The curse of "Final Artwork"

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Curse of "Final Artwork"

Episode Release Date: May 30, 2025
Podcast: The Good Ship Illustration
Hosts: Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell, and Tania Willis

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The Curse of 'Final Artwork'," The Good Ship Illustration delves into the challenges illustrators face when transitioning from spontaneous sketches to polished final pieces. The discussion centers on the emotional and psychological barriers that prevent artists from embracing the simplicity and authenticity of their initial creative expressions.

The Value of Sketches vs. Final Artwork

Helen initiates the conversation by highlighting the often-overlooked beauty of quick sketches. She observes that many artists discard their spontaneous drawings, perceiving them as insignificant compared to their "final artwork." Helen states:

"They don't think it's a biggie. They've done some quick drawing, which is for the amusement of everyone else, and it's so beautiful. It's really lovely work because it's not too focused."
—Helen Stephens [01:00]

Sam echoes this sentiment, emphasizing the lost joy when sketches are transformed into overly polished pieces:

"The final artwork might be a lot more overwrought, a lot more finished, but it hasn't got the joy or the presence on the page that the quick, scribbly sketches have."
—Sam [01:05]

Impact of Payment on Artistic Quality

Graham shares a personal experience from a children's book event to illustrate how external pressures can stifle creativity. He recounts a situation where children were drawing owls freely, resulting in vibrant and diverse creations. However, when the teacher insisted on perfection for display purposes, the children's enthusiasm waned:

"They were just making this lovely mess, drawing these incredible owls... she said, everybody stop... These drawings have to be perfect because they're going to be on display in the library."
—Graham [02:00]

This incident serves as a metaphor for how artists, once they begin to earn money, often feel compelled to elevate their work to an unrealistic standard:

"Sometimes when you're being paid money, you think, oh, that I must make this drawing take me a long time to be worth the money that they've paid me."
—Sam [05:25]

Helen adds that the pressure of income can inadvertently lead artists to overcomplicate their sketches:

"As soon as somebody's paying you, as soon as there's pressure on yourself, sketching feels easy. And there's something in our brains that can kick in and be like, okay, it can't be easy anymore."
—Helen Stephens [05:31]

Embracing Simplicity and the Human Touch

The hosts advocate for the power of simplicity in art, especially in an age dominated by AI-generated imagery. Sam reflects on how straightforward line drawings can be both impactful and time-efficient:

"These simple line drawings completely blew my mind because my paintings were taking me three weeks to complete."
—Sam [06:00]

Helen and Graham further discuss the allure of the human element in art. Helen compares the imperfections in sketches to the authentic catches in a live singing performance:

"It's not AI, it's a real person... sketching has got that human wobblyness in it."
—Helen Stephens [08:09]

Sam emphasizes that these human imperfections make artwork more relatable and charming:

"Wonky humans and wonky art. You just love them more. They've got more charm."
—Sam [11:07]

Techniques for Maintaining Creativity and Authenticity

Graham shares practical strategies to preserve the freshness and spontaneity of sketches while refining them into final artwork. One technique involves overlaying a new drawing with a piece of paper to avoid replicating the same lines repeatedly:

"If I'm gonna redraw something, but there's only one area... I just stick a glue A piece of paper over the top and just draw that bit so I'm not redrawing the same image again and again."
—Graham [09:40]

He also highlights the importance of infusing emotional intent into the drawing process to ensure that the artwork genuinely reflects the intended mood:

"Remember that this is a sad page. So feel sad while I draw it, because if I feel sad, it'll come out of my brain and down my arm through the pen."
—Graham [10:00]

Balancing Perfection with Authenticity

The hosts collectively stress the importance of striking a balance between refining artwork and retaining its original essence. Helen encourages artists to push past the need for perfection and simply enjoy the creative process:

"Forgot what the art director wants, Forget what magazine is in or where. Just enjoy yourself and have fun making it."
—Helen Stephens [05:50]

Sam adds that embracing simplicity does not equate to lower quality but rather highlights the artwork's inherent beauty:

"It's like hearing someone sing just alone in a studio... you can see the humanity. And I think that's what people want now."
—Sam [08:11]

Conclusion

"The Curse of 'Final Artwork'" serves as a poignant reminder for illustrators to cherish and harness the raw energy of their sketches. By overcoming the fear of imperfection and external pressures, artists can maintain their creative spirit and produce work that resonates with authenticity and joy. The episode underscores the significance of embracing simplicity and the human touch in an increasingly digital and perfection-driven world.

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For more insights and discussions on navigating a creative career in illustration, visit The Good Ship Illustration and join their thriving online community.

Transcript

[Sam]

Sam.

[Helen]

Hello.

[Graham]

Hello. Can sketches be the illustration?

[Helen]

This is a yes.

[Sam]

No, we're done.

[Helen]

No.

[Graham]

Okay, thank you.

[Helen]

We'll see you next week.

