Swim

Friday was sunny and warm. I think that was it- the Scottish summer over and done with already! On the rare occasions that the weather is good all I can ever think of is being near water. I grew up just outside Plymouth, in South Devon, in close proximity to myriad rivers and beaches; perfect for summery afternoons. I miss dibbling my toes, wading through ankle high waves, avoiding seaweed, getting the guts to put my shoulders under the cold, clear water. Hopefully, at some point this summer, the sun will come back and we'll find somewhere to mess about by the river. In the meantime I'll have to make do with drawings.

The Shipping News (continued)

 

I've recently complete a short project based on the novel 'The Shipping News'. You can see the full set of illustrations on my website. Below are some progress images of the set's most bleakly epic image! 

You can also read a post about my current inspiration on the new Easting Blog.

15% OFF!

Until tuesday you can get 15% off all the stuff in my etsy store with the discount code 'DiscountAhoy'! Which is pretty good I reckon.

Right now....

I'm currently juggling far too many projects at once and, likely, failing at all of them! Asides from work on next years Little Otsu Planner (a sneak peak of which you can see here), creating new stuff for LOOP and for next month's Art Fusion in Glasgow and helping Jez wrap up the next Sing Statistics publication (phew) I'm also trying to do a few illustrations based on Annie Proulx's The Shipping News. Above is a pretty grey and ominous view of Killick Claw, Newfoundland, where the book is set. I'll share more when I'm done.

900!

900! from Lizzy Stewart on Vimeo.


Well fancy that! Over 900 followers on blogger. As stated in my terrible video (terrible video number three...I'm making a habit of this. Sorry) I am both grateful and bewildered by the sheer number of you following this. So thank you. Seriously. You are all wonderful (probably...I mean I don't *strictly* know you...I'm just guessing). 

Loop Arts Fair 2011

Mr Jez Burrows and I are taking part in the Loop Arts Fair in Leeds this June. The event sees a healthy array of design and illustration types congregating in the fine city of Leeds for a weekend of open studios and talks and so forth. I will be doing a talk (gulp) at 3pm on Friday 17th as well as exhibiting over the weekend with Jez in a kind of working studio type set up. We'll also be bringing along a new Sing Statistics publication, which is pretty exciting and long overdue! If you're in Leeds, nay if you're in the North of England please please please come along and show your support for the event. Its rare that this kind of event takes place outside of London so if this is the kind of thing you're interested please come and help show that the North is as exciting creatively as the South!

Tickets are on sale now

(Major points go to Mr Jay Cover for putting this together.)

Annie Hall

At the start of the year I did a little contribution to Matt Pringle's Film One Zine which has just been released. The zine sees a number of illustrators (including awesome pals eleni kalorkoti and richard sanderson) draw something based on their favourite film accompanied by some words on why its their favourite. I went for Annie Hall as my all time favourite (though it had stiff competition from Together, Grey Gardens, The Shop Around The Corner, and Manhatten to name a few).

  Anyway for thems thats interested...here is what I had to say about why Annie Hall is my favourite. Apologies for dodgy writing...have you ever tried to explain why you love something? So flipping hard....
 

"Explaining why I love Annie Hall seems to be a little difficult. Of Allen's other films 'Manhattan' is more beautiful to look at, 'Sweet and Lowdown' is lovelier and 'Play it again Sam' makes me laugh out loud more often and yet it is 'Annie Hall' that has quietly taken up residence in my heart and shows no intention of relocating.

   A large part of it is, of course, emotional; it's a film that found me at exactly a point in my life when I could fall in love with it wholly and completely; as a teen tentatively discovering life beyond the walls of a Devonshire secondary school. Annie and Alvy were so strangely recognizable to me (despite their presence in 1970s New York and mine in afore mentioned Devonshire school) probably because they are so incredibly well drawn by Allen. It didn’t matter that at seventeen my romantic entanglements were slightly less complicated and my only contact with neurotic Jewish comedians was limited to a close friend with Allen-esque aspirations, the relationships on screen felt real to me and when you’re seventeen that’s pretty important. As someone who was (and still is) prone to over-analysis I rejoiced in finding characters whose over-thinking eclipsed mine ten-fold. I laughed at references I couldn’t possibly understand at that stage and laughed again a year or two later when I finally understood them (I’m thinking of McLuhen in particular). My heart swelled with joy as Diane Keaton and Woody Allen chase live lobsters across a tiny kitchen with, what looks like, genuine laughter in their eyes and I cried at the end, caught up in the heartbreaking ordinary-ness of Annie & Alvy’s inevitable break-up. I was doomed from the start. I was always going to adore this film.

