Residencies and Substack

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Good Ship Illustration – Episode: Residencies and Substack

Release Date: May 9, 2025

In this engaging episode of The Good Ship Illustration, hosts Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell, and Tania Willis delve into the intricacies of artist residencies and the burgeoning platform Substack. Combining over 70 years of collective illustration experience, the trio offers invaluable insights for illustrators and image-makers navigating their creative careers.

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1. Exploring Artist Residencies

Tanya Willis opens the discussion by sharing her firsthand experience with artist residencies. She recounts her stay at the Chateau St. Pierre de Magent in the picturesque Luberon region of the South of France.

“We had this place had about four or five apartments inside a kind of medieval chateau... It was really beautiful.” [00:36]

Unlike traditional residencies that accommodate numerous artists, Tanya’s residency was intimate, primarily reserved for just her and a fellow artist, fostering a more personalized creative environment.

Helen Stephens expresses curiosity about the residency’s structure, prompting Tanya to elaborate on the unique setup:

“They encouraged us to go meditate in. But it was also used as a wedding venue because it was a vineyard.” [01:03]

The hosts discuss the varied nature of residencies, highlighting that they can range from fully funded programs with structured activities to more relaxed arrangements where artists have the freedom to pursue their creative passions without stringent expectations.

“Some are very famous residency places... They may pay your travel as well.” [02:05]

2. Benefits and Challenges of Residencies

Tanya emphasizes the importance of flexibility in residencies, especially for artists seeking to rekindle their drawing practice without the pressure of producing a specific end product.

“Just drawing from life... was a revelation. And drawing slowly, I suddenly started to draw.” [04:18]

The conversation shifts to the broader acceptance of residencies for illustrators, a category Tanya initially overlooked. She acknowledges the diversity in residency offerings, including day residencies, local retreats, and specialized programs tailored for illustrators.

“There are picture book residences that are for either collaboration with writers or research based.” [09:56]

3. Transitioning to Substack: Opportunities and Considerations

The discussion naturally transitions to Substack, a platform gaining popularity among creators for its newsletter-based model. Tanya confesses her struggles with traditional writing, revealing a preference for spoken content over typed words.

“I always think I don't like writing. I prefer talking.” [12:03]

Helen and Katie advocate for leveraging Substack’s flexibility, suggesting that audio recordings can capture the authentic voice of creators without the rigidity of written content. They explore the platform’s advantages over Patreon, noting that Substack allows for more relaxed content schedules, reducing the risk of burnout.

“Substack is like inviting people into your house. Okay. You can actually come into my email box rather than just the passive consumption of scroll media.” [16:38]

The hosts brainstorm innovative content ideas for Substack, such as the "One Word" challenge, where a single word inspires creative responses from subscribers.

“It’s a draw. Hashtag drawing challenge based on what three words?” [24:26]

They also discuss managing subscriber expectations, emphasizing the importance of not overcommitting and maintaining a healthy balance between creating and personal well-being.

“As long as you don't promise it. Just don't promise it.” [14:43]

4. Favorite Substacks and Content Inspiration

To inspire listeners, the hosts share their favorite Substack accounts:

• Helen highlights One Word, a newsletter that explores a single word each month through personal narratives and creative projects.

  “One was video. And he had a really lovely wandering chat about videos that his dad used to take of him when he was a little boy.” [22:17]

• Katie mentions admirations for creators like Adam Ming and Carson Ellis, praising their consistent and engaging content.

  “Adam Ming’s notes... really on it with subs.” [28:05]

• Tanya commends Tor Freeman for her humorous and relatable comic tales.

  “Her sub stacks are little sort of cartoon secrets. Tales of a comic middle aged lady.” [28:33]

5. Committing to Substack and Final Thoughts

As the episode draws to a close, Tanya expresses her commitment to launching her own Substack, inspired by the supportive dialogue with Helen and Katie.

“I'm going to do it when I get the lesson off Helen, and then it will be forthcoming with specific names for places that love illustrators and would give you a residency.” [30:31]

Helen and Katie encourage Tanya, reinforcing the importance of creating content that feels authentic and manageable.

“The artist approach to it. Yeah.” [21:43]

The trio wraps up the episode affirming the value of residencies and embracing platforms like Substack to foster a sustainable and fulfilling creative career.

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Key Takeaways

• Artist Residencies: Offer diverse opportunities ranging from structured, fully funded programs to more relaxed, personalized stays. Ideal for rediscovering and rekindling creative practices without stringent expectations.

