The Good Ship Illustration

What're you doing this summer? Are you having a little rest? This episode is all about taking breaks and we have a wee look at our plans: Helen is in her illustrator hermit cave for July to get the next Salty Dog book finished before the deadline, with a nice August off as her reward. Tania is working on a museum commission for a 'Gossip Wall' in Berwick Museum, with plans to experi...

What's the point in making all this gorgeous work if you don't have the confidence to share it, eh? EH!? Who better to grill on this subject than Lauren Currie, OBE. Lets gooo: Timestamps, for the timestamp fans: 00:00 – Intro  01:00 – Confidence = the elephant in the room for creatives 02:00 – Lauren on why confidence matters so much, especially for women and marginalised people  05:00...

This week's podcast is a sneaky peek into the live Q&A calls we do for our Find Your Creative Voice; Fly Your Freak Flag students. (They happen monthly at the moment.) WHADDA CHAT. In this episode, we talk about: Pursuing boredom  The Artists' Way Why finding your style doesn’t always feel fun and easy and natural (Instagram's lying to yooou)  What to do when you have hundreds o...

This week our Katie is chatting to Alice Bowsher, who's work she would like to bite (In a good way. The same way you want to bite very cute babies. Is it called cuteness aggression?) Anyways, there's chat about creative career paths, Glastonbury bags, cardboard bedrooms, Walker Books, baby board books, and the very very important role of biscuits. Mmmm. Timestamps, for the timestamp fans...

This week, we're STIIIIIILL talking about Bologna Children's Book Fair (for the last time, we promise 😅)  - this episode was supposed to come out as soon as we got home, but the technology gremlins have been fighting with us every step of the way. BACK OFF, GREMLINS.  You'll hear at the very end that we went on talking for three whole blimmin' episodes before we realised the m...

It's all fun and games until someone mentions FINAL ARTWORK. (Arghhhh) Sound familiar? Thought so. So we get stuck into Inky's question: how do you get out of your own way and switch off the overthinking brains?  All three of us wrestle with this in different ways. Also mentioned: expensive paper + a shared fantasy about buying a tiny round Father Ted caravan to draw in. Pour yourself a...

Ooft, this is a good one. This week we're discussing illustration scams We've all had them land in our inboxes, we see 'em in the Good Ship community (too) regularly, and TBH you need to know what to look out for. 👀 Plus: Salty Dog is in actual bookshops and the Waterstones staff read it and couldn't stop laughing. Weyyy! 🎉 Timestamps, if you like that sort of thing: 00:00 –...

This week we're answering a brilliant voice message from @shanaramadesigns . Shana asks about Russian illustrator Victoria Semikina: how does someone learn to draw in that gloriously exaggerated, expressive way? And why, when she does it, does everyone love it, but when Shana tries it, art directors ask her to tone it down? NO FAIR. Happy listening :) And hellooo to Victoria - we've been...

This week, our Katie's chatting with Helen and Tania about her favouritest thing and specialism/niche: live illustration.  What's it like to arrive at a fancy corporate event with an iPad (or a board and some paint), when someone says "ok, draw everything"? It's a proper deep-dive into the live illustration world, from the adrenalinny (new word) thrill of drawing in real t...

This week, our Katie is chatting to Nicola Allan, an artist, writer and consulting astrologer based in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. After 12 years working as a lawyer, Nicola pivoted to illustration and has since built a brand that weaves together everything she loves: The Wild Way. Nicola's a brilliant example of what happens when you stop trying to choose between the things you're drawn to...

Here's part two of our Bologna interviews. Thank you so much for listening, and if you managed to come and find us at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, thank you. We had so much fun meeting everybody, and we’re hoping to do that again one day because it was cool. Okay, see you soon. Enjoy listening to these brave people 🚢🚢🚢 ⏱️ Timestamps for our timestamp fans Lauren 00:00 – Part 2 hiya 00:40...

Interview #1 is with Paulina Zawiska and Kate Osmond . Interview #2 is with Lorna Burt (begins at 05:30) Bon apetit!  We just announced the winners of our iPad giveaway and art supply shop vouchers - come and celebrate the winners with us over on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/  Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome to Bologna (the audio isn't perfect but neither are we 🤪...

