the shop is open!

Hey-de-ho!

After a couple of requests I have made some greeting cards using some of the pandemic drawing I’d done throughout 2020 and into 2021. The inside of all the cards are blank so you can write something special of your own.

So I’ve re-opened my online shop and added them, check it out here essayer.com.au/shop

I’ve had them printed professionally, but only in a small run, to test the waters. Essentially the early bird will catch the worm here. But I’m happy to print more especially if you want to make a large or, dare I say, a wholesale order or would like to distribute them or… well the possibilities are endless, email shop@essayer.com.au and I’m sure we can work something out.

So, check out the cards, I’ve also got a few tea towels left and some copies of the book I did with Wild Dog Books, Earth Matters : loving our planet. Which you can opt to purchase, if you so wish.

There’s also a link to my Redbubble page there to order t-shirts, just in cases :)

Cheers!

Earth Matters: How to make a book, from catastrophic fires and through a pandemic

Part 2: Pandemic ahoy!

Winning a portfolio review from Donna was a step out of my comfort zone. But I needed a poke and I didn’t know what I might actually get out of it. Hopefully, some direction, what to watch out for or where my strengths and weaknesses were.

When Donna arranged for me to meet Maryann from Wild Dog Books, I was a bit overwhelmed. Finally, the negative self-talk was shut down and there was silence. What a buzz. Is that what confident people get every day?!?

Maryann loved the infographic work I’d been doing, and liked my style. So I was asked if would I be interested in illustrating Carole Wilkinsons book for primary aged children about climate change? Would I be able to do it on a short timeframe, as it’s going to be taken to Bologna in May? Yes and YES! - try and stop me!

But low, what is that on the horizon? ...Ruby Princess.

I heard nothing more about the book. Problems with the printers. Bologna cancelled. Small beans really, people were dying.

But after the first shutdown in Melbourne, we were able to get started. Donna will be the book designer and hold my hand through the process. YAY!

I began by reading the text and talking through each page with Donna from the layouts she had sent through.

With a lightbox and each page, I sketched and placed what went where. Larger full-page infographics were given special treatment. Some, I had to do sums on!

The infographic work I’d done in the past was faceless - that is each of the little characters I drew had no facial features. I thought about changing this, but came to the conclusion - it wasn’t a narrative and I didn’t want to comment or provide any editorial on what any reader might interpret from the text. Just the facts.

Each of these were then photographed with the iPad and sent as a PDF for Donna to check and send feedback.

While waiting I looked at colour palettes, one of my favourite things to hunt around for. I like muted tones with a retro feel but I did need a dark - but not black - and I wanted it not to be gendered. Setting myself a palette keeps everything consistent and cohesive throughout the book.

To help, I needed to see it in a picture so picked a page and did three different colour versions. We all liked the same one *phew*

Shutdown 2 became imminent.

I packed up my lightbox, some paper and pencils, my iPad and set up at home to do it all in Procreate.

We watched Dan’s presser every day.

As each page was approved I worked up a set of colour roughs.

I set the page size in Procreate and photographed the rough. Laying the image on the artboard on the iPad. Making it 50% transparency and drew the finals over, just like tracing on the lightbox but straight into the drawing program using an Apple Pencil.

We watched Dan’s presser every day.

While waiting for approval, I made a few images to post as a small way of channelling some lightness past peoples eyes as they doomscrolled.

There were a lot more, which you can’t find on my instagram, as well as some colouring sheets which you can get here

As the colour roughs were approved, I finessed and tidied the images.

Phone meetings with Donna were like a little bit of light, someone different to talk to, something new to focus on. They were long rambling chats and I needed it.

Text was edited, layouts changed, more roughs were drawn.

We watched Dan’s presser every day.

My fancy printer was at the studio and with the shutdown, we were discouraged from going, and can I just say - it was a bit scary in and around the city with only a few people, one coffee shop and police roaming around.

I trusted the technology and I trusted Donna, and I was right to. It worked. Donna did an amazing job and we all deserve a nice cup of tea and chocolate biscuit or something cold and sparkling to celebrate.

Oh, and by-the-by, I picked up my single advance copy right before Shutdown 3.

And it looks great :)

Earth Matters: How to make a book, from catastrophic fires and through a pandemic

Part 1: Catastrophic fires can’t stop my self promotion

The story of how I got to illustrate this book is just as amazing as getting it done. Really, it is.

