How to stop your illustration style looking generic & blah

Summary

The Good Ship Illustration

Episode: How to stop your illustration style looking generic & blah

Date: November 21, 2025
Hosts: Katie Chappell, Helen Stephens, Tania (Libby) Willis

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Main Theme

This episode dives into how illustrators can develop a unique, authentic style that stands out from the generic, overly referenced trends often seen in the industry. The hosts—Helen, Katie, and Libby—discuss why personal voice is critical for connecting with audiences and getting attention from art directors, and they share personal stories, advice, and book recommendations to help illustrators avoid falling into the “generic & blah” trap.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Problem with Generic Illustration

• The hosts have recently seen accomplished work that lacks “humanness” or personal perspective.
• Katie (00:23): “If you work towards that [stereotype], you’re going down quite an impersonal, boring route that doesn’t show anything about who you are.”
• Many aspiring illustrators emulate what they think picture book illustration “should” look like, resulting in work that is technically skilled but uninspired.

2. Why Authenticity Resonates

• Illustrations that reflect real emotions or personal stories capture attention and connect with viewers.
• Helen (01:14): “That’s the work that is really exciting to look at, isn’t it? Feel it that some of their thing is in there.”
• Libby explains that the industry only looks up from the “Instagram scroll” when something unexpected, “that slightly freaks you out,” appears (02:18).

3. Drawing from Real Experience & Emotion

• Personal anecdotes and observations fuel memorable illustrations and stories.
• Katie (05:46): Shares a family story about her grandparents squatting in a Nissan hut and how these details—though not always literally used—infuse her stories with authenticity.
• Libby notes that “truth is stranger than fiction” and it’s easier to believe in, and persist with, stories rooted in real life (05:11).

4. Building Stories with Relatable, Recognizable Moments

• The group discusses the power of urban myths and emotionally resonant “small moments” that foster universal connection.
• Helen (10:35): Talks about paintings and illustrations where the artist’s real feelings (grief, joy) are visible even without explicit explanation.

5. The Idea of “Smile in the Mind”

• Libby recommends A Smile in the Mind, explaining that compelling visual communication invites the viewer to finish the story themselves, creating an emotional connection (08:54).

6. Narrative Arcs in Illustration & Story

• Katie recounts Emily Howarth Booth’s model of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis from film and storytelling, relating it to illustration and personal change (11:00).
• This dynamic structure keeps stories—and art—fresh and relatable.

7. The Value of Deep Exposure to the Field

• Katie credits her development to spending countless hours reading children’s books as a part-time bookseller, learning by osmosis what worked and what didn’t (14:33).
• Libby (16:03): Emphasizes “full immersion” in picture books as critical to avoiding a narrow, outdated vision of what illustration can be.

8. Artists with Unique Voices in Different Fields

• Jill Calder and Libby van der Ploeg are highlighted as examples of illustrators who have maintained their unique voices across packaging, editorial, branding, and children’s books (17:20).
• Libby (19:00): “The project and the clients adapt their creative parameters for her, so they've seen her work and say, gosh, you don't see that in children's book illustration that often. Let's try inviting Jill into that creative arena…”

