Were there any tricky problems you had to overcome, with the text or illustrations?  How did you solve them?
I think every project has a few sticking points. Deciding on the colour palette is difficult for me but I find that discussing it with Beccy, my brilliant art director, is often really helpful when I get stuck.

For example the spread where the children are at the park was tricky because the image kept feeling too green overall (below) and it was difficult to try to balance that. Often these issues will arise at the beginning of the artwork phase and once its worked out for one spread, its much easier to resolve for the rest.

​Another sticking point was the text for the final spread. I liked the words, “So whether Huffalot or Lovealot, they each know they’re loved a lot” but I found the preceding part of the sentence really difficult. I went through so many different versions with my lovely editor, Sue, before we found precisely the right wording. I think the limited number of words in picture books means you have to be very selective with your choice of language. One of the joys of this project was that I got to invent some of the words. I’ve always loved making up words, which I think stems from my inability to spell and my childhood love of Roald Dahl.

Do you have a favourite spread?
Hmmm, I think I’d say I like the kitchen spread because I really enjoy putting details into the backgrounds of my illustrations. For example I have cards on the fireplace of a cat and a mouse which I like to think represent the children when they’re fighting. I then also add bits from my own life like the girl is holding a dinosaur biting puppet.
My youngest daughter had one of these and she would endlessly run around with it trying to bite me. As I previously mentioned, the girl in The Huffalots is not based on my youngest daughter …honestly. 

​I also often have little additional stories in my images for example on the first spread I have a lego man on the bedside table but at the end he’s swimming in a glass of water. I enjoy putting in these details because I feel like they add to creating a greater sense of family life.

It's of course a tricky time to have a book published - during lockdown.  Are there any virtual events we can look out for?
It is absolutely a tricky time for many people. I hope people are finding ways to cope and ways to stay positive, but there is no doubt it is a difficult time. 
 
I’ve done a reading of The Huffalots for Seven Stories which will be coming out on 8th May and I will also put some downloadable activities on my Instagram…once I’ve worked out how to do that. Thankfully I have two children around who will be able to teach me.
 
Finally, what’s the first thing you’ll do when we’re out of lockdown?
I will be giving my Mum and Dad a hug. 

It actually ended up being quite a smooth progress and I didn’t have to change much before jumping into final colours. I drew the majority of dog characters with watercolour outlines, creating delightful, fluid lines with varying colour tones. As you'll see from some of the images below, there's usually many colour palette swatches around my paper. These detail my experiments and history of exploring good colour matches. I've also tried out different materials to go alongside the watercolours. For example, crayon is good for creating texture where I want a rough surface and collage can be useful for covering up mistakes that can’t be fixed!. I enjoy this process immensely (and time is always an issue), so I love diving straight into colour work after sketches before even deciding on a colour palette and working it out as I go. I am keen to work loosely and am happy to leave marks and amendments from changes made along the way. However, sometimes these changes don’t make it into the final image. This image, for instance, I created twice because the first colour attempt failed, especially the grey tone that was applied to the house:

I also changed the dark brown of the roof to a softer green and left the dark colours until last. When working with watercolours, I find layering from light to dark always works best. After this image I became braver applying colours to shape the shadows and once dry I would then move on to layering different colours over the top. To emphasise perspective, I stuck to brighter colours in the foreground to contrast with softer, subtle colours in the background. Overall, It was all about layering and understanding how the paint would build up.

Many artists work digitally nowadays, why do you prefer to paint traditionally? 

I have been drawing traditionally since I was 5 years old so I am experienced in drawing by hand. It also allows me to express my feelings more effectively. I enjoy the accidental results that occasionally surprise me and it keeps me motivated to create more. 

What was your favourite part of the process?

I love working through those problems I encounter during the art-making process and the challenge to find solutions. When successful I feel I have learned a lot and improved my technique. I'm always learning. 

Was there a spread that you found particularly challenging? 

These two scenes (below) were particularly challenging because of the effort involved to keep them consistent in terms of composition, size and elements. The varied lighting from day to night was one of the main concerns which dictated the way I worked. 

​The method of actually painting these two images were very different. In the top image I started from one corner and gradually filled the page. The bottom one I applied warm colours to create the atmosphere I wanted as the first step and then drew on top of it to complete the scene. First with orange yellow for the first layer, it then changes from blue to green and red to orange and so on. This is the uniqueness of watercolours. I later encountered a problem - the protagonist’s mother in the evening scene ended up totally blended into the background as her apron was yellow! Because I paint traditionally, I couldn't just change yellow to red. Fortunately, we could fix this digitally and it's one of the very few changes to the artwork made on the computer.

