The Good Ship Illustration

Latest Episodes:

The illustration job nobody tells you about 🌈 Nov 06, 2026

Show notes

It's Tania Willis is in the hot seat this week (have you heard of her? That name rings a bell...) and our Katie is grilling her about maps!

We dug out our dusty listener question spreadsheet and the first one out was a good 'un: how long does a map take?

HOW LONG IS A PIECE OF STRING?

Tania is going to tell you. Just hit play and snuggle in, ok?

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – How long?
02:30 – Map scales
04:30 – Off-plan fantasy
05:30 – Blue and green
07:30 – Problem-solving
09:00 – That dog
11:30 – Mouse mats?!
13:30 – Accidental cartography
15:00 – Morning pages
19:00 – Resistance
20:30 – Play first
21:30 – Black outlines
22:00 – Peer pressure

Links mentioned:

🎨 Free colour workshop (in the freebies section): https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com
📖 The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: https://juliacameronlive.com
🌱 Creative Wellbeing by Studio Emie: https://www.emmi.co.uk/the-creative-wellbeing-handbook
🚩 Freak Flag: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freakflag

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

P.S. Are you feelin' a bit stuck? May we recommend the genius (and free!) colour workshop? It's v low pressure paint-along vibes. Aaand it’s what got Helen to ditch her black outlines for her book Smelly Peggy!
TADAAA: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/colour

Come and say hello!
✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com
p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

How do I get my work featured? With Creative Boom's Katy Cowan Oct 30, 2026

Show notes

This week our Katie chats to Katy Cowan, founding editor of Creative Boom, the independent platform that's been cheering on creatives of every background for 17 years. It started as a side project dreamed up on a sun lounger on her honeymoon (true story!) and now reaches over 300,000 readers a month.
If you've ever wondered how illustrators get picked up by Creative Boom, Katy tells us everythiiiiing: keep sharing your work, keep your Instagram active, and make your website a nice 'n' friendly place for journalists/art directors to land.

Grab a notebook, this one's full of amazin' tips 💛

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Meet Katy
01:00 – Gatekeeping
03:00 – Goody gatekeepers
04:00 – "You're not in trouble"
05:00 – Marketing when you're shy
06:30 – Hiding behind the brand
07:00 – 2024
10:30 – A new brainstorming buddy
11:30 – AI, the nuanced bit
14:30 – Where the work is
15:30 – The perfect storm
16:30 – The tightrope
17:30 – The future is human
19:30 – The courage to be disliked
20:30 – Getting featured
23:30 – Press-ready websites
25:00 – GEO
25:30 – Honeymoon ideas
26:30 – Slipped Disc
27:00 – Being enough

Links mentioned:
🌟 Creative Boom: https://www.creativeboom.com
🎧 The Creative Boom Podcast: https://www.creativeboom.com/podcast/
📸 Creative Boom on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativeboom/
🎶 Katy's personal Instagram (for the Slipped Disc DJ videos): https://www.instagram.com/katylcowan/
🎨 Sarah Martinon, the illustrator behind the Hermès campaign Katy mentions: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmartinon/
🚢 The Good Ship Illustration: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

How to stay in touch with your illustration clients without being annoying - part 2 of our @MadebyJames interview Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

James Martin (aka @MadebyJames) is baaack! Part one was your starter, and this week is the chonky main course. James did promise to come back with something v useful, and he kept his word.

Buckle in for a step-by-step formula to help you build relationships with the people you'd love to work with.

There is absolutely NO cold emailing or cheesey self-promotion involved.

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Welcome back James, and why part two is all about the practical stuff
01:00 – A brand is really just a way of getting more opportunity
02:00 – What James means by "opportunity design"
02:45 – The book Obvious Adams
04:00 – Why you should ask your clients for feedback, not other creatives
06:00 – Why complicated marketing advice makes us feel silly
07:30 – Good business relationships take time (you can't skip straight to "here's my work, give me money")
09:00 – Sandboxes: pressure-free 20-minute conversations
10:45 – Introvert? Start your first sandbox with a friend
11:50 – Everything good in your life started with one conversation
13:30 – Physical mailers and the "effort heuristic"
15:45 – The 5-3-1 framework: five existing clients, three strategic relationships, one aspirational one
19:00 – Focusing on just nine people, and starting a relationship journal
21:30 – The time exchange library
23:30 – What to send when you're following the seven email rule
26:30 – Asking for a sandbox
28:00 – The "second portfolio": gifting a scrappy idea that solves their problem
30:45 – Reciprocity
33:30 – Getting ready for when they look you up: your bio, profile pic and a "how to work with me" PDF
37:00 – Cold emails are gross and they don't even work