9. Be Yourself—No Imitations Needed

• The hosts caution against creating work as an “impression” of what is perceived to be marketable.
• Helen (19:47): “You can tell if they're just saying things that they think you want to hear rather than seeing what they actually think… I can tell if somebody was obsessed with snails, that's so much more interesting because you can tell they're just doing their thing.”
• Katie (21:02): “Don’t do an impression of, ah, whatever area of illustration you want to be in.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Libby (02:18): “The only way an art director is going to stop whizzing through an Instagram scroll is to see something where they're like, what the hell is that? You actually need to make something that slightly freaks you out to know that you have moved beyond the boundaries of something that is too generic, too stereotyped.”
• Helen (08:54): “When the viewer has solved the puzzle of looking at an image and understanding what this unusual image means, they then feel part of it, like, oh, I completed it. And it gives you a smile in the mind.”
• Katie (11:00): “She described it as like a thesis. They set out the thesis... there’ll be an antithesis... and then you have synthesis, where the original character has now got their thesis and their antithesis mixed up and makes synthesis. And that is your ending.”
• Libby (16:03): “If your view of what is picture book illustration is so narrow, you're going to do some work and people are like that old stuff. No, we're beyond that now.”
• Helen (19:47): “I can tell if somebody was obsessed with snails, that's so much more interesting…”
• Katie (21:07): “Just be obsessed with whatever you're obsessed with.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:14 – Problem of generic illustration; the importance of personal expression
• 02:18–03:39 – Breaking free of stereotypes; surprising the industry
• 03:58–07:16 – Drawing inspiration from real experiences and authentic emotions
• 07:16–10:35 – Urban myths, story believability, “Ideas that Stick”
• 10:53–12:30 – Story structure: thesis, antithesis, synthesis
• 13:10–15:39 – Personal growth as a storyteller and illustrator
• 16:03–17:20 – Research and immersion in contemporary publishing
• 17:20–19:46 – Artists with unique, consistent voices across sectors
• 19:47–21:13 – Final advice: authenticity trumps imitation

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Tone & Atmosphere

Friendly, conversational, and full of practical encouragement—like a creative coffee with wise, warm-hearted industry friends.

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Actionable Advice for Illustrators

• Regularly visit bookshops/libraries to see contemporary illustration—not just what you grew up with (16:03).
• Draw from your real life, quirks, memories, and passions—even if they don’t seem “bookworthy” at first.
• Don’t try to predict or imitate trends—by the time you see them, they’re already over (19:58).
• Keep your portfolio true to your voice; remove work that’s an “impression” rather than authentic (20:16).
• Study storytelling structure (books/workshops suggested: A Smile in the Mind, Emily Howarth Booth's classes).
• Let your “obsessions” and interests, however niche, guide you—it’s more memorable and fun (21:07).

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For More

Find color workshops, picture book templates, and illustration treats at thegoodshipillustration.com.

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Summary prepared for those seeking a richer, more personal path in illustration.

Transcript

[Katie]

Sa. Hello. Hello. So we thought we would chat today about finding your unique voice. And the thing that sparked this conversation and made us excited to talk about this is that we've seen a couple of pieces of work today that we've all had a look at that is accomplished. And these illustrators think maybe they're ready and wondering why they're not being published or their work isn't being picked up. And we've all looked at it and think, actually, while the work is kind of ready, as in it looks presentable and accomplished to some extent, it doesn't have any of their humanness in it, like nothing of their personality. They're not telling me something from their own point of view. It's not personal enough. You know what I mean?

[Helen]

That's the work that is really exciting to look at, isn't it? Feel it that some of their thing is in there. They can't help but make that kind of.

[Katie]

So I'm thinking of somebody in particular we were looking at today, and their work is accomplished. And then on some level you think, yes, they could illustrate a book. So if you. If you, for example, want to be a picture bookmaker, I think sometimes if you haven't read a lot of books, or we'll look what's available now and gone in a bookshop and really looked through all the books that are available, you might just have an image in your head of what a picture book illustrator would be, what an illustration should be, perhaps watercolor with a line and big round eyes, or. I don't know, you might just have this kind of stereotype in your head. And I think if you work towards that, you're going down quite an impersonal, boring route that doesn't show anything about who you are. That's what I was trying to say. Yeah.

[Helen]

It's like people's idea of what it should look like.

[Katie]

Yeah. Rather than who you are and what you would like to say.

