![]() Hello guys! It’s been long since I wrote a post here. To welcome Spring, my first fully illustrated picture book is releasing and I’m sharing the illustration process with you to celebrate! Caesar & Reagan, by Kate Nilson and Lawley Publishing arrives on March 21 and tells the adventures of a dog who loves his owner: Caesar & Reagan by Kate Nilson Today we’ll be looking at inspirations, character studies, storyboards and more, so let’s dive in! Research & InspirationThe publisher sent me the manuscript and temporary pagination, which allowed me to understand which scenes should be illustrated. We had a first meeting before the start of the project where Kate explained her vision: a dog (Caesar) who loves his owner (Reagan), a wholesome and warm story, with a bit of humour but also emotion. The characters should be expressive, especially Caesar. And the story is set in a small but modern town with colourful storefronts. With this in mind, I collected a bunch of ideas on a Pinterest board (which you can find here!) so I could have a better idea of which colours I wanted to use and character designs. Character StudiesI always design the characters before sketching the storyboard. Reagan and Caesar are based off Kate’s nephew and her dog, so I wanted to capture their vibes. Reagan is a young and energetic girl, so I wanted to go for lot of pinks, earth tones and pastel colours for her design. Caesar is a little dog who loves to play with Reagan. He’s expressive and I decided to make him white just like Kate’s nephew’s dog. StoryboardAfter getting the characters approved, I began sketching the spreads. While sketching the storyboards we noticed there was something missing. I based Caesar on Kate’s nephew’s dog, but in our story Caesar was meant to get covered in white flour. This was a problem since his fur his also white and some dialogues were based on that scene. Below you’ll see some examples of this. So we opted to make Caesar’s fur a brown colour. However, after seeing the whole storyboard put together, Kate noticed how much she loved the white Caesar, so we adjusted a few scenes and changed the flour to cocoa powder and got our white Caesar back! With the storyboard and colour palette approved, I moved on to the final illustrations. FinalsI went with digital illustration this time to challenge myself and because I’d be able to make minor changes a lot easier if needed. I also made a couple of smaller illustrations for end papers and title pages, in case the publisher wanted to add those extra details. The book turned out super nice and the hard cover makes it just perfect for children! You can find the book on the publisher’s website, but also on most online book shops! A huge thanks to Kate, Carrie and Lara for the honour of bringing this story to life! I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of the behind the scenes of illustrating Caesar & Reagan and let's embrace the first days of Spring! Stay brilliant! Inês
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HEY LOVES! Summer break is coming to an end and I'm slowly shifting back into working mode. I definitely wouldn't mind a longer break, but duty calls and the next months will be exciting with Autumn and Winter projects! Hope you all had a relaxing Summer break too! And we're starting September with a celebration! O Caracol Espanhol e o Galo Badalo (something like The Spanish Snail and the Singing Rooster for my international friends) was published this July! It was my first illustrated book and I had the pleasure to draw 10 illustrations for Alfarroba. O Caracol Espanhol e o Galo Badalo by Carlos Nabais and Isilda Monteiro And as I've been promising all of you for months, I'm finally sharing the illustration process. We'll be looking at the inspirations, character studies, storyboards and finals. So sit tight, get your tea and let's start! Research & InspirationAt the begining of most projects, I start with research. The publisher sent the manuscript and I had the freedom to choose which scenes I wanted to illustrate. I picked 10 iconic scenes that would also ensure the story would be evenly divided. This story really matched my own aesthetic favourites. It is set in a small village and has a really cosy vibe to it, so I wanted the colours to include mostly warm greens and browns. I made a Pinterest board (find it here!) but also went through my own collection of vintage children's books. CHARACTER STUDIESBefore starting to plan the storyboard I wanted to have a clear idea on how the characters would look. I scribbled some concept sketches for the main characters, the Snail, Mouse, Sparrow and Rooster as I knew I had the freedom to work on the other characters later on. Timorato was based on a field mouse since it made sense he would be found in the countryside. Even though the story is for older children, I wanted the characters to be expressive so I made sketches of them with different facial expressions and specific poses, like flying, dancing or, in the case of the Sparrow, having a bath and splashing water in every direction. The Rooster needed to have really colourful feathers since he's so proud and full of himself! The Snail is quiet and friendly, so I was going for a common snail. Since he's a traveler, the publisher suggested I added some stickers to his shell and that made him more unique. StoryboardStoryboards and the first studies are probably what takes me longer to complete. I like to have the illustrations