World Illustration Award submissions

In my last blog entry I mentioned submitting my animation to the World Illustration Awards as I was super proud of it, and having just made it, it was fresh in my mind. However, submitting this also made me reflect on other proud projects from the last year, as you’re encouraged to submit multiple entries, so I did exactly that!

I ended up submitting 3 separate projects, the first part of the current WIP On The Road series, Nonesuch portrait commission, and some of the AUS travel series, these fell within the categories of animation, editorial commission, and self-directed, respectively.

After my project FLORA being shortlisted in 2020, I thought I may as well give it a whirl again this year, especially as I’m really trying to invest in, and boost my illustration practice at the moment. Fingers crossed they gain some interest with the judges!

FIRST ANIMATION!!!

I recently made my first animation, capturing a very very special memory to me, and not to be dramatic, but this is a huge achievement for me!!! So much so, that I decided to enter it into the World of Illustration Awards! 🥹

Okay so it’s not my first animation ever, but my first animation made using Procreate Dreams, and probably my first animation that I’m actually happy with. I tried animating years ago, but it often ended in me wanting to smash either my laptop or my head repeatedly… so I decided that animation wasn’t for me, but for whatever reason I decided to challenge myself to try again, and somehow, not only did I make it work, but I didn’t hate doing it either! I think this was large in part to using a completely different animation software, but also probably helped that I’m a lot more self aware, and know how to remain calm in frustrating situations far better than I use to.

I’ve had the idea for this animation, and the exact song I wanted to add to it (Texas Sun by Leon Bridges, see it with the song on insta) for almost a year, way back when we rented an RV and drove across America, and it turned out EXACTLY as I anticipated!! Originally I had the idea for the back drop to change to capture the change in scenery as we explored different areas in America, however thanks to a planning session at the studio with my mentor, it’s now formed into a broader project exploring my own personal healing journey through the seasons and different road trips… I’ll be sharing more on this soon, so stay tuned x

Stevie Smortberry series

After sharing some new work (see last post) from the Stevie Smortberry series the other day, I realised I didn’t do a big enough song and dance when sharing the original content done for the book way back in 2022! So here are some of my favourites…

Nana’s final sprint around the athletics track giving a piggyback to her granddaughter, Nana’s mismatched living room, and Morley’s Chicken shop!

Despite completing these illustrations over 4 year ago, I’m still really proud of them!! Genea (the incredible author) and I have been talking about plans for the next book and I cannot wait to work with her again on some magical storytelling!