Welcome to The Good Ship Illustration - the podcast for illustrators who are quietly working away in their sketchbooks thinking… “is it just me?”

…it’s not just you!

We’re Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell and Tania Willis - three full-time illustrators from three different corners of the industry (and three different age brackets ). We live in the same seaside town in the UK and started having cuppas and chats… and accidentally became illustration agony aunts.

Now we record those chats for you! We answer your questions about confidence, tricky clients, pricing your work, creative block, picture books, publishing, and everything in between.

✨ New episodes every Friday. ✨

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and do send us your questions!

P.s. Fancy some freebies? Head to thegoodshipillustration.com for colour workshops, picture book templates, and other treats.

Byeeee for now!

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

🚢🚢🚢

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 🎙

Emily asked us why backgrounds can be so overwhelming. So in this episode, we share lots of low-pressure ideas to make them doable (maybeee even fun).

Please enjoy Tania nearly falling asleep under a weighted blanket 🤣

Podcast Episode Highlights:

• How to stop overthinking it
• Colour tips and some good stuff Chris Haughton taught us
• NO ZOOMING IN ALLOWED 😠
• John Burningham
• Old Lady Baby

(rough) Timestamps:
00:00 – Emily’s question: “Backgrounds scare me – help!”
01:00 – The Chris Haughton breakthrough about colour
03:00 – Tonal tips: how to make your characters stand out
04:00 – Thin lines, wobbly pens, and keeping backgrounds soft
06:00 – The menace of digital zoom 😬
07:00 – Backgrounds = hints, not homework
08:00 – John Burningham, cut-out characters and painterly skies
10:00 – Embracing imperfection and storytelling over polish
11:00 – Blindboy’s advice: fail on purpose
13:00 – Art Club, recycled drawings, and happy accidents
14:00 – Upcoming Art Club news & picture book course teaser
15:00 – Weighted blankets, fancy deodorant, and Aesop air freshener 😌

Links & stuff:

• The Picture book course details: www.thegoodshipillustration.com/pb
• Make sure you're getting our emails for Art Club invites: Scroll to the bottom here

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

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 🎙

“Can you just do it for free?” NO.
In this week’s episode, we’re talking about working for free, how to say no without guilt, and why having nice strong boundaries won't ruin your career (we promise).

Tania shares a BRILLIANT script for saying no to unpaid work. Thank you Taniasan, we luv ya.

Other good bits of note:

• How to stop feeling bad about saying no to cheeky requests
• How charity auctions can be a smarter way to give back
• Free pitching: where to draw the line
• That time Katie backtracked on a call (and the world didn't end)
• What to say when a client demands an answer right nowwww
• The biggest myth of all: “If you say no, they’ll never ask again”

Timestamps:
00:00 – Biscuits first. We have our priorities in order 🤣
01:00 – “How do I say no to free work… nicely?”
02:30 – Quotas, boundaries, and rude assumptions
04:00 – Saying no to friends and students
06:00 – Turning FAQs into blog content
07:00 – A better way to support charities (without giving away your time)
08:00 – “I used to worry people wouldn’t like me if I said no…”
10:00 – Paid development work in picture books: what’s normal?
12:00 – The pitch trap and how to avoid it
13:00 – Katie’s mural pricing wobble (and recovery!)
14:00 – The power of taking your time to decide
15:00 – You’re not being too picky. You’re just not people-pleasing anymore!
16:00 – On "playing": why your language matters

Oh! While you're here...

• You can join the Picture Book course here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/PB

Taraaa,

x Good Ship

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 🎙