You Do You-nicorn, written and illustrated by Erin Vanessa,

published by Running Press.

Out September 19th, 2023: Available for pre-order now!

“You Do You-nicorn is a sweet, funny story about inclusivity and staying true to yourself. A gender-fluid child shows their friends that they can be and do whatever they want and feel like–whether it’s playing the digeridoo-nicorn, painting a baboon-icorn, or changing their name to Ruth-icorn! Remember: Only YOU know how to do you! And you can feel like your own unicorn by assembling a sparkly unicorn headband with pieces included at the end of the book.”

I wanted to make a memory match game that would encourage kids to try new things: swimming, roller skating, playing the saxophone, and so on.  (At the time, I also imagined it would feature unicorn characters.)

After allowing the words to form organically in my brain without writing anything down, I eventually felt compelled to write it all in one sitting, and that’s how the manuscript for You Do You-nicorn was born.

Julie and Frances, my incredible editor and art director at Running Press, gave me tons of creative freedom, so the process of making the book was a blast and it just flew by!

Below: From sketch to painting to Final Art

Copies of You Do You-nicorn (with signed bookplates!) will be available for purchase at the end.

RSVP here!

You Do You-nicorn is available for pre-order now. It releases September 19th, 2023.

You can see more of Erin’s beautiful illustration work here.

Buy it here.

“Learn how to use drawing to soothe your soul with this beginner’s guide to drawing for relaxation.

So many drawing books focus on the result of your drawing, but this fresh approach looks first at the process of drawing as a means to de-stress and unwind.”

(Simon & Schuster UK)

Buy it here.

“Have you ever wondered what capitalism is? How about feminism, ecology, epidemiology or astronomy?

Well, this book will give you straightforward, easy-to-understand answers to all your troublesome-word questions WITHOUT going on and on for ages OR using even BIGGER words to explain them.”

Buy it here.

(Galena County Tourism)

for my Lettering Retreat in France!

Read more and sign up here.

It’s a dream come true for me—instructing a handful of creative people IRL, then chatting in the afternoon for an Ask the Agent Anything circle, in an incredibly picturesque setting featuring gourmet meals and dazzling day trips to medieval towns, vintage markets, and a vineyard.

Make sure to sign up for the wait list if you don’t grab one of these two spots.

This is going to an amazing trip. I get to hang out and teach a small group of artists my major passion: lettering.

Plus, let me advise you on your career! Read more here.

Read more and sign up here.

You’ll try out lettering techniques, relax in the garden and chat with new friends over wine, and explore charming villages, explore the beautiful surroundings, take day trips to nearby towns and landmarks, and make new friends.

• April 29 – May 6, 2024
• Teyssode, Occitanie, France
• Perfect for all levels; for those who simply want to try their hand at lettering or for those wishing to deepen their lettering technique and style.
• For those who wish to glean insight from an agent and entrepreneur on creative business, illustration, and more.
• Limited to 16 students

Questions about booking? The retreat is organized by the awesome folks at UpTrek. Take a look at the booking page and if you still have questions, you can reach out to them directly at contact@uptrek.com.

Book your place HERE!

A graduate of Virginia State University, Tequitia didn’t pursue a career as an artist until her 30’s.

Starting off primarily as a painter, Tequitia took an independent learning journey in all the different facets of art making. She found her voice in the world of illustration.

If I am on a deadline, after dinner I’ll work until my eyes become blurry. Otherwise, I may play around in my sketchbook. To help me unwind from the day, I play endless games of Solitaire while watching TV or listening to an audiobook.

Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets, so it was an honor. Also, this was the first book where I came up with concept completely on my own.

It was wonderful, (and also intimidating) to be given the assignment with confidence that what I came up with would be great.

Buy it here.

You can see more of Tequitia’s beautiful illustration work here.

Buy it here.

“Artist and illustrator Ruth Burrows takes a beginner-friendly, jargon-free approach to explaining how to get the most from Procreate, delivering not a heavy technical manual but rather, an inspirational workbook that encourages you to play, make mistakes and seek out your own way of using the app.”

I’m very proud of writing and illustrating my own book about Procreate.

I love the fact that the book is now out in the world, people are reading it and doing the projects and sending me messages to say how much it is helping them!