Links mentioned:

• Part one of our chat with James was last week (we'll add the link here when we have it)
• James's Substack: https://madebyjames.substack.com
• James's free Super Duper Mentorship for emerging creatives: https://madebyjames.substack.com/p/join-my-free-mentorship-program
• James on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/made_by_james
• James's new book, No Bullsh*t Branding: https://www.quarto.com/books/9781577159452/no-bullsh-t-branding
• Obvious Adams by Robert R. Updegraff
• Hype Yourself by Lucy Werner: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/hype-yourself-a-no-nonsense-pr-toolkit-for-small-businesses-lucy-werner/b3b30df91155c107?ean=9781788601238&next=t&affiliate=11858&ref=hypeyourself.com
• Our episode with Kira Matthews (the seven email rule): https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-7-email-rule-pitching-your-work-to-illustration/id1526470404?i=1000757654276

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

Is there any point becoming an illustrator now that AI is here? An interview with James Martin @madebyjames PART 1! Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

Trigger warning: In this episode, James talks openly about his experience of childhood sexual abuse, as well as addiction (drugs and alcohol). It's mentioned briefly in the 06:52 to 11:00 section and discussed again from 45:23. There's also plenty of strong language throughout. Look after yourself and skip this episode/seek support if you need it.

This week our Katie is chatting to James Martin, AKA @MadebyJames. He's a designer, author, Canva design advisory board member & creative partner at Lincoln Design Co.

James is nice an' honest about the wiggly creative career road that got him to where he is today.

We chat about the "gravity of average" and why everyone's starting to look and sound the same, an economist with two ice cream sellers on a beach 🍦, whether there's any point becoming an illustrator now AI is here aaaand why your weirdness is more valuable than ever. 😎 FLY YOUR FREAK FLAG!!

ALSO, this is part one of two - next instalment is coming next week.

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Welcome James Martin, aka Made by James, and a quick intro to who he is and what he does
02:43 – The world has never been more distracting
06:29 – James's journey: school, trauma, addiction, and finding his way to an art foundation
11:00 – Falling forward into graphic design
15:03 – Following your gut and doing more of what lights you up
18:09 – Writing No Bullsh*t Branding
21:11 – Ddopamine
25:06 – Is there any point becoming an illustrator now that AI is here?
29:54 – The "gravity of average" and how systems pull everyone towards the middle
32:53 – Hotelling's Law, ice cream sellers on a beach, and why opportunity lives at the edges
38:08 – Time, the long game, and "automate the predictable, humanise the meaningful"
41:44 – Bring back dilly dallying!
42:04 – Your weirdness as your difference: taste, story and point of view
45:23 – Feeling scared to be yourself, and why James chose to share his story
49:29 – Being real online vs oversharing, and sharing from the scar, not the open wound
52:24 – Gary V, 500 pieces of content a week, and the performance trap
53:11 – James's mission, his three-step plan, and eating your own dog food
56:10 – Round two is coming!

Links mentioned:

James's Substack: https://madebyjames.substack.com
James's free Super Duper Mentorship for emerging creatives: https://madebyjames.substack.com/p/join-my-free-mentorship-program
James on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/made_by_james
James's new book, No Bullsh*t Branding: https://www.quarto.com/books/9781577159452/no-bullsh-t-branding

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

Lessons from our 'failures' + Illustration Business Club doors close tonight! Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

This week, you're stuck with Katie and Helen again, answering more of your businessy questions (Tania's back next week! Don't cry! She's coming back, really!)

RIP to our dear friend and editor Deirdre McDermott of Walker Books, who died recently. Dee was a legend. We don't have the words to do her justice here, but we miss her very very much. 💛 And of course, Smelly Peggy too.

