The Good Ship Illustration

This week, our Katie is chatting to Carys Wright - a London-based writer and illustrator, hardcore Good Shipper, and all-round excellent example of what can happen when you follow the creative thread, even if your path looks a bit wiggly.
Carys went from acting and theatre into illustration, and we chat about how sketchbooking helped her find her creative voice, and what it’s looked like to keep building an illustration career alongside marketing work and baby. (No mean feat!)
There’s chat about markets, picture books, digital vs traditional materials and finding your way back to your own weirdness. Mmmm.
Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:
00:00 – Intro to Carys Wright and her creative journey so far
02:00 – Sketchbooks, childhood drawing, and getting back into a regular practice
04:30 – From acting and theatre to illustration
07:30 – Lockdown, Fly Your Freak Flag, and following the drawing thread properly
09:00 – Early illustration jobs, theatre clients, and picture book ambitions
10:30 – Mentoring, competitions, and building confidence through deadlines
11:30 – Illustrating her first book for the Lord Mayor of London
12:30 – Motherhood, maternity leave, and drawing with a baby in the background
16:00 – Portfolios, perfectionism, and letting things evolve
18:00 – Staying connected to your weirdness while doing client work
19:30 – Digital tools, Procreate, and not panicking about how you make the work
23:00 – Opening an online shop, doing markets, and live portraits
26:00 – Other ways illustrators can work, from events to corporate projects
28:00 – AI, humanity, and why weird human imagination still matters
30:30 – Wearing lots of creative hats and letting your interests overlap
33:00 – Coming to illustration later can actually be a strength
35:00 – It’s not too late, you’re not behind, and yes, you should still start
Links mentioned:
Carys’ website: https://www.caryswright.com/
Carys on Instagram: @carys_adventures_with_a_pen
Carys’ Substack, Adventures with a Pen: https://adventureswithapen.substack.com/
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. Want to find your creative voice too? Come and fly your freak flag with Good Ship. We'd love to have you sailing with us!
Read all about the course 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 🎙

Nobody is born knowing how to pitch.
(Katie here) I've been known to pitch once, hear nothing, and decide 'Oh well. Never mind.' Then never reach out ever again. 😅
So you can imagine my SHOCK and INCREDULITY (is that a word?) when Kira told me that she will reach out 7 times to a brand before giving up. Whaaaaaat!?
Kira Matthews (aka Kira the Bold), is like confidence in a bottle. She's mastered pitching and landing work with names like Squarespace, Ganni, and lots more. 
If contacting publishers and/or potential clients makes you do a little bit of sick in your mouth, this episode will definitely help! At the very least you'll feel inspired to send more than one follow up email.
In this episode, we chat about:
What to do when the work… just stops coming in
Why pitching can feel so scary
The real reason people don’t hear back. (And nooo, it’s not because they hate you)
Why one email is basically just saying hello
How to follow up without being annoying (or feeling like you are)
Timestamps:
00:00 Meet Kira (Queen of Pitching 👑)
01:00 From fashion styling to building a business
02:00 When the work disappeared… and what she did next
03:00 Learning to pitch (while still being terrified)
05:00 Fear doesn’t go away. You just get used to it
06:00 The 3-year journey to landing Squarespace
08:00 Why most people give up after one email
09:00 The stories we tell ourselves about rejection
10:00 Why you need to follow up (a lot more than you think)
11:00 How to make each email actually count
12:00 Applying this to illustration and getting your work seen
13:00 Inside Kira’s talent agency experiment
15:00 Why smaller creatives need to pitch more, not less
17:00 Agents, money, and what’s really going on behind the scenes
19:00 Why agents aren’t a magic solution
20:00 Sales: the bit everyone wants to avoid
23:00 Why follow-up feels rude (but isn’t)
24:00 Rejection challenges and building resilience
26:00 Rejection = start of the conversation
28:00 Momentum, energy, and creating your own opportunities
30:00 The actions that actually lead to results
31:00 Telling people what you do (important!!)
32:00 Katie’s rejection challenge story
34:00 Auditing your time and what’s worth it
35:00 Kira’s final pep talk
Links & stuff wot we mentioned
Kira’s website: https://www.kiramatthews.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirathebold/
Weekly pitch tips newsletter: https://kirathebold.myflodesk.com/m0elc4qip7
The Good Ship Illustration https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freebies 
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 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 🎙