'If you keep showing up, you can't NOT get better' - an interview with Sandi Hester
We've decided to play around a bit and do some INTERVIEWS. Ooooh. First up is artist and YouTuber Sandi Hester, who recently moved from the US into a 100-year-old fixer-upper house in the UK.Katie (gently) grills Sandi about what it’s been like moving country and keeping her creative practice alive through chaos, health challenges, and renovation dust.Sandi shares how painting has become her lifeline, why perfectionism is joy’s worst enemy, and how she’s learned to quiet the “blobbity blob” of negative self-talk that plagues so many creatives.Nice.💬 In this episode, we talk about:The big move from America to EnglandHow painting became Sandi’s release and restful place during years of illnessBuilding the “muscles of creativity” to keep making art no matter what’s going onThe “blobbity blob” of self-talk and why you can’t judge your art in the momentGoing back to her older, more figurative painting style after moving to the UKRunning a YouTube channel as a full-time job and how it replaced the gallery routeWhy being messy and human built more trust with her audience than a polished version ever couldThe unseen workload behind one 20-minute YouTube video (and why she can’t start a Patreon!)How perfectionism stops us from creating and why “the best you can do today” is always enoughWhy creatives should enjoy the journey instead of chasing the destinationLearning to separate your self-worth from likes, follows, and algorithm robots 🤖Her advice to artists: stop stressing, stop comparing, and just enjoy the paint sliding across the page🕰️ Episode Timestamps00:00 – Introducing Sandi Hester and her big move 02:00 – Creating through renovation chaos and hard seasons 05:00 – The “blobbity blob” of mental chatter 07:00 – Letting go of perfection and learning to just play 09:00 – Returning to figurative painting (and why everyone thinks England “transformed” her work) 10:00 – Choosing YouTube over galleries and showing real life online 12:00 – Filming through health struggles and letting people see the messy truth 15:00 – The hidden full-time workload behind one short video 17:00 – Lowering the bar so you can actually make things 19:00 – Teaching thought process over technique 21:00 – How the YouTube algorithm punishes missed uploads (“Feed the beast!”) 24:00 – Doing good work without being salesy 27:00 – Staying the course even when you feel like bubblegum under a chair 29:00 – Why the journey is the fun part 33:00 – Re-training your inner critic 35:00 – Final encouragements and gratitude🌈 Links mentionedBits of an Artist’s Life – Sandi’s YouTube Channelsandihester.com@sandihesterart on InstagramBits of an Artist’s Life on SubstackByeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢🎨Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.comp.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙
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A Bologna Book Fair special: 6 Good Shippers were finalists in the Illustrators Exhibition!
Hi there, Helen here.This is a special episode of the podcast because we had six of our Good Shippers - that’s people who’ve done our courses - selected as finalists in the Bologna Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition!Which is pretty amazing news. It’s really difficult to be a finalist because the competition is so high. Last year there were 4,374 people who entered, and only 324 were selected to be finalists. So for six of them to be Good Shippers is SO exciting.Now that the fair’s finished, I thought it would be lovely to catch up with them and hear how it all went. In this episode, you’ll hear from Emma Simpson, Lisa Loffredo, Amber Au, Sam Jones and Kate Leiper.A special mention to Charlotte Durrance, who was also a finalist but couldn’t make it to the recording. Congratulations to all of you!V Rough timestamps in case you like that sort of thing:[00:00] Helen introduces the six Good Shippers who made it to Bologna 🎉 [00:02] Emma Simpson [00:11] Lisa Loffredo [00:18] Amber Au [00:25] Sam Jones [00:37] Kate Leiper Other links mentionedFind Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag courseThe Picture Book courseDPictus ShowcaseBologna Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition info on how to take part – Entries usually open in July and close in NovemberTiffany Leeson – Creative Director at Farshore BooksKen Max Wilson – Writer, illustrator and publisherPicture Hooks – Helping illustrators access the world of children’s publishing (based in Edinburgh, open to all emerging illustrators)🎉 If you’d like to apply for the Bologna Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition, the doors are usually open from July until November. Get your work ready and go for it!We're cheering you on.Taraa! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.comp.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙
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#WalkToSee is baaack! The hashtag responsible for over 120,000 drawings (join in!)
