What do tiny bowls of crisps, the world’s fanciest pencils, and a mysterious couple called Ron and Betty Frampton have in common? They’re all in this week's Christmassy podcast!

Get ready for festive chaos, creative inspiration, and permission to buy yourself something lovely, courtesy of Ron and Betty.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Who on earth are Ron and Betty Frampton?
01:20 – What’s on our Christmas wishlists? Pencils, paint, and tech setups
04:30 – Christmas bingo, tiny bowls of crisps, and the unwritten rules of bingo culture
08:15 – Why quick, unplanned drawings can sometimes be your best work
10:50 – Helen’s 30-second cut-out reindeer and a carpet fitter
11:50 – Permission to treat yourself this Christmas. Ron and Betty would approve

Links Mentioned:

• Find Your Creative Voice Course – Treat yourself to a creative boost Find out more here (and if you join before the end of January 2025, we'll send you some gorgeous stickers in the post. SNAIL MAIL!)

🎄 Merry Christmas and a happy new year from all of us at The Good Ship Illustration 🎄

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Here's your early present from Good Ship. Our previously-just-for-paying-students private VIP podcast episode all about building your creative confidence.

We're celebrating that Find Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag is now open for enrollment all year round! Instant access. You asked, we listened.

EVERYONE who joins during December 2024 & January 2025 will get one of our much-coveted Good Ship sticker badges. Mmmmm.

We're also opening up a rare chance to win 1:1 mentoring with The Good Ship Illustration captains. There are 3 spots up for grabs! When you join, we'll email you all of the details.

Click HERE for all of the course info and to climb aboard.
We'd love to have you sailing with us.

Anyways, what's this podcast episode about?

From early career wobbles to trusting your creative voice, tackling imposter syndrome, and the confidence to charge what you're worth. 

Plus, loadsa tips to help you separate your self-worth from your creative work (they're not the same thing!)

Got a question for us to tackle in a future podcast episode? Send it in - we’d love to hear from you!

👉 Submit your questions here

Timestamps:

00:21 Celebrating that Find Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag is now open for enrollment all year round!
03:00 Why you’re not a “wannabe” illustrator
05:15 Navigating client relationships
07:55 The power of asking clients what they love about your portfolio
10:38 Silencing negative self-talk and spotting unhelpful stories you tell yourself
12:12 Why it’s better to be an indie band than Top of the Pops (for illustrators)
13:13 The magic of “imperfections” and human marks in your work
15:17 Pricing confidence: why your value isn’t tied to your hours
16:18 Gamifying rejection and making it work for you
18:37 Forget the rules: how naivety can be your creative superpower
21:46 Avoiding comparison traps with a creative quarantine
22:35 Why having multiple versions of your work can unlock playfulness
25:34 Tips for breaking big, scary projects into manageable chunks
28:26 Time tricks for staying fresh and playful under pressure
30:00 Why getting older makes everything easier

Links & Resources:

🎓 Find Your Creative Voice, Fly Your Freak Flag Course
🎁 Enrol by January 2025 to grab your free badge and the opportunity for 1:1 mentoring.
📅 Join our Planning Party: 16th January 2025, 1:30 PM (UK time).

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

When you’re starting your illustration career, there is so much advice out there, so in this episode, we're untangling the nice juicy question of “Where do I even start!?”

We share a bit about how we've each learned to hop in and out of our business & creativity cars over the years. Plus, we'll dish out some wisdom nuggets on balancing creative bursts with the less exciting bits of building your freelance illustration career.

Come and say hello, we're friendly! Have you got a question you'd like us to tackle on a future podcast episode? 

Please send it in!

Click here to send in your podcast questions!

Timestamps:

00:31 Taming the overwhelm gremlin (aka Your To-Do List)

03:25 Website? Social media? LinkedIn? 🤯

04:48 Building a portfolio (without stressing yourself out)

14:08 The juggle is real: business vs. creativity

16:18 Sharing your work and being picky about it

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Show Notes

When we meet up, this is always one of the first things we ask each other. We'd ask you too if you were here! 

"What are you working on, then?" is the question that made us want to start The Good Ship Illustration all those yeeeeears ago - we realised how mega different our illustration careers are, even though we're all illustrators.

