "unknown artist", and I am so grateful to still be working with her today.

2. How long have you been an illustrator?

I've been illustrating full-time for about 5 years now.

3. Which success, either personal or professional, are you most proud of?

I think I'm most proud of myself for being able to survive here in EXPENSIVE New York City as an illustrator. I came to the city for graduate school, but honestly didn't think I'd still be living here so long afterward. I won't lie, NYC livin' as an artist is rough! But I am working super hard to be able to continue to afford it--I love this city too much to say goodbye!

Image © Lauren Castillo

4. Do you have any comfort routines to cope with rejections?

I suppose I just work though it. It's no secret that the publishing industry is a competitive one, and I am always prepared for projects/story ideas that I pitch to be turned down. While it can be hard to receive negative feedback, I like to look at it as advice to help me improve my storytelling skills. I figure that no matter how many years I am in the business, or how many books I will have published, there is always going to be room for improvement.

5. Which illustrators or artists do you admire the most? Why?

Some of my very favorite children's book illustrators are Ezra Jack Keats, Maurice Sendak and John Burningham. All three of these guys know how to create characters filled with personality and emotion, and incredible, magical worlds for those characters to live in.

6. What was your favourite book as a child? Does that book influence you now?

There were so many! But the first book I can remember buying on my own (at a school book fair) was David Small's IMOGENE'S ANTLERS. I found it while going through a box at my parents' house a few years ago, and realized for the first time that one of my current favorite illustrator's was the creator of the book I wore out as a child. I was so excited to make that connection!

7. What are the essential items to take with you when you go out? (sketchbook, journal, camera?)

When I'm traveling somewhere new, I always bring along a small size sketchbook. Location drawing is my favorite kind of drawing!

Image © Lauren Castillo

8. What is your favourite medium for illustration? When did you first start using it?

I love the textured line that results from acetone transfers, which I've used to create almost all of my picture books (I first experimented with this technique in 2004). But I've recently been trying to find a less toxic method, that has a similar result. Any suggestions???

9. How good is your handwriting? Do you use your own handwriting in your illustrations?

I like my handwriting, but I know it is not always legible to others. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a couple designers though, drawing the cover type for a few of my books. That was great fun!

10. What do you collect? Why?

I have a thing for fun patterned papers and fabrics, and save scraps for possible collage, or pattern ideas to use in some parts of my illustrations. For example: In the illustration below I used a pattern from an old piece of fabric for the wallpaper. This image is a spread from my book

BIG CAT PEPPER

.

Image © Lauren Castillo

11. Do you have a ‘style’ or do you vary your methods for each project?

It hasn't really been intentional, but all of my books, regardless of subject matter, end up looking like "me".

12. Do you scribble in the margins of books? Or make notes or underline things that inspire you?

Not so much now. But when I was in school I'd doodle in everything--It somehow helped me to pay better attention to the teacher and lesson :)

13. Do you have a morning routine in the studio to prime your inspiration?

I enjoy browsing through some of my favorite blogs over coffee, before I get to work.

14. When do you work best, in the morning, afternoon or evening?

This always changes. But recently my best work time is before lunch, and then in the early evening hours. I find that I'm not my most productive in the mid-afternoon. Maybe it's this summer heat!

15. What is the one art supply you could not live without?

I love my Pilot Razor Point Pen. I can draw AND watercolor with it.

Image © Lauren Castillo

16. Do you have a favourite café? Do you sketch or write in cafés?

I used to go to a place called Cup Of Joe's (here's an acetone transfer drawing I did of the café), but it closed last year. There's a really nice park a few blocks away that I sometimes take my sketchbook to.

17. When you look out the window in your studio, what do you see?

(see photo)

Image © Lauren Castillo

Image © Lauren Castillo

18. How do you like your coffee, or tea?

Coffee please! With cream and a little sugar.

19. What’s on your nightstand right now?

A Y.A. novel by Monika Schröder titled SARASWATI'S WAY

.20. Any words of advice for other illustrators in the field?

Create the kind of art and stories that interest YOU. Don't try to create what you think will please others (the market). In the end, your most honest work will be your best work.

Image © Lauren Castillo

Check out Lauren's work:

Website:

http://www.laurencastillo.com/

Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/laurencastillo

Amazon:

Lauren Castillo on Amazon

My alternate CV: reinventing the resume

Above is another painting from my archives. Several years ago I flew to Victoria BC to visit my friend who was working as a nanny (for twins). I had a great time discovering our western-most provincial capital with her. And, to commemorate the lovely holiday I gave her a small watercolour of one of the famous BC totem poles.

I spent much of yesterday afternoon with this same friend and we decided that we needed to write alternate CVs. She is an aspiring opera/oratorio singer and I am an aspiring illustrator/ writer. When we write a serious CV, we list all the experiences, skills and accomplishments we feel will benefit our future employers. But what about all those random skills we have acquired over the years that get overlooked? Shouldn't we be proud of them, too?

Here is a random selection of some of my "not-so-useful-in-the-real-world" accomplishments:

1. Took Babysitting course when 13, did very little babysitting thereafter

2. Welding

3. Drive bobcat

4. Drive fork-lift

5. Can read Latin

6. High School Physics, Chemistry, and Math tutor

7. Photocopying

8. Can clean large farm vehicles with a pressure washer

9. Canoeing - especially steering and the J-stroke

10. Can squaredance

11. Mending clothes

12. Orienteering (with compass, or without, can usually tell North by reading the environment)

13. Bake a cake on a coleman camping stove

14. Origami

15. Fastest library book shelver in the Steinbach library

What are your 'not-so-useful-in-the-real-world' accomplishments?

