A Day from My Illustrated World
It’s a Swan’s Life
As I said in the title, a big hello from me!
I thought a good way to start my blog would be to let you know who I am (if you don’t already) and to give you a peek into my working world.
I’ve been thinking of a good analogy for how my illustration life works, and a Swan swimming along on a seemingly calm river is a pretty good one, with the images in this website being the swan, and all the artistic activity, daily work routines, thinking up ideas and application of effort being the frenetic leg activity under the water. Then of course, there’s all the general life stuff and daily domestic chores which I see as being the undercurrents which can often have a big say in which direction my artistic endeavours will go!
So what are those daily endeavours?
The morning can go one of two ways after drinking my first cup of tea in bed. If I am taking my son into school I get up immediately and drop him off at 8.15am, then if I need to, I do any out and abouting or shopping before I arrive back home to start my working day. If though he goes in by bus, I can sometimes be found staying in bed for a while longer! I know, that might sound like too much of a good thing, but I love that uncomplicated time of the day to do some quality planning, drawing or computer art working with a fresh brain. When I get up I feel that I have already completed a lot before I’ve even started at my desk.
The main bulk of my day is then spent either working on commissions and projects at my desk, or other parts of the house if it is computer based (I do love my laptop), packing up online orders to send off in the post, or going to a meeting or work appointment if I have one. I really love working in my 7 x 8 foot work-room with everything I need to hand; but it is good to get out of it sometimes, otherwise it can get a little claustrophobic!
I can’t always get out for exercise, but I do try to at least every other day, as sitting down and breathing far too shallowly while concentrating on illustrating isn’t great for your health - but is great for feeling very stiff by the end of the week! Luckily, I live near the sea so I can either drive to the beach for a quick swim or if I have more time, cycle the three miles for a proper stretch before embarking into the water. If I need to pop the mile or so into town I hop on one of the Beryl Bikes we have in Poole - anything to fend off stiffness!
So there we nearly have it. The main chunk of my working day is ended by cooking dinner for the hungry family (me included), something I either love doing to destress after a day of focusing on the computer, or something that feels too much like a boring chore. You can imagine which days I present a delicious home-cooked creation and which days we have a bung in the oven meal!
Evenings are spent downstairs with the family (mostly minus my 16 year old son who now prefers his room!), often with my trusty laptop on my lap to do some social media or computer work if needed, or a drawing pad or a painted stone or two for some real-life pen line work.
By the end of each day I’ve usually managed to paddle hard enough through and round the daily undercurrents to keep the swan swimming briskly along!