The Good Ship Illustration

Trigger warning: In this episode, James talks openly about his experience of childhood sexual abuse, as well as addiction (drugs and alcohol). It's mentioned briefly in the 06:52 to 11:00 section and discussed again from 45:23. There's also plenty of strong language throughout. Look after yourself and skip this episode/seek support if you need it.
This week our Katie is chatting to James Martin, AKA @MadebyJames. He's a designer, author, Canva design advisory board member & creative partner at Lincoln Design Co.
James is nice an' honest about the wiggly creative career road that got him to where he is today.
We chat about the "gravity of average" and why everyone's starting to look and sound the same, an economist with two ice cream sellers on a beach 🍦, whether there's any point becoming an illustrator now AI is here aaaand why your weirdness is more valuable than ever. 😎 FLY YOUR FREAK FLAG!!
ALSO, this is part one of two - next instalment is coming next week.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Welcome James Martin, aka Made by James, and a quick intro to who he is and what he does
 02:43 – The world has never been more distracting
 06:29 – James's journey: school, trauma, addiction, and finding his way to an art foundation
 11:00 – Falling forward into graphic design
 15:03 – Following your gut and doing more of what lights you up
 18:09 – Writing No Bullsh*t Branding
 21:11 – Ddopamine
 25:06 – Is there any point becoming an illustrator now that AI is here?
 29:54 – The "gravity of average" and how systems pull everyone towards the middle
 32:53 – Hotelling's Law, ice cream sellers on a beach, and why opportunity lives at the edges
 38:08 – Time, the long game, and "automate the predictable, humanise the meaningful"
 41:44 – Bring back dilly dallying!
 42:04 – Your weirdness as your difference: taste, story and point of view
 45:23 – Feeling scared to be yourself, and why James chose to share his story
 49:29 – Being real online vs oversharing, and sharing from the scar, not the open wound
 52:24 – Gary V, 500 pieces of content a week, and the performance trap
 53:11 – James's mission, his three-step plan, and eating your own dog food
 56:10 – Round two is coming!
Links mentioned:
James's Substack: https://madebyjames.substack.com
James's free Super Duper Mentorship for emerging creatives: https://madebyjames.substack.com/p/join-my-free-mentorship-program
James on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/made_by_james
James's new book, No Bullsh*t Branding: https://www.quarto.com/books/9781577159452/no-bullsh-t-branding
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 🎙

This week, you're stuck with Katie and Helen again, answering more of your businessy questions (Tania's back next week! Don't cry! She's coming back, really!)
RIP to our dear friend and editor Deirdre McDermott of Walker Books, who died recently. Dee was a legend. We don't have the words to do her justice here, but we miss her very very much. 💛  And of course, Smelly Peggy too.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Helen and Katie are back
 00:45 – Any consistency hacks? Katie's summer of posting every day
 01:45 – Reposting old posts
 02:45 – When your illustration work 'flops'
 03:30 – Stop when the fun runs out
 04:30 – Illustrator's boob
 06:15 – 2012 washing powder
 08:00 – The rise and pause of Katie's jobs board
 10:45 – Being misunderstood online
 11:45 – "Get over yourself"
 13:00 – Helen's online school visit that didn't quite work
 15:45 – Lessons
 17:00 – Helen's year out
 18:45 – Finding Your Creative Voice
 19:30 – Remembering Deirdre McDermott of Walker Books
Links mentioned:
Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag (with Helen's video about her year out): https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freak-flag
Helen's free online school visit: https://www.helenstephens.com/virtual-school-visit
Walker Books: https://www.walker.co.uk
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
p.s. It's the last day! The Illustration Business Club doors close TONIGHT, Friday 9th October, at 10pm UK time. There's an option to pay in 10 smaller instalments, and we'd love to see you in there before they shut. https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
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 it's just Helen and Katie here (helloo - Tania was off in Naples eating pizza for us. We were living vicariously through her.)
Let's get stuck in and answer your excellent questions about marketing your illustration work. 
"I just don't know where to begin!" and overcoming our arch nemesis: cringe. 
Plus SLOTH FACTS. You're welcome.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Time off is good for you, and good for business
 01:00 – Helen's short, intense work bursts on the latest Salty book
 02:00 – Take the bus
 03:00 – "Where do I start with marketing?"
 04:00 – Trying on hats (and taking them back off)
 04:45 – The creative car and the business car
 06:00 – Brilliant work nobody sees vs brilliant marketing that needs more art car time
 07:00 – Seven ways to get your work in front of picture book publishers
 08:30 – Low-pressure Instagram and the overflowing camera roll
 09:30 – If we were starting again: website, portfolio etc.
 11:00 – Ditch the "aspiring", "wannabe" and "itty bitty" labels
 11:30 – Cringe
 12:45 – Caveman brains
 15:00 – It's not meant to be easy
 16:15 – "How do I get over myself?"
 17:15 – Seeking validation vs showing up to share your goodies
 18:00 – Illustration Business Club doors are open, plus the new 10-pay option
 19:45 – Art Club, sloth ribs and a guinea pig Wild West village
Links mentioned:
Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
The Association of Illustrators: https://theaoi.com
SCBWI British Isles: https://britishisles.scbwi.org
Northumberland Zoo: https://www.northumberlandzoo.co.uk/
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
p.s. Get your illustration business ducks in a row. 🐥 🐥 🐥 The Illustration Business Club doors are open now, with a new option to pay in 10 smaller instalments. 
We'd love to have you sailing with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
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 🎙

