Want to know what February’s #WalkToSee prompt is?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Good Ship Illustration

Episode: Want to know what February’s #WalkToSee prompt is?

Release Date: January 30, 2026
Hosts: Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell, and Tania Willis (referred to as A, B, C in the transcript)

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Helen, Katie, and Tania, three professional illustrators and friends, discuss the February prompt for their ongoing #WalkToSee drawing challenge on Instagram. They explore the origins and evolution of #WalkToSee, share practical tips and anecdotes about drawing from life, and joyfully encourage participation regardless of skill level or frequency. The trio also highlights the power of creative community and shares moments of humor and camaraderie.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Purpose of #WalkToSee

• The challenge began around 2017 (possibly earlier, though the exact year is debated).
• Main Idea: Celebrate drawings made from life—no rules except that the image is drawn from direct observation.
• How it Works: Draw from life (in a sketchbook or on paper), photograph your work, and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #WalkToSee.
• Community Growth: The tag boasts around 120,000 contributions.

2. Evolution of the Monthly Prompt

• Instagram’s changing algorithm has made it harder to see new contributions, prompting a shift to a monthly theme.
• Each month gets a unique word (e.g., “Festive,” “Wet,” etc.).
• Notable Quote:

  “Every month now I make a new prompt… January drumroll: Walk to see wet. Because we're gonna have a lot of rain and we're gonna see lots of wet scenery.”
  — Helen [02:00]

3. Interpreting the Prompt: Flexibility & Creativity

• Prompt for January: "Wet"
• Encourages literal or creative interpretations: draw wet things, use wet materials, or even make your paper wet!
• Advice:

  “Even if you're not near anything you can depict as wet, you just get your inks and your paper out and you're already in it. How easy is that?”
  — Tania [02:56]

• Participation is entirely flexible: daily, monthly, or just once.

4. Tackling Consistency & Perfectionism

• No pressure to create daily; even one drawing is valuable.
• Memorable Moment:

  “But when you're busy, you can't do prompts every day. And then you just end up hating yourself… There is no keeping up with walk to see—you do what you like. But yeah, the pressure to do one every day is too much. Half-ass it. Try one.”
  — Katie [03:28–04:09]

5. Community and Connection

• #WalkToSee fosters a sense of belonging and connection, especially for illustrators working solo.

• Artists sometimes meet up in real life for drawing sessions.

• Publishers and art directors scout talent through the hashtag.

• Katie on the benefits:

  “Just to join a gang of people and feel like part of a community… it really feels like a comfort blanket to connect with those other people.” [05:48]

6. Practical Tips & Noteworthy Stories

• Drawing in the Rain:
  • Wet weather can produce unexpected, beautiful effects.

  “Some of my best drawings are done in the rain because you lose all control. So any perfectionism you've got… you just have no chance.”
  — Helen [06:51]

  • Anecdote: Drawing a sailing boat in Iceland, raindrops made "little bursts" in the ink lines [07:13].
• Drawing in the Dark:
  • Go to the theatre, draw by touch—focuses attention on the subject more than the page.

  “You can't see your sketchbook, which is brilliant because your eyes are on what you're drawing more than the drawing…”
  — Helen [07:50]

• Instagram GIFs:
  • Custom WalkToSee, DrawInTheRain, DrawInTheDark GIFs are available for Instagram Stories; Good Ship Illustration also has fun GIFs like “draw with your foot” [09:07–09:33].
• Art Community Lore:
  • Jokingly, the “secret” to finding an artist boyfriend: “Learn to draw cress really well” [09:41].

7. Encouragement & Playfulness

• The group maintains a humorous, nonjudgmental tone, frequently laughing and exchanging lighthearted barbs.
• “Hopefully you're feeling all inspired now… All I can think about is slippery nipples. These drawings are going to be like, the dirtiest road we've ever seen at Art Club.”
  — Helen [10:34]
• Final word: Any and all drawing efforts are welcome and celebrated.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On the spirit of #WalkToSee:

  “There are no rules, really, except it must be drawn from life... and then you take a picture… and you post it on Instagram with the hashtag walktoc.”
  — Helen [00:41]

• On building a community:

  “It's made a great community. And publishers, when they're looking for artists, this is the kind of place they're going to look.”
  — Helen [04:31]

• On the creative process:

  “You're collaborating with nature and the weather.”
  — Katie [07:47]

• On drawing in adverse conditions:

  “You get what you get and you get some really interesting results.”
  — Helen [06:51]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:29–01:54]: History and evolution of #WalkToSee
• [02:00–03:04]: January’s prompt (“wet”) and interpreting prompts
• [03:04-04:09]: Addressing expectations and frequency of participation
• [04:27–06:14]: How the challenge builds community and helps illustrators
• [06:14–07:13]: Using Instagram GIFs and drawing in adverse weather
• [07:13–08:32]: Drawing in the rain and dark; stories from personal experience
• [09:07–09:39]: More about custom GIFs for the challenge
• [09:41–10:31]: Jokes, “Art Club” origin stories, and encouragement
• [10:31–end]: Inspiring words, playfulness, closing encouragement

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Conclusion

This episode embodies The Good Ship Illustration’s mission—supporting illustrators who sometimes wonder, “Is it just me?” with relatable stories, practical advice, and encouragement to show up, try something new, and find joy (and occasional accidental genius) in the process. Whether you draw daily or just once, #WalkToSee is about connecting, experimenting, and making drawing from life part of your creative rhythm—and maybe picking up some quirky Instagram GIFs along the way.