• Substack for Creators: A flexible platform that allows creators to share content without the pressure of frequent posting. Audio recordings can capture authentic voices, and innovative content ideas can engage subscribers effectively.

• Managing Creator Well-being: Emphasizes the importance of not overcommitting and setting realistic expectations to prevent burnout, particularly when using subscription-based platforms.

• Community and Support: The supportive dynamic between Helen, Katie, and Tanya highlights the importance of community in navigating creative careers.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Just drawing from life... was a revelation.” – Tanya Willis [04:18]

• “Substack is like inviting people into your house.” – Helen Stephens [16:38]

• “As long as you don't promise it. Just don't promise it.” – Helen Stephens [14:43]

• “I'm going to do it when I get the lesson off Helen.” – Tanya Willis [30:31]

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This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for illustrators considering residencies and exploring Substack as a means to share their creative journey. The candid conversations and shared experiences provide a roadmap for building a sustainable and authentic creative career.

Transcript

[Tanya]

Sam, welcome back to our podcast. And we decided we'd talk about residencies this time because I'd been on one, my first one ever.

[Katie]

We want to hear all about it.

[Helen]

My first thought is, Tanya, you said you were going on a residency and then you put pictures on Instagram, stories of what looked like a chateau with a wedding venue and palatial gardens and a vineyard or something. So I said, are you there with 20 other artists doing residencies? And you said, no, just us. So I need to hear more about. Was the whole place your own or how much space was for you?

[Tanya]

We had this place had about four or five apartments inside a kind of medieval chateau. It had its own church as well. They encouraged us to go meditate in. But it was also used as a wedding venue because it was a vineyard. It had its own wines which it produced from the vineyard. There was a shop hidden away somewhere tastefully in this chateau, where you could go and buy the wine. So it had all this going on. But in low season, that is before April, beginning of April, they could offer out these rooms to people to come on residences. So the woman who'd been before me was a writer called Dorrit, a fiction writer. And the woman before that was a burlesque dancer, I think, or something like that. Body positive burlesque dancer who gone there to do some writing, some retreat writing about a course or something. So they had very general acceptance terms. And that's, that's the interesting thing about residences. They are so broad and so different in terms of what they're looking for.

[Helen]

Always free to the artist. The residency?

[Katie]

No, a little bit.

[Tanya]

This one we had to pay a little bit, but there's all. It's like setting up filters in booking.com you can decide what, what you want to do and what you're not prepared to do. So for me, I'm a bit of a commitment phobe and plus I didn't really know what I wanted to do except just start drawing again. So I was like, I'll pay a bit to not promise you anything. Yeah, that's. That's the kind of deal I wanted and I didn't want to be with other people or go to artists dinners on the Friday nights as these really organized ones. Some are very famous residency places like Napoleon in the south of France where you're in this beautiful chateau. People have de dedicated studio space with lots of different disciplines and they'll all meet and have interactive artist sessions. They'll leave work for their host, they'll do an exhibition so there's other commitments and those ones, some of those can be fully funded as well, which is to artists ears, particularly fine artists. This is amazing that you can have a stipend for living there and they may pay your travel as well. But for this one we paid for our own travel, paid a nominal amount to stay in this beautiful apartment. The place was called Chateau St. Pierre de Magent, which was. I didn't look it up properly. I knew it was in the south of France, but when closer to going, I looked it up and it was like, this is in the Luberon. This is supposed to be the most amazing part of the south of France. And it was really beautiful.

[Katie]

It looked gorgeous. I had a peek at the website Fancy.

[Tanya]

And they're really committed to the arts. It just. I said I would send her some prints of drawings that I did while I was there, but she was the lady Wendy who owned it, was very relaxed about it and they just liked having artists around as part of their vision.

[Helen]

That's lovely, isn't it? No expectations. So you didn't have to write a proposal of what you were going to do while you were there or anything like that.

[Tanya]

I did write a proposal, but I tried to keep it quite loose, saying what I really wanted to use residency for was not to come up with a specific end product, but I felt duty brown to write that, which in retrospect, I didn't really need to do. All I wanted to do was start drawing. And by being there, I actually drew every day. After two, two, three years of watching people on Instagram doing drawing challenges.

[Helen]

Do you mean drawing from life?