[Libby]

And I think that using that word stereotype, although it can sound a bit brutal, if the work is of a stereotype. Yeah. You need to move sideways pretty quickly because it's an industry that we're working in, so we see examples everywhere that the industry has validated as publishable. That's a level you get to. And here is a style people are working in that is, for example, children's picture book illustration, or that is editorial illustration. And if you start making something that looks like a thing you have seen, which is your subconscious saying, now that's what I call illustration. And you Suddenly make some. You get an initial buzz of, hey, I can do it. I'm doing it. Look, I'm doing it. I'm being an illustrator. But then you have to go push out a lot further and get that behind you into something that you haven't seen before, because it's the only way people will look again at it. And, oh, yeah, I've seen all that stuff wherever, that generalized generic illustration. The only way an art director is going to stop whizzing through an Instagram scroll is to see something where they're like, what the hell is that? You actually need to make something that slightly freaks you out to know that you have moved beyond the boundaries of something that is too generic, too stereotyped.

[Helen]

And I know with picture books, Helen, you always say it's about the relationship between the characters. If you see an image and you can really feel like, oh, that girl really does love that little fluffy penguin. Like, that's the sort of thing that stops you from maybe whizzing by something on Instagram. Be like, boring, boring, boring. To be like, oh, actually, what is that?

[Katie]

Yeah, I think it's sort of recognizing an emotion or something in the drawing that you can tell comes from inside that illustrator. So we did a workshop a while ago, didn't we, about how to finish your picture book idea without the idea just disappearing and you just don't finish it. Because a lot of people start an idea, but then they get stuck and they don't know where to go. And I think one of the ways that you can stay focused on your picture book idea is if it comes from things that have either happened to you or you've seen happen to kids, or things that just catch your imagination personally. Like when we were writing Salty Dog, Katie and I have been writing some stories together. And when we get together at my kitchen table and we've got not literally a blank sheet of paper, but we've got our iPad with a blank screen on it. We chat about what your little girl did this morning or what mine did when she was little, or things we remember from our childhood or holidays we've been on. And all of that kind of feeds the atmosphere of the story and, like, makes something true to build it on.

[Libby]

Makes it real as well. Yeah, because it's anchored in something quirky and real that happened because truth is stranger than fiction. You can hang on to it. You can come up with the weirdest stories in the world, but if they don't resonate and have a feeling that this strange stuff really Went on. It doesn't work. But you know, when kids do such oddball and unusual things and things happen in your life, it's easier to work about because you believe them, you know they were true. If it was part of your imagination, you start, you can start questioning it and saying, oh, that's actually quite a stupid idea. I don't believe in it anymore because it wasn't real to begin with.

[Katie]

I think people recognize that authenticity, don't they? That you're very excited by it and it comes from you. Do you remember how when we were writing Salty Dog, one of the ideas that I really wanted to do right from the start, but it hasn't made it because often you have an idea that starts the whole thing rolling, but actually maybe it doesn't even make it to the book in the end, was that my grandparents after the war squatted in a Nissan hut because there was a shortage of houses after the second World War. So they squatted in a Nissan hut. And in this Nissan hut they had a little fireplace. They built a fireplace. And my granddad didn't like his mother in law. So one day when the mother in law came to visit, he put a ladder up on the outside of the Nissan hut. He wrapped up a big stone or a brick or something in a jumper and dropped it down the chimney. So that ash would just go everywhere and all over the grandmother, the mother in law, and she'd be really angry.

[Helen]

And then. It's so hard to get that into a story.

[Katie]

It was impossible to get it in. But it helped us like set the scene because we decided, because near where we live here, there are some upturned boats that people used to use as fishing sheds. Which reminds me of the Nissan huts and all the stories from my grandparents about having all these children that they had loads of children in a Nissan hut and they used drawers as cradles for the babies. And all of this stuff, it's really integral to the story. Even though in the story you never literally see that starting somewhere real really helps the story feel real in your own head.