Grab a cuppa - in this episode, Tania shares her big goal to create a personal map (including residencies, studios, and maybe a little bit of procrastination). Helen's talking about writing stories and why she never wants to write alone again. And Katie takes us through the ups and downs of scaling & right-sizing a creative business.

Plus, we chat about the magic of saying "no".

Nice. See you in there.

Timestamps:

00:19 Tania's maps

10:44 What's Helen up to

12:41 Writing with a pal

22:46 Katie's nap goals

26:17 You Are NOT a to-do list! (Good Ship permission to slow down)

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Show Notes

Feeling frazzled & running on illustration fumes? You're definitely not alone!

In this episode, we wade on in to discuss the murky waters of burnout. Don't worry, we've got your life raft right here! We chat about what burnout actually IS, why it seems to be so common amongst illustrators & creatives, and most importantly, what you can do to nip it in the bud, or escape it if you're already knee-deep.

So grab a cuppa, put your feet up, and recharge your batteries with us for a bit.

Timestamps:

00:38 Defining burnout 

04:37 💰 What's money got to do with it anyway? 

04:54 The Instagram hamster wheel and how to escape it 

05:35 Virtual assistants = sanity savers 

11:30 "Illustrator's boob" - yep, it's a thing! 

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Are you as nosy as we are? Weyyyy, you're in the right place.

In this episode, we talk about our daily routines as illustrators. What do we DO all day?

We discuss morning routines, our creative processes (or lack thereof), and the importance of deciding when to eat dinner.

When we said we'd love to hear about your day-in-the-life, we mean it! Come over to Instagram and say hello / tag us in your daily routine posts :) We're @thegoodshipillustration on there.

Timestamps:

00:18 Tell us about your day, then 

01:46 Morning routines 

04:02 Keep-fit cups of tea

05:37 Daily work and to-do lists 

07:57 Balancing work and toddler-wrangling

14:32 Tania = the night owl 

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Firstly, if you like this episode, you’ll LOVE The Business Course! Doors are open for enrollment until the 18th of October 2024. Be quick!
 
You can read all about The Business Course here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
 
If you do miss the boat 😩 and the doors have already closed by the time you're listening to this, you can jump into our free ‘Get into Your Business Car' challenge here in the meantime:
https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/businesscar 

(Once those Business Course doors close, they’re closed. We’re strict.)


Show Notes

As soon as we start talking about marketing for illustrators, we (almost always) get the question, 'Should I have a separate Instagram account for my illustration work?'

See also: Do I need more than one website? Do I need more than one newsletter?

In this episode we're answering that burning question, plus lots more all about the rollercoaster that is sharing your illustration work online.

Your online presence does NOT have to be shiny and polished. We're all about done-is-better-than-perfect, and we hope this episode gives you the firm-but-tender Good Ship kick up the bum you need to start sharing your stuff more consistently, whatever consistency means to you.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro and today’s big question
00:36 – One account or two?
01:25 – The “doorway method” for your website
04:38 – Juggling different styles in one space
05:38 – Why adding a personal touch is key
10:18 – Tweaking your marketing so that you get noticed
19:52 – Wrapping it all up with some final thoughts

p.s. it's NOT all about social media. We talk about offline options that are super effective too.

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Firstly, if you like this episode, you’ll LOVE The Business Course! Doors are open for enrollment until the 18th of October 2024. Be quick!
 
You can read all about The Business Course here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
 
If you do miss the boat 😩 and the doors have already closed by the time you’re listening to this, you can join the waiting list for a future round. You can get stuck into our free ‘Get into Your Business Car’ challenge here in the meantime: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/businesscar 

(Once those doors close, they’re closed. We’re strict.)


**Shownotes:**

Yes yes, there is a HUGE amount of joy to be had in the creative side of illustration.

But when your work is both a joy to make, and sells well, too? That's a whole new level of good stuff.

In this episode, we talk all about selling your work! All 3 of us have run online shops at some point in our illustration careers, and we dig into the things that worked for us to get our work seen and, most importantly, sold. 