[Tanya]

Just drawing from life? Yeah. Just drawing for. Just for the love of it. And I haven't done that. I don't know, could probably say 30 years to just rediscover drawing practice. And I've practiced, but, you know, just to sit and observe and draw a tree for no reason except that you love looking at it was a revelation. And drawing slowly, I suddenly started to draw. Anti art club approach. You've got all the time in the world on this tree and you've got a very sharp 2B pencil.

[Katie]

Was it a black wing?

[Tanya]

It was a black wing.

[Katie]

Gorgeous.

[Tanya]

God, I love doing it. Just drawing like that. Felt like coming home.

[Helen]

Yeah. With no expectations.

[Tanya]

And then I kept feeling guilty thinking I'm not supposed to be doing this, I should be doing. The thing I said I would do was this map. So I'd put together a traveling art kit of digital stuff and analog materials. Bloody heavy. And then I Got my laptop up, set it all up. I'd got my way, compact, lightweight Wacom pad. But doing a map was like, oh, I'm zooming in, zooming out. And it's like, oh, just give me my big old cinema screen. I cannot do this on a laptop. And that led me to finally try Procreate. So I've joined you. I finally learned Procreate, which was just a revelation. I've only had the iPad for three years and had Procreate downloaded.

[Helen]

I loved it. You were messaging us from on that on our Good Ship WhatsApp group, saying, what brushes shall I get? What are the brushes I should find? Did you try out lots of brushes?

[Tanya]

I bought Viv's brushes.

[Katie]

The ones I love them.

[Tanya]

If I could load them, they'd probably be quite good. So I need another lesson in how to help load brushes into practice.

[Helen]

I'll help you with that.

[Tanya]

Will you?

[Helen]

Yeah. The Viv Mild brushes. Oh, they're amazing. By the way. Vivian Mulderberger, this is completely off topic. I have to tell you about it. I accidentally discovered the other day that she has a brilliant other Instagram account where she lifts massive weights wearing fantastic big like wrestlers pants and boots like an old fashioned wrestler would wear. And she lifts these huge weights. So I already thought she was the coolest woman in the world and now my mind is just blown. She's incredible.

[Katie]

That's amazing.

[Tanya]

Sub niche, isn't it? Illustrator plus weightlifter Sarah Dyer does it as well.

[Helen]

I think there must be a thing. I think we're gonna have to take it up, otherwise we're gonna be left behind.

[Katie]

We're left behind already. I wanna start with the weights.

[Tanya]

Menopausal women, you've got to build muscle. And you should only be doing weight.

[Helen]

Bearing this microphone into its holder this.

[Katie]

Morning it was hard. In your defense, that's gonna be like 50 kg of.

[Helen]

Anyway, back to your Procreate adventure. Are you enjoying it?

[Tanya]

Yeah, I just need to get some better brushes. You recommended Joel Stewart drawing.

[Helen]

The Joel Stewart ones. The Vivian Milderberger ones. There's loads of those. Good ones in the retro supply company.

[Tanya]

Them too. So anyone's got any recommendations for brushes? But those are our three.

[Katie]

I like the free one, the studio pen. There's a lot you can do with that. What's that on Procreate? It's called Studio Pen and it's a lovely round pen.

[Helen]

Yeah. And you can adjust them behind the scenes, you can alter them. Have you gone into the settings and fiddles?

[Tanya]

I used to do that in Photoshop, I thought I was a genius. That was 10 years ago till everyone else said, now I can make my own brushes. And also, Kyle Stewart, if you're out there, please hurry up and get the Procreate brushes downloaded, because that's what I used to use in Photoshop.

[Katie]

Do you mean Kyle Webster, is it?

[Tanya]

Yes, Carl Webster. Sorry, Yeah.

[Katie]

I don't know who Carl Stewart is, but he's probably.

[Helen]

You're getting one of that with Joel Stewart.

[Tanya]

Exactly.

[Katie]

That's what it is.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

Kyle Webster's going to be doing all the brushes for Procreate as he's jumped from Adobe to that, so. So that's exciting. It was supposed to be out now, but anyway, I can't wait to see.

[Helen]

The work you've been making. Have you made it because you knew it was going to stay private? And did that take the pressure off, or are you going to allow us to look at some of the stuff you did?

[Katie]

Tanya looks scared.

[Helen]

I just crossed her arms over her body.

[Tanya]

I've done some pictures of the chickens at the farm. Chickens? They're always a joy to draw, aren't you? Yeah, chickens and trees. Much easier to draw than humans because it shows when you've got it wrong on a human.

