A Jobbing Illustrator’s Blog #9

July 6th 2011

I have been away on holiday and busy buying/selling houses so work has taken a bit of a back seat. I feel a bit guilty about that but sometimes one's personal duties need more attention. The idea of having a studio that does not have a bed and wardrobe in it once we move into our new house is just too exciting, but that is a long way off and I have probably just jinxed it.

Work is still quiet so I have been going through my old sketch books and scribbles and looking at old ideas that can be expanded. It is always good to generate new ideas so that you don't get stuck in a rut or can attract new clients. I would love to create a book concept that inspires a publisher, rather than a writer coming up with the story first. Argh, the golden aspiration of all picture book artists is to cross over into writing or at least inspiring a story to be written based on your idea. Strangely enough I am not sure my ideas match with my pastel style very well so I am feeling that they need a different style. Maybe a sketchy look would be better.

I have also been trying out images of kids and people in my pastel style as I have not really done this properly before. Or rather, I should say, I have not got it right before. The eyes work better than black bead eyes of my animals. I tried it like that first but it just looked wrong. I have attached what I think works, see what you think!

The new project with my publisher is still in development. There is some complicated paper engineering they have to figure out so better that they get that right first before handing over to me. In the meantime I can play around with my own stuff.

Tina MacNaughton

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Comments

daler broads

Sat, 08/27/2011 - 3:43pm — ANEXHIBITION

can any one tell me why it is so hard to find an art shop in London where they sell daler boards because I can only find one shop in brixton where they sell daler boards and that's in the high street over a chemist shop. Dose no one use them any more?? or has daler stopped making them may be??? I love them they are really handy if you don't have a lot of cash and they are really light and easy to carry.please can some one get back to me on this as it would be very helpful thank you.

Daler boards

Tue, 09/27/2011 - 3:39pm — Daler-Rowney

Hi,

Yes, we still produce and sell Daler boards. You can find our London retailers on our store locator on the link below, and also have a look at our online retailers list.
http://www.daler-rowney.com/en/retailer-locator
http://www.daler-rowney.com/node/23084

If you still can't find them, please send an email to webmaster@daler-rowney.com and explain the situation and we will be able to tell you by email exactly which London retailers sell our boards.

Kind regards,
Daler-Rowney