The Good Ship Illustration

This week we're pulling up a chair at Helen's kitchen table to finally spill the beans on Salty. Salty Dog and Pals is the book that started as The Picture Book Course branding and somehow ended up as a 2-book deal with Walker Books.
The big question: How do you write a zillion short stories with your pal in 10 sessions flat?
We chat about the origins of Salty (and which printmaker Bernard the duck is named after), the brilliant questions from the editors at Walker Books, why Kitty is basically Tania 😆, and the Nissen Hut story that didn't make it into the final draft no matter how hard we trieeed!

p.s. Salty Dog & Pals (Helen & Katie's new picture book) is now available to pre-order and will be in shops from May. To say thank you, all pre-orders get access to a picture book MASTERCLASS. 
You can sign up for your free picture book masterclass here: 
https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/salty-dog-and-pals-the-storm-other-stories
It's instant access, so no need to wait.
(And if you've already pre-ordered, thank you!)

Rough timestamps for our timestamp-fans:
00:00 – Where did Salty Dog come from? 
01:00 – From course mascot to Walker Books character 
03:00 – Bernard the duck, and colour palette chat 
05:00 – The thumbnail template that started it all 
07:00 – The Jarvis format: not a picture book, not a chapter book 
09:00 – Writing at the kitchen table: how it worked 
11:00 – The Walker Books character questionnaire (we read it out) 
13:00 – Who is Bernard, really? (William Hanson + Cameron) 
15:00 – Kitty is Tania (reckless, chaotic, beloved) 
17:00 – Lindisfarne, upturned boats + Helen's grandparents' Nissan Hut 
20:00 – The story that was too violent to make it in 
22:00 – Titles first, stories second 
24:00 – What the editors actually did (magic, basically) 
26:00 – Procreate vs paper + the cover saga 
28:00 – Pre-order Salty Dog and Pals + free masterclass! (You can sign up for your free picture book masterclass here.)
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 we're dragging ourselves away from our hypothetical gardens and custom urn businesses (lol) to have a proper sofa-chat about the big question: what would you do if you weren't an illustrator?
Specifically: Is your identity too wrapped up in your work? What happens when things go quiet on the work front?
COMMUNITY IS MAGIC. 
That is all. 
Happy listening.
p.s. Salty Dog & Pals (Helen & Katie's new picture book) is now available to pre-order and will be in shops from May. To say thank you, all pre-orders get access to a picture book MASTERCLASS. 
You can sign up for your free picture book masterclass here: 
https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/salty-dog-and-pals-the-storm-other-stories
It's instant access, so no need to wait.
(And if you've already pre-ordered, thank you!)