It all began with the 2019/2020 new year. We’d decided as a family to go and camp at the block my sister-in-law and her husband own. Spending a couple of days seeing in the new year, singing songs around the campfire, swimming in the cool clear waters of the Sapphire Coast, doing the Merimbula Shuffle (where you and all the other tourists wander up and down the main street of Merimbula), just like last year!

But it had already begun.

By the time we got there, the rest of the camp was on high alert. Not a lot of action in town, people staying put. Weary and worried, we were welcomed nervously. With the smoke already in the air, we settled in the best we could.

The next day we went to the beach, while there, a cavalcade of caravans and campers started setting up in an area not to be used for that purpose. Word spread. They’d been evacuated from Mallacoota.

The following morning, we went and did the Merimbula Shuffle, that is, we walked up and down the main street of Merimbula looking in the shops and eating all the foods.

We went back to the camp packed everything up leaving only what we actually needed to put our hands on, just in case. We had dinner at Eden’s Fishermans Club, deciding not to head too far away from the camp - but trying to get out of the smoke.

With the red glow showing over the mountain at the back of the block, we had a nervous night at the camp. Ash was everywhere when we woke up. Camp Leader decided we needed to move closer to town, out of the bush land. They had a friend with an empty house not far from town and we would all stay there. We made sure the cars had full tanks. The smoke was very thick by now, and everything was orange. The road to Melbourne was closed. The road to Canberra was closed.

NYE was stressful - to say the least.

New year’s day dawned and we woke to the news that the road to Canberra was open. We didn’t hesitate. We got the last of our belongings packed and we headed out in a convoy.

Camp Leader decided to stay.

So we went home the long way. Nose to tail until Cooma. We were on the road for 14 hours, with a short stop in Canberra. We were safe. A bit smokey, very tired and with raspy voices.

We continued to watch the emergency apps, hoping then camp and Camp Leader was keeping safe.

Alerts and stories were being shared all over Twitter: what can we do, who can we, help, where can we help. Celeste Barber had raised so much money but it was set up for a narrow band of recipients, so different parts of the community started to step up. #AuthorsForFireys  was born. Led by Emily Gale, it created a way for established Authors and Illustrators on Twitter to provide services like manuscript reads or portfolio reviews or query letter finessing or signed copies of works etc... Ran as an auction it raised over $500,000 (AUD).

I spied a little tweet.

I put in a bid and da da dahhhhh... I won a portfolio review!

It was from that quick look at my website that Donna saw something for a friend in the industry, and from there the rest is in the previous post. 

So out of the catastrophic fires came a book illustrator. Hopefully, that’s the last time that happens and the next one comes from a quiet search through portfolio sites. No more fires, thanks.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Pandemic Ahoy! 

Cheers,

…and Camp Leader and camp were all ok too.

Earth Matters

I know, right?!?

In January, during the fires, a million years ago, Donna Rawlins French put up her hand as part of the #AuthorsforFireys fundraiser on Twitter. I put in a bid for a portfolio review. Donna was very positive and forwarded my work to a publisher with the following comment to me:

I have also sent your folio on to a publishing chum. I hope that's okay. She and I work together and I KNOW she'll love your work

So after being contacted in January, Maryann Ballantyne and Wild Dog Books took me on to illustrate Earth Matters authored by Carole Wilkinson. 

After a few pandemic induced false starts and much back and forth and Donna as book designer, it’s done!

Out in April it is a non-fiction book for upper primary schoolers about climate change providing them actionable tools to help them feel safer.

All of the equipment and studio and  ‘stuff’ I have acquired over the years to work as an illustrator came to naught as all of the images were done on Procreate on an iPad on my dining table. And now I’ve got an advance copy!

The colours are fantastic, Donna has done superb work.

The trust I placed in her was amply rewarded, her knowledge and skill in book design is huge and cannot be overstated, and I think the trust in me was rewarded too ❤️

It certainly was a journey in what was a truly amazing year, in the full meaning of the word.

The opportunity to do this book through the long lockdown in Victoria was an absolute life saver for me and my mental health.

We all, myself, Donna, Maryann and Carole will look back on this as a major achievement with everything that was ongoing on in 2020.

It’ll be available in selected bookshops in April but you can order it at your local to make sure you get one 😉 I’m sure you’ll love it too!

Cheers and chin-chin!