Today is a great day. Today is the day that I finished the second draft edits for the Elijah and Crumpet kids book Motivate Man. And flicking back through all the pages, and all the work, I can say I’m extremely proud of it. Sure it’s taken me massively longer than I initially thought it would take, but this whole thing is completely new to me, so I need to be a little kind to myself.
Thankfully, I’ve had a dream client who has been very supportive and patient throughout the process. And thinking back through the journey of illustrating this book I’ve been reflecting on all the things that I could do better next time.
- Take myself seriously – It’s not a hobby anymore. I need to block in creative time and treat it like a real job. Especially if I want it to eventually be a real job.
- Have Deadlines – set myself deadlines. And not just the have the book done deadline. It needs to be broken down into smaller deadlines that make up the entire project.
- Invest in myself – Not until I started drawing on an iPad did I realise how ridiculous it’s been that I’ve drawn 99% of this book on my phone. It has slowed me down big time.
- Outsourcing – I could take a pay cut and get someone to help me with colouring. And get the project done in a fraction of the time.
I think next time around, there is definitely going to be a schedule of deadlines put in place to keep me on track. And also so I know when I might need to outsource and get some help with colouring. I also need to work on prioritising my creative work time and get over feeling guilty for drawing. I think I’ve discovered the first step in how to be a ‘thriving artist’ I think it’s being able to figure out the mental gymnastics you need to do to make yourself believe in your own work.
Anyway, as always, I’m not finished yet. I still need to complete the cover and inside sleeve text etc. but it’s feeling more real than it’s ever felt and I feel great.

Congrats my friend, its exciting to see your work coming together.
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Thank you very much, it’s great to finally be at the tail end of this project. It’s been a massive learning curve 😀👍
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