Post travelling motivation including my newest shop addition!

At the end of April I returned home to the UK after an incredible month travelling around the US in and RV with my family. Following the burnout that I experienced post my last big travelling experience, I was very cautious and mindful when it came to my return, and attempting not to do too much, and thankfully I feel enough was put in place to avoid this same kind of exhaustion, and instead I actually managed to surpass jet lag almost completely, and even rode a decent wave of motivation for a couple weeks! I think a lot of things contributed to avoiding this burnout, which I may explore in another blog post, but for now I wanted to share possibly one of the most exciting aspects of coming home after a long trip, which for me is printing an illustration that was finished whilst away!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably keep saying it until the day I die, I LOVE seeing my work in print! As a digital illustrator, I spend the vast amount of my creative time on a screen, and I love the way I work, but there’s just something about seeing the work you’ve created physically in front of you. I worked on my Coral Sea illustration for MONTHS; some illustrations within this project where more of a quicker capture of memories, whilst this one was absolutely capturing a memory, I was so focused on it becoming a new print addition too. Over the years, after drawing so many tropical jungle scenes with wildlife, I’ve had a fair few requests for under the sea environments and so I invested a ridiculous amount of time and thought into the composition and colours to make sure this would not only capture memories and tell a story from the trip, but also produce a striking stand alone image that would work as a print. So upon my return, one of the first things on my agenda was getting this printed and sharing it with my audience, and I’m pleased to say the colours and details came out so crisp!

As usual, prints are available in A5, A4, and A3 now on my website and upcoming market stalls… however I’m very strongly considering getting this one printed in A2 as well. I might just wait to see what kind of reception it receives both online and in person!

Coral Sea Snorkelling 🤿 🐠 🪸

This drawing was the last of the Australia/Bali travel collection, and it absolutely dragged out the end of the project because I spent SO much time on it, and the more time I spent on it, the more impressive I felt it had to be. I had a vision for what I wanted it to look like and for ages I couldn’t quite get it, but after almost 4 months of working on it, something finally clicked just last week and I finally finished it! I’m insanely pleased with the end result and feel it was worth the faff!

So here it is, a slightly more vibrant depiction of the scenes I saw whilst snorkelling around coral reefs on a boat tour by the Whitsundays, combined with a few additions spotted at Cairns aquarium!

It’s definitely my favourite of the collection, and also the most detailed illustration that I’ve completed solely on Procreate. I’m so soooo excited to see how it comes out printed but I have to wait until I’m back home from my current travels! 🖨️ 🖼️

It also wasn’t until the piece was almost finished, that I realised it overlapped fairly heavily with an illustration I did for an editorial commission back in 2020, and it’s so nice so see a considerable amount of improvement between the two!

Pool Table Pit Stop

Held off sharing this illustration for quite a while, for fairly obvious reasons… here’s my ex playing pool 🤡

It’s been a strange challenge continuing with this project after the relationship I was in during the trip (that it was understandably largely centred around) came to an end. However it’s been a positive reflective practice nonetheless! Despite the reality I’m currently living being far outside the expectations I had for this time in my life, the end result with these illustrations is exactly what I envisioned and I’m immensely proud of it!

Throughout the project, I wanted to focus on different techniques and styles that I would usually limit myself on within a normal commission context, for this particular one I went for my usual semi-photo realism, but with an almost oil painting style that I see so often and have always loved, and I’m really pleased with it!