planned before I jump to finals. This way there's a lower probability I'll have to redo a whole illustration and it also makes it easier for the client to request changes. I always keep at home old paper sheets which I like to use for first sketches. This way I'm not afraid to mess up at this stage and I can doodle more freely. This is also why I never sketch digitally, it makes me so fixated on small details that it simply doesn't work for me. At this stage I was also really curious and excited to see how the scenes would look painted with gouache, so I couldn't resist and made a quick scribble of the first illustration, where the Snail meets the Mouse for the first time. I cleaned the sketches a bit, added some shading on the darker areas and scanned all the sheets. As I mentioned, I wanted the colours for this story to be warm and include lots of greens and browns. But I also wanted them to be a bit muted to give them a bit of a vintage touch. So I picked some soft greens and warm browns, grabbed my digital brush and began adding colour to the pages. I then added some strong reds, yellows and oranges to add more contrast. There was this illustration where the Mouse, Sparrown and chickens watch the Rooster from the top of a tower and I was having trouble making everything fit in the same illustration. If I included the tower, the characters inside would be too small to be seen, if I showed the inside of the tower, the Rooster would be too small instead. So the publisher suggested I painted the Rooster running away and then included the other animals in a vignette at the left and it worked wonders! With the storyboard and colour studies approved, everything was ready to move to finals! FINALSI decided I wanted to use gouache for this book, since it would give it that wholesome traditional vibe, which I believed would match the story perfectly. I did a little cheat on the double page illustrations: my scanner only scans up to A4 sheets, so I taped two sheets together at the back and painted as usual. I think in one or two you can kind of notice a bit, but since that would be in the middle of the book you can't really see it in the final product. And since some pages would consist of text only, I edited a couple of small illustrations and made their backgrounds transparent, so the publisher could use them to decorate those pages. And the book turned out super nice! I love how they printed it on a soft matte paper, so it matches the traditional illustrations so well! And the hard cover makes it just perfect for children. If you'd like to order the book, you can find it on the publisher's website here! For my Portuguese readers, you can also find it online on most national bookshops (Bertrand, Wook, Almedina, Fnac...etc)! Huge thanks to Andreia Salgueiro and the team at Alfarroba. It was an honor to bring this book to life. This was a long post but if you're still here, thank you! I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of the behind the scenes of bringing a book to life, I always love to see those myself and it usually helps me a lot, so I wanted to share my process as well.
Enjoy the last days of Summer and let's embrace the soft breeze and the first leaves announcing the next season! Love, Inês Hey friends!! Today I bring you a bit of a different subject, but since sunny and warm days are on the way, I really wanted to talk about those of us who, as crazy as it might sound, get moody when the sun shines brighter and the days get longer. So, for all my Autumn/Winter-fans, sit cosy and I hope you feel less alone after reading this post! For most people, sunny and hot days mean energy and excitement. However, not everyone is that thrilled for the warmth of Spring/Summer and can feel overwhelmed with everyone else's energy. For me this usually happens around May and makes me feel like there's something wrong with me. One of the things I notice that affects me the most is the sudden weather changes. After spending months wrapped up in my favourite blanket, watching an episode of some cosy tv show or reading a book, it makes me a bit sad that I won't be able to do that during warmer nights. Also, being oustide for many hours on warm and very bright days makes me super tired and gives me strong headaches, which is so annoying since I love to travel! Even more, I can't really explain, but that particular hour when the sun is setting makes me quite melancholic. It feels like something nice has just ended, specially after a good day out. It's that feeling that something is over that leaves me down a bit on those evenings. Thankfully, once the night comes out, I cheer up a bit again. As I was struggling with understanding what I dislike about warm days, I've actually put together a short list:
So, basically, some of my favourite things, like exploring places by foot, reading, working on art projects and cooking, become very hard to do in Summer. Last year I was chatting with my partner about this and he was talking about how much he likes Summer afternoons. Looking forward to the night and having dinner is something that gets him all excited about warmer days. So, after venting my distaste for warm days, my head is finally clear enough to think properly of things that I actually enjoy about Summer to make it at least a bit more bearable. I guess I don't need to remind you to drink more water during hot days, but for me things usually get better after drinking a glass of it, so it's worth giving it a try.