Finally, why dogs? 

I lived in a seaside town in England where dogs were probably more common than residents. Inspired by the town life, I wanted to create a series of dog illustrations. From there, I gradually fell in love with them. I kept myself busy creating artworks everyday and by the end of that month, I had over 30 artworks - and so a dog town has been created!

We are delighted to welcome our newest artist to the Pickled ink portfolio, Yuzhen Cai!

We were immediately drawn to Yuzhen's bold, colourful illustrations. With a striking limited palette and miminal detail, Yuzhen is able to capture a whole range of emotion in her characters, from the humorous to the endearing.

Trained in academic drawing and painting before moving to London, Yuzhen is a graduate from the BA Illustration course at Camberwell College of Arts, where she received a first class honours degree. She is also about to embark on an exciting research Masters at the distinguished Royal College of Art, with the intention of informing her own storytelling and illustration work. 

For queries regarding Yuzhen's work or her availability please contact Amy Kitcherside at amy@pickledink.com.

Mighty Min is about a miniature girl who goes on a big adventure and finds out how brave she is. I knew I wanted Min to have a strong visual personality.
 
Originally the book was going to be called Small & Mighty and Min looked a lot different –  more Pippi Longstocking with crazy, curly hair. But slowly through very rough sketches she evolved….

Character drawing isn’t my strong point so Min was looking a bit long and awkward to begin with. And because she spends a lot of the book running and being active I had to try and draw her in lots of different mighty poses.
 
Her hair evolved with her movements and it helped having those pigtails to emphasise her movements.

Finally I got to a point where Min was exactly how I envisaged her. And drawing her in different scenarios and putting her into context really helped to get her looking right. I’d recommend to anyone developing a character, to put them into their environment, it will help to bring out their personality.

Developing the compositions for my books is one of my favourite parts. I just love the interplay between text and image and how I can think of new, fun and inventive ways of designing the imagery in and around the text.
 
Two classic ways I do this are, NUMBER 1- Designing the imagery AROUND the text, like in this image.

Only one of these images was used for the book but both were explorations to see how the imagery could encircle and intertwine around the text of the book.
 
And NUMBER 2, is designing the imagery to hold the text with in it. This often works well when it’s within the negative space of an object, animal or thing. For these two spreads (both featured in the book) I designed the owl and cat to hold the text within the shape of their bodies. I love it when this technique of text and image intermingling works well.

Below is an early storyboard for the book, lots of pages changed between this and the final. But you can see how I really design the imagery with total consideration to the text and how the compositions compliment and incorporate the placement of the text.

The fluidity of shapes really helps to do this, and having so much foliage in this book made the job a lot easier.
 
I LOVE a negative space, you can never get enough of them :)

The final colours for the book were vibrant peach, yellow, teal, purple and a black. I feel that the added purple and the peach instead of hot pink gave a warmer feel to the images.
 
So the next stage was to pick the exact Pantones for the book as my book was going to be printed in spot colour instead of CMYK.

This means that instead of each page being printed from a full colour CMYK file, each page would be printed from 5 black layers (which I’ve drawn) and each black layer is one of the 5 pantone colours. For examplee below...

...this is the black art work in 5 layers and then the FINAL spot colour printed image. Spot colour allows the colours to be more vibrant when printed on paper and more control of how each colour will look, because it will be a Pantone colour you chose.
 

Mighty Min by Melissa Castrillón is available in all good bookshops, published by Alison Green Book HB £12.99, PB £6.99

Congratulations to Elli Woollard & illustrator Briony May Smith for their stunning new book Little Bear's Spring which hit the shelves last week.

It has also been selected as Indie Book of the Month for March by the Booksellers Association, which is a fantastic nod to their first collaboration! 
​
Little Bear's Spring is a lyrical tale of friendship and a celebration of nature and its changing seasons.  The story follows a young bear as he wakes from his long winter sleep and, finding himself alone, he goes off in search of someone to play with. Briony's artwork brings a sun-dappled springtime landscape to life with breathtaking beauty!  She has kindly given us a peek into her artwork process in this Q&A below.

​Can you talk us through your process for creating the illustrations for the book?  
First I started creating the Little Bear character. What could be more fun than googling baby bear photos and videos! I also had a little play with some concept artworks, to practise the lighting on the snow. Then I got stuck into roughing out the pages, introducing the other animals and researching the flora and fauna of the rockies, where it is loosely set. I like to make sure the flowers and animals are as accurate to the landscape as I can make them. Once the roughs were approved I started to work on the final artwork. I had so many photos archived of Canadian wild flowers and red cardinal birds. I also had some fun elongating the story with the endpapers, which show the vast difference between winter and spring at the beginning and end of the story.

