I get these questionnaires (mostly from students) a couple of times a year. If these are fun questions, which will give me some food for thought or help me to understand my own work better, I don't mind answering them. If I can use bits from it for my own classes or Substack: even better.
But if the questions clearly show that they haven't even looked up my work or what I do, it's a BIG NO. Ask your mum to do your homework.
And if I've taken hours (yes, it sometimes takes that long) to answer questions and they don't even bother to type 'thank you' back, I'll email back to ask if they've received my answers 'as it took hours of my time and I don't want to end up in your spam inbox'.
So, to all students sending out questionnaires like confetti: First google who you are sending them to, and ALWAYS say 'thank you' when someone took their precious time to help you out.
Good tips Marloes! Yes chase them up for a thank you!
It has been a blanket no from me for the last few years, I got my fingers burnt too many times. But I will start to answer some now I have Substack. If I feel like it 😆
I think a 'blanket of no' seems like a great idea to give yourself some peace of mind. I don't think you should answer them if you don't want to. I skip most of these q&a emails still :) When I was in marketing, we always asked ourselves 'what's in it for them?', to understand the receiver's perspective. But I'm learning to ask myself 'what's in it for ME?'. So, if a questionnaire has nothing in it for me, it goes to the trash :)
Love your answer :) is it just recorded on your phone or with a special microphone? The sound is very clear . Just wondering as I’m thinking of maybe recording some stuff for substack ...
Do you work much bigger than picture book size when working traditionally? When you mentioned ‘blowing the image up ‘ it made me wonder that ?
Loved this Helen! Also felt a bit lip trembly and heart broken about the real Mr Hoot.
Recorded audio felt like a real treat! So good (and affirming) to hear about your changes of creative approach over time and that you had accidentally given yourself the idea that you had to stick to one way of making images, as a professional- this is the kind of limiting stuff I think we are all unthinkingly doing to ourselves all the time (it’s always a nice moment when you realise everyone else is making little cages for themselves too!). It was great to hear you talk about the stages and materials of these featured illustrations. Love this Substack (and loving Goodship Illustration Podcasts).
That’s a great question from Naomi! I also get these student questions frequently. Often I do answer and several times the student has then disappeared and never acknowledged the answers. So I have a question for you: what is your strategy for THiS? I no longer respond to anyone who doesn’t use my name but that feels like a VERY low bar. But my instinct is always to try and help out....
That has happened to me too. So infuriating! So I have a blanket ‘I don't answer essay questions any more, I get so many. I hope you understand, good luck!’ policy. If it’s rude, (they don't use my name for example) I don't reply at all. But now I have substack I will answer good questions here for everyone to read. Free content ideas innit?
Once I spent ages replying to someone - about 20 questions and they didn’t even say thanks. I was fed up! The not using your name is definitely a good one. I’ll ask you a question if you like Ruby!!! 😉
Arg! Been there too. So infuriating. But also, I was a pretty hopeless, thoughtless teenager/ young person and maybe I did the same 😟 Once Anne Fine invited me to her house and spent hours with me, I truly hope I showed my appreciation. I do worry that I was too shy to say thank you properly. I must send her a thank you card now, 31 years later.
I think the same person contacted me! ARGH!!! You're welcome to ask me a question, but I can't imagine there's anything that I know that you don't already know!
Using your name is a must! I try to set the bar at having some kind of connection with the person. If they ask for a lot and don't at least follow me on some platform, then I tend to ignore it. Lately I've been getting a lot of requests to share art from people who've never engaged with my content. That's an autodelete.
I loved listening to your answer! All of my books use different materials or at least different brushes, and each time I think...am I allowed to do this? So far no one has complained! XD
Ah what a fantastic question and answer. I’m studying for my MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the moment too. I have just received an essay brief telling me to interview an illustrator that inspires my work. The problem is that the essay brief specifically says you must interview the illustrator. This doesn’t take into account the fact that you are all extremely busy people and that nearly all of my questions have been answered already by you or any one of the amazing literary professionals you have interviewed as part of your amazing Good Ship courses (2 of which I’ve done and keep dipping back in to.) I have to admit, I’m panicking about contacting people,as I fully understand how busy you are especially as we’ve just had World Book Day and Bologna is only a few weeks away.
My Questions would be, what in your opinion makes a fantastic picture book cover?
I get these questionnaires (mostly from students) a couple of times a year. If these are fun questions, which will give me some food for thought or help me to understand my own work better, I don't mind answering them. If I can use bits from it for my own classes or Substack: even better.
But if the questions clearly show that they haven't even looked up my work or what I do, it's a BIG NO. Ask your mum to do your homework.
And if I've taken hours (yes, it sometimes takes that long) to answer questions and they don't even bother to type 'thank you' back, I'll email back to ask if they've received my answers 'as it took hours of my time and I don't want to end up in your spam inbox'.