But, I've came up with a list of activities that I enjoy to do ONLY during Spring/Summer. Instead of trying to do Winter activities and failing, I'm thinking of things that are nice to look forward to do on Spring/Summer days and nights. During the day:
At night:
This is just my personal list of Spring/Summer activities that I enjoy and I'd love to hear what your list would be! I've noticed that the trick for me was to really avoid doing Autumn/Winter activities and getting frustrated because I've failed. And even better, this year I'm actually looking forward to the upcoming seasons, to switch my art to lots of Springtime colours, strawberries, seashells and fairies, and to decorate my workspace with a matching theme. So I really hope all of you Autumn/Winter-fans can find something that makes you a bit less sad about leaving your favourite knitted sweaters and cosy blankets in the shelf. Until next time, stay brilliant! Inês D. Hi Friends!! Happy New Year! How are you? I still can’t believe it’s already the first day of 2022! 2021 has been a year filled with adventures and challenges! I started freelancing in 2020 during the pandemic, but the last year was officially my first year as a full-time artist. Ditching the security of a day job during the pandemic, for something so uncertain was such a scary step. Coming from a non-business background, learning so many things from scratch, like taxes and legal stuff, was honestly hard and scary at times, since I really had no idea what I was doing.
But I’ve been working hard and I’m finally starting to figure out some of the important things, like turning in taxes, the materials and supplies for my products and how to price my art. When I was wrapping up 2021 on my journal a few days ago and wrote down all the goals I’ve accomplished, I was actually surprised when I noticed how productive I was and how much I’ve created. I didn't realize how much I was working throughout the year, no wonder I was needing a serious break in December ahaha! Looking at accomplished goals is nice, but the most important was all the things that I’ve learned and want to keep in mind for 2022:
I also have a lot of projects and goals that I want to start in 2022, but I'll keep those a secret for now, just because I know I'll procrastinate if I just share them with the world! But for now I can say I want to share more art tips and let you have a closer look at my work and characters, and there'll be a surprise in May! I want to start 2022 by thank YOU, because my art adventures wouldn't be possible without your amazing support! I'm thrilled for a fresh start and to meet you all again! Wishing you the best and a toast to a Happy New Year! Stay cosy, Inês Hi guys! What are you up to? I’ve been letting myself be lazy over the last weeks because since the first days of September I’ve been working super hard to launch the two shop updates, in October and early November, so I think I deserve to chill out now ★ I’m not the queen of consistency when it comes to social media, and I know I’ve been a bit silent on the internet over the last weeks, mostly because I wanted to take a break, but also because I’m taking the chance to work on client projects, this blog and portfolio, and my CV/résumé. And I want to remind you that it’s okay to be away from social media from time to time, it’s healthy and won’t hurt your engagement as much as the “gurus” make you think, at least from my experience. I’ve noticed if you stick to your “posting ethics”, you’ll grow an audience that likes you for who you are and will still be there once you get back to posting new content again. Obviously it’s better if you share something with your audience every week, but it’s also okay if you need to step back for a while, and it will be only a matter of time until you catch up with your usual engagement again. So now that I’ve made it clear I don’t want any of you feeling stressed to post new content every single day, I’d like to take you with me as I plan my content for the next weeks, and hopefully it will be helpful to some of you! LET'S START!! CONTENT CALENDAR I don’t use any automatic scheduling apps for my posts. The way I see it is: I only want to share something with my audience when I’m actually available to reply to any messages and comments they might leave. So I see no point in scheduling a post to go live when I’m having lunch with my boyfriend or family, commuting, traveling or anytime I won’t be able to reply to people. This is especially relevant when social media algorithms pay attention to how a post is doing the first hours it goes live. So if you’re not able to engage with your audience once you post something, I seriously recommend you save it for some other time. This doesn’t mean I can’t use a calendar to know when to share stuff. If there’s any special date on the way (a holiday, shop update or other events) I want to make sure I’ll be posting something meaningful on that day. You can use the best calendar/planner that suits your needs. For me, in the last months I’ve been drawing a very basic timeline on my journal, but I will probably switch to a calendar, since