Recap - June 2023
What Momo has been up to this month.
Hello, fellow doodlers and book lovers! How was your June? It was uncharacteristically hot in London. My brain was melting. (I’ve lost my heat-proof, Japanese skin after 20 years living in the UK.) Luckily, I was on a two-week holiday with my mum!
June started rather stressful for me. My cat, Clementine, had a cancer scare and she went through a number of tests. This happened when I was trying to get as much work as possible done before the holiday.
For a picture book I’m working on now, thumbnails have been (more or less) signed off. To my horror, my editor and AD decided to send the cryptic, squiggly thumbnails to the author! They thought his input at this early stage would be beneficial. (The story is a fiction but has non-fiction elements in it.) I wouldn’t blame him if he doubt my drawing skills… Anyway, it’s going to be a self-ended, 32 page book, which includes 24 story pages plus 1 x copyright & title spread and full-colour endpapers.
You don’t know what “self-ended picture book” means? Don’t worry I didn’t when I started out until I came across this blog page.
While waiting for the author’s feedback, I sketched out about 80% of roughs although I knew I would most likely need to change them later. What’s the rush? Well…the deadline for the FINAL artwork is the end of August. Yes, you heard me right. In two months…eek!
Then, I received another email from the same publisher two days before my mum was due to arrive from Japan. It’s about another picture book. They apologetically told me that they had changed their mind on the cover design. It’s unusual of them. Cover design decision process continues to be mystery to me. Anyway, the change was substantial but not fundamental so I had a blitz on it and sent off new artwork, then I headed to Heathrow to pick up my mum. (Wheeee!)
Wait! “What about Clementine?”, you might ask. It wasn’t a cancer! (Hurrah!!!!). It turned out to be IBD, which we can manage with diet and steroid. She had got well enough for me to leave her with my neighbour for a few days. So off we went to Edinburgh!
Oh, the medieval city sitting on the cliff, with multilayered streets, mysterious closes, towers and turrets… Edinburgh was MAGICAL! (Did you know unicorn is Scotland’s national animal?) But I won’t bore you with my holiday pics. Instead, here are my holiday sketches.
Not a lot to be honest with you. I know that observational drawing is very important but I’m not much of a sketchbook person. I always take a sketchbook with me on my holidays but I hardly, more often not at all, open it. The problem is drawing in public makes me self-conscious! So, at the Berthe Morisot exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery, it was touching to read that the renowned Impressionist painter often started work early in the day to avoid attracting unwanted attention while painting outdoors. Do you feel the same?
Then talented illustrator, Marloes De Vries, posted this while I was on holiday. I wanted to shout “I know what you mean!”
What happened was I had a meeting with my editor and AD at another publisher for my next authored book just before my holiday. To my disappointment, none of the ideas I had proposed was rejected (with reasonable reasons)… They gave me some character prompts to help me out instead.
Although I didn’t “work work” during the two weeks holiday, I was constantly thinking about these books and characters at back of my mind. As Marlose says, it’s really difficult to completely switch off your work brain or not to feel guilty about not working. Anyway, I got some new ideas. And most importantly, I had a great time with my mum :)
I’d like to finish this post with some of inspiring things I went to see with my mum.
Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney at The Wallace Collection: I particularly enjoyed the allegorical paintings by Edwin Landseer. Also, did you know that Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were keen painters? Their paintings are actually pretty good!
Andy Warhol: The Textiles at Fashion & Textile Museum: The exhibition includes over 45 textiles designed by Warhol in the 1950s and 60s. I loved all the colourful and playful designs, using everyday objects such as buttons and broom sticks, pens and pretzels. Mega endpaper inspirations! And I’m obsessed with his ABC book I fond in the gift shop.
Yevonde: Life and Colour at National Portrait Gallery: I’d never heard of the London photographer who pioneered the use of colour photography in the 1930s, but I fell in love with the vivid colours and how she staged her subjects.
My mum and I share a big passion for dance and theatres. We went to see 42nd Street at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. It was fan-TAP-stic! The story was a bit weak but I loved everything else from the 1930s costumes and dazzling Art Deco sets to mesmerising tap dancing.
Lastly, I found a copy of Orland the Marmalade Cat book a local Sunday market! I’ve been collecting this series from the 1930s-70s (currently I’ve got 5 out of 19 books ever published). It’s easier to just buy online but I prefer to leave it to serendipity like this.
And…That’s it for this month! Thank you for reading. Speak to you in the next newsletter!
Momoko x
Any comments and question will be welcome!
And much appreciated if you could spread the word!
What an interesting post - aren't covers frustrating! Glad Clementine is OK - and I must go to that Andy Warhol textiles exhibition, and Yevonde...