Years after my first viewing I have a fairly healthy handful of films that I would call my favourites but Annie Hall was the first film I ever loved (and I mean really loved rather than fancied the lead star of).  Nowadays I watch it for comfort, for the familiarity. I guess it feels like it’s in my bones, as first loves often are."

You lot! Favourite films? Go Go Go!

Bologna- Travel Sketchbook Zine

 

Like an earlier visit to London I kept a little sketchbook during my trip to Bologna. I've just finished scanning and tidying the whole thing and it is now available as a zine on etsy. The Italy zine is slightly smaller than the London one but has more drawings and fewer notes- so thats a relief! You've been spared further insight into my inner monologue! Anyway below are all the illustrations so if you don't want to buy the zine you still get to see what we got up to!

 (I also reprinted some London zines as I only did a few last time and I know a couple of you missed out.)

Drawing Sale

Clearout time once again! This time I'm selling off a handful of b&w pencil drawings including the original Lion drawing from 'the Lion's Laugh'. As per usual if you are interested in buying a drawing then send me an email ( lizzy (at) abouttoday.co.uk) and let me know where you are so that I can calculate postage. Oh and I can only accept payment via paypal I'm afraid.

 Otter- Pencil on mountboard- £15 + p&p

Redhead- Pencil on paper- SOLD

House-sitter - Pencil on paper- SOLD

 Walking Bear- Pencil on Paper- £12 + p&p

Lion- Pencil on paper- £20 + p&p 

Bologna & Florence

 So last week we ran off to Italy for a few days in the sun (a birthday present to Jez from me) and it was rather glorious. The weather was a dream (not impossibly hot for pale folk such as myself) and the food was, as it tends to be in italy, fantastic. We drank too much coffee, wandered about a lot and did our best to speak italian as often as possible (with varying results). Bologna was great and the perfect antidote to the bustling tourism of Florence. We particularly enjoyed the portico-ed streets, stumbling across the hidden canal and having a quiet sit down in the sun in the beautiful cloisters at Santa Croce (Florence). It all feels like a bit of a dream now that we're back in rainy Scotland.

  Massive thanks to the wonderful Giulia Sagramola for her top Bologna tips!

(check out Jez's photos on flickr- they're dead nice!)

(P.S there'll be a bologna sketchbook post and zine coming very soon. I just gotta get scannin')

Travels!

Jez and I are off to the Italian city of Bologna tomorrow night for a few days holiday! I'm dangerously excited and very much looking forward to some italian culinary treats and a bit of culture! Have you been? Any recommendations? Where should we go and what should we see? Most importantly where does the best coffee?

If you're in need of blog based joy in the meantime I heartily suggest you visit one of these.....

Miss Moss- My current favourite I think, Diana has a great eye for colour and detail. She makes a mean (downloadable) mixtape too! 

Evgenia Barinova- Evgenia is an incredibly talented illustrator and her blog is a lovely way to get to know her work!

Rose Blake- another illustrative crush, Rose's work is...well...its really flipping good.

Totes & Notes

 

I've added some Totebags and Notebooks to my etsy store. I like them, I hope you do too. 

Grassmarket Festival

Hey folks! A quick note to any Edinburgh-ers reading! I'm going to be manning a stall at this on Saturday. I'll be in a tent in the grassmarket (alongside my little sister) from 12pm to 8pm and I'll have prints and cards and some new stuff too. If you're around then come and say hello/pick up some illustrated goodies.

(Please note i'm only there on saturday not the full three days)

Neglected Bits and Bobs

Here's a quick round up of stuff that I've managed to fail to post about.....

Firstly! Last year I did the illustration for this bookcover. It was super fun to do (thanks to art direction Miriam Rosenbloom for that) and apparently, according to my Grandad, the book is nay bad! Full map illustration here.

