Behind the Scenes | April 2024
And so we have another instalment of my Behind the Scenes blog series! It’s April. And we’ve yet to see signs of Spring.
But that’s ok because I have been busy creating LOTS of Spring-themed drawings. In fact, I’ve been doing LOTS of drawing foolstop.
Back in January (or was it February?) I decided to join Genna Blackburn’s 75 Art Challenge. Genna is a surface pattern designer based in the States who I’ve been following for a while and when I saw the challenge she was running, I decided to jump straight on it. It’s a drawing challenge where you (without fail) spend some time each day drawing. She provided prompts for each day and set up a private community page online where we could all submit our artwork each day for others to see and comment. Every Friday she hosted weekly drawing sessions but due to the time differences, I was unable to make those. However, the community she created was wonderful and everyone was very inspiring and encouraging. I loved every minute of it, I’m a bit sad it’s all over! I believe her next 75 Art Challenge will be next year. FYI, anyone can do it, whether you are a budding artist or an experienced one like me looking to try something new. I draw most days but I wanted to get into the habit of drawing every day and working in different mediums and at different paces. Sometimes I spent just 15 minutes quickly sketching, other times I would spend 2 hours on a drawing. I know so well how easy it is to get caught up in the humdrum of running a business, invoicing, and managing stock and cash flow that you forget why you chose to do what you do in the first place. Anyhoo – I’ve created a montage of some of my favourite drawings. I’m pretty sure I will be using some of these in future greetings cards designs.
In other news, I have been busy creating bespoke merchandise for two of my trade customers. Head to Toe is a gorgeous gift shop in Peebles (where I live!), I created for them a design of Peebles High Street. These will be going onto coasters, mugs, greetings cards and prints. The design is a slight departure from what I usually draw (the only hint of wildlife in the design is in the hills and trees in the background!), but I loved drawing it. I initially did it on paper using a biro, before scanning it in and opening on ProCreate to add the colour.
Redwings Horse Sanctuary has been a customer of mine for a while now and is a treasure to deal with. I’ve created several bespoke designs for them in the past, and the latest one features Muffin. He’s a mule and has been at the sanctuary since he was a young foal. The design features a young Muffin and an adult Muffin standing side by side in a lush and colourful field. I created this design solely on my iPad.
I am slowly but surely making a start on the 2025 calendars, eek! I think I am being quite ambitious as I want to create two different designs in two formats; a highland cow-themed one in popular Scottish locations and an allotment-themed one. That’s 24 drawings. Help. I have a made a start but wanting to keep some of the designs under wraps for now…
On the business side of things, now that I am in the licensing game, I have been busy diversifying a little, adding extra income streams through selling on a couple of print-on-demand sites such as Society 6 and Spoonflower as well as pitching to other licensing companies and agents.
Much of January and February was spent pulling my portfolio together which TOOK AN AGE, and so I am currently in the process of reaching out to prospective partners. If you are or know somebody who would be interested in working with me in a licensing/representation capacity please do get in touch!
Lastly, I have been busy creating new card designs! I’ve always wanted to increase my product offering in the greetings category so I am happy to say that I have added 12 new cards to my ranges. Some are Birthday Cards, others are Sympathy cards and one is a New Baby card. As my children get bigger (both will be 5 and 2 in July!) I truly realise the preciousness of time. They really aren’t little for long and this fact gives me great pangs of sadness from time to time! So expect to see more New Baby cards from me, creating them I am sure will act as a form of therapy!
Until next time,
x Cherith x
