Dear Helen…
Go on, ask me anything
My virtual post bag sometimes has a few letters is always bursting with letters from people asking for tips and advice.
I thought it’d be a good idea to answer some of them here so everyone can share my wise-wisdomses 🧠🧐 and if I don’t know the answer, we can crowd source some answers in the chat from the brilliant, supportive community we have in the desk den.
Send me your knotty sketchbooking, illustration or picture book problems, no matter how big, small, weird, messy, silly or embarrassing.
Each month I will pick a question to answer in the Pencil Pals Desk Den.
I have been drawing and making picture books as my actual-real-life-full-time-job since my first book was published in 1998. I have worked with most of the big publishers: Random House, Scholastic, Puffin, MacMillan, Campbell, Alison Green Books, David Fickling Book, Walker Books, Orchard, Nickelodeon, Bayard Presse and maaaaany more.
I love exploring different mediums, I have made books by hand on paper like ye olden days, I have made books on Photoshop and Affinity Photo, and I recently made a book on Procreate. So I love paper verses digital chat, ask away!
I started the hashtag #walktosee to celebrate drawings made from life in a sketchbook. I am an avid sketchbooker and love chatting about drawing in public, what materials to use, how to stay motivated, all that stuff.
I love chatting through tricky drawing and illustration problems at the kitchen table. In fact it’s what I love best. Go on, fire away!
I’m working on the sample of a thing, and I find samples really challenging, just because it’s so much about the result, and not the process... I think a good result comes from going through a process, but there’s simply not the time and space to do that in a sample. Maybe there is, I don’t know... it’s always a rollercoaster ride with these things.
Hmm did I ask a question?Do you do samples? How do you handle them?
I think publishers think samples are like going on a date, I think they are more like a fling. Thanks for having this page:)
Hi Helen,
I am currently working on a self published picture book, and my question is...Does the main character have to be facing towards the page turn on the cover? The image I am using would actually look better the opposite way along with the title. Would this go against the rules of a PB cover? I have an example but unable to post with my question!
Many Thanks
Sandy.