April: An Update
Hi Everyone!
So lovely to see you here. April feels like it has been super fast and very slow all at once. This past month has been filled with launching new zines, travelling to Bologna, and the final stretch of writing my dissertation for my MA.
New zines
At the Start of this month I launched a new series of zines called Drawings from my Sketchbook. I’ve so enjoyed sharing these with you as the drawings inside feel very special. I loved sharing the drawings from Bute, Cornwall and Bath and The Cotswolds, but having a place where there isn’t really any theme, felt a bit like looking through one of my sketchbooks - a mish-mash of the things that I see day-to-day.
Bologna
This year has been the first time year that I’ve ever been to Bologna Children’s Book fair, and honestly it was so exciting, inspiring and overwhelming all at once. It was so much bigger than I expected it to be and the whole place was packed full of authors, illustrators, publishers and beautiful books.
This year we arrived in Bologna on the Sunday evening. We went to the fair on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before spending Thursday exploring the city. I think next year, we plan to go for a little bit longer so that we can have a bit more time exploring and drawing.
I had such high hopes for all of the things that I was going to make when we were there, and I talk about all of the materials that I took with me in a video that I made for Patreon. But in reality we spent most of our time soaking up all of the books, pasta and gelato.
A lot of the drawings that I did make were made in the fair. I drew the one above whilst listening to Mac Barnett’s talk about creating books for children and made notes of some of the things that he said around the page as he was saying them. This is often what I end up doing in lectures at university.
I found that I was really drawn to drawing people in Bologna, which is different to what I had expected. I expected that I would really enjoy drawing the architecture (all of those beautiful arches), but what I found that I was most interested in was what the people were doing and how they were interacting with each other.
On the Thursday we explored the city. We saw musicians playing, went to the book shop and found a whispering wall, where a whisper made in the corner of a vaulted archway, could be carried through the brickwork. It then gets carried through and the arches to the a person on the other side.
Books I’ve brought recently
I brought quite a few books when we were in Bologna. I’m planning on doing a full tour for Patreon next month, but I thought I would share a few of my favourite ones here.
The first one is Sogo di Una Notte by Giulia Pintus. It was the first time I’d found Giulia’s work, I love the emotion in her characters and the was she shows light and dark in her images in this book especially.
The second one was also brought in Bologna and it’s called Avventura nel Regno di Porcellana by Katerina Illnerova. I love wordless books and this one tells the story of a character that moves through the cups and plates in search for their hat. I love the way that the illustrations on the porcelin are linked and flow through each other.
The third one is called Shine by Bruno Valasse, which I brought from Shelf Editions. I love Bruno’s limited colour pallate and the way that the illustrations glow in this one.
Things I’ve learnt from writing my dissertation
This month really has felt like it has had three parts: Bologna, books, and dissertation writing. The second half of this month has mostly been focussed on writing for my MA dissertation and although I’ve enjoyed the researching element, I’ve found the writing part a bit of a challenge.
I did learn a lot in the process though and there were some things that really helped me whilst writing that I thought would probably apply to any situation where the writing/ drawing/ thinking is becoming a bit sticky.
The first is that setting a timer really helped. If I was feeling really reluctant to write then I set a 30 minute timer and just decided that I would write for that much time and then afterwards I would get myself a hot drink. This really helped me to make a start and there were times where 30 minutes led to an hour, which then led to an hour and a half.
The second tip came from my sister. She said, just allow yourself to write without any judgement about what the words say, or worries about spelling or punctuation. Just get words on the page. This really helped because when I first started writing nothing sounded right to me and it felt like a real block between getting my words from my brain to the page.
The third tip is probably one that you’ve heard before, but going outside really helped me to get a fresh perspective on things. I remember really struggling with a section and just deciding to go and have a cup of tea in the garden. I set a 30 minute timer for the cup of tea and then came back. The chunk of essay still felt tricky, but I had a bit more clarity than I had before.
Although these things worked for me whilst I was writing my dissertation, I think I am going to bring them into my drawing practise too. I think that setting a timer and getting whatever I see down onto the page will really help me when I feel like I’m beginning to over think drawings. I also know that going to draw outside always helps fill up my creative cup.
Thanks so much for reading this far!
See you next month,
L xx