Do you have a favourite spread or piece of artwork?
Without giving the story away, there is a spread of wildflowers that I really enjoyed working on, but I think my favourite is the spread where the hares are racing around a tree. There is a chipmunk hiding in the branches and a female red cardinal bird with her nest. ​

​Much of the story takes place in snow, were there challenges to illustrating predominantly white scenes and if so, how did you overcome them?
I found the challenge of creating snowy landscapes really enjoyable. Snow can absorb the colours of sunrise and sunset, and sunny shadows, in lots of really interesting ways. We had a lot of snow as I was starting work on the book, which was the perfect opportunity to take reference photos. Low sun and long shadows, snow drifts, flowers poking though the snow, so I had lots to draw on. I think the transitional spreads were the most challenging - you can’t champion one season over the other just yet, you have to show a bit of both. Some of my favourite spreads to work on are the snowiest, where I was able to play with the sunlight and shadows affecting it’s colours.

Little Bear’s Spring has been selected as INDIE picture book of the month by the Bookseller's Association - congratulations!  Can you give us a heads-up of any events surrounding the book’s launch that you will be involved in?
I am so excited and delighted that Little Bear’s Spring was selected! I am window painting in some fantastic independent bookshops near me. ‘Winstone’s’ in Sidmouth on Saturday 2nd March, and ‘The Bookshop’ in Bridport on Saturday 9th March. If you are in the area please come by and say hello, and I can sign your book if you’d like me to. Look out for Little Bear on the windows of those shops as you walk past! I will be posting pictures of the finished windows on my social media. ​

Little Bear's Spring, written by Elli Woollard and illustrated by Briony May Smith, designed by Lorna Scobie, is published by Macmillan Children's Books, £11.99 (HB) / £6.99 (PB).

​​We're delighted to be representing Rachael Dean at Pickled ink.  Her portfolio is characterised by bold and captivating images that reflect her passion for travel and the great outdoors.  

We caught up with Rachael to find out about her illustrating process, who inspires her, and how she manages to juggle deadlines whilst keeping her 30,000 followers on social media entertained.

Welcome to Pickled ink, Rachael, it’s a pleasure to be representing you. You graduated in 2017 with a first class illustration degree from Liverpool’s John Moore University, and have a spectacular portfolio. Can you tell us about your process, from initial inspiration to creating the finished artwork? 
I love to travel and venture into the outdoors whenever I can, so I always document the places I go by taking photographs, which I often refer to when looking for inspiration. I also have a collection of picture books for references, and Pinterest is great for colour palette combination ideas. Once I have new ideas in mind, I’ll sketch out several roughs before drawing the final composition, and then I’ll paint the piece and digitally edit afterwards.​

​Do you have a favourite part of the process, or an area that you find the most challenging?  
I think the painting process is probably my favourite stage, because although I always have an idea in mind about how the piece will look, I usually end up pleasantly surprising myself with a slightly different outcome. The area I find most challenging can be the process of inventing original ideas at the beginning of the project, because it isn’t always easy to think up new concepts!

​Can you describe a typical working day?
Always coffee first! Then sometimes I’ll try and fit in a half hour run in the morning, or afternoon so I’m more focused throughout the day. I’ll usually check emails before working on anything practical, and then I’ll either focus on projects or web shop errands throughout the day with regular breaks. I always work into the evening, but I enjoy working long hours!

​Are there any illustrators that have particularly influenced you and your work?  And equally any authors that you admire and would love to collaborate with?
I find the work of Rebecca Green, Adelina Lirius, Júlia Sardà and Carson Ellis incredibly inspiring. Their characters are memorable and original, and I love their use of colour and imaginative concepts. In terms of authors, I admire Kyo Maclear, who wrote ‘The Liszts’, because I find her ideas really quirky and different. I’d also love to recreate illustrations for old stories, for example, Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.

You have a large following on social media and regularly update your feeds, do you find it hard to juggle being active on social media with your commissions and deadlines?  Do you have any tips for illustrators looking to engage more on social media?
Yes, I have sometimes found it difficult when working on behind the scene projects and I am unable to post new work, because there can be a pressure to keep your feed constantly updated. However, I try to showcase old work in new ways whenever this is the case. I think it helps to put yourself into your page every so often too, so your followers can meet the creator behind the work. But overall, I think that consistency with marketing, style and content is key to engaging your audience.