[Helen]

Yeah, it's got that credibility, isn't it? Believability. I'm reading a really good book, actually. It's reminded me. It's called Ideas that Stick. So the example they give is that urban myth about, you know, a man goes for a drink and then like this beautiful woman gives him a drink and then he wakes up in a bath of ice and the phone rings and they say, phone 911. And it turns out he's had his kidney harvested. None of it is true at all, but there's bits of it that were believable enough that it became like an urban myth and spread like wildfire. And everybody thought people were harvesting kidneys and stuff, but it was just like the tiny building blocks of what made people all believe that.

[Libby]

The other one would be something about. You'd a woman drive off in her car, and then they. They realize either some kind of monster.

[Katie]

Or somebody on the back seat.

[Libby]

Is the back seat standing on the. On the bonnet of the car. People would tell each other these stories.

[Helen]

Or like, the thing about. Have people hiding razor blades in children's sweeties at Halloween. And then everyone was like, check all your children's sweeties. So it's like everybody has Halloween sweets and they can imagine somebody maybe doing that. Obviously, it's not true, but it's spread. I wonder if there's some. I don't know if it's completely random, but is there something in that. That's. In making work that is like people. It stops people in their tracks.

[Libby]

Yeah. A story like that.

[Katie]

Yeah. And I think if you felt something and it means something to you, that even though it's personal to you, everybody else has had that feeling about that thing. And I think other people can recognize it if it's real, if it could be.

[Helen]

It could either be a really exciting thing or a funny thing or a.

[Libby]

Thing where you're like, yeah, it's that recognition, isn't it, of a small moment that happens in your life regularly and then you realize you're not alone, that everyone else feels this too. Yeah. If you can embed that in a story. There's a great book called A Smile in the Mind. It was written by the partners design team, and they worked out a system that. To get ideas to stick, particularly in branding, which was their core business, was that to come up with the perfect logo. You suggest the first half of the idea visually, and people read the visual and they're like, oh, it's. And their understanding is the second and the completing part of the idea. And when they feel they have. When the viewer has solved the puzzle of looking at an image and understanding what this unusual image means, they then feel part of it, like, oh, I completed it. And it gives you a smile in the mind. And if you have a smile in the mind related to a brand, you then emotionally connect with the brand because it's invited you to solve a puzzle visually as part of their brand. And it's such a brilliant book, I would use it all the time teaching design thinking because it really explains that whole fluffy area of like, what is design thinking? So you don't present someone with the whole story, you just give them the first part of the clue, they do the second bit in their head and then everyone's happy you've solved it. Yeah. And it makes you have that essential emotional connection with a corporation, which is what designers have to do. So if anyone hasn't got that book, it could be the missing bit. You could go with children's picture books in some way. Just making something stick, like even paintings.

[Helen]

When you see a painting, you're like, oh, there's something about that that's really interesting. And then you hear the painter talking about it and they're talking about their grief or whatever. And it's like you could. Even though you didn't know the thing before you saw the painting, you saw the painting, you knew there was something in there. And then when they talk about it, like, oh, that's why that was so.

[Katie]

Like, grabbed my eyeballs. I know we're talking about illustration and not writing, but we've kind of veered into writing a bit. I think they're quite similar. Yeah. I just did one of Emily Howarth Booth's writing workshops and it was mind blowingly brilliant. And she used films as examples. So you know how in films she described it as like a thesis. They set out the thesis. This character was born here and sees the world in this way. And then there'll be an antithesis. So another character comes along who sees the world. Absolutely nothing like they see the world. And so perhaps they hate each other. But then some big crisis, some big thing happens and then you have synthesis, where the original character has now got their thesis and their anti antithesis mixed up and makes synthesis. And that is your ending. I love how she explained that. It made me think of psychotherapy like we're all born into a family who teaches the world is a certain way. Some crisis or other happens where you realize, hang on, the world isn't the way I've been told. And this is not working for me. You learn the antithesis and then you're a fully round person. When you can hold both of those ideas and be comfortable, you've got your synthesis at the end. Isn't that magic? Was so excited how she described it. I was like, I, you know, I often think of stories as something. There's a character thinks away, something happens and they change and then you've got an ending. But the way she described it was just like, wow. It set all the sparks in my brain.

