February Schedule
Hi! I'm Ella Beech, a children's book author and illustrator living in Cambridge UK. In 2019, after over 20 years working in Children’s Publishing as a Designer and Art Director I realised I wanted to follow my lifelong dream to become an artist and illustrator. I quit my job, enrolled on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, and immersed myself in a brand new creative practice. Since then I have graduated, and illustrated three books, with The Folio Society, Wide Eyed Editions and Thames and Hudson. I also teach on the MA now part-time as an associate lecturer.
I like to think of this Substack as my virtual studio where I have opened my doors and invited you in to have a wander. There are plenty of things to take a look at with my free subscription - I write regular posts chatting about creative process and the meandering journey I have been on since leaving work. And for people who want to dive a bit deeper, I offer a paid subscription, where you immediately get access to my back catalogue of paid posts, regular updates and behind-the-scenes videos from my studio. You also get exclusive access to my monthly lives: Art Play Dates and Picture Book Club. Plus, access to my private community, chats and loads more. You also help support me in making not only this content on Substack, but you help support my transition into becoming a fully-fledged illustrator.
Hello! Happy February! The sun is shining gloriously today, and I can feel spring is just around the corner.
This always reminds me of my very favourite Frog and Toad story. Do you know Frog & Toad? Written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel, and they are all the sweetest, most touching stories. Here is The Corner, so you can see what I mean.
Those of you who just want to read the schedule and don’t want to read all my waffle, you can skip down to the next page break and check out the schedule.
For all the rest of you waffle scoffers, here’s a little beginning of February catch up….
How’s your week been? It’s been a busy week in the studio for me. I’ve been in the final stages of my latest book, which is a Thames & Hudson picture book. I can’t wait to show you more of it. It publishes this autumn, so hopefully I will be able to tell you more about it soon. I have finished all the artwork, and I have made up a list of all the little changes I want to make, some of which are little tweaks in Photoshop, and some are little bits I am repainting and will patch in (in Photoshop again). There’s lots of back and forth between the computer and my desk. Sometimes I do a little redraw, and then I scan, print at the right size, and print out ready to paint. Sometimes, I just print out what I have already sketched and print out to paint again. I have a tendency to add a little bit too much shadow, and then it becomes difficult to lift out, and it’s just easier to repaint. I also have a few changes from the publisher and author. Luckily, it is just little changes, so it feels achievable.
What else? My second illustrated book comes out on March 7th, so I am gearing up for that. It is called Rewild The World at Bedtime, written by Emily Hawkins and Published by Wide Eyed Editions, who publish gorgeous books, so I feel very privileged to be on their list. Also, fun fact, Emily and I worked together early in the days of both our careers in Publishing. I was Senior Designer I think, and Emily was Senior Editor, so it was amazing when we got paired up, completely by chance by the Publisher.
You can pre-order the book here, through the bookshop of my fellow Substack friend
- it would be amazing if you pre-ordered the book. I didn’t know this, but apparently, if a book gets lots of pre-orders, it’s a really good thing, and will make me look like a good bet to the publishers, so I would so appreciate it if you wanted to pre-order!
I have been booked in to paint some windows in bookshops, and Emily and I will be doing some joint events together, so that feels pretty exciting. I’ll be sure to take some photos and let you know how that all goes. It’s another milestone for me, to do events and paint windows.
I had a brief moment of excitement when I got the coveted Substack bestseller tick - and I even got an email telling me I was a bestseller - but, alas, it was to be but a brief flicker of success, as I swiftly got two unsubscribes, and lost the tick as quickly as it had arrived. I immediately worried that I was irritating people by posting updates as my follower count moved up from 97…98…99… to that allusive 100, which gets you the tick. Then I remembered that it is literally an arbitrary number. Just because 100 looks nice and neat, and takes the numbers up to triple digits. I know I am extremely lucky to have the paid followers I do have, and I am so grateful to each and every one of you. So I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you, both paid and free subscribers for your support.
Finally (I mean, I could waffle on, but I will spare you!), I am excited to be heading off on a very mini-break to Portugal on 8th Feb. My husband Nick got asked to take part in a seminar there, and he suggested I come along, as accommodation would be paid for and the flights were very reasonable. So I am heading off on Thursday on the red eye, and we fly home on Saturday night. So it is super quick! My plan is to wander around and draw and paint and read and relax. Nick will be in seminars all day, so I will be delightfully alone all day, and am really looking forward to just mooching about by myself. It’s always been a dream of mine to get away somewhere warm towards the end of winter, to help head off the winter-blues that I do tend to get by the end of the long cold season. And I can’t actually believe I have arranged it. It will be a stretch financially, but I don’t mind living on a budget there (as long as I can have a few Portuguese tarts!) and I feel very brave to be doing it. It’s also a dream of mine to travel and draw, and I hope I might even be able to compile a little mini zine, or make some art that turns into prints.
Anyway, on with the February schedule. I hope to see some of you at the live Zooms and if not, hopefully in the comments.
FEBRUARY SCHEDULE
Motivation Monthly
Unscheduled
I normally host this as a live session, but I am experimenting with making this a written post instead. From now onwards, I will be writing one post per month called Motivation Monthly where I will guide you through a creative check-in, helping you celebrate everything you achieved (big or small) the previous month - and ideally, help you recognise the things you actually got done which normally get lost to the mists of time - with a ta-da list. Set some goals, check-in on goals, and generally make time for reflection on your creative goals with worksheets that I’ve specially designed.
Look out for this post, coming soon!
Art Play Date
Weds 21st February, 8-9pm GMT
This is your monthly “Art Play Date” where I will set a gentle intention for the session and lead you through an intuitive art play session. Designed to get you out of your logical thinking brain, and into your free-flowing intuitive self! Look out for a separate post with more details soon.
These sessions are recorded and available for replay for all paid subscribers. You can access all the replays here.
Picture Book Club
Weds 28th February 8pm
This is my monthly book club, but because I am a children’s book nerd, in my book club we read a picture book each month! I announce the book at the beginning of the month, and suggest some questions for you to consider, and then we will have a live Zoom together at the end of the month to chat all about it! Look out for a separate post on this with Zoom links and more details. and I am excited to reveal this month’s book, which we all got very excited about at the end of last month’s club. It is:
Professional Crocodile written by Giovanna Zoboli and illustrated by Mariachiara di Giorgio
It’s our first wordless book choice for Picture Book Club, and I’m super excited to read this with you! As you can see, it’s pretty special! If you do want to buy it, here are links to buy it through my pals:
at Shelf Editionsat Storytellers Inc.
As you can see, I’ve put both live zooms towards the end of Feb, because the first two weeks I have a lot of teaching, and that trip to Portugal. But I am hoping to do some sort of extra post in those two weeks, at the very least, I will post one or two archive videos from my Patreon account (I have three years of posts I need to transfer over to here. I need to pay someone to do that really, but that’s not an option at the moment - until I write and publish my bestseller that is!! One day…! A girl can dream.
Ok, back to the desk. See you again soon! Let me know how you are in the chat!
This creative space that I call Gather • Filter • Make helps support me in so many ways. It means I have space to continue making personal work and personal creative development, It supports my work as a published illustrator (I can’t live on the advance payments alone) and helps fuel this Substack, so if you want to see more, I would love it if you would consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Are you going to Lisbon Ella? If yes, I definitely recommend that you visit Sintra, would need to catch the train but it's a magical place! Enjoy your days in Portugal 😊
Books, posts & zooms - oh my! Lots to look forward to. Just a heads-up that the dates you’ve listed probably need to be revised ;). Have a lovely time in Portugal, Ella 🇵🇹.