[Katie]

Nobody knows what chickens should look like.

[Tanya]

And they're so inspiring. So, yeah, what I like about not committing to anything at that residency is that you come out doing what you really need as opposed to what you thought you would sell you on a residency. And some of the application forms for these different places are very demanding and some of them are really easy. So if you go onto places like artistresidency.net I think it is. I'm going to put all this in a substack list, which is another issue, but I'm going to do some resources for different residences you can apply for. But I didn't know there were illustrators residencies. I just thought there were fine artists or musicians or sculptors. But when our local Berwick creative group, thanks to James at the Maltings, invited a few people like Anna, Chapman and Morag, who had done residencies before, to talk about them, it was. It really opened my mind. Like, yeah, you can just do day residencies in your locality, you can travel to them or you could do it in a museum. You can do ones that you pay for or ones that you're fully paid for. So there's all these different varieties. But just to say that they are open for illustrators, there's lots of picture book residences that are for either collaboration with writers or research based. Just where you want to think up the story and not necessarily leave going, hurrah. I've got a portfolio of stuff. You've just thought it through and you're ready to work.

[Katie]

So the one day residency. That sounds good. Could do a one day one.

[Tanya]

I love that, Katie.

[Helen]

Boom. Done.

[Katie]

Next.

[Helen]

I was just thinking six weeks.

[Tanya]

Yeah. Six weeks in the south of France.

[Helen]

How long was your residency?

[Tanya]

This again. It could be as long as we wanted, but it was for two and a half weeks in the end. And then of course I turned up sick and didn't work for the first week.

[Katie]

This is a Goldilocks thing again, isn't it? I want to do one day.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Tanya's two, three, four weeks.

[Tanya]

Yeah, yeah.

[Katie]

Six weeks ahead.

[Tanya]

It's exactly that. It's our time span.

[Katie]

Yeah, but I noticed you delicately skimmed over the substack thing there, Tanya. You haven't got away with it.

[Tanya]

Substack is like procreate, something I've been promising to do.

[Helen]

Maybe you need another residency just to learn that.

[Tanya]

That would be a good idea. But, Helen, how am I going to learn how to do a sub stack? Set up my substack. Really? Simply from the session you gave in the business course. Was that like, here you go, don't fuss.

[Helen]

It wasn't so much a how to, because that's all kind of in the settings in the background. It's kind of boring. But if you want a how to, I'll sit with you and show you how to write your first one and what all the settings in the background look like.

[Tanya]

Does everyone else want to come as well?

[Helen]

Yeah. We should record this. We should record this. Why not? Because the substack thing in the course is more about what you would write about, how often you would do it. We've talked about benefits, how to earn money, we talk about money, all of that kind of stuff. But there's not a how to do it with all of the different settings in the background. But we could do that.

[Katie]

You need to give the people what they want, Tanya, because somebody yesterday tagged me and Helen in a comment and they were like, helen and Katie from Good Ship are on substack, but not Tanya. Yeah, I don't think. And I replied saying, tanya is aloof and mysterious.

[Helen]

But what works. Our mysterious guru, isn't it?

[Katie]

Yeah. AKA lazy. Making noises like you might do a substack.

[Tanya]

I've been ruminating over what would be interesting enough to say. And. Yeah. And I always think I don't like writing. I prefer talking. So I've started to record them directly.

[Helen]

That's a brilliant way of doing it. It's brilliant way of doing it. You know, I've started doing that with friends is. I'm so sick of typing out into my, into my phone, people that I want to see, my brother, my sister, close friends who don't live near. I. I think you do this. I just start voice recordings and sometimes they're as long as a podcast and they record the same back and I love it so much. And I was thinking I should just be doing this for Substack because it's such a lovely way to do it without the pressure of putting it through Grammarly and getting all my spelling sorted out and.

[Tanya]

And it's also your true voice because I think the moment I start writing, I overthink it so much I jump back and forth between sentences, leave all the words, let alone my typos. That's bad enough, but just the reinserting and editing and in the end it's just a patchwork quilt of a mess. So it's much. I think it's easier to speak as you find straight in there and then you'll actually sound like a human being and not something that you put through ChatGPT because you've over fiddled with it. But one question. Would I have to do it every week if I said I was going to do a sub stack?

[Helen]

No, definitely. I don't make promises about how frequent mine will be because I don't want that pressure. Because as soon as I give myself that pressure, I rebel against it. Even though I said it, I rebel against myself.