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Helen and Katie are back
00:45 – Any consistency hacks? Katie's summer of posting every day
01:45 – Reposting old posts
02:45 – When your illustration work 'flops'
03:30 – Stop when the fun runs out
04:30 – Illustrator's boob
06:15 – 2012 washing powder
08:00 – The rise and pause of Katie's jobs board
10:45 – Being misunderstood online
11:45 – "Get over yourself"
13:00 – Helen's online school visit that didn't quite work
15:45 – Lessons
17:00 – Helen's year out
18:45 – Finding Your Creative Voice
19:30 – Remembering Deirdre McDermott of Walker Books

Links mentioned:

Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag (with Helen's video about her year out): https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freak-flag
Helen's free online school visit: https://www.helenstephens.com/virtual-school-visit
Walker Books: https://www.walker.co.uk

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. It's the last day! The Illustration Business Club doors close TONIGHT, Friday 9th October, at 10pm UK time. There's an option to pay in 10 smaller instalments, and we'd love to see you in there before they shut. https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

Help! Posting my illustration work makes me cringe 😬 Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

This week it's just Helen and Katie here (helloo - Tania was off in Naples eating pizza for us. We were living vicariously through her.)

Let's get stuck in and answer your excellent questions about marketing your illustration work.

"I just don't know where to begin!" and overcoming our arch nemesis: cringe.

Plus SLOTH FACTS. You're welcome.

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Time off is good for you, and good for business
01:00 – Helen's short, intense work bursts on the latest Salty book
02:00 – Take the bus
03:00 – "Where do I start with marketing?"
04:00 – Trying on hats (and taking them back off)
04:45 – The creative car and the business car
06:00 – Brilliant work nobody sees vs brilliant marketing that needs more art car time
07:00 – Seven ways to get your work in front of picture book publishers
08:30 – Low-pressure Instagram and the overflowing camera roll
09:30 – If we were starting again: website, portfolio etc.
11:00 – Ditch the "aspiring", "wannabe" and "itty bitty" labels
11:30 – Cringe
12:45 – Caveman brains
15:00 – It's not meant to be easy
16:15 – "How do I get over myself?"
17:15 – Seeking validation vs showing up to share your goodies
18:00 – Illustration Business Club doors are open, plus the new 10-pay option
19:45 – Art Club, sloth ribs and a guinea pig Wild West village

Links mentioned:

Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
The Association of Illustrators: https://theaoi.com
SCBWI British Isles: https://britishisles.scbwi.org
Northumberland Zoo: https://www.northumberlandzoo.co.uk/

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. Get your illustration business ducks in a row. 🐥 🐥 🐥 The Illustration Business Club doors are open now, with a new option to pay in 10 smaller instalments.

We'd love to have you sailing with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

"I hadn't drawn for 21 years" an interview with Jo Overend 🐥 Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Jo Overend is in da house (ship?)

But first, Illustration Business Club is finally OPEN! It's been over a year since we last flung the doors open and we'd love to have you sailing with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

Jo is an author-illustrator, an OG Good Shipper, and the author and illustrator of Megaduck (her debut picture book with Walker Books) 🐥

When Jo started out, she hadn't drawn for 21 years. She posted her drawings anyway, eeeeven the ones she didn't like, and sometimes three to five Instagram posts a day (!!!)

Timestamps:

00:00 – Hello Jo (and Megaduck, in giant cardboard cutout form)
00:23 – Megaduck's final artwork is done and handed over to Walker Books
01:03 – Getting final artwork finished alongside full-on childcare
01:56 – Setting the goal of a full colour dummy for Bologna
02:57 – Walking into shops with your prints (terrifying!) and taking the wholesale leap
03:37 – Why rejection is almost never about you
05:46 – Katie's human design corner: give people something to say yes or no to
06:10 – Sending Walker seven more book ideas without waiting for a meeting
07:01 – Posting real things to agents and publishers, and the "is it worth the stamp?" wobble
09:13 – Why genuine, thoughtful post gets remembered
10:10 – Agents and publishers actually WANT your follow-up email
11:42 – Jo's Illustration Business Club experience
12:23 – Getting stocked in her favourite shop, and growing into wholesale
13:12 – Community, competitions, and winning the Picture Hooks mentorship (plus a book deal the same week!)
14:34 – Tania's "friendly stalking" method for finding art directors
15:50 – "Have we met?" How Jo's postcards got there before she did
16:57 – Helen's broccoli theory of being seen
17:25 – The anonymous egg problem, and why a face (or a logo) builds trust
18:29 – Jo's advice for scared, shy, overwhelmed illustrators
19:04 – Not drawing for 21 years, then posting 3 to 5 doodles a day
22:02 – Megaduck news: US in February, UK in March, and Megaduck 2 on the way
23:07 – Trying all the little things: kids' workshops, wholesale and more
24:40 – Keep your radar open
25:16 – Where to find Jo, plus her Substack and Patreon plans