We're not shy about talking about pricing and the perils (+ good bits) of managing an online shop and in this episode you can expect 

🚢 Social media marketing for illustrators running a product-based business
🚢 Building an email newsletter audience
🚢 Selling your illustrations & illustrated products at fairs
🚢 Running an online shop & more 🤩

See you in there!

x Helen, Katie & Tania

Timestamps:

00:00 Hello!

00:59 Running an online shop: what's it like? What works well?

03:15 Marketing strategies 🤓 for online shops 

04:38 Pre-selling - your new secret superpower (so that you don't end up living in a house full of unsold products.)

07:37 Postage challenges 

09:46 Selling to other shops and wholesale 

13:28 Pricing strategies and stuff to consider

20:36 In-Person Markets and Pop-Up Shops 

23:17 👋🏻 Byee!

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Firstly, if you like this episode, you’ll LOVE The Business Course! Doors are open for enrollment until the 18th of October 2024. Be quick!

You can read all about The Business Course here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

If you do miss the boat 😩 and the doors have already closed by the time you’re listening to this, you can join the waiting list for a future round. You can get stuck into our free ‘Get into Your Business Car’ challenge here in the meantime: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/businesscar 

(Once those doors close, they’re closed. We’re strict.)


**Show Notes: **

In today’s business podcast **puffs up shoulder pads** we had a good chat about the fine art of juggling when you have more than one illustration project on the go.

Setting boundaries and managing expectations came up a LOT. Clear communication and smart scheduling are biggies, especially when it comes to working with publishers and keeping yourself sane & your deadlines on track. We also touch on negotiating rush fees and the importance of having a dedicated schedule for client feedback so you don’t get stuck in one of those endless revision loops of doom! 😩

Plus, we grilled Helen on the nitty-gritty of working in the publishing world.

Behoooold, the timestamps!

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction and Listener Questions

00:22 – Managing Multiple Projects and Avoiding Burnout

01:00 – Scheduling and Client Communication

05:53 – Setting Boundaries and Handling Rush Jobs

07:43 – Client Feedback and Project Management

10:58 – Publishing Industry Insights

16:42 – A nice awkward Good Ship goodbye 👋

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

Welcome aboard the Good Ship Illustration podcast! In this spooky, scary episode, we tackle one of the trickiest areas for illustrators: pricing and negotiations. (Aaaagh!)

Firstly, if you like this episode, you’ll LOVE The Business Course! Doors are open for enrollment until the 18th of October 2024. Be quick!

You can read all about The Business Course here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

If you do miss the boat 😩 and the doors have already closed by the time you’re listening to this, you can join the waiting list for a future round. You can get stuck into our free ‘Get into Your Business Car’ challenge here in the meantime: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/businesscar 

(Once those doors close, they’re closed. We’re strict.)

**Show Notes:**

In this episode, we dusted off the crumbs from our Greggs Vegan sausage rolls (v good lunch Helen, thank you) and settled into Tania’s living room for a thorough no-holds-barred chat about MONEY STUFF.

One of our favourite things to talk about is how different the money/pricing stuff can be in different markets, and different bits of the illustration industry.

We put the world to rights and covered everything from knowing what’s ‘normal’ in the industry, to how to negotiate fees for different types of projects. Budgets can really vary depending on the market. We also bang on about the importance of charging what you’re worth. (And we’ll carry on doing that until the starving artist myth is where it belongs → in the bin.)

Ghosting from clients? It happens to the best of us. We share some tips in this episode on how to deal with it, and why it’s important not to take the silence personally.

Katie gets excited about how much she loves using automation to manage the behind the scenes stuff in her business. And to wrap things up, we remind you to think of yourself as a business, not just a creative. Your creativity brings HUGE value to your clients. Don’t forget it. 

Charge your worth. 

If you’d like a bit of help with quoting confidently, come and have a look at The Business Course. We’ve got a whole entire module dedicated to the money stuff (the practical bits *and* the mindset stuff.)

https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business 

Timestamps:

00:06 – Navigating pricing as an illustrator

01:00 – Negotiation tactics and client budgets

03:06 – Understanding the publishing world

10:55 – Dealing with clients ghosting you

14:52 – The Smeg Story 😆 and rejections

15:54 – Business systems and processes

19:37 – Final thoughts and one of our nice traditional awkward Good Ship goodbyes

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