[Helen]

That happens in real life, doesn't it? Like, you go out into the world and then the rugs pulled from under you and you're like, wait a minute.

[Katie]

They said if I got a degree in illustration, I would be instantly certain, successful without even promoting myself.

[Helen]

Then you have to figure out the other things.

[Libby]

But you think of Salty Dog. That's. You've. You've got three characters, so it slightly complicates it, but you've got Salty and what's his. I was going to say Gerard. He could also be called Gerard. They're very similar creatures, aren't they? Bernard and Gerard will probably have the same life outlook when you put them together. Or whether it's Kitty and Bernard, they are the thesis.

[Katie]

They've each got a very different character. So when they're all mixed together, especially Bernard, who has a very straight line, narrow way of seeing the world when he comes across Flighty Kitty, based on Tanya, by the way.

[Libby]

But then they have those two different viewpoints. Is Salty actually their synthesis?

[Katie]

Maybe. Yes, kind of is. Yeah, he is a kind of media. He's balanced, like, he's always a. He's always steady.

[Helen]

He's either flappable.

[Katie]

Yeah, he is.

[Libby]

I think you've put him in as a third.

[Katie]

He balances them out. Yeah, he does.

[Libby]

And it's as simple as that. You can just write a story from that starting point. Or maybe that's what people do without realizing. And it's always the same. Is it? Well, in those films, like where you get two cops eating donuts in the car in New York, one's new, he's a rookie, and one's the old hand. They hate each other from the word go.

[Katie]

Emily gave us two really good films that are. Showed it very, very well. One was Groundhog Day. So that evening I immediately went, watched that film again and looked out for where the things happened, where the crisis was, where the change in the character happened. Brilliant. What was the other film? Can't remember. Maybe I'd be giving away too much of Emily's workshop. She's running it again in January, actually.

[Libby]

How did you learn to write in the beginning, though?

[Katie]

Just made it up.

[Libby]

And you had that confidence. Here's a story I've written.

[Katie]

Well, the thing is, you know, I'm really impatient and so I sent out samples to publishers and people would say, we really like it when we have a story. We'll get in touch. And I thought they meant like a couple of weeks. And I Think they meant years. I was so impatient, I thought, oh, it can't be that hard, I'll have a go. But I also worked in a bookshop part time, so I spent many an evening because the bookshop was open till 10 o' clock at night and it was really quiet in the evening. I would spend hours and hours taking all the children's books off the shelves and reading them. I worked out what I liked and what I didn't like. And then I got impatient with publishers who didn't immediately find me a text. Can you imagine? And I thought, well, I'll just have a go at writing something. And then I was just learning on the job.

[Helen]

It'd be funny if the Good Ship existed back then. And you wrote in, you were like, I've been in touch with a publisher, it's been two weeks and they still.

[Katie]

Haven'T sent me a text. Is this normal? Do not stand for it. That's what I say. Don't stand for it. Write yourself a story.

[Libby]

Yeah, that's like the dream background for a picture book maker is to have their part time job in a bookshop that's not so busy that you can't use half your paid hours to be leafing through the entire collection. Because lots of people who start picture book careers don't necessarily realize that spending hours in a bookshop or a library is work.

[Katie]

Oh, it's really useful. Yeah.

[Libby]

Because if your view of what is picture book illustration is so narrow, you're going to do some work and people are like that old stuff. No, we're beyond that now. You know, you need to have that full immersion in everything that's possible in picture books to date right now. So really, if you're looking for a second job, get a job in a bookshop that stays open till 10 o' clock at night.