Links mentioned:

• Jo's website: https://www.jooverendillustration.com/
• Jo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joverendillustration/
• Jo's Substack: https://jooverendillustration.substack.com/
• Megaduck (US edition): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/835922/megaduck-by-jo-overend-illustrated-by-jo-overend/
• Picture Hooks: https://www.picturehooks.org.uk/

Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. Soooo much of what Jo talks about here ties in v well with what's inside Illustration Business Club. The doors are open right now and we'd love to have you in there with us! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

Do I need loads of followers to get illustration work? Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

Fancy getting into your business car for a bit? Illustration Business Club doors are open until 9th October 2026, and you get lifetime access, so you can go at your own pace (pudding first, broccoli later). We'd love to have you sailing with us https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

///

We recorded this podcast LIVE on Instagram on Friday! (So please excuse the audio if it doesn't sound 100%) Anyways, here's the replay. Katie and Helen had a nice 'n' friendly illustration business Q&A, answering your questions as they came flying in. If we missed your question, it's nothing personal! We're doing another live Q&A next Friday too over on our Instagram @thegoodshipillustration so do come along and ask your question again :) https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/

Half-arse is better than no-arse.

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Welcome to our live Q&A podcast
01:50 – Should you keep your children's and grown-up work on separate Instagram accounts?
03:15 – Illustration Business Club doors, early birds and payment plans
04:30 – Organising your website when you've got lots of income streams
05:30 – SEO, long-tail keywords and lying down in the middle of the road
08:45 – What are publishers looking for in a portfolio?
12:00 – Do you need a big social media following to get started?
14:00 – Where to start with licensing
17:30 – How to say no when friends want you to illustrate their book
21:45 – Should you approach an agent or go straight to publishers?
23:30 – Instagram is not your portfolio (and half-arse is better than no arse)
25:30 – Does business stuff apply to fine art too?
27:15 – Your creative car and your business car
30:00 – Working for free, "exposure" and being paid in lobsters
30:45 – How do you stay invested in a picture book idea all the way through?
34:00 – Pricey website hosting vs the cheaper option
35:45 – Dealing with the newbie beginner scaries
38:00 – When getting paid makes you tighten up
40:00 – Structuring your days, Helen's birthday card trick and not doing a Father Ted
43:15 – Do the fun thing first (an idiot with momentum always wins)

Links mentioned:

Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
Tania's Good Ship Illustration podcast episode with Margo Tantau on licensing from 2 weeks ago: https://pod.link/1526470404/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xOTgxNTM1Nw
Anchoring Your Ideas So They Don't Fizzle Out (We looked into this and it's inside the Picture Book Course, not a freebie sorry!) https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/PB
Good Ship freebies for picture book makers and illustrators: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/freebies
Louise Lockhart, The Printed Peanut: https://theprintedpeanut.co.uk/
Jonny Hannah: https://www.instagram.com/darktownresident/
Catherine Rayner: https://www.catherinerayner.co.uk/
Jessica Hische's "Should I Work For Free?" flowchart: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/should-you-work-for-free-jessica-hische

Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

Marketing *without* social media as an illustrator. Is it possible? (Illustration Business Club doors now open!) 🎉🎉🎉 Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

This week, we're back at the kitchen table after the summer holidays, and the doors to Illustration Business Club are officially OPEN! Wahoooo 🎉

A quick catch-up first: Katie trying to not-work for six whole weeks, and Tania's summer spent changing her work on a big museum project.

Then there's a nice big juicy question from a listener: can you market yourself without social media if you really hate filming yourself?