Last month I did a poster for a special screening of Richard Ayoade's wonderful film Submarine. Thanks to the rather nice folk at LOCO for getting my drawing printed up all nice and for letting me tag along to the screening. Apparently there are still a few of these floating around and you can buy them directly from Loco by emailing them using the link on their site.

Finally here's a pretty wee easter egg for the holiday weekend! Hope you have a nice bank holiday folks (- spare a thought for the self-employed for whom bank holidays off are but dream!)

New Stuff!

 I've added a few new things to Etsy over the last week. Above are some postcards of nature boy and his lady friend and below some cards of the lion and a happy lady sat on a house! If you're in Edinburgh on Saturday the 30th April I'll be selling this stuff and more at a fair in the Grassmarket from 12pm, please come along and say hello if you're about!

 

Thanks so much to so many of you for responding to the post I did about illustration issues. I'm so glad that people felt they could identify. Fingers crossed that at least one or two of you are happier knowing that you're not the only one!

Process- Nature Girl

 

Today I thought I'd share another peak into how I put images together. I use photoshop for image making far more than I ever thought I would. I still prefer a totally handmade image but you can't argue with the the efficiency of working digitally, especially when you're on a tight schedule! 

This is a companion piece to the Nature Boy image I did for Toska (which i also coloured to make a print) that I put together last night for a group exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art. I started out with the pencil drawing you can see above. And then.....

This is pretty much my entire process in eight steps. After editing the image so that it was neat and tidy I coloured each section and then added the flower layer as separate line drawing. After that hid all the other layers except the flowers to focus on colouring them with no distraction. Once this was done I decided it was far too dense with the purple top behind it so I switched to a light spring-y colour with some floral textile pattern on top of it for added interest. Once I'd finished I realised I'd forgotten the birds (which also feature in Nature Boy so I felt I needed them so that they'd match) so had to hastily chuck those on top! And voila!

I'm no photoshop expert by any means. I mostly make it up as I go along and I'm sure there are far easier ways to do things! But I think its interesting to see how other people work (I really enjoy watching Jez use photoshop or illustrator...its really hypnotic and relaxing). It might kill the mystery of the image a bit but working out the jigsaw is pretty fun!

'Don't let blogs get you down!'

Today I've decided I'm going to break with my usual blogging formula and share with you some stuff i've been thinking about recently. Apologies for the length of this post. Feel free to skip this out!

Every now and again (more so around graduation time) I get emails from students asking for advice on being an illustrator, for tips on promoting and selling their work and that kind of thing. I don't mind getting these emails (I'm really flattered anyone would be interested in what I have to say) and I try always to reply (inevitably some slip through the net) and I make an effort to be honest and open with my answers. Nevertheless sometimes I can't help but feel a bit of a fraud when I send out enthusiastic 'illustration is wonderful' emails as a response. Don't get me wrong I sincerely love illustration as an art-form and I love drawing; if i didn't draw I'd certainly go mad, but the act of being an illustrator? Well thats not always so rosy if i'm honest and encouraging students to do it can sometimes feel a bit deceitful because, you know, it can be kind of tough.

 The problem when starting out, or so i've found, is the transition from working in a busy studio environment with classmates to chat with, bounce ideas off/watch youtube videos with to working alone (probably from home). Its not a particularly fun switch to make. Most of the time its not the conversation you miss but the sensation that someone else is in the room, getting on with their work just like you are. Its a kind of camaraderie I guess. So when you're working on your own you have to find new ways of keeping conversations going, of ensuring your not totally isolated. And so in shuffles the internet, and with it comes twitter, flickr, blogger, tumblr and all the others. A big friendly gang to help you through the solitude! And they do help. I enjoy getting friendly tweets from other illustrators, reading blog posts and looking at sketches and things on flickr. Its a decent enough approximation of a shared workspace…only…without the other people actually being there.