[Katie]

Obviously you do post quite consistently though.

[Helen]

I try to post almost every Sunday as opposed just to chat about what's going on in the house.

[Katie]

Look forward to your Sunday house chat. Because I know when I get up on a Sunday morning, have my coffee before everyone's awake, can read Helen's Sunday Chat.

[Helen]

That's why I hope.

[Tanya]

Me too.

[Helen]

That's what I hope. People just think, oh, there's a bit of kind of boring business of a Sunday there. Let's have a look what she eating for breakfast. It's very lowkey.

[Tanya]

But you have Sunday house and then you have half a picture book is every Thursday.

[Helen]

But I'm in the middle of a deadline at the moment. I just can't. I just can't get my head around it. So I don't promise it and no one minds, nobody minds. And if they do, they just leave. And then when I'm back again And I'm doing it frequently again. People come back. So I'm just happy. It's usually I've got around 150 paid people and if I don't post for a while, actually I don't lose many people because they don't notice.

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Helen]

But then I'll post again and they remember me and they unsubscribe.

[Katie]

That does happen. I've noticed that. It's like if I post too much, people leave because they're like, oh, being reminded that they're paying for something.

[Tanya]

Exactly.

[Helen]

So I don't follow how many people are signed up too closely because it's not really relevant. People come and go at their. And that's their business and they must do that. And I do that with other people.

[Tanya]

This is guilt and shame based. So I just want to make sure I'm not going to screw up or feel guilty. No one's going to make me feel guilty.

[Helen]

No. As long as you don't promise it. Just don't promise it.

[Katie]

And if you're going to switch on paid, are you going to make it a paid thing?

[Tanya]

Maybe. I don't know. I haven't thought about it.

[Katie]

Because that's the general advice from Substack is just switch on paid. And then you don't like.

[Helen]

And it's on switch on paid right from the start because there'll be people who would just really like to support you and want to buy you a coffee every month. Yeah. So you just switch it on. But I made the big error of switching mine on right at the start and not specifying that. I don't take that. It's sterling. Pound sterling. And so people were paying me in dollars. And then when I tried to recoup it, I couldn't.

[Katie]

No.

[Helen]

Yes. You have to choose what currency you want it in. Yeah.

[Tanya]

What about this other thing that I think about? Since Substack has got bigger and bigger, aren't people just. I can't deal with another sub stack. Everyone's at it. Everyone's got a podcast, everyone's got a sub stack.

[Helen]

I don't feel like that's the case because I have a big call. I don't know about you, Katie, but I see how many people are arriving in my inbox and when it feels a bit full, I have a bit of a call.

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Helen]

And I only pay for a few at a time. And if I decide to subscribe to a new one and pay for it, I get rid of an old one. So it's up to the person on substack, how many people's substacks they want to read. So I try not to follow too many. I really carefully select who I want.

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Helen]

And I get rid of any that they've been arriving in my inbox and I find I'm not looking at them. I just unsubscribed.

[Tanya]

No good solid digital housekeeping tips.

[Helen]

I don't think people are overwhelmed because it's just so easy to choose very specifically which ones you want. And on Instagram, it is overwhelming. You just scroll, scroll. See if I follow far too many people. Plus Instagram suggest people at me all the time. The great thing with substack is you very carefully choose who you want in your email box. So you're much more dedicated to hearing that person. And the people who follow you specifically want to hear from you. You know what I mean?

[Tanya]

Yeah. It's like inviting people into your house. Okay. You can actually come into my email box rather than just the passive consumption of scroll media.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Substacks helped me feel much better about unsubscribes and things like that. Because I think I used to be really sensitive to noticing numbers go down and be like, oh, when I posted.

[Helen]

That lots of people left.

[Katie]

What have I done? But now I feel like because of that thing, if people are just curating what they listen to and what they like, I feel more like I've got a healthy attitude towards the people who are still subscribed. Amazing. That's so cool. Like, they're here and they're really choosing to be there.

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Katie]

So I don't know. I think. Yeah. Maybe because there have been so many, like, dips and roller coasters and things.

[Tanya]

Do you think it's something that's easier to do than Patreon? Because you see a lot of Patreon burnout, don't you?

[Helen]

I see more Patreon burnout than substack. I think you could. You'd be in danger of getting substack if you promised a weekly in depth. I don't know.

[Tanya]

Yeah. If you've made promises with clear guidelines. I just.