So, to all students sending out questionnaires like confetti: First google who you are sending them to, and ALWAYS say 'thank you' when someone took their precious time to help you out.
Good tips Marloes! Yes chase them up for a thank you!
It has been a blanket no from me for the last few years, I got my fingers burnt too many times. But I will start to answer some now I have Substack. If I feel like it 😆
I think a 'blanket of no' seems like a great idea to give yourself some peace of mind. I don't think you should answer them if you don't want to. I skip most of these q&a emails still :) When I was in marketing, we always asked ourselves 'what's in it for them?', to understand the receiver's perspective. But I'm learning to ask myself 'what's in it for ME?'. So, if a questionnaire has nothing in it for me, it goes to the trash :)
Love your answer :) is it just recorded on your phone or with a special microphone? The sound is very clear . Just wondering as I’m thinking of maybe recording some stuff for substack ...
Do you work much bigger than picture book size when working traditionally? When you mentioned ‘blowing the image up ‘ it made me wonder that ?
Hi Sarah,
Yes, I record this on ma phone on my daughter’s bed. And no, I work at the actual size, not bigger or smaller.
Great ! Thanks 😁
Loved this Helen! Also felt a bit lip trembly and heart broken about the real Mr Hoot.
Recorded audio felt like a real treat! So good (and affirming) to hear about your changes of creative approach over time and that you had accidentally given yourself the idea that you had to stick to one way of making images, as a professional- this is the kind of limiting stuff I think we are all unthinkingly doing to ourselves all the time (it’s always a nice moment when you realise everyone else is making little cages for themselves too!). It was great to hear you talk about the stages and materials of these featured illustrations. Love this Substack (and loving Goodship Illustration Podcasts).
Yes we all make ourselves cages don't we, good to realise that and escape whenever we can! Glad you enjoy the Good Ship podcast! Hx
That’s a great question from Naomi! I also get these student questions frequently. Often I do answer and several times the student has then disappeared and never acknowledged the answers. So I have a question for you: what is your strategy for THiS? I no longer respond to anyone who doesn’t use my name but that feels like a VERY low bar. But my instinct is always to try and help out....
P.S. Naomi didn't ask me like that, obviously! 😂 I should make that extra clear.
That has happened to me too. So infuriating! So I have a blanket ‘I don't answer essay questions any more, I get so many. I hope you understand, good luck!’ policy. If it’s rude, (they don't use my name for example) I don't reply at all. But now I have substack I will answer good questions here for everyone to read. Free content ideas innit?
Once I spent ages replying to someone - about 20 questions and they didn’t even say thanks. I was fed up! The not using your name is definitely a good one. I’ll ask you a question if you like Ruby!!! 😉
Arg! Been there too. So infuriating. But also, I was a pretty hopeless, thoughtless teenager/ young person and maybe I did the same 😟 Once Anne Fine invited me to her house and spent hours with me, I truly hope I showed my appreciation. I do worry that I was too shy to say thank you properly. I must send her a thank you card now, 31 years later.
Anne Fine!! Wow! Yes send her a card now. That would be hilarious!
I think the same person contacted me! ARGH!!! You're welcome to ask me a question, but I can't imagine there's anything that I know that you don't already know!
Ha ha! Well I’m sure that’s not true x
Using your name is a must! I try to set the bar at having some kind of connection with the person. If they ask for a lot and don't at least follow me on some platform, then I tend to ignore it. Lately I've been getting a lot of requests to share art from people who've never engaged with my content. That's an autodelete.
Yes, that’s a good barometer, do they engage with your content? The perfect filter!
I loved listening to your answer! All of my books use different materials or at least different brushes, and each time I think...am I allowed to do this? So far no one has complained! XD
Yay! I love swapping materials, it keeps the work fresh an interesting for myself. Glad to hear you do the same.
Haha, I don't think I have the attention span to keep it all the same
Ooh nice question Naomi and nice answer Helen - just listened to it with a cup of tea ☺️🫖
Glad it was a nice accompaniment to your cuppa Sam 😍
Ah what a fantastic question and answer. I’m studying for my MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the moment too. I have just received an essay brief telling me to interview an illustrator that inspires my work. The problem is that the essay brief specifically says you must interview the illustrator. This doesn’t take into account the fact that you are all extremely busy people and that nearly all of my questions have been answered already by you or any one of the amazing literary professionals you have interviewed as part of your amazing Good Ship courses (2 of which I’ve done and keep dipping back in to.) I have to admit, I’m panicking about contacting people,as I fully understand how busy you are especially as we’ve just had World Book Day and Bologna is only a few weeks away.
My Questions would be, what in your opinion makes a fantastic picture book cover?