Our Helen’s #WalkToSee hashtag on Instagram is baaaack with a new monthly prompt. After seven years of #walktosee there are now over 120,000 drawings on there and counting!In this episode, we chat about Helen’s relaunch of #WalkToSee (with new monthly prompts), drawing from life vs. photos, why small sketchbooks are weirdly hard, aaand rediscovering messy materials and carbon paper.Special guest: an enormous chunk of charcoal.If you'd like a gentle kick up the butt to do some drawing from life, then join in! In this episode:The story behind #WalkToSee and why Helen's relaunched itHow to join this month’s prompt: #WalkToSeeWeather ☁️🌧️Why drawing from life feels more “alive”Sketching in public = good panicSmall sketchbooks or massive sketchbooks... which camp are you in?Materials that make drawing fun again (paint sticks! Sharpies! toilet roll!)The autumn urge to make something just for funApple presses, lino cuts, carbon paper and whisky samplesTimestamps: 00:00 – Helen on starting #WalkToSee back in 2018 02:00 – Why hashtags stopped working and how she brought it back 04:00 – October’s prompt: #WalkToSeeWeather 06:00 – Drawing tiny and feeling rusty 08:00 – Sharpies, paint sticks and rediscovering fun materials 10:00 – Drawing in public (and how to avoid chatty strangers) 12:00 – The “panic” energy in real-life drawing 15:00 – Autumn creative urges and sneaky side projects 17:00 – The joy of carbon paper and slow stationery 19:00 – Studio updates, new neighbours and collaboration 20:00 – Katie’s apple obsession 🍎 21:00 – Tiny whisky bottlesLinks & things mentioned:Join in on Instagram: #WalkToSeeWeatherHelen’s Instagram: @helenstephenslionand ours @thegoodshipillustrationThe Good Ship Illustration: www.thegoodshipillustration.comByeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 🚢Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.comp.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙
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Remember drawing for...fun? 😅 what is that?
Deadlines... yeah yeah yeahhh, but what about doing illustration stuff just for YOU!? This week we chat about squishing in personal projects when client work always feels much more urgent.We are gathering ourselves after a very exciting Illustration Business Club launch. Phew! Definitely time for fun non-worky projects around here.(Rough) Timestamps if you want to skip to a certain bit00:00 Question: “How do you make time for personal artwork?”01:00 Why deadlines are easier than self-led projects02:00 Fine art drive vs. illustration mindset03:00 Projects we have managed to finish (and why)05:00 Creativity that doesn’t look like ‘work’07:00 You’re probably doing more than you realise08:00 The power of art clubs + sketching friends09:00 Big projects that turn into ‘scratch records’10:00 Permission to make things simple (or stop entirely)12:00 Sorting hat trick for choosing ideas14:00 Productivity16:00 Parking ideas and bullet journaling18:00 Craft supplies, hoarding, and deferring projects20:00 New paints, new studios, more art clubs21:00 Psssst...you’re probably already doing more than you thinkByeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)Come and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.comp.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙
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"Double your fee without drawing more" say whaaat!?
First things first, DOORS CLOSE TONIGHT! We start on Monday.https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business Be lovely to see you in there. Psssst, this is the lowest the price will ever be, and we're not opening the doors again until September 2026. 🚢🚢🚢Right. Podcast shownotes. Yes. Where were we?Here's a very quick lesson on copyright and licensing before you listen to this episode 🤓Copyright = you own the work. Licence = permission your client buys to use the work in specific ways (where, how long, which media, exclusive or not).Ok, lesson's over. Thanks for coming. If you'd like to earn more without drawing more, then keep your copyright, license the usage, and price it properly. It's juicy, not boring. We promise!Timestamps, if you want to skip ahead to a certain bit00:00 Why giving away copyright is a no-go01:00 Licence basics you can actually use02:30 Picture books: advances, royalties, reversions04:30 Foreign rights & special sales (how the money flows)06:30 Trust, statements, and chasing missing royalties07:30 Licensing agents & exclusivity windows09:00 Advertising uses: above/below the line (cost jumps)10:30 Building a simple “menu” clients can pick from12:00 Case study: the map that earned double via licensing14:00 Live illustration: online use vs print/murals16:30 Excluding branding/merch in your standard licence18:00 Merch options: flat fee vs % royalty20:00 Originals, ownership, and cautionary tales22:00 Why this stuff makes your work pay betterCome and say hello! ✏️ @thegoodshipillustration🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.comp.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙
Welcome to The Good Ship Illustration - the podcast for illustrators who are quietly working away in their sketchbooks thinking… “is it just me?”…it’s not just you!We’re Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell and Tania Willis - three full-time illustrators from three different corners of the industry (and three different age brackets ). We live in the same seaside town in the UK and started having cuppas and chats… and accidentally became illustration agony aunts.Now we record those chats for you! We answer your questions about confidence, tricky clients, pricing your work, creative block, picture books, publishing, and everything in between.✨ New episodes every Friday. ✨Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and do send us your questions!P.s. Fancy some freebies? Head to thegoodshipillustration.com for colour workshops, picture book templates, and other treats.Byeeee for now! x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)🚢🚢🚢
Canada - english