[Helen]

I think if you don't set up the promises. Too much structure. Or for me, for my kind of brain. I don't want to make that promise because I'll rebel against it. Whereas if I don't promise very much, I feel great when I'm sending it because I feel like I am over. They're getting more than they expected.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

And I promise nothing.

[Helen]

Yeah. But I do hear about lot of Patreon people Feeling burnt out. And I always wonder about that because with Patreon, the more stuff you make, the bigger catalog you've got. So like I've not done Patreon, but I would imagine as you go on, there's more and more back catalog so you could take the pressure off a bit. But I don't hear people talk about it like that. Yeah, I hear people say, I just feel like I need to keep creating. Need to keep creating.

[Katie]

Well, I think the thing with Substack is you build up an archive, don't you? And the whole thing with Substack is it pays creators. So like you're saying you're busy with a book deadline and subsequent's just chugging along in the background and you don't have to do anything.

[Helen]

And I don't mind if people leave. If I'm too busy and I'm not posting anything, I don't mind if they leave.

[Katie]

I feel like that's how it should be. Like it's supporting you and if you want to do stuff because it feels fun, you do. And if you don't stuff it, it's fine. People are gonna leave if they don't like it.

[Tanya]

It does seem that again, as an outsider, not having used either as a creator, but it does seem that the obligations are different on Patreon. That and that's where people are getting tripped up because they feel locked into content provision. Whereas Substack sounds like my kind of relaxed show.

[Helen]

There are people who promise very specific things and quite a lot. But I'm guessing those people, that's their full time job.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Helen]

Are your substack with the jobs that's very frequent, you've probably got that set up, easy to send out. Do you promise?

[Katie]

So this is the thing, I don't actually promise. I just say I'll share jobs, but then obviously I can't control really how many jobs are coming in. So it's just been the bank holiday, so it's been really quiet. But part of me in the back of my mind is like, oh, there's not been any inquiries to put on the jobs board. Just it's been a few days. But before the jobs board I had paid switch on, switched on. And I think there was five people paying, even though I wrote every two months one article that was free anyway. So people do just want to pay because they want to pay. And I even wrote to these people and I was like, what do you want? Like, why are you paying me? It's really disconcerting. And they were Like I just let you do. Yeah, yeah.

[Helen]

There are people who sign up like that and there's also. There are options. People can sign and pay. Was it weekly and then monthly and then for a year subscription. I've forgotten there's different tiers.

[Katie]

I think it's monthly and yearly. And then founding. Because.

[Helen]

Yeah. The founding members are the ones that can pay a really big.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Helen]

Fee. So you can just put. If you like to. You could pay me £100, £200, £300.

[Katie]

Yeah. See I've set up my funding one as well. A way of getting a one to one portfolio review. So that's when I really specifically promised something that we're gonna have a one hour session together.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Katie]

And I'll look at all your stuff.

[Helen]

I've set mine up. So if you do this, you are mad because I will not be supplying this single thing and I have no idea whether anybody has actually. So maybe a few crazy people in there. I don't know.

[Katie]

Hello to Helen's founding members who somehow.

[Tanya]

Joined just to get told off. Okay then that's part of the next. This summer's prom.

[Helen]

I just want you to put a photo on your. Just do it.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Helen]

Because unsubscribed from you the other day because I thought why am I following people with no photo on their thing? They're not taking this seriously. I unsubscribed and then thought where's Tanya? So I found you again but you had no photo. And I thought oh, that's it. I got rid of you because you didn't have a photo.

[Tanya]

I thought it was just a listening account. I didn't realize it was a content creator kind of thing. I just passively sitting on the side here watching what happens. Now I'll go and put a photo for you. That'll be a good start. 1. And then we'll have our meeting.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

And we'll record you teaching me. Yeah, that's gonna be a win.

[Helen]

But I have to say I'm not an expert at the behind the scenes stuff. I'll just share what I've figured out.

[Tanya]

That's exactly what I need to know. The bare basics. Just enough to get by.

[Katie]

You don't have to be an expert.

[Helen]

It's like anything. It's like Photoshop or anything. As long as you know the bits you need, that's enough.

[Tanya]

Exactly. The artist approach to it. Yeah.

[Helen]

Oh, the other thing I was going to say is because some of it is free to everybody and some of it is behind the paywall. If I haven't got time to post some weeks, I just open something from behind the paywall. So I just send out a new substack to everybody saying, this was behind a paywall. But I'm making it free to everybody now just so there's an extra way of making content. If I've got a deadline. Yeah, just open the gates for everybody.