Sketching in Berlin

It is already over a week since I returned from Berlin, but at last, I have sorted my photos. Despite my best efforts at artistic photography, none of the photos were really that inspiring. I had more fun sketching in my Skizzenbuch than photographing. Here you can see me enjoying a glass of wine near Sevigny Platz and drawing the little boutique-lined street.

I try to draw everywhere I go, though sometimes I am more conscientious than others.

Add caption

20 Questions with... Nicola Streeten

Image © Nicola Streeten

I met Nicola Streeten a year ago at the first Laydeez do Comicsmeeting at theRag Factoryin Brick Lane (London). She and her friend, Sarah Lightman, started up a fantastic reading group of laydeez (and laddies) who love autobiographical and literary graphic novels and comics (no superheros, please). We meet once a month for spicy discussion which then segues to spicy curries on Brick Lane.

Nicola is also an accomplished illustrator, and has done work for greeting card companies, magazines, publishers and corporate clients. At the moment she is working on a graphic novel.

1. What was your first illustrating job?

It was slightly by default. My little son died in 1995 and I started drawing, just sketching to ease my mind. I’d done a card for a friend’s new baby, A-Z of Babies, that I showed to a close friend who ran a small greeting card publishing company. She thought it would work as the first in a series of greeting cards and commissioned me to do six. (I think she published them to cheer me up, because her business partner hated them.) It turned into a range of 80 titles, the best line their company had ever produced, had a life of about ten years and started my career as an illustrator.

2. How long have you been an illustrator?

Since 1996 after my first illustration job, I sent samples around magazines to pick up editorial work and within a year I’d given up my ‘day job’ (which I hated) and was able to just illustrate.

3. Which success, either personal or professional, are you most proud of?

I have always believed that if you do what you feel passionate about it will lead on to opportunities and that you will carve a living of some kind out of it.

4. Do you have any comfort routines to cope with rejections?

I have a great husband and daughter, John and Sally. There’s no better salve than spending time with them.

PLUS

My brother in law, a salesman told me that in sales you need to earn 250 ‘nos’ for every ‘yes’. So every no is getting you nearer the next yes.

5. Which illustrators or artists do you admire the most? Why?

I really like artists like Louise Bourgeois and Sophie Calle for the ideas behind and in their work.

I like Paula Scher’s work for the illustrated typographical approach. I like Tom Gauld and Simone Lia also for the social mores they play with.

6. What was your favourite book as a child? Does that book influence you now?

Eloise by Kay Thompson. I saw it maybe once at a friend’s house loved it. When I came across it as an adult I found it the perfect children’s book, even though it was created originally for adults. I also loved Dr Seuss books and still do. Those books don’t really influence me now, but were a strong influence when I first started illustrating, because the focus was on the content rather than the style.

Image © Nicola Streeten - A to Z of birth

7. What are the essential items to take with you when you go out? (sketchbook, journal, camera?)

I only carry a little note book with me when I visit the big art shows, like Venice Biennale or Documenta, so I can note down works I like.

8. What is your favourite medium for illustration? When did you first start using it?Rotring pen .25 and watercolour on photo copy paper or thin cartridge paper. I use a lightbox. I don’t like the idea of preciousness about materials I think it inhibits my style. I do like playing with photoshop, but have always drawn the line and scanned it in.

9. How good is your handwriting? Do you use your own handwriting in your illustrations?

My handwriting is good and has always been a part of my illustrations. I really really like the interaction of text and image. Most of my illustration work has included handwritten text.

10. What do you collect? Why?

John, Sally and I have a display cabinet we found in an old railway room which John fixed up. In it are lots of things we have that we don’t know what to do with, but don’t want to throw away. For example, I have two plaits of my hair from times it was long, a Biba carrier bag, a book of green shield stamps, the pregnancy test when I found I was pregnant. Stuff that carries stories and memories. I was inspired to do this after visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum where there’s a load of junk all beautifully hand labeled and under glass. I started doing little labels for our stuff…but haven’t finished!

11. Do you have a ‘style’ or do you vary your methods for each project?

I have a definite style. It changes a bit with photoshop colour, but I think it is recognisable.

12. Do you scribble in the margins of books?

Occasionally.

13. Do you have a morning routine in the studio to prime your inspiration?

The internet, radio 4

14. When do you work best, in the morning, afternoon or evening?

Morning.

Image © Nicola Streeten - Excerpt from "Billy, me and you"

15. What is the one art supply you could not live without?

Roting Pen

16. Do you have a favourite café or restaurant in London?

No

17. When you look out the window in your studio, what do you see?

Sky, trees and the tops of apple trees.

18. How do you like your coffee, or tea?

Coffee v strong black. Tea pg with milk no sugar.

19. What’s on your nightstand right now?

A digital clock

20. Any words of advice for other illustrators in the field?

You need 98% talent + 2% determination OR 2% talent + 98% determination

Image © Nicola Streeten - Nicola's Studio before clean-up

Nicola's Blog and website: http://www.streetenillustration.com/

Laydeez do comics:

Image © Nicola Streeten - Nicola's Studio after clean-up