[Sam]

Decisive outcomes. I was thinking this thing a lot, though, because looking at all the kind of different work that goes on in the Good Ship, sometimes you see people who've got quick sketch work and they kind of throw it away. They don't think it's a biggie. They've done some quick drawing, which is for the amusement of everyone else, and it's so beautiful. It's really lovely work because it's not too focused. And, you know, they're not thinking this is final artwork. And then the final artwork might be a lot more overwrought, a lot more finished, but it hasn't got the joy or the presence on the page that the quick, scribbly sketches have. And I think that bridging the gap thing that we talk a lot about is part of it is saying to people, do you know when a quick sketch is enough? Have you got the bravery to say it's that.

[Graham]

It's that word, final artwork. It's such a killer, isn't it? It reminds me, last week I was doing the children's book show, asked me to go and do this event thing. So I did a. Like a stage thing, you know, reading and drawing on stage with hundreds of school children. And after the event on stage, we then visited lots of schools to work with the children. It was really interesting visiting schools and seeing the way the teachers speak to the kids and all that. And there was one class I went in who I said, okay, so we're all going to draw owls. We're going to use a stick. We're going to dip it in ink and draw. Ow. And so I showed them how to do it and set them all off. And they were just making this lovely mess, drawing these incredible owls. And then the teacher stopped them. I had a little chat with the teacher and I said to her, oh, these are all going to be on display at the library afterwards, because this is to try and get children reading and into the local library. And she stopped them and she said, everybody, everybody stop. Sticks down, sticks down. These drawings have to be perfect because they're going to be on display in the library. The fear on everybody's faces, including mine, of like. I just wanted to. I wanted a rugby tackle her to the ground and make her shut up.

[Helen]

You should have.

[Sam]

It's literally the worst thing.

[Graham]

You can see. Awful, awful. Then the kids all looked really frightened, and then they were picked Their sticks back up and they were hesitating to put their stick back on the paper.

[Helen]

The sound of loads of owl drawings dying.

[Sam]

Had they done any drawing before this? Before she said those dreadful words?

[Graham]

They'd made a start. They'd all, you know, just in, like, five minutes.

[Sam]

Were they lovely like those owls that you showed?

[Graham]

Yeah, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. And then this thing happened and all the joy went out of the room.

[Helen]

We do that to ourselves as well sometimes, don't we? Your brain will go, better be good, mind.

[Graham]

Yeah.

[Helen]

People are going to see it, you know, seize up.

[Graham]

Yeah. You know, this illustration you're doing, you're being paid now, so it's got to be the best thing you've ever done.

[Helen]

Do it, Spend all day on it.

[Sam]

You could write a little list of those curses out. That will kill a piece of work. Because if you. If you go on to Helen's Instagram, I think there are pictures of these owls that these kids did in the. Honestly, the most beautiful thing I've seen, almost.

[Graham]

Oh, they are so amazing. And all I said to each class was, draw me an owl. And the variety. I think I came. I don't know how many hours I've got in the end. Maybe 200 owls. And every single one is completely different. They are absolutely brilliant. Some children instinctively draw tiny, like 3cm high. Some of them completely fill the paper. Some of them, the whole thing is black with a few dots of white left, and the others are the reverse. Some are really lacy and delicate and fine and other of them. Others are like their fist has been thumping that stick on the paper. They're so brilliant.

[Helen]

You remember those tea towels used to get at school?

[Sam]

Did a different one.

[Graham]

Yeah.

[Helen]

Be so good to get an owl tea towel with all the different owls.

[Sam]

I was thinking that when I looked at them, because basically I was so jealous of these kids. The owls, they're so brilliant. They have this magic thing. We're talking about a sketch being. It doesn't matter. Just the joy in making that thing for the first time and not worrying about where it's going to be. And their idea of what a beautifully perfect piece of artwork is, is sometimes what the kind of devil in our head will tell us. We're like, okay, you've done the sketches, now it's final artwork. You've got to do this properly. We need to get Helen round to start shouting, forget what the art director wants, Forget what magazine is going in or where. Just enjoy yourself and have fun making it. But I think something as simple a sketch that doesn't look like £800 worth of drawing. It's a mindset thing, isn't it? You've got to get yourself past the fact that this is so cool.

[Graham]

I think sometimes when you're being paid money, you think, oh, that I must make this drawing take me a long time to be worth the money that they've paid me.

[Sam]

Well, your subconscious already starts breaking that down into an hourly rate. And then you think of what a drawing should look like for that.

[Graham]

Oh, this has got to be. As they're paying me more than I've been paid before, it's got to be better than I've ever done before.

[Helen]

Yeah, I think as soon as somebody's paying you, as soon as there's pressure on yourself, sketching feels easy. And there's something in our brains that can kick in and be like, okay, it can't be easy anymore. You've got to either do it loads and loads of times or spend all day on it, or, you know, just really clench while you're doing it and.

[Graham]

Forget why they came to you. Like, they might have seen your Instagram feed full of really lovely, lively work and they want that, but they've come to you and they're now paying you money, and you think you forget actually what. How they found you, what work they liked. Yeah, it's good to ask them that question, isn't it? Which of the work on my formula did you like me for?

