Over on Instagram Artist and maker Johanna Hawker organises March Meet The Maker every March. It’s a great way for makers to reflect on their business and practices, and a great way for people to discover and get to know the makers. I’ve compiled my posts into a little blog, so grab a cuppa and…
Parenthood and making artwork.
Hello, I haven’t wrote on my blog for a while. I’m still beavering away at my children’s book portfolio and making Lino prints that I sell online and with stockists. But i wanted to share a little update; last year I had a beautiful baby girl! The last 5 months have been a whirlwind of…
Lino Printing ‘How To’ Guide
In 2022 I started teaching Lino Print classed to Adults. It has been such a joy holding these classes and introducing students to the magical realm of lino printing. Printmaking is a magical realm of play, curiosity and letting go, and I am passionate about sharing this wonderful technique. I originally created this guide for…
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Every year (pandemic permitting) a large Children’s Book Fair happens in Bologna, its a big event in the Children’s Book Publishing world, with Publishers and Illustrators coming together to collaborate from all over the world. This March I was very excited to have my unpublished dummy books that I created during my MA in Children’s…
MA Children’s Book Illustration Grad Show
I have recently finished my Master of Arts in Children’s Book Illustration. With the Graduation Show at Candid Arts Trust in London from the 15-19 February fast approaching, I wanted to give a little insight into my artistic process. Was Art a part of your childhood? I loved drawing from an early age, and before…
Character Development
For my Dissertation I researched how to translate observational drawing into character development for Children’s picture books. Above is my process, using the drawing techniques I had researched. I began to draw from video as my observation using dip pen and ink. I had researched Reportage Illustrator Jenny Soep (see previous post) who uses wash…
People Drawings
Here are some more drawings from my sketchbook. They are drawn from video using a mixture of brush pen and pencil to capture shape and movement. I was particularly focusing on proportion by drawing the shapes of the figures before adding any detail, to help me focus on looking at my subject 80% of the…
Animal Drawings
Over the last few months, myself and my peers from the Children’s Book Illustration MA have been getting together to draw on zoom as we were studying online last semester. Here is a selection of animal drawings from my sketchbook. I love using marker pen, pencil and oil pastel to draw from video as they…
Reportage Illustration
I am currently over half way writing my Dissertation! The reading has been a lot of fun, researching how to translate observational drawing in characters for children’s books. Visual Communication feels like a fundamental skill to explore before attempting to develop characters. I have been reading about Reportage Illustrators to learn about their approaches to…
Film Compositions
Over the lockdown many Artists and Illustrators have joined a film sketch challenge, created by Illustrator Victoria Semykina; a fun challenge to stay creative and connected within an Artistic Community on instgram. I’ve been using this challenge to help me identify exciting and interesting compositions. I’m keen to observe how the composition can communicate and…
Catherine Laura Ward 