Avocado Asks Window

My debut picture book, Avocado Asks (Orchard), came out in paperback on the 23rd of July. To promote it, I did a window painting for the first time in my life. The venue who kindly offered me the opportunity was Tales on Moon Lane in London. Since it was my first time, I was clueless, so I asked my fellow illustrators for advice. Their advice made a big difference. I thought I’d write a post about my first window painting experience so I can pass on the advice ;)

When I researched how to paint windows, there were roughly two schools - painting on the outside of windows vs painting on the inside of windows. The benefit of painting on the outside of windows is that you can avoid glares/reflections to obstruct your painting. On the other hand, the advantage of painting on the inside is that you don’t have to worry about wet weather. In London, the latter seemed a sensible choice. 

When you paint the window from the inside, you need to paint the picture in reverse. This makes things a bit tricky. But Zehra Hicks (Pug Hug, The Problem with Problems) gave me a life saving tip - make a guide. Here are the steps I took:

STEP 1 Ask the bookshop for the window dimensions. 

STEP 2 Plan the design, using the window dimensions (I used Photoshop). Flip the entire design so it becomes reversed. Print it out in actual size (I printed out over multiple A4 papers and stitched together). 

STEP 3 Stick the guide onto the window from the outside. I used masking tape first but it kept peeling off so I ended up using normal sellotape.