[Sam]

But I think that the money thing, that changes. It does change everything in the sense that the first time I realized this, I was when I was working with some art directors, and I used to paint by hand. And these images were so complex and convoluted and, yeah, they were a lot of work. And if something went wrong in that painting, it was quite hard to repair it. And then a friend of mine at the Hong Kong Polyu, she said, oh, my husband's an illustrator. I said, oh, what's his work like? And she showed me these simple line drawings. They weren't cartoons as such. They remind me of that. The Australian poet and illustrator who recently died. Brian something or other. God, can't remember his name now, but I was like, wow. So he's doing these simple, maybe two characters, simple line drawing, perhaps he does 20 of them and he picks the best one, but each drawing probably doesn't take more than 15 minutes. And this completely blew my mind because my paintings were taking me three weeks to complete. And she said he was working for an ad agency with these drawings. And I knew what Their budgets were. And I was like, is he getting the same fee as I am for three weeks work and he's got a 10 minute drawing and I just couldn't reconcile this in my head. And now I think more and more the presence of something light and simple and an easy sketch. Like Marion Duchar's work, for example, her work for the Bob books or the yo. There's now some non fiction books about yoga and getting fit. And they're just really simple paintings. And she pieces them together on Photoshop, the bits and bobs and legs and the arms and the head so you get consistency. But it's the freshness of just those simple marks and the joyous kind of unselfconscious making. But in the face of AI, you know, just to see someone put an unabashed, confident mark on a page, it's like, it's so beautiful now compared to all these horrible 3D rendered images.

[Helen]

Do you think it's like now if you do writing, if there's a typo in it, people are like, oh, good, there's a typo.

[Sam]

It's not AI, it's a real person.

[Helen]

Yeah. Like sketching has got that human wobblyness in it, whereas AI would be all slick and weirdly airbrushy feel.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah. It's like hearing someone sing just alone in a studio. You can hear all the catches in the voice. Or like Graham was saying the other day, oh, I hate it when they put the sounds of the fingers on the fret and the guitar. It's like saying, this is real. I was like, no, but I do like that. I like to know there's a human behind it. It's not overproduced. It's just, you can see the humanity. And I think that's what people want now. But we just need to be brave enough to recognize in our own work. That's enough. Look, it's kind of singing. It looks really beautiful. That mark is really nice. But it takes confidence to back it, doesn't it?

[Graham]

There's all those tricks, aren't there? So like in a picture book, you've got to do rough drawings. And you might do the rough drawings endless times before you definitely get it right. The layout's right, the page order is right, you've chosen between vignettes and spread and you've drawn it so many different ways. And so one of the tricks I use is if I'm gonna redraw something, but there's only one area. If it needs redrawing, I just stick a glue A piece of paper over the top and just draw that bit so I'm not redrawing the same image again and again. And then when it comes to final artwork, I put the rough drawing on the light box, but then dim the light box so I can only just see through so that the new drawing is fresh, rather than copy every single line from the rough drawing so it feels like it's new. I know where everything is on the page so that I. I'm leaving room for the text or the gutter down the middle. But it's a new drawing.

[Sam]

It's like a performance, though, isn't it? You're kind of ging up to it. You've got all the stuff prepared. You've memorized your lines. You've put your gutter in, you know, okay, now give it to me.

[Graham]

Yeah. And get the feeling as well, like, don't just do this. This process. Remember that this is a sad page. So feel sad while I draw it, because if I feel sad, it'll come out of my brain and down my arm through the pen.

[Helen]

Science. Yeah, but.

[Sam]

And it relates to live illustration as well, doesn't it? Because you can't do this just over and over again. You do the drawing, you commit to it and say that quick drawing of the person. That's it. There you go. Yeah.

[Helen]

And it's. Even if I'm working from a recording of an event, not letting myself hit pause. So it's like, you've just got to keep going with the energy and doing the quick, imperfect drawings and be like, oh, my word, that's bad. But carry on anyway. And it's sort of. It gives it a bit of charm, I think if somebody's got a weirdly long arm or a wonky eye.

[Sam]

Yeah. If it's too perfect.

[Helen]

Don't want that.

[Graham]

It's like humans. I like my humans. Wonky. I really love seeing somebody not too perfect. You know what I mean? It's. It's intimidating when you see somebody who's got their act together completely. You think underneath you're falling apart.

[Helen]

I always think they're pretending, posturing, like everything's fine.

[Graham]

Is it, though?

[Sam]

That's such a good. You know the metaphor. Wonky humans and wonky art. You just love them more. They've got more charm. Yeah.

[Graham]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Can you relate to them more? Yeah, that's. If people keep asking us about the AI thing. That's just the answer. It's going to do what it's going to do. Just be more human and more wonky. And ignore it because we can't do a lot more about it other than sign. Sign petitions and hope it goes away, but just get more human. Okay. Bye.

[Graham]

Bye.

[Sam]

Sam.