Thoughts on...YouTube

 

Starting a proper YouTube channel has been something that I had been talking about for a few years but it wasn’t until the end of 2023 that I actually began taking action. I had been speaking at an event and had made some films as part of the presentation so decided to publish them as a starting point.

Making films takes time, it is something that is always said but it is really true. Filming is only a small part - planning, writing, editing, voiceovers, even the publishing process means that it is a big investment. My plan was that, by sharing sketchbooks, travel and drawing tips, I would increase my workshop bookings. I also felt that it in the longer term it might be a way to earn an income if I managed to reach the monetisation threshold. I knew it would have to be a long game, two to three years seemed an amount of time to invest that might recoup rewards.

The great thing about the platform is the amount of data that you have access so I can measure my progress. These are my numbers at the time of writing:

Numbers of videos - 31

Number of YouTube subscribers - 4101

Number of views - 98.3K

So, I am doing well but still have a way to go. I know that I just need to keep on keeping on. The one thing that I haven’t done so far is appear in front of the camera. I’ve shown the view of the world through my eyes for vlogs and shown my hands at work but I have resisted doing a direct to camera piece. I’ve never even done those for Instagram so it would be quite a jump for me. Why this reticence? What am I afraid of? Being mocked? By who? My immediate family are hugely supportive so no one else really matters. But being visible as an older woman and not a glamourous one, still feels difficult. So that is my next challenge.

I am not interested in talking about aging itself, I want to focus on drawing. I always say that I have sketched my way through the menopause. Half jokingly, half true. I suppose I want to show other people what adding drawing into their lives can do. It can help to slow you down, have peaceful moments, travel, connect with others with the same interest, look at the world and really see it.

I have made a list of some of the women, from a whole range of ages, that I have been looking at and learning from on the channel and am sharing them below. Just click on their name to be taken to their channel.

I would love to know your recommendations too!

The Business Side of YouTube

Jade Beason

Latasha James

Vanessa Lau

 

An Older Perspective

Raina - Small Retired Life

Jen - Silver and Solo

Cecelia - An Artist’s Life

The Unexpected Gypsy

Snapdragon Life

Jo Good - Middle Aged Minx

Janice in France

Dana Findwell

Patricia Brooks - The Courage Catalyst

 

Life + Home

Sophie - Malama Life

Hamimommy

Life of Riza

Sam Fournier

 

Clothes + Style

Alyssa Beltempo

Audrey Coyne

The Glambassador

 

Artists + Illustrators

Fran Meneses

Holly Exley

Sunny Kabocha

 

Entertainment

Amelia Dimoldenberg

First thoughts on 2025...

When I first started my blog, it was a way to get back to drawing from life. A challenge to draw something every day for a year. My online sketchbook was another way I thought of it. It was September 2011. At that time I just posted whatever I had done, there was no quality control, it was all about putting in the reps. As time went on I continued, adding photos and anything else that inspired and helped with my creativity.

Things changed when a few years in, I had a review of my illustration portfolio. The reviewer was quite disparaging about how I used my blog, calling it an ‘image dump’ and encouraged me to use it more as a way to show my expertise by writing articles which would support my illustration business. I took this advice on board and started but as each article required more time, I posted less frequently. Slowly the posts became fewer and fewer. And the last few years here have been tumbleweed to be quite honest.

But the blog played such an important part in my ‘creative recovery’ that I just can’t let it go. So this year, I’ve decided to use it as my online scrapbook and will put things here that I want to remember or that inspire me. It will go back to being primarily for me (although I hope you will enjoy it too!) becoming my own source of inspiration not a way to get customers or showcase my work. After all, I have a website for the ‘professional’ side of things.

January was about unravelling my year and reflecting on 2024, using the prompts from the generous Susannah Conway  I wanted to take the process slowly this year and went to a myriad of coffee shops to work through the exercises. I practised getting back to basics, making some small, short sketches before opening my phone too. So this first blog post of 2025 is just coffee shops reviews and quick sketches.

My creative bank account needs replenishing and this is where it starts!

Grind, 213 Old Street, EC1V 9NR

The Yurt Cafe, St.Katherine’s Precinct, 2 Butchers Row, E14 8DS

Bija Coffee, 2a St.James’s Market, SW1Y 4AH

The Standard, 10 Argyle Street, WC1H 8EG

Ozone Coffee, Emma Street, E2 9AP

Barbican Kitchen, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, City of London, EC2Y 8DS

A photo from Florence

Hello and welcome here if you have come from YouTube!

This is the photograph I used for the direct watercolour painting demo.

You are welcome to use it to draw from.

 

Free lunchtime sketching session!

 

I am delighted to say that I will be doing a free lunchtime sketching session on Zoom with the fabulous Ohn Mar Win in January! We will be drawing from my photos taken in Portugal and it would be great if you are able to join us.

Click here for the link to sign up for the session. 

These are the selection of the photos that we will be working from:

It's been a while...

 

Well, it has been a while since I posted here. Apologies.

Apart from working on illustrations commissions and giving drawing workshops, my attention has been drawn to other places, mainly YouTube. I have been trying to develop my video skills and learn about how the platform works. 

I've also been sending out a regular short newsletter via Pencilbooth. I did think about copying them over to here too? Maybe I should try that, let me know.

My Instagram account celebrated ten years and then I realised that this blog is now more than thirteen years old. A teenager! And I suppose things always change then. The zine I mentioned in the last post is now ready to be published and I am heading off to Clermont-Ferrand next month to exhibit it there.

I'll put some images below a few of my sketches from this year and hopefully I'll show up here a bit more in the future. 

Making a new zine - the process so far...

My first thumbnail layout for the new zine

I am in the process of making a new zine based on my travels in 2023. As I drew in a variety of different sized sketchbooks there are quite a few edits and adjustments to make. I am using Photoshop and InDesign to put the zine together as I used for a previous zine. You can read about previous attempts here and here.

The settings I used to scan the images

I started by making a layout, with thumbnail of each of the spreads. This gave me an idea for the flow of the zine. Then I scanned the sketchbook pages and cleaned them up in Photoshop.

The template for the zine spread

I made a master template for the double page spread size, including an area of bleed for the printing  process.

Once I was happy with the layout, I placed the spread into InDesign. Here are some examples of how they look. I need to add handwritten text too but I felt that the images should be the focus first. The writing will be based on notes I made at the time of the trips and also something about the colours I used on location. 

The places featured are Toulouse, Barcelona, Locarno, Leicester and Santiago de Compostela.

The plan is to have it ready by the end of February so it is available in early Spring in my Etsy shop. 

Videos on YouTube

I have started adding more videos to my YouTube Channel. Here are titles of the latest ones, I hope to make a lot more. Please let me know if there is anything particular that you would like me to make a video about.

Click here to link to the Channel.