my journal is a bit small and an A4 calendar will give me more space to write. After writing the days of that month, the next thing I do is take note of the most important dates and write down what I’d like to share on those days. If I already have an idea of the things I want to share on other specific days, I go ahead and write those as well. If I still don’t know what or when to share more stuff, I’ll jump to the next step. ORGANIZING IDEAS I like to organize my content ideas in folders in my laptop. I’m including here a diagram on how I arrange the folders according to each social media platform I’ll be posting. I don't plan my Tumblr and Twitter posts that much. In these folders I mostly copy stuff from the Instagram "feed posts" folder, to make sure they fit each platform's format Now I begin by filling my feed posts folders with pretty things! If I already have some illustrations and photos that I want to share I copy them to this folder. Once I have the first post ideas, it’s time to think of what other things I’d like to share this month. For this, I like to save ideas from the internet, which can be photos, illustrations or screenshots of anything whose concept I’d like to include in my future posts. For example, I can save a photo of a lady with some pretty dress, to remind me I’d like to make an illustration of some character with an outfit of a similar vibe. And pleeease don’t understand this as me telling you to copy other people’s content! It’ so much better to grow a community of people that likes the way YOU do things, so the idea here is to use these pictures as reminders of fun concepts you’d like to include in your own content. Using an illustration of a lady in a Victorian dress to remind you to draw one of your characters in a fancy dress is different of drawing your character in the same pose and with the same Victorian dress. PLANNING POSTS, IMAGES AND CAPTIONS Now that I’ve filled my folder, it’s time to look back at the calendar and check when I want to share each of post. I then write them down on the corresponding days, making sure to leave some space between each post, not to overwhelm my lovely audience and also to ensure I have enough time to prepare good quality content. It’s nice to be tolerant in case I need to delay some posts to give space to others, or if something comes up and I won’t be able to post that day. For example, I was fortunate to collaborate with brands on Instagram who asked me to feature them on my page. So I need to ensure my calendar is flexible enough to change some of my own planned posts with a sponsored post that comes a bit unexpected. Now that I have a timeline for my posts, I go back to my folder and rename the photos so they’re in the right order. I like to name them with numbers like “01, 02” or “01a, 01b” for posts with multiple pictures. You can name them with the exact date, but I peronally do it this way. After that I just need to write the captions in a text document to have everything ready at the time of posting (and because I haaaaate to write on touch screens ;D). I usually write the captions for the first 3 ~ 4 posts, depending on their length, because I’m a lazy potato and also because I like to take some time to think about what I want to write. And that’s it! Now I just need to make content for the new posts and share them with you! I usually like to post around the same time every time, so I set an alarm a few hours before to remind me ;) I also like to plan one or two ideas for stories, but I like to keep them as casual as possible, so I only use a calendar for them before shop updates or big announcements. Q&A TIME!! I asked around on my Instagram if you wanted to know how I handle my content or if you needed some friendly advice, so let’s answer all you questions! Do you ever feel unmotivated or uninspired to post consistently? If so, how do you deal with it? I had so many of you asking about this! And I totally feel you! There are times when I have no idea of what to share, am too busy or I’m just feeling tired and unmotivated to create new things. I try to keep my Instagram page a bit more curated and consistent now than a few years ago, so when I don’t feel like posting I simply don’t. During these times I share more casual stuff or personal projects once in a while in my Stories, Twitter or Tumblr, since I like to keep these places less planned and more open to random posting! But that’s only if I feel like! I really don’t like the idea of posting just for the sake of an algorithm and flooding you with meaningless content. And when I step back from social media for a while, I like to compile a bunch of ideas for future posts when I come back. Oh! And this is easier said than done, but when you’re feeling unmotivated and decide to roam around social media in search of inspiration, pleeease try not to compare to other people that are posting consistently at that time. We all have these less interesting moments! Most of us that make a living of our art and share it on social media, keep a backlog of content and plan stuff in advance, so it’s only normal to perceive us as being super productive