I learned that I actually enjoy writing and really enjoyed the process of breaking down the projects into steps and organising the screenshots in a way that helps the reader understand how the app works.

Were there challenges on this project?

The challenges were all time-related. I had to kind of start and finish each project in one sitting so I didn’t lose momentum. That made for some pretty late nights!

What was the original inspiration for the book?

I was approached by the publisher who had the original idea to do a book about Procreate for illustrators.

Where did you find inspiration for this project?

I found inspiration from my own practice. I love to apply my illustrations and artwork to different products like greetings cards, tote bags, fabric, mugs and coasters. I wanted the people to understand that the work you make on Procreate can be applied in so many different ways.

How long did you work on writing the book?

All the ideas were planned out in one, almost day long meeting. I then went away and developed the projects further. The whole process took about a year but if I’m honest, I did the bulk of the work in the last 3 months!

My studio and art shop is located in the historic market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, UK

What are your favorite art materials?

When I’m not hunched over my iPad using Procreate I love to go mad with acrylic paint, covering sheets of paper with bold shapes and colours. I then cut them up and collage them into semi-abstract works or photograph them to use as textures in my digital work.

I am surrounded by art materials and supplies in my shop and I also have a lot of creative people dropping in to buy stuff, I always ask them what they’re working on and have some really inspiring chats throughout the day!

What is “a day in the life” like for you?

Wake up in my tiny cabin and take Sandy for a walk; Drive 20 minutes to the studio and shop; Work on client work in between serving customers; Take Sandy for a walk beside the river around 5pm.

I sometimes work late at the shop if I have things to finish but if it’s client work, I take it home, listen to a podcast and work into the night.

Then go to bed in my tiny cabin!

Right, below: Sandy the studio dog (@sandystudiodog ) outside the shop.

The Illustrators Guide to Procreate: How to make digital art on your iPadis available now. Buy it here!

See more of Ruth’s gorgeous illustration work here.

Buy it here.

Buy it here.

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Buy it here.

Contact us to assign or license art. We’re happy to help you find the perfect artist or gorgeous images for your project!

Available for licensing as of this writing.

Available for licensing as of this writing.

Read our interview with Brian, below.

This book was published by Neon Squid who mainly publish STEM-focused books.

It was written by the wonderful Dr. Vikram Baliga, who uses his social media following to teach people about plants, science, and conservation efforts.

I loved working on this book! Plants are just plain fun to draw and color, so getting to do a whole book of them was a blast!

Buy it here.

“From climate change to plastic pollution, this book explores real issues facing the planet and how plants can contribute to solutions.”

A. I learned a whole lot about plants, which you can too if you read the book! I have a whole arsenal of nifty facts that I can trot out at fancy dinner parties now.

A. The book is about how plants can be used to solve some of our planet’s biggest issues, from huge scale things like global climate change to much smaller things like how you can use a banana peel to help with sunburns and bug bites! Science! It’s just fun to learn about all these kinds of things!

A. For this project the publisher provided me with a very thorough brief and a rough sketch layout that I basically used to just fill in the blanks. So, you can kind of imagine getting a page with a bunch of boxes drawn in to indicate buildings and some little stick figures here and there and then the text is also roughed in so I know where I need to leave open space.

A. The AD really wanted bright vibrant colors. I also knew I was going to need a lot of different types of greens as this was a book about plants.

For each color, I made a lighter version by adding a tinge of yellow, and a darker version by adding a little blue. I’ve found this makes the colors more interesting.

I ended up with an amazing palette that is extremely versatile.

A. The biggest challenge came about halfway through the project when I got appendicitis! The publisher was very understanding about giving me more time but it was hard not to feel stressed about getting everything done in time after that.

It took about 9 months from the first sketch to sending in the final illustrations.

Q. What medium did you use for the illustrations?

I use the Procreate app on a 12.9in iPad Pro from 2021, and I use some slightly altered pencil brushes from maxpacks.com.

Plants to the Rescue is available now: Buy it here!

See more of Brian’s beautiful illustration work here.

Written and illustrated by Ruth Burrows.

Buy it here!

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(The Somewhere Co.)

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Selected by the American Library Association’s Sustainablity Roundtable as one of the top ten sustainability-themed children’s books in 2022!

Published by Duopress.

Buy it here!

Vanessa

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Buy it here.