​We’ve had a lot of interest in your work already, what would your dream commission be?
There are so many projects I would love to work on! But I think to be able to eventually work on any book project that portrays a profound message or something a little ‘quirky’ and different would be fantastic (something memorable that stands out). I would also love to work towards writing and illustrating my own book one day too!

When Laurie Stansfield submitted her portfolio to Pickled ink, we were struck by her vibrant illustrations, which felt playful, fresh and confident - perfect for young readers.   After meeting her soon after, we realised that not only would her illustrations be a huge asset to our portfolio, but that we’d get along very well too, so we’re incredibly excited to be representing Laurie at Pickled ink.
 
Laurie studied illustration at The University of the West of England, graduating in 2010. She was shortlisted for the Macmillan prize that same year and has been honing her illustrations for the children’s book market since.  
Sketching in pencil before creating her colour art entirely digitally, Laurie uses a loose line, and plenty of texture in an effort to recreate the traditional hand-made aesthetic which she admires so much in others.  

​Her first book commission, POEMS OUT LOUD! will be publishing with Ladybird later this year, and with plenty of exciting projects in the pipeline we’ll be sure to have more announcements from her soon.
 
For enquiries about Laurie’s work please contact Charlie Bowden – charlie@pickledink.com

Illustrating a Google Doodle is quite a daunting task, we’d love to know how you approached the brief?
I was given a bit of information about Cicely Mary Saunders, some recent examples of Google Doodles created to celebrate similarly brilliant women, and the dimensions for the artwork. After that it was a very open brief, which was very exciting to explore lots of ideas! Throughout the project the feedback and advice was fantastic and really helped the artwork’s direction. Because of the subject matter, the nature of the work Saunders dedicated her life to, I felt it was important to do as much research as possible. This led me to discover the wide variety of symbolism that could be incorporated into the brief, as well as the overall mantra that Saunders lived and worked by.

Was there one strong vision from beginning to end, or did the roughs go through some revises?
The first roughs were quite far removed from the final artwork. I was focusing heavily on symbolism, but I think it’s a subject that can’t so quickly be interpreted when it’s stripped back. Once I started thinking about it more literally, which was suggested by the amazing Google Doodle team, it was a stronger concept. 

You were asked to depict Dame Cicely Saunders, founder and pioneer of The Hospice Movement.  Much of her time was spent working in hospitals.  How did you paint a hopeful positive picture of her in a setting that people often think of negatively?
I think having researched so much about Saunders' work meant that two quotes stuck out in my mind. Saunders said: ‘You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.’ Which seems like such a hopeful, positive approach to a very sad time for many people. The idea of enjoying all the time you have left made me think of having surroundings that everyone would enjoy. Soft colours, quilted bed spreads, paintings on the walls, a happy outlook from a window, flowers, keepsakes from your own home -photos of loved ones. Another quote was from ‘All in the End is Harvest: An Anthology for Those Who Grieve,’ a book edited by Agnes Whitaker. Saunders is known for her praise of this book, and the poem ‘All in the end is Harvest’ so very eloquently implies that a person’s life doesn’t finish when they pass away, they live on in their loved ones, it brings hope. This made me want to include a view of a field of corn, a happy view for the patient, and a symbol of the circle of life. I did play with the idea of a bird’s nest, the egg and the nest and the circle shape and what they represent, but the field was a stronger nod to Saunders. Saunders also felt the environment of the Hospice should be homely and comforting, so the setting was easy to imagine.

All Google Doodles must incorporate the company name.  Was it easy to integrate it into your illustration? Do you have any fun designs that you can share?
It was a little tricky! But I loved the challenge and I loved experimenting with such an iconic design! I wrote the text separately, drew it with tree branches, picture frames and hidden in the wallpaper, but I think having it below the image separately allowed the text and image the space they needed to be considered by the viewer.

Did you have a favourite design that wasn’t selected?  
​I did enjoy the picture frames sketch (above), but again this wasn’t so clear as a concept to summarise Saunder’s work, although I did find that one fun to sketch! In a way I wonder if that’s more sad as an idea, a person’s life summed up in a few frames, than the image that was the final artwork. It also meant Saunders could be included in the image, representing the care behind the Hospice.

You have a big following on Social Media, I’m sure everyone would love to hear what’s coming next from Briony May Smith?
I have some really exciting books publishing next year, including LITTLE BEAR’S SPRING written by Elli Woollard, publishing with Macmillan Children’s Books, & TOOTH FAIRY IN TRAINING written by Michelle Robinson, publishing with Walker Books (cover reveals below!).  I'm particularly proud of both of these books.

I have also recently signed a 2-book deal with US publishers, Schwartz & Wade, and cannot wait to start working on my own author-illustrated picture books with them.