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Doors are open! IBC, the new 10-pay option and the early bird pricing workshop
01:15 – Back for autumn: summer holidays, Berlin playgrounds and trying not to work
02:45 – Tania's summer project and changing her work
04:15 – Keeping an eye on creative funding locally
05:30 – Why the Business Course became Illustration Business Club
06:45 – Key dates: early birds, the introvert-friendly marketing workshop and the 12th October kick-off
08:00 – What's inside: licensing, rights, extra income streams and expert guests
09:15 – "What even is live illustration?" and illustration as a business
11:00 – Listener question: can you market yourself without social media?
11:45 – Life before Instagram
13:30 – Tweeting your work vs trudging round art directors
15:00 – Physical mailers
16:30 – Why niching down makes marketing (and SEO) soooo much easier
17:45 – Social media is not a work-getter
18:45 – Tania's maps: letting the work do the marketing
20:30 – Good work first, then word of mouth
22:30 – Speaking your clients' language
23:30 – SEO for beginners, starring Tania

Links mentioned:

Illustration Business Club: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business
The Good Ship on Instagram (for Art Club): https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/
Introvert-friendly marketing workshop: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/shy

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. The Illustration Business Club doors are open now! Join by midday on Wednesday 30th September and you're an early bird, which means you get a seat at our live pricing workshop with all three of us at 1pm that day (it's recorded too). There's a new option to pay in 10 smaller instalments, and the doors close on Friday 9th October at 10pm UK time.

We'd love to see you in there!

https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

p.p.s. A few dates for your diary:
✏️ Monday 28th September, 12.30pm UK: Art Club, #walktoseeprepare (more page prep, then drawing over the top)
✏️ Monday 5th October, 12.30pm UK: Art Club, starting a brand new #walktosee challenge for October
💌 Wednesday 7th October, 1pm UK: free introvert-friendly marketing workshop, camera off allowed: [NEEDS SIGNUP LINK]
https://www.instagram.com/thegoodshipillustration/

"Your old sketchbook drawings could be earning you money" - An illustration licensing chat with Margo Tantau Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

This week our Tania is speaking to the one and only Margo Tantau (the licensing whisperer).

Margo is a good ship Pal, founder of Tantau Studio and you might have heard her on her brilliant podcast Windowsill Chats. Here's a link: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/windowsill-chats/id1529045232

In this chat, Tania and Margo talk about all the important stuff liiiike:

What is licensing? How do you get paid? Can you REALLY license work you've already made? Margo even shares her secret weapen for getting art directors to fall in love with your work.

Some very good bits too: AI slop is NOT getting in the way of artists with real human hands. Hoorayyyy. That's good news for all of us, eh?

Timestamps, for the timestamp fans:

00:00 – Intro to Margo Tantau and her 360-degree licensing career
02:30 – Welcome back to the licensing whisperer
04:00 – Artist, shop owner, buyer, product developer, agent: Margo's done it all
06:00 – How Lilla Rogers passed the agency baton to Margo
10:30 – Why relationships are the real gold in licensing
12:00 – What licensing actually is (from spice labels to Nike)
13:00 – How you get paid: advances, royalties and typical percentages
16:00 – Can you licence work you've already made? Yes!
17:00 – Margo's secret weapon: show your art ON the product
20:30 – You don't need perfect mock-ups (a drawn teacup works too)
21:00 – A creative challenge: turn one piece into a mini collection
23:00 – Is AI hurting licensing? Why Margo's clients say no to AI art
25:30 – Tania's shock at the AI souvenir flood in Hong Kong
28:00 – The hand of the artist, texture, and quality signalling
30:30 – The UK licensing landscape, life after Surtex
32:30 – A London licensing expo
36:00 – People buy what they see: Margo's plates, fabrics and jacket stand
38:00 – The Licensing Lab at Spring Fair
39:00 – A sneaky tip for finding which exhibitors licence art
40:30 – Should licensing-curious illustrators go to Spring Fair?
41:30 – What does a stand actually cost?
44:30 – Why walking a trade fair beats a day of LinkedIn research
45:30 – Fancy matchboxes, candles, and buying things just for the art
46:30 – The big takeaway: people still want real art
48:30 – Community, Bologna, and the gold at the bottom of the rainbow

Links mentioned:

Margo's website: https://margotantau.com/
Tantau Studio: https://www.tantaustudio.com/
Windowsill Chats podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/windowsill-chats/id1529045232
Windowsill Chats on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/windowsillchats
Spring Fair (NEC Birmingham, 7th to 10th February 2027): https://www.springfair.com

Byeeee for now!

x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)

p.s. Want Margo's full licensing class? It's waiting for you inside Illustration Business Club, along with aaall the other money-and-business bits art school forgot to teach you.

Doors open on 25th of September 2026! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/business

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