when in fact we’re all tired potatoes every now and then! So if you need, look at your surroundings for ideas, read books, looks at objects, go out, and don’t just rely only on social media for inspiration ♥ Do you make posts in advance or do you create them on the moment of posting? And how often did you post when you first started vs now? Oh boy you made me check my old content from years ago *hides away in embarrassment*! When I started on Instagram maaany years ago, it was as a personal account, so I really paid no attention to what and when I was posting. I would post a random photo one day or a sketch a couple weeks later, so that was super inconsistent, but it’s perfectly fine if you’re keeping it as a personal account for friends. I started to take my account more seriously in late 2019 and if you check my posts from April and May of 2020 you can see I was posting almost Every.Single.Day! And I was actually creating the content on the same day, because I was a masochist and felt it was kind of cheating to have things planned! That was so tiresome and I remember I was making a drawing almost every day to post it in the afternoon, or drawing at night after working a 9-6 job to post it right away. Even though I love every single drawing I made, Instagram was starting to feel like a burden and I felt like I ruined the fun of it. That was mostly because I didn’t plan anything and I was making all the posts on the go! But then I read somewhere that you can look at your Instagram as a magazine and your posts as the articles, so it finally made so much sense to have some content planned in advance, to make sure I was sharing quality stuff with everyone. Now, on a nicely planned month without any shop updates or big announcements, I’ll be posting on average every 3~4 days. But this might change in case I was super inspired one day and made lots of small illustrations, which I’ll post more regularly. And since I’m not posting every day like crazy and keep a backlog of content, Instagram got a lot more fun again and I don’t feel as tired anymore! Before shop updates I usually try to post every 1~2 days, to share illustrations and product previews to get you all excited! ;) The only things I still make on the same day are stories, a few Twitter and Tumblr posts, since I want to keep these more casual. Just a reminder that I don’t schedule automatic posts. It’s perfectly fine if it works for you, but I personally like to post only when I can be active. What’s your criteria when taking and then selecting your product photos for IG? For complex and big illustrations I always prefer to scan them instead of taking photos. For product photos I try to use natural light, so I always take them close to a window, and use a sheet of paper or something white as a reflector to make shadows a bit softer. I also like to keep the background quite simple to make the product or drawing stand out, so I use one or two decorations but nothing too busy. Which are the posts that get more interaction? And does audience reaction shape your art much or do you purely stick to what you like to create? Social media can be super random with this, so I don’t worry a lot if a post doesn’t get as much engagement as I’d like. But I’ve noticed pigeons in cute clothes, seasonal themes, and things people somehow can relate to, usually get more attention, receive more feedback and get shared around more often. When sharing products and shop updates, I’m always super scared of sounding too salesy or not beaning as meaningful as with my regular posts, so I hope I’m doing it decently ahaha! Oh! And sponsored posts and collaborations sometimes don't get as much engagement as we'd like, so it’s important to pick those that are as meaningful as possible for your audience. I’ve had a few brands proposing collaborations that I kindly turned down simply because they didn’t align with my audience. So it’s always good to think well before accepting an offer that might come out as spam to the people that follow you. If likes and comments define what I create? I must say that I’m basically doing what I actually love and I’m such a lucky potato that people like my art too! I’m the biggest supporter that if do what you love and post what really makes you happy, you’ll find an audience that also supports you for who you are. Trends are easy to join and your page might blow overnight. But what happens when you post something a bit different? Is there a big part of your active audience that still interacts with your posts? Or is everyone just expecting you to post a certain type of content? As a creative this is super important, because our art changes over time, so it’s better when our community values us as a person and not just our work and products. This was a suuuper long post, but I hope it helps some of you! Until next time, stay brilliant! Inês D. |
Latest PostsCAESAR & REAGAN: PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATION PROCESS Mar 20, 2023 O CARACOL ESPANHOL E O GALO BADALO: BOOK ILLUSTRATION PROCESS Aug 31, 2022 SPRINGTIME BLUES Mar 12, 2022 ARCHIVE
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