No matter what you do, today’s best work is tomorrow’s stepping stone to even better work. This means everything is a draft. Over and over and over again.
Author: Matt Shanks
Which medium should I use?
Watercolour, acrylics, crayons. Different mediums produce different results and the potential can be overwhelming. So, which one should you stick with?
Conclusions aren’t endings
When I ask myself, does this story have a conclusion, what I’m asking is, have I encouraged the reader to decide something? To form an opinion. That’s very different to ‘have I ended this story’.
Book editors do much more than ‘edit’
When you see the word ‘edit’ it evokes small-scale changes like typos, corrections, and grammar. But editors are invaluable to better storytelling.
What are you doing with all your extra time?
With a supercomputer in our pockets now, we’re supposed to have extra time to do all things that we love – family, friends, art. But is this what we’re doing now?
Give and get better feedback about your work
With so many people will to give you a critique and share an opinion, how do you know what to listen to, and what to ignore?
People grow so passions and purpose change
Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Follow your passion. Find your purpose. What were you ‘passionate’ about at five years old. How about ten years old? 20 years? 30? 45? 60? I’m guessing that at every stage of life, you, like me, were probably passionate about different things.… Continue reading People grow so passions and purpose change
The importance of drawing from life
As a storyteller, it’s my job to build believable stories. This means believable characters and believable worlds. What makes something believable? It’s the details. Details need to be grounded in some form of reality, so us lowly humans instinctively know the rules and have a way to connect with the people and places in them.… Continue reading The importance of drawing from life
Better visual storytelling through the seven word and picture combinations
One of the most fun parts of illustrating picture books is the early stage; the one where a publisher has contacted me because they think I’d be the right fit for a text they’ve just acquired. Reading a new, unpublished text, is a thrill. There’s something so energising about the potential that lives within a… Continue reading Better visual storytelling through the seven word and picture combinations
Cleaning comic pen nibs with potatoes
So, this is weird. As I get deeper and deeper into the world of playing with developing a beautiful, inky drawing line, I’m discovering that the world of dip pen nibs is complex. This isn’t a post about which ones are my favourite or my most hated though. No. This is about cleaning your nibs… Continue reading Cleaning comic pen nibs with potatoes