 The thing is, and here's where problems arise, its easy when reading blogs and twitter feeds or nosing through flickr accounts to felt totally bewildered by the output of others. I have had many occasions when I've been looking at the work of other artists and ended up feeling utterly wretched and incapable, as though what I do could never match up and thus why should I even bother? I think this is a common enough feeling (certainly from talking to other illustrators it seems to affect a lot of us) and its one that isn't usually conducive to positive thought. With blogs you only see the outcome, the flawless painting, or witty drawing and none of the stress that came before it. We tend not to share the struggle to come up with ideas, the frustration of those times when the pencil is just not our friend. I, for example, showed you pictures of the book (Mrs Dalloway) that I recently completed for the Folio Society but I neglected to mention the months and months of stress that went into it. The myriad drafts and re-drafts and the days when I'd cry (honestly) about not being up to the task, after which I'd find myself back in bed with Bronte and a bar of chocolate trying to forget I'd even tried. We don't share this stuff because its not fun to write about and its even less fun to read about. But as a result do we perhaps we paint an unrealistic picture of what its like to draw for a living? So when, as a reader, you try and draw something and it doesn't work out you measure yourself against the apparent success of others (rather than against your own goals) and decide that you can never match up (by the way i'm using 'you' to include me as well…i'm not talking specifically about YOU) despite the fact that you have no idea how many goes it took for them to get to that place! 

I don't know what the solution to this is. I'm not even going to pretend to know the formula for a healthy working attitude (if I did I'd let you know. Honestly). BUT I think in owning up to the fact that, sometimes, I place unrealistic expectations on myself to always create perfect finished pieces- that maybe some of you might feel a bit better about doing it yourself and I hope that doesn't sound patronising…like 'well if I do it then surely you do'. I just want to say..i do it too…its always good to know you're not the only one! 

And the winner is...

Winners! from Lizzy Stewart on Vimeo.

Thanks to all who entered. For those that don't have the patience another video the winners are Umbrella Head (1st) and Caitlin Shearer (2nd). If you two could email me at lizzy(at)abouttoday.co.uk with your address I'll send you your winnings!

For thems that wants it Toska is on sale here

 And you can get Living Things from Little Otsu!

In the last week I added new prints, cards and badges to my shop.

(check out all the truly horrible faces I pull with my eyes shut! a girl definitely doesnt need to see that!)

Giveaway!

Giveaway from Lizzy Stewart on Vimeo.

I'm doing a giveaway of both Living Things & Toska. Leave a comment & win (as the video says).

p.s things I have since realised about video blogging- the face you pull before filming is important so that you dont end up with a frozen crazy face on your blog which is what I have. You should brush your hair first. Also- plan, at least a bit, what you might say. Why did I not think of that?

Mrs Dalloway for the Folio Society

 

Last year I spent a fair few months illustrating Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway for the Folio Society. Ten illustrations neatly bound in a very nice hard-back book, printed on lovely paper, put together with typical Folio Society attention to detail! Its out next month but here's a sneak preview of some of it. 

 The whole process of illustrating the book proved to be a steep learning curve for me. Lots of drafting and re-drafting and research and late nights, a far cry from my normally quite relaxed approach to illustration. I'm not going to deny that it was an incredibly stressful process, one that frequently left me feeling a bit (for 'a bit' read 'utterly') useless but in the end I'm quite pleased with how things turned out. I feel like the way I work really evolved during the project and I definitely honed my photoshop skills along the way! There are plenty more images to show you but I think I'll share the full illustrations once the book has been officially released. 

(Today is the 70th anniversary of Virginia Woolf's death. If you haven't read any of her, frankly sort of revolutionary, novels maybe now is a good time to try one! I loved Orlando as a teenager despite being faintly baffled by it!)

Upcoming!

This week I'll be heading down to London town for Pick Me Up at Somerset House. Jez and Evening Tweed are exhibiting in one of the rooms again alongside other splendid folk like Nous Vous and Nobrow showing off what they do. As well as checking out what other people are up to I'm also taking part, albeit in a much smaller way. I'm going to be doing some drawing as part of It's Nice That's One for One project. Alongside four other artists (including my pal Richard Sanderson ) I'll be drawing on Thursday 17th (between 2.30pm and 9pm) and Saturday 19th (between 10am-2.30pm). If you come along you'll get to witness me frantically scribbling, stressing and screwing up paper first hand. Drawings made at the show will be for sale there and then! If you're in the area do come in a say hello. Friendly faces will be much appreciated.

As a result of my trip south (i'm heading home for a few days too) any shop orders placed between Wednesday 16th and Sunday 27th will not be shipped until the 28th!