[Tanya]

What's your favorite sub stack that you receive?

[Helen]

Well, what I follow this one called One Word. This guy chooses one word every month and he makes a film about it. And they're always really good subjects. Like one was video. And he had a really lovely wandering chat about videos that his dad used to take of him when he was a little boy. And it was just a chat about his memories of his dad with lots of this lovely old 1980s video recording. Then it. Then he decided to visit the last remaining video rental Blockbuster store in the.

[Katie]

Us there's only one.

[Helen]

I don't know why it's still called Blockbusters. I've forgotten, but it maybe was the last Blockbusters. Maybe it's changed its name now. He went to visit this guy and it still runs this video rental shop and it's massive.

[Katie]

Wow.

[Helen]

But the guy was just like, it's about community. I have nice people who come in here. I like chatting to them. And he's telling us all about the gorgeousness of videos and why rent him from a shop. You've just got a tiny selection. You've maybe rented it 10 times before, but you take it again just because of the comfort factor. And he's my favorite. He's called One Word.

[Tanya]

Wow.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

What an elemental idea. I love the simplicity of it. Yeah. It's like kind of early hashtag challenges or something, isn't it? Just. I will take this one word and this will be my response.

[Helen]

And it's always a personal response. It's really interesting. I also like Garbage Day, who we've talked about. Sometimes Garbage Day explains the Internet to a person in her 50s who knows her way around a bit, but really loves to hear about all the weird stuff going on in the Internet that I'll never see.

[Tanya]

It's become obviously much more political now because it's from the U.S. so, Liz, looking at the Internet, digital iterations of it, and how politics mixes up with it, which you can only stand for a few weeks, do you think I'll come back in six months or so, see if it's breaks it down into.

[Helen]

A couple of paragraphs though, so I can get my head around it?

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Helen]

I really like that it does a lot about AI and weird phenomenons.

[Tanya]

My brain has just bunched these together to come up with what I think is a genius idea. Can I try it out on you?

[Katie]

Yeah, please.

[Tanya]

It's a draw. Hashtag drawing challenge based on what three words? So you know those crazy addresses you get where they just bunch. You know the what three words and it tells you if you're in a field, your location is named by porridge. Motorbike. Grandma.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

And that will be your what three words? Yeah. And so you could do imagery based on what three.

[Helen]

You could do your address.

[Katie]

Would you, like, go somewhere and find the words?

[Tanya]

Yeah.

[Katie]

This is a nice spot. What words is this?

[Tanya]

What bizarre Haikyuu has what three words come up with for me?

[Helen]

Really like it when you're typing on your phone and it predicts what word you're going to say next.

[Katie]

I love that too.

[Helen]

I love that so much. And I have loads of fun just letting it predict until I've got a paragraph of crazy predicted. I always think there must be a way of using this. How could we use this?

[Katie]

We could do a podcast using it.

[Helen]

It's just brilliant.

[Katie]

I love it as well.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

Oh, I'm just gonna have to retro retrospectively slap a copyright on my what3words hashtag. If anyone does that, I'll find you. We'll all find you and hunt you down. Just wait on it and we'll launch.

[Helen]

Weightlifting by then as well.

[Katie]

I'm really disappointed about the one word thing because I was getting excited that somebody just sends you a message with one word in it.

[Tanya]

That's the substack.

[Helen]

But I love that idea is brilliant.

[Katie]

I'd be like, what's the word this week? And then we'll just email me. Lampshade.

[Helen]

I love that. I'd be happy with that.

[Katie]

I would as well.

[Helen]

I would subscribe.

[Tanya]

I'd be happy with that. Would you just draw it and send them a picture?

[Helen]

Not even though. Just a word. That reminds me of that fantastic podcast I got into with Harry Hill.

[Katie]

It was just noises.

[Helen]

It was just noise. It was just like. It's just like, I will be here. I'll be. I'm gonna press record while I'm working in my office or on my drive somewhere. And at some point during this podcast, I will make a noise. An hour could go by of me just listening with nothing. And then he'd blow a raspberry.

[Tanya]

Yes, we got the noise.

[Helen]

But then to the end, just in case, even though you'd had your Noise. You'd had the noise and nothing else happened. Brilliant. I loved it.

