Susan Mitchell's Blog

Hello! This website and blog has been neglected for quite a while. I have still been working in the background. Not so much illustration, but have been painting and making some things that I will share with you at a later date. I have also been experiencing a bit of a creative slump especially when it comes to illustration. And the lack of working on it feeds a lack of confidence and the hamster wheel of procrastination begins…..

I think every artist goes through artist’s block at at some point but it can feel difficult to know where to begin to get out of it. So I thought I would share a little exercise with you today that might be fun for you to try.

A while ago, I created a template drawing that I use when I do illustration presentations. It is just a simple body shape that can easily be turned into a human, animal or fantastical creature. I originally created it for when I was talking about character creation and it was a nice way for children to use it as a jumping off point for their own ideas. It also helped to avoid that feeling of anxiety that sometimes appears when staring at a blank page and wondering where to start.

I now work part-time in an after school program at an elementary school and started handing them out as colouring pages and it was interesting to see how much the kids love them. I don’t say anything about them – children just naturally have such great imaginations that all sorts of characters quickly develop on the page. 

One day I was sitting with a few children and started doodling on one of the pages and came up with this little character:

She stayed in my head and so I felt I needed to develop her a little more…she isn’t quite finished but I felt like sharing with you today.

It has been quite a while since I have worked on any illustrations, so it was fun to feel so inspired. I like this character and feel that there is scope to work on her and develop her environment a little more.

So if you are ever stuck, wondering what to draw and where to begin, perhaps start with a very simple image, photocopy it then doodle away to your heart’s content without worrying about whether it will be a “good” drawing or not. And if you come up with something that you like, you can then develop it further.

This has taught me that the template works for adults too! I would love to hear what you do to get out of a creative slump.

It has been fun sharing with you today and I hope to be back on a more regular basis.

Oh hello…been a while hasn’t it? I am back to see if I can get into the swing of blogging again – I do miss it.

While this blog has been sleeping, behind the scenes there have been new experiences, some travel and a couple of books illustrated and published. I look forward to sharing what I have been up to on a more regular basis.

Montreal has been hit with its first big snowstorm of the year. Everything is hushed and soft and it really looks quite magical. Perhaps this is a perfect place to begin again – everything sparkling and full of promise, a new chapter….so let’s turn the page….

Pop! Today is the release day for my first two Little Poppet books in the UK. I am really excited about these books and hope that children love them too. I haven’t received my actual book samples yet, so will leave you with an interior spread from Happy Birthday, Mole, except in reality, each page has a flap so you will have to use your imagination!

Here are the Amazon UK links:

Happy Birthday, Mole

Mouse’s Sock Tree

I am not sure when they are coming out in the U.S. but they will be released in Canada May 28th.

Well it has been a while since I have contributed to Illustration Friday – I have missed it. All the springy weather out there got me inspired. Hope everyone is having a lovely and relaxing Easter weekend.

cardboard tag, acrylic, pencil, digital textures

I am so glad to be able to show you the covers of my first two Little Poppets books. These books were a labour of love. Mole, Mouse, Pippin and Rose have been with me for quite a while now and it was a lot of fun to create a little world for them. I needle felted the characters (these ones have pipe cleaner skeletons so that they were poseable), made the sets and a lot of the props, and used doll’s house miniatures for things that I was unable to make myself such as crockery and cutlery. I then posed and photographed them in the scenes.

The very talented Paula Metcalf wrote perfectly sweet and funny stories for my characters and I am hoping that little toddlers will love these little lift-the-flap books as much as I do.

Published by Campbell Books, April 2013

Published by Campbell Books, April 2013

There will be four books in all – the second two will be released this September. Happy Birthday, Mole and Mouse’s Sock Tree will come out in April, 2013 and are available for pre-order now at: Amazon.ca and Amazon.uk

One of the reasons that I haven’t been blogging so much is that I often work on projects that can’t be shared until they are published. So I thought I might share the artists and music that inspire me on a regular basis.

Inspired by: Mister Finch

Mister Finch and large moth

I came across Mister Finch’s Etsy shop a while ago but only recently discovered that he has a blog. Mr Finch is a textile artist based in England who creates wonderful creatures and objects that celebrate the beauty of things old and worn. If Miss Havisham had a cabinet of curiosities, Mr. Finch’s work would be in it.

Flowery moths by Mister Finch

He works with vintage fabrics and found objects, finishing them off with stains and dyes. All of his pieces have a delicate subtlety to them and remind me of little lost treasures that you might find in a long forgotten trunk. Love.

Textile toadstools by Mister Finch

So make yourself a nice cup of coffee or beverage of your choice, draw up a chair and be prepared to stay a while:

Happy New Year everyone! I want to wish you all a year filled with fun and creativity. I have had a mellow and restful holiday and now feel ready to get back to work. I have a couple of projects on the go, excited about some books coming out in the spring and generally looking forward to being more creative and productive. Hopefully, this will mean blogging on a more regular basis too. So, onwards and upwards!

It’s getting cold out there. Emma starts to tremble even before I put her little winter coat on. Snoozing on a warm wool blanket is her favourite thing to do – a girl after my own heart.

I haven’t done any sewing for ages but falling snowflakes got me in the mood to make some little winter belles:

Etsy

And until December 12th, everything in my shop has free shipping worldwide – Happy Holidays!

Why hello there. After such a long blogging hiatus, it is hard to know where to begin. So here are some snippets from the last six months:

May

I saw Ane Brun perform and it was absolutely wonderful. I gave her a print of my illustration that was inspired by her song “Undertow”

June

My lovely son turned sixteen.

July and August

I worked for most of the summer but we did have some had some beautiful days filled with music and sunshine.

September

We adopted a sausage dog! We went to a sausage dog race at our local park and the adoption society was there with a couple of dogs. We met Emma and it was love at first sight.

She is two years old, very sweet, cuddly and strong willed, all wrapped up in a very cute bundle with incredibly short legs. She may appear in some of my future illustrations…

Then it was back to school – this is a picture of Ewan’s first day of kindergarten and first day of grade eleven – Oh, how time flies.

October

More work. I have been working on a series of books featuring my little needle felted characters and I finished book three.

And of course, we celebrated Halloween.

November

I have just started working on the fourth Little Poppets book – I can’t wait to show you some images from them. Today, I am building a garden shed for Mole and I think it might be my favourite thing that I have made so far.

It is starting to feel quite wintery around here and I am looking forward to making lots of soup, snuggling with our dog and of course, blogging on a more regular basis.

Here is some more music to finish off with. I only discovered Sam Lee very recently and am completely hooked.

Pippin and his Little Poppet pals are visiting Bologna Children’s Book Fair this week – how exciting!