I am saying Goodbye To Pencil Pals

As we know it

I have come to realise I am a person who LOVES a project and gets 100% invested for a period of time: a week, a month, a year, ten years, I dunno. It depends on the project.

Then, my jumpy, creative brain gets excited about something new and sheepishly dumps the old project without a proper goodbye.

When I move on to new plans, I literally ghost my old self. I feel a bit guilty and slink off to hide. It stops me from celebrating what I did, even if it was amazing. Does anyone else do this, too?

I have decided to work on celebrating endings.

So here we go.

We are gathered here today to celebrate the passing of my old Pencil Pals plans. It’s been great, and we had some fun.

• Let’s remember the Procreate for Paper Lovers posts, they were good weren’t they?

• Ah, remember when we used to write letters to each other and I helped solve your illustration problems? That was nice. I might still do that sometimes.

• And what to put in your picture book portfolio, that was fun.

• Remember the time I cried while drawing a strange new visitor to our house?

Let’s fondly remember all the good times.

Thank you. I love you. Goodbye old Pencil Pals plans.

What’s next for Pencil Pals?

So, I would like to start something new.

I will still write about making picture books and working digitally when the mood strikes, but my creative brain is excited about #walktosee again.

I started the #walktosee hashtag on Instagram in 2018 to celebrate drawings made from life in a sketchbook. There have been over 120K contributions so far.

I love seeing everyone’s work on the hashtag, and I used to do a weekly round-up on my Insta stories. Then, Insta changed the algorithm and stopped showing the drawings in date order. I had to stop doing my weekly round-up. So annoying!

So this month I launched the new #walktosee monthly drawing prompts. Starting with #walktoseeonthemove.

I am freshly excited about #walktosee again! There will be a new prompt each month, with a new hashtag, so I can always see what’s happening. The algorithm can’t stop me, just try and stop me algorithm!

So here’s the new plan for Pencil Pals:

All Pencil Pals subscribers get:

The Sunday Buffet

This Sunday roundup includes goodies such as my kitchen playlist, DIY updates, if I ever see a ghost I will OBVIOUSLY let you know, what books, telly and podcasts are keeping me out of trouble, Vinted parcels, junk shop finds, my new obsession with Rose Wylie (or whichever artist is exciting future me) and anything miniature village related.

All Paid Pencil Pals subscribers get:

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook

A monthly peek inside my #walktosee sketchbooks: favourite drawing materials, sketching tips: like how to be invisible so people don’t talk to you while you draw, why having all the wrong materials is right, why drawing in the rain is good for humans and why I love drawing in HUGE sketchbooks, but am very out of practice at drawing in a little sketchbook. Oh jeez, I am rusty at doing those wee sketches of people on trains and in cafes. Where did my tiny sketchbook skills go?

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Let’s Play ‘What’s Inside My Sketchbook?’

I did this sketch of Holy Island in a Seawhite Brighton A3 sketchbook that opens out to A2.

I used Winsor and Newton watercolour tubes and some ink. I don’t like those small watercolour pans, even though they are handy for quick outdoor drawings, and many people love them. I like to cover a large area quickly, so a squirt of paint from a tube, a dab of ink, lots of water, and a wodge of squished-up toilet roll, rather than a paint brush, does the job a lot better for me.

I made the lines using charcoal pencils and waterproof Caran D’ache crayons. The paper was damp, so the charcoal resists in some places and I like that.

I had a couple of attempts before I did this one. I like to get the bad drawings out of my system first, and it always takes me a couple of tries before I warm up to the subject and discover how I want to draw it.

How do you like the new Pencil Pals plans? Are you good at goodbyes? Do you like to draw in a big sketchbook or a small one? Are you a lover or a hater of those watercolour pan sets?

Tell me, I need to know.

Love Helen

P.S. The doors to our Good Ship Illustrators Business Club are open now!