Thanks for reading my new studio (and sofa) snippets missive, where I share what I have been drawing through the week. I will be updating this as the week goes, and then send it out on the Sunday. You can dip in daily, or just read the whole week on a Sunday.
Monday
Day 1 of trialling early morning studio sessions = success. Though I am sleepy and ready to go back to bed, rather than spend the rest of the working day being a grown-up publishing professional.
I loved walking to the studio in the early morning, when there was barely any traffic and I could listen to the birds. I took my yoga mat and have rolled it out and left it there as a call to get up and move. I always envisaged a studio with a permanent yoga space (though the studio I envisaged was a lot bigger than this one). I did about 15 minutes of yoga and then made myself a big mug of black tea and sat down and did Morning Ink while listening to La Figlia Oscura (Elena Ferrante).
Then I felt very tired and my eyes were sore (note to self: take antihistamines before going to studio) and I was very strongly considering calling it a day and coming home. But I went back to the yoga mat and did some more yoga and then sat and looked at some picture books - Oliver Jeffers Up and Down and Babette Cole’s The Trouble with Dad.
And then went to my studio desk and popped on a podcast (Andy J. Pizza’s chat with Austin Kleon – Creative Pep Talk #559) and got drawing. Essentially, I was redrawing some of the character sketches from yesterday, but with dippen. I am still not sure whether to go analogue, digital or mixture with this book idea, so I am going to try drawing them in a few ways and see what happens.
And here’s what I know about these two at the moment:
Esme is four and a teeny bit. She has a dark bob and a wonky fringe where she decided to try to cut it herself. Her favourite clothes are long twirly dresses, even though they are totally impractical for climbing and doing cartwheels – two of her favourite things to do. Esme rarely sits still for very long. Except when she is reading a book, drawing or doing a puzzle. Then she can sit absolutely still for absolutely ever without noticing where the time has gone or that she is hungry or thirsty or needs the loo.
Monty is almost fourteen. He loves baking cakes and cookies and making funky hats. He is also very fond of his little sister, though sometimes he can be a bit annoyed that he has to look after her instead of sewing the buttons on his latest creation or practising a new recipe. If he’s supposed to be doing homework, though, he will very happily hang out with her instead.
And, of course, once I got into it, I wanted to stay for the whole day, rather than come back and make sure spellings are consistent and study names and dates are referenced correctly. I wanted to draw new sketches and try to get that hug sketch to look better and get Monty on the picnic blanket to work and find some more emotion.
Maybe I’ll go back later! Or just do some iPad sketching on the sofa in the evening.
Which reminds me…
Well… while it was successful from a drawing and studio point of view, it perhaps wasn’t from an other work point of view. I only got three hours in and had to stop mid-afternoon. I did go and sit out on the bench and read in the sunshine, which was not remotely unpleasant. But I should have got more paid work done. And then I was super wiped and asleep before 9 pm.
Tuesday
Another 5 am rising, though this time having had a full 8 hours (and a bit) sleep. No cat to greet me, but I put her food down anyway, showered, filled a water bottle and filled my backpack with books (I am gradually taking art-related books over there every time I go, so that I can fill the bookcases - and free up bookcase space for fiction back at home).
I went straight to doing some yoga again, and am really appreciating having the yoga mat ready and waiting. I’m just making it up as I go, so perhaps it doesn’t officially count as yoga. Oh, that reminds me, am going to subscribe to Jo Hutton’s Yoga for Tired People - if you’re seeing this today (16 June 2026) her special trial may still be going, where you can pick your (founding tier) price. I love ‘pick your price’ options and pretty much always give more than the minimum, but rarely the highest (like how I pick the second or third cheapest wine on the menu 😂). Starting my morning with yoga is always a good thing, but the need to get the mat out and move the coffee table and rug stop me a lot.
And then I dived straight back into character drawing. With ink. So it was technically Morning Ink, but not in the usual kind of way and there is no date stamp or hand-drawn Tuesday. Perhaps I’ll do that this evening. There was also some more pencil sketching, actually. To try out some things and adjust them. And then drew the inky versions. Didn’t trace them. I used to not be able to do that. I had to trace the sketches and then the finals were not loose enough. I think I have retained a lot of looseness, while working out some of the issues.
This is for a course, but I’m working with one of my ideas and hoping that it will go further and become an actual author-illustrated book. Or at least a pitch that has potential to become one. So I will spend a lot more time playing with and drawing these characters and getting to know them and how and why the move. But I’m happy with where I’ve got to in a very short time.
Apologies for the barely legible writing. I wanted to go with inky handwriting but by the time I had photographed it and cleaned it up it looked far messier than it does in the sketchbook.
I must remember not to use Pink Pig sketchbooks for drawing or writing that is going to need to be cleaned up and worked with like this. I have sketchbooks that are much better for that (no grain!), so should have used those. Because I was using dip pen, I was using a number of different sketchbooks while the other pages were drying. But I could have just taken pages out. I might buy a block of paper, though, to keep at the studio, especially if I am going to be doing more inky drawings, which I definitely, absolutely, really do want to.
I am seriously considering switching around tomorrow and going straight to my publishing desk in the morning and to the studio for the afternoon/early evening. Because I, again, did not get anywhere near enough work done today.
On the plus side, it has shown me that I will absolutely be happy to make art full-time if it comes to it. I have worried in the past that I would not be able to sustain it full-time (in terms of energy levels and needing to exercise other parts of my brain, rather than financially, which is a whole other question), but I think I would be very happy doing it full-time. So, now I just need to get some well-paid commissions in. Or even just some commissions. It’s been a while.
Wednesday
Oh my goodness. I felt sooooo tired today. Did not set the alarm. Woke up at six thirty. Did not go straight to my studio. Did not go straight to my desk. Did not go straight to my sketchbook. Sat on the sofa and did Duolingo and scrolled the internet in a fairly mindless way. I may well have read interesting things, but do not remember, if I did.
I did get to my (publishing) desk earlier than I have recently and got some work done, but nowhere near as much as I would prefer. There was then the online shop to take in and put away. And then a webinar to attend that I was speaking in (publishing freelancers webinar about having side hustles, which was very interesting in a nosy, liking to know how everyone does life kind of way - which I have realised is something I love doing in all sorts of ways). I did manage to go back to work for a decent chunk of time in the afternoon, but I did not feel it was remotely productive.
And I didn’t draw at all. But I made up for it in the evening, not by drawing so much as manipulating and editing some drawing on the iPad and finished this pattern.
And then turned the TV off at just gone eleven, but then stayed there making a version with a black background until almost midnight.
Which is obviously ridiculous given how tired I was feeling. But I really enjoyed it, so never mind.
Here they are in repeat.
I am sure I will spot some errors in the black background one, where I’ve missed filling a gap or a bit has filled where it shouldn’t have because of a line not being closed. I also just thought of ways I could have done the filling quicker. Ah well.
I prefer the one with a black background. I think the big flowers with the detailed centres stand out too much on the white background but blend more on the black background.
And here’s a time-lapse, because I love timelapses. And maybe you do, too.
Well, now it is almost one in the morning and technically Thursday not Wednesday. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, studio or workwise.
Thursday
Ah, that feels better. Back to ‘normal’. Now I can go to work with a calm mind. I am in such a constant search for ‘the right’ workflow and process and daily routine, and may need to accept that this particular morning routine might just usually hit that. Allowing days off the routine, while leaning into it most of the time could well be the answer. Now. And it’s also OK for that to change next month, next year, in a decade.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
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