Rough timestamps for our timestamp-fans:
00:00 – What would you do if you weren't an illustrator? 
01:00 – Tania's custom urn business plan (trademark pending) 
03:00 – Katie's nanny agency pivot 
05:00 – The famine panic spiral ("day three with no enquiries: my life is over") 
06:00 – Identity and rejection: when your work IS you 
08:00 – Service illustration vs the author-illustrator beast 
10:00 – Picture book advances, royalties + why multiple income streams matter 
12:00 – Artist dates and keeping your ideas fed 
15:00 – The real deal: what makes author-illustration different 
16:00 – Katie & Helen's picture book Salty Dog & Pals (!!!) + the Walker Books Irish jig 
18:00 – Live illustration: when the job you loved becomes just a job 
20:00 – Community as salvation 
22:00 – Good Ship origin story + the Christmas fair era 
24:00 – Isolation is corrosive (and what to do about it) 
25:00 – Finding your people: local groups, Instagram communities + Pencils on Toast
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 we’re wrapped up in some blankets havin' a proper sofa-chat about Instagram.
Specificallyyyy:
Should your Instagram be your portfolio?
What's the difference between a snazzy website folio and the mad addictive world of social media? 
We also get into showing your human face, illustrators following illustrators, AI-era credibility, and why you absolutely do not owe the algorithm/tech bros your nervous system.
Rough timestamps for our timestamp-fans:
 00:00 – Blankets
 01:00 – Instagram as a folio: should it be?
 03:00 – The golden algorithm years (remember those?)
 05:00 – You don’t own Instagram
 06:30 – Portfolio pressure vs social sharing
 08:00 – The 360° artist: personality, process + presence
 10:00 – AI, visibility + being human
 12:00 – Showing your face. Do it!
 14:00 – Content creator burnout (no fanks)
 16:00 – “Held hostage by consistency” rebellion
 18:00 – Who is Instagram actually for?
 20:00 – Community vs clients
 22:00 – Annuals, competitions + the old-school ways
 24:00 – Bologna Book Fair chat
 26:00 – Books as permanent portfolios
 28:00 – Sales pages vs old-school static folios
 30:00 – Final takeaway: use Instagram, don’t let it use you
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 we roll headfirst into the interestin' world of aphantasia.
It all started with conversations inside Find Your Creative Voice and The Picture Book Course - when Good Shippers were telling us, “I can’t see ANYTHING in my head.” Which sent us down a rabbit hole of aphantasia, imagination. And does everyone experience it the same way?
Nope.
In this episode, we chat about:
What aphantasia is
The “apple test” 🍎
Emotional memory vs visual memory
Why some creatives need reference and others work 100% from imagination
Whether Google has made our “mind palace” lazy
Not being able to picture things can be a creative advantage. We promise.
Smells, textures, music and sensory imagination
Synesthesia (colours for days of the week?)
Why your wobbly memory-bike drawing might be better than a perfect diagram
How imagination changes from childhood to adulthood
Blind drawing experiments we neeeeed to try at Art Club
Timestamps for our timestamp fans
00:00 – Elephantasia? Aphantasia? However you say it…
02:00 – The apple spectrum and vivid vs blank imagery
03:00 – Reading fiction without mental pictures
05:00 – Emotional memory and creepy seaside steps
07:00 – Mental collage vs drawing from scratch
10:00 – Drawing bikes from memory
11:00 – Why aphantasia might make you a better designer
14:00 – Idioms, haystacks and giant bears
16:00 – Smells, lemons and sensory imagination
17:30 – Synesthesia and coloured weekdays
20:00 – Wolves, dreams and Google as reference
23:00 – Teenage bedrooms and peak memory moments
25:00 – Is creativity in your head or your hands?
28:00 – Blind Art Club challenge incoming 👀
What about you?
Can you see the shiny apple? Or is it more of a murky apple-shaped idea?
We’d genuinely love to know. Come over to Instagram and tell us how your brain works. We're nosy.
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 🎙

Permission to play can change EVERYTHING!
This week we’re chatting to Anna Mac - artist, printmaker, illustrator, product designer, sleep counsellor, mum of twins, and hardcore Good Shipper who's been sailing with us since 2020.
In this episode, we talk about scenic creative routes, why permission to play can change everything, creative voice vs paying the bills, and why sometimes felting a jumper is juuuust what your brain needs.
Rough timestamps for our timestamp-fans:
00:00 – Intro + course news
01:00 – Anna’s background: fine art, printmaking + retail product design
03:00 – Social work → creative rediscovery
05:00 – Sweden influence + graphic print inspiration
06:00 – Lockdown pivot + 100 day project energy
07:00 – Finding creative voice even when you’re already “successful”
09:00 – Taste is everywhere (home, clothes, environment)
11:00 – Confidence, feedback and trusting your own eye
13:00 – Agent life + picture book submissions
14:00 – Balancing creativity, family life and part-time sleep counselling
16:00 – Creative hobbies that are just for you
17:00 – Creativity as a way of being (Rick Rubin chat)
19:00 – Personal manifestos vs New Year’s resolutions
21:00 – Listening to your gut when making work
23:00 – Journalling + morning pages (ish, not perfectly)
25:00 – Visual diaries and recording life through drawing
27:00 – Stories we tell ourselves about who gets to be creative
28:00 – Rejection collections + persistence mindset
30:00 – Rejection rituals (tea, brownie, gallery trip recommended)
31:00 – Creative voice is never “finished”
32:00 – Lifetime access + coming back to learning later in life
Stuff mentioned:
Anna's website - www.annamacstudio.com 
Anna's Instagram - @annamacstudio
Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag course
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
The Creative Act – Rick Rubin
Good Ship Illustration Monthly Numbers Tracker (freebie) - To help you keep on top of your monthly numbers and track progress in your creative career.
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

Anna is an illustrator who works from her home studio in Perthshire, Scotland.
She has a background in fine art and printmaking and spent several years creating design-led product collections for the retail market.  Client commissions included heritage retailers and international buyers, and her work has sold in shops and galleries in the UK and abroad.
Anna combines printmaking techniques, drawing and collage to produce her work, with a focus on children’s illustration.  Anna also loves to work with lino, and she uses this approach to create prints and book covers.
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 🎙