Ever worried your work looks a bit too much like somebody else’s? 😬 This one’s for youuuu. In this episode, our Helen chats with the brilliant Martin Salisbury about plagiarism. The temptation to borrow a bit too heavily when you’re surrounded by endless beautiful work online is real. Hopefully this conversation helps you fly your own freak flag :) Timestamps: 00:00 Hello Martin Salisbury 01:00 I...

Absolutely knackered just thinking about Bologna? Same 😅 Here are our Bologna Children’s Book Fair survival tips. Whether it's your first time or you're a seasoned Bologna Book Fair-er.  Exciting news: The Good Ship Illustration is exhibiting this year in Hall 25, and we’d love to see you there! This episode: What even IS the Bologna Children’s Book Fair? Whether you reeeally need to go...

This week, our Katie is chatting to Carys Wright - a London-based writer and illustrator, hardcore Good Shipper, and all-round excellent example of what can happen when you follow the creative thread, even if your path looks a bit wiggly. Carys went from acting and theatre into illustration, and we chat about how sketchbooking helped her find her creative voice , and what it’s looked like to keep...

Nobody is born knowing how to pitch. (Katie here) I've been known to pitch once, hear nothing, and decide 'Oh well. Never mind.' Then never reach out ever again. 😅 So you can imagine my SHOCK and INCREDULITY (is that a word?) when Kira told me that she will reach out 7 times to a brand before giving up. Whaaaaaat!? Kira Matthews (aka Kira the Bold) , is like confidence in a bottle....

This week we're pulling up a chair at Helen's kitchen table to finally spill the beans on Salty. Salty Dog and Pals is the book that started as The Picture Book Course branding and somehow ended up as a 2-book deal with Walker Books . The big question: How do you write a zillion short stories with your pal in 10 sessions flat? We chat about the origins of Salty (and which printmaker Bern...

This week we're dragging ourselves away from our hypothetical gardens and custom urn businesses (lol) to have a proper sofa-chat about the big question: what would you do if you weren't an illustrator? Specifically: Is your identity too wrapped up in your work? What happens when things go quiet on the work front? COMMUNITY IS MAGIC.  That is all.  Happy listening. p.s. Salty Dog & Pa...

This week we’re wrapped up in some blankets havin' a proper sofa-chat about Instagram. Specificallyyyy: Should your Instagram be your portfolio? What's the difference between a snazzy website folio and the mad addictive world of social media?  We also get into showing your human face, illustrators following illustrators, AI-era credibility, and why you absolutely do not owe the algorithm...

This week we roll headfirst into the interestin' world of aphantasia . It all started with conversations inside Find Your Creative Voice and The Picture Book Course - when Good Shippers were telling us, “I can’t see ANYTHING in my head.” Which sent us down a rabbit hole of aphantasia, imagination. And does everyone experience it the same way? Nope. In this episode, we chat about: What aphanta...

Permission to play can change EVERYTHING! This week we’re chatting to Anna Mac - artist, printmaker, illustrator, product designer, sleep counsellor, mum of twins, and hardcore Good Shipper who's been sailing with us since 2020. In this episode, we talk about scenic creative routes, why permission to play can change everything, creative voice vs paying the bills, and why sometimes felting a j...

Here's the audio replay from our AI workshop last week. There are slides too - the full replay with slides is available to watch HERE (but it goes away today. We're putting the workshop inside Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag.) There's a PDF handout to download there too. Go grab it before it disappears! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/aiworkshop  The audio isn&...

Pssst, while you're here... On Tuesday 10th February 2026 we're running a live workshop! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/aiworkshop   Standing out in a sea of robots: being an illustrator when AI is everywhere This workshop's perfect for you if you: Call yourself an illustrator, image-maker (or want to) Feel a bit wobbly about AI and what it means for your style and creative...

Are you joining in with #WalktoSee? In this episode, we chat about how our Helen's hashtag Walk to See started, how it works, (there are basically no rules 😆), and why monthly prompts are muuch gentler on the brain/energy levels than daily prompts. In this episode: 00:00 What Walk to See is 01:30 The only “rule” 02:30 Why the format changed 03:30 How often you actually need to draw 04:30 Jan...

Ahhh this ol' chestnut. You know it. We've aaall been there. You sit down...you need to work. But you get absolutely nowt done. Instead, you do absolutely everything else... then panic-work at the last minute, or just never get round to it. You're not alone!  Most illustrators we speak to will have their own weird and wonderful tricks to get into work mode. In this episode, we talk...