Jo Overend is in da house (ship?)
But first, Illustration Business Club is finally OPEN! It's been over a year since we last flung the doors open and we'd love to have you sailing with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
Jo is an author-illustrator, an OG Good Shipper, and the author and illustrator of Megaduck (her debut picture book with Walker Books) 🐥
When Jo started out, she hadn't drawn for 21 years. She posted her drawings anyway, eeeeven the ones she didn't like, and sometimes three to five Instagram posts a day (!!!)
Timestamps:
00:00 – Hello Jo (and Megaduck, in giant cardboard cutout form)
 00:23 – Megaduck's final artwork is done and handed over to Walker Books
 01:03 – Getting final artwork finished alongside full-on childcare
 01:56 – Setting the goal of a full colour dummy for Bologna
 02:57 – Walking into shops with your prints (terrifying!) and taking the wholesale leap
 03:37 – Why rejection is almost never about you
 05:46 – Katie's human design corner: give people something to say yes or no to
 06:10 – Sending Walker seven more book ideas without waiting for a meeting
 07:01 – Posting real things to agents and publishers, and the "is it worth the stamp?" wobble
 09:13 – Why genuine, thoughtful post gets remembered
 10:10 – Agents and publishers actually WANT your follow-up email
 11:42 – Jo's Illustration Business Club experience
 12:23 – Getting stocked in her favourite shop, and growing into wholesale
 13:12 – Community, competitions, and winning the Picture Hooks mentorship (plus a book deal the same week!)
 14:34 – Tania's "friendly stalking" method for finding art directors
 15:50 – "Have we met?" How Jo's postcards got there before she did
 16:57 – Helen's broccoli theory of being seen
 17:25 – The anonymous egg problem, and why a face (or a logo) builds trust
 18:29 – Jo's advice for scared, shy, overwhelmed illustrators
 19:04 – Not drawing for 21 years, then posting 3 to 5 doodles a day
 22:02 – Megaduck news: US in February, UK in March, and Megaduck 2 on the way
 23:07 – Trying all the little things: kids' workshops, wholesale and more
 24:40 – Keep your radar open
 25:16 – Where to find Jo, plus her Substack and Patreon plans

Links mentioned:
• Jo's website: https://www.jooverendillustration.com/
• Jo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joverendillustration/
• Jo's Substack: https://jooverendillustration.substack.com/
• Megaduck (US edition): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/835922/megaduck-by-jo-overend-illustrated-by-jo-overend/
• Picture Hooks: https://www.picturehooks.org.uk/
Byeeee for now!
 x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
 p.s. Soooo much of what Jo talks about here ties in v well with what's inside Illustration Business Club. The doors are open right now and we'd love to have you in there with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
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 🎙

Fancy getting into your business car for a bit? Illustration Business Club doors are open until 9th October 2026, and you get lifetime access, so you can go at your own pace (pudding first, broccoli later). We'd love to have you sailing with us https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
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We recorded this podcast LIVE on Instagram on Friday! (So please excuse the audio if it doesn't sound 100%) Anyways, here's the replay. Katie and Helen had a nice 'n' friendly illustration business Q&A, answering your questions as they came flying in. If we missed your question, it's nothing personal! We're doing another live Q&A next Friday too over on our Instagram @thegoodshipillustration so do come along and ask your question again :)  https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/
Half-arse is better than no-arse.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Welcome to our live Q&A podcast
 01:50 – Should you keep your children's and grown-up work on separate Instagram accounts?
 03:15 – Illustration Business Club doors, early birds and payment plans
 04:30 – Organising your website when you've got lots of income streams
 05:30 – SEO, long-tail keywords and lying down in the middle of the road
 08:45 – What are publishers looking for in a portfolio?
 12:00 – Do you need a big social media following to get started?
 14:00 – Where to start with licensing
 17:30 – How to say no when friends want you to illustrate their book
 21:45 – Should you approach an agent or go straight to publishers?
 23:30 – Instagram is not your portfolio (and half-arse is better than no arse)
 25:30 – Does business stuff apply to fine art too?
 27:15 – Your creative car and your business car
 30:00 – Working for free, "exposure" and being paid in lobsters
 30:45 – How do you stay invested in a picture book idea all the way through?
 34:00 – Pricey website hosting vs the cheaper option
 35:45 – Dealing with the newbie beginner scaries
 38:00 – When getting paid makes you tighten up
 40:00 – Structuring your days, Helen's birthday card trick and not doing a Father Ted
 43:15 – Do the fun thing first (an idiot with momentum always wins)
Links mentioned:
Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
Tania's Good Ship Illustration podcast episode with Margo Tantau on licensing from 2 weeks ago: https://pod.link/1526470404/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xOTgxNTM1Nw
Anchoring Your Ideas So They Don't Fizzle Out (We looked into this and it's inside the Picture Book Course, not a freebie sorry!) https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/PB
Good Ship freebies for picture book makers and illustrators: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freebies
Louise Lockhart, The Printed Peanut: https://theprintedpeanut.co.uk/
Jonny Hannah: https://www.instagram.com/darktownresident/
Catherine Rayner: https://www.catherinerayner.co.uk/
Jessica Hische's "Should I Work For Free?" flowchart: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/should-you-work-for-free-jessica-hische
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 🎙