[Tanya]

Should have been called that Scottish thing. You'll have had your noise.

[Katie]

So what we do is wasting our time answering questions and talking. We could just be.

[Helen]

Oh, I love these ideas. They're so love.

[Tanya]

Katie, what's your favourite substack? In an attempt to stay on track, I'll.

[Katie]

I'll subscribe to so many. I don't think if there's any. My mind's just going blank.

[Helen]

Do you subscribe to our good shipper Tara?

[Katie]

Yes.

[Helen]

Tara.

[Tanya]

Tara Ford.

[Helen]

Yeah. Yes. I love hers. She has like a. I'm really sorry. We'll remember and we'll put it in the tech and underneath the podcast. But she. It's like a kind of visual diary comic strip. But sometimes just one image with a bit of writing, sometimes a few. Her drawings are really lovely and her observations are just brilliant. Usually something that's gone on. This week she did one where she imagined herself as. Was it different dinosaurs. So there were self portraits as either extinct animals or dinosaurs. It was so funny. Yeah, they're good. I really like her.

[Katie]

I really like Adam Ming's. Like, maybe I don't subscribe to his posts. I don't see them in my inbox, but I do see his notes and I really like them.

[Tanya]

They pop up.

[Helen]

Yeah. He chats about illustration every day. He's really on it with subs.

[Katie]

Yeah. I think I find that so inspiring. Like how consistently every day it scares me.

[Helen]

It makes me feel like, oh, it's a lot. He's doing it really well. I'll just avoid that.

[Tanya]

I feel like you find it inspiring. I'm like, oh, I'm a complete failure. I can't look. That man makes me feel disappointed. Disaster. How counterproductive.

[Katie]

There is a fine line, isn't there, between inspiration and devastation.

[Tanya]

I like Tor Freeman.

[Helen]

Oh, yeah.

[Tanya]

She makes me laugh so much.

[Helen]

She's brilliant.

[Tanya]

I don't know much about her. I just know that her sub stacks are little sort of cartoon secrets. Tales of a comic middle aged lady.

[Helen]

Yeah.

[Tanya]

And the weird things that happens to her. And her humor is so good and it comes through the pictures so well.

[Helen]

Yeah. She flies her freak flag.

[Katie]

There's someone else I follow like that who's a comic artist. She does drawings about like motherhood and is in like the New Yorker and stuff.

[Helen]

Oh, I don't know.

[Katie]

I can't remember her name.

[Helen]

No, I don't know. I'm not sure I follow this person.

[Katie]

It's nearly there. It's like just behind a couple.

[Helen]

Do you know who's going to be great, though? Tanya Willis.

[Katie]

And if you get really worried, just do the one word idea.

[Tanya]

Yeah, all right. I could alternate, couldn't I? Which would give me a breather, I think. What's her. Carson Ellis, always. That's such a lovely.

[Helen]

Yeah, she's good.

[Tanya]

She's so relaxed in it. About her work and her life, I really love.

[Helen]

He's a picture bookmaker. Bob Shenanigans. Bob Shea, he writes one called Bob Shenanigans and it's absolutely brilliant. It is such dry, fantastic humor. One was all about how he milks children for their ideas and it was written so dry. It was absolutely brilliant. I really recommend following him.

[Tanya]

I've never given a good list. Have you just remembered one? Katie, you look like.

[Katie]

No, I've just touched my microphone.

[Helen]

You've broken your microphone.

[Katie]

It's fallen off the table and now.

[Tanya]

You'Ve got to hold it.

[Katie]

Now I've got to.

[Tanya]

We've got 20 more minutes of this. Don't be making texts.

[Katie]

I look like I'm about to say something really pertinent, but I'm actually just holding them.

[Tanya]

That's a good place to end it before Katie gets cramp in her wrist.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Helen]

We didn't go back to the residencies, did we? Talk about everything we wanted to about your residency.

[Katie]

That was to tease them because your substack is going to be so incredible.

[Tanya]

I'm in the tube now, aren't I? By saying this, I'm actually committed. Okay. I'm going to do.

[Katie]

No pressure, but you have to do.

[Tanya]

It when I get the lesson off Helen, and then it will be forthcoming with specific names for places that love illustrators and would give you a residency. But, yeah, it's just great to slow down your drawing, open your mind, relax, find out what you really want to do.

[Helen]

Yeah, Lovely.

[Katie]

Yeah, Bye.

[Helen]

Okay, bye.

[Katie]

It.