Thank you!

 I just want to say a massive thank you for your response to my Toska book so far. Putting this book out felt like a fairly massive risk for me and its been really nice to get such a lovely reaction in the first couple of days. I'm really flattered and very grateful for your wonderful support. 

   The orders are being sent out and few of you have even got them already it seems! I'll be posting orders as quickly as I can so please bear with me! As well as my etsy store you can pick up a book at the ever magnificent Analogue Books here in Edinburgh, Comma in Oxford and (shortly) Here Gallery in Bristol. More stockists to be confirmed soon!

Thanks folks!

TOSKA

 

 At last! I finally get to share something I finished a while back. Toska is a b&w litho printed, staple bound, 20 page book filled with illustrations that I drew during January of this year (in two weeks in fact, in a flurry of inhuman activity). The concept for the book is based on a quote from Vladimir Nabokov on the uniquely Russian sensation of 'Toska' and whilst the book has no narrative I hope you can at least spot a kind of vaguely tangible theme.  This whole project is the biggest thing I've done on my own since my degree (and definitely the most expensive!) and involved me tricking myself into thinking I was confident enough in my work to spend a load of money printing five hundred copies of it! Eeek! This really has been a fairly huge leap o' faith for me.

Toska is now officially on sale for a rather reasonable £6.50 and the first fifty orders will recieve the postcard pictured above as well as their book. I really hope you like the images below (I won't show you them all as it'll spoil the surprise) and that maybe they might tempt you to invest in the book!

Been Listening

Yesterday I went to see one of my all-time, desert island top ten,  favourite bands The Decemberists play the Barrowlands in Glasgow. Having seen them a healthy handful of times (the first being in 2004 at a rather strange church hall/social club in Bristol) I knew what to expect and, of course, was not disappointed. Few bands know how to do all-consuming, heart-swelling joy like the Decemberists. This wee illustration (for Eastwing) is based on me remembering discovering them as a eager teenager desperately lapping up new music in her bedroom.

Anyway doing this got me to thinking about my music consumption (this might be a long post) From about aged 14 to 21 I was a rabid seeker of new music. I read magazines and blogs and visited record stores weekly, thoroughly raiding the racks for obscure treats. When I moved to Edinburgh from Plymouth (where decent live music was hard, nay impossible, to come by) I feverishly attended gigs both here and in Glasgow to ensure I made the most of my proximity to good live venues. Briefly I even co-ran a club night, dj-ed and organised gigs. I was obsessed (and, as any devoted indie fan usually is, I was probably a total music snob).
  In the last few years this has waned somewhat. I buy fewer albums and never really read music blogs anymore. The days of visiting Pitchfork on a twice-daily basis are long gone. In a way that's a relief. My poor computer is grateful of the hard-drive space and having my ipod on shuffle is less of a risky business now that I know that everything on there is from a carefully curated selection of favourites rather than my entire music collection. For the past couple years I've stuck to releases from tried and tested favourites (Grizzly Bear, the Mountain Goats, Radiohead, Why, the National, St Vincent for example) and made way for only a comparative few new finds (DM Stith, Ramona Falls, James Blake, The Unthanks, The Dodos and a few more). I suppose this is part of growing up; no longer needing to sum myself up with a music library, neglecting my mix cd making and generally feeling like its ok not to be on top of whats new/cool/going to be Pitchfork's album of the year. I'm ok with that really, I can't afford to buy records like I used to! But a part of me doesn't want to give up too soon. I still am still floored by good songwriting and I will never fail to swoon at good use of a brass section on record. I guess what this boils down to is what do you fine folk recommend? What albums have had you in raptures recently? What's gotten your toes tapping and your head bobbing? Only the best please. I need quality goods to lift me from my rut! GO GO GO!

Spring!

Spring has very nearly sprung here! Hurrah for blossom and daffodils and other springtime wonders!

CAKE!

Yesterday was my birthday (24) and my friend Verity made me this beauty of a cake. It was absolute torture to cut into! I feel like a monster ruining its lovely face! Tastes pretty super though so i've gotten over it!

Whilst I'm here I also want to let you know that you can currently get 10% off in my etsy store with the coupon code SPRINGCLEAN2011 just fill in the box at the checkout page.