How illustrator Jill Calder built a long-lasting creative career (without losing her voice)

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13d ago 38:07

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In this episode, our Tania chats with multi award-winning illustrator Jill Calder about 30+ years of illustration, and how she’s explored pretty much the entire “illustration atlas” without losing herself along the way.

Stuff we cover:

Staying recognisably Jill across 30+ years of illustration
Moving from editorial to corporate to heritage work
Building a career with both illustration and hand lettering
Big, bonkers corporate jobs (including handwriting as other people!)
Making the leap into children’s books later in her career
The reality of nonfiction vs fiction picture books (time, fees, and headspace)
Colour palettes, maps and Google Earth “walks” for picture atlases
Working with Jackie Kay on Coorie Doon and handling deeply emotional text
Bringing wild, playful colour to I Love You Every Color
Keeping energy and looseness in final artwork
What Jill’s working on now – including a brand new picture book with Gecko Press

Rough Timestamps

00:00 – Tania introduces Jill and why she’s a Good Ship favourite
02:30 – Early days: art school, editorial work and the 90s newspaper scene
05:00 – “By chance, someone took a risk on me…” – moving into design & corporate jobs
07:30 – Becoming “the handwriting person”
11:30 – The wildest job ever
15:00 – Champagne, iPads and the very fancy side of ad agency work
16:30 – Exhibition days, analogue work and why looseness matters
18:00 – Stumbling into children’s nonfiction with Robert the Bruce
21:00 – Picture atlases, strict colour palettes and Google Earth walks
22:30 – Nonfiction vs fiction picture books – fees, length and workload
26:00 – Collaborating with Jackie Kay on Coorie Doon and illustrating big feelings
29:30 – I Love You Every Colour – an illustrator’s dream text
31:30 – Two very different books in one year: soft dreamland vs riot of colour
33:30 – Handling emotion, light and character across spreads
34:30 – New project: Cass and the Beast for Gecko Press
35:30 – Keeping rough energy in final artwork (and managing the stress of it!)
37:00 – Where Jill pops up inside Good Ship courses and Facebook groups

Stuff we mentioned

Jill Calder – illustration, lettering and books
Find Your Creative Voice – Fly Your Freak Flag (Good Ship course)
The Picture Book Course (Good Ship course)
Robert the Bruce – nonfiction picture book
Coorie Doon – written by Jackie Kay, illustrated by Jill Calder
I Love You Every Colour – written by Carolyn Rose, illustrated by Jill Calder
Upcoming: Cass and the Beast – written by Clare Mabey, illustrated by Jill Calder (Gecko Press)

Byeeee for now!

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

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