[Katie]

Which is why our first advice at the beginning of this podcast, we were thinking about these couple of people that we've been looking at their work this morning. If they've not gone and done that research in bookshops and libraries and seen the huge variation in picture books right now. If they're just thinking back to their childhood and their favorite book, which in the 80s or 90s, the UK publishing world, I feel like it was a much safer place back then. And it was a lot of watercolor and line, it was all watercolor, I believe. Surely a lot of that wasn't there. And so you're maybe going to do an impression of stuff you remember rather than seeing what's exciting. In bookshops now, because picture books in bookshops now are incredible. Even compared to the 90s when I started out, picture books are way more sophisticated and interesting. I'm not. I'm talking very generally. There were lots of amazing books then, but you know what I mean.

[Libby]

But the main core of it was quite a traditional, small parameters to the creativity. I interviewed Jill Calder last week and what came out of that. I mean, we have Jill on our course. I think lots of people who know us will know that Jill's a features in two of our courses with her work and her process. But what's amazing about her, when I first knew her work, it was a. Her lettering was incredible and it appeared on a lot of really interesting brands like whiskey companies and cafes and so forth, food products. So she could do packaging, really interesting, sophisticated packaging. But she could do the illustrations that worked with the lettering as well. And she worked a lot in editorial, she worked in illustration with design companies. So that could be like corporate brochures or more packaging or branding. She basically had a dream set of clients and editorial work as well. But now she's doing lots of children's picture book work. But her voice is the same throughout. I don't mean same in that she hasn't bothered to change or develop it. Her voice is uniquely her and she's used it in all these different areas for different audiences, different consumer audiences. But because she's so uniquely and strongly herself, she's made it fit in all those different places. It's quite amazing. I can't think of many illustrators who can do that kind of work with a clear voice that you're like, well, if you've commissioned me for this, you must like the work that I did for fashion magazines or for a bank or for a whisky company. And now I will use my same voice in children's picture books. And it actually works. That's quite an achievement.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Libby]

The project and the clients adapt their creative parameters for her, so they've seen her work and say, gosh, you don't see that in children's book illustration that often. Let's try inviting Jill into that creative arena and see what that work looks like for kids. You could say Libby van der Ploeg as well, who was doing. We have her on the picture book course and she had done lots of memes, lots of editorial and maps. So I think if you hold out for who you are and what you love doing and let the market come to you, rather than anticipate the market and say, hi, I'm over here doing the thing you're already doing with a load of other people. Can you employ me? They probably won't because they already have people who do that kind of work. So being unique is important.

[Katie]

Well, I think if you go for.

[Helen]

Coffee with somebody, you can tell if they're just saying things that they think you want to hear rather than seeing what they actually think.

[Katie]

Do you mean when it's in a polite. They're being too polite. Yeah.

[Helen]

Or they're like, you look like you're interested in snails. I'm gonna talk about snails a lot. And you're like, you look like snails. I can tell if somebody was obsessed with snails, that's so much more interesting because you can tell they're just doing their thing. Being obsessed with snails, it's a very niche example. He's always talking about how you see something's trendy, it's already too late.

[Katie]

I was thinking about, you were saying, Katie, that we had one on one mentoring sessions with a few illustrators. This is sometime, I don't know, 18 months ago or something. And one of them had fantastic artwork. We really loved it. But on her folio, on her website was some work that just didn't fit in at all. And it was picture book work. And we said, not so sure about that. We like all the other stuff you've been doing. And she said, oh yeah, I was trying to be a picture book illustrator for those drawings. And we said, get rid of them. Pick. Publishers will like all of your work anyway. And those things are the weakest things in your folio. Get rid of them. Do you remember? You could feel it. Yeah.

[Libby]

You've got to be yourself, haven't you? And be impolite in your work and.

[Katie]

Don'T do an impression of, ah, whatever area of illustration you want to be in.

[Libby]

Yeah.

[Helen]

Just be obsessed with whatever you're obsessed with.

[Katie]

Yeah. It's easier anyway. Yeah.

[Helen]

And more fun.

[Libby]

See you next week.

[Katie]

Bye.

[Libby]

Bye.

[Katie]

Ram.