Transcript

[A]

Sam.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

Shall we talk about Walk to Sea?

[C]

Yes, let's.

[A]

Okay, so Walk to Sea, for people who haven't heard about it, is a drawing prompt that I started. I think it was 2017ish. Am I right? Hang on a minute.

[C]

I feel like it's earlier than that.

[A]

I feel as if it is. But in reality, when I looked it up, it was surprisingly recent. When did I start? I can't remember, but it's big. But it's been going really good. Yeah, it's been going for a few years and the drawing prompts are just new. So I've been running Walk to Sea for a few years. And it's to celebrate drawings made from life in a sketchbook. So there are no rules, really, except it must be drawn from life. So you can draw it in a sketchbook, bits of paper, wherever you like, and then you take a picture of your drawing and you post it on Instagram with the hashtag walktoc. And it's been running for years and years. I think there are 120,000 contributions so far, which is amazing. But then Instagram have changed the way the algorithm works and I can't see what's published really recently. It's so annoying. It just shows me in order of what I might like, which means things from a few years ago make it to the top of the feed, which is really, really annoying because I like to share all the ones people have done this week on my stories. So think, Tanya, you had the idea Walk to See drawing prompt. Every month. You're looking at me blankly. Do you not know you had this idea?

[B]

Stuff that happened in my past.

[A]

Take the credit.

[B]

Take it.

[A]

Well, it was a genius idea. So that every month now I make a new prompt. So it's Walk to see something. What's the word of the week was Walk to see Festive and January drum roll. Walk to sea wet. Because we're gonna have a lot of rain and we're gonna see lots of wet scenery outside and then there'll be bath time. You were talking about Edith having a wash in the sink.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's see.

[C]

If you want to occupy a three year old for like half an hour and you don't mind the floor getting soaking wet.

[A]

Perfect. Cups go plonk your toddler in the sink. You've got free hands for half an hour. You can drop. Draw. Can draw.

[B]

I know. Australia, we can hear you. India. And everywhere else, swimming pools.

[C]

What are you talking about?

[A]

Or wet the page and then draw into it. Or used wet drawing. Materials. So there's both aspects. There's. What you're drawing can be wet. Wet materials, wet paper.

[B]

So there's two ways around. Even if you're not near anything you can depict as wet, you just get your inks and your paper out and you're already in it. How easy is that?

[C]

Questions people might have.

[A]

So.

[C]

So know when there's a challenge, people are like, right, okay, have I got to draw something wet every single day for January?

[A]

No, you could do it. You could draw one drawing or you could do a drawing every day. You could do 10 a day or none.

[B]

None a day. I can manage that. Helen.

[A]

I've done another one.

[B]

Look, here's another wet thing. So if you're like that, you can just go at it every day and she'll post you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or just a.

[A]

What your.

[B]

Once a month. God, I did it. Actually managed to get a prompt done because Katie and I were talking about those daily prompts, which are great if you've got loads of time and you can feel so good about yourself and your drawing will get so much better. But when you're busy, you can't do prompts every day. And then you just end up hating yourself.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It can be like 30 days of kicking yourself.

[A]

Set the bar. Nice. And what do you say?

[C]

Hold the. What bar of soap is it?

[B]

That one?

[A]

There's that one. But no, I'm thinking. No, hang on a minute. Yeah, it's half ass. Yeah. It feels like too big a deal to try and keep up with. I mean, there is no keeping up with walk to see you do what you like. But yeah, the pressure to do on every day is too much. Half ass it. Try one.

[C]

Can't be bothered.

[A]

I would prefer it if you did because otherwise I won't be able to see it for Helen. So brilliant. Because we've done. I've done a few of them. Done Walk to Sea, Cosy, Walk to see festive, Walk to see weather. That all that's the cool thing about it.

[C]

Part of the creativity as well, isn't it? How you interpret the prompt and then what you do.

[A]

And it makes a really nice community because everybody sees what everybody else is posting. We've had people who have met in real life and gone on walk to see drawing sessions. It's brilliant. It's made a great community. And publishers, when they're looking for artists, this is the kind of place they're going to look.

[B]

That's. I was talking to Margot Tanto last night and it was. It was for the business course. So it wasn't that kind of creative aspect. But it was really good to see, to hear her as an art director, say, people are still looking on Instagram and if you. You do something that connects with their product and you could brainstorm lots of products that are connected to weight, like swimming pool gadgets or, you know, swimming costumes. He said, if you've got that tag on it, people are still looking, whether it's manufacturers, licensing companies, publishers, all sorts of things. So there's still some life in the old dog yet.

[A]

And I share a big selection of them on my stories each weekend. So it's a really good way to build up new followers apart from anything else, because you'll be discovered by all the other Walk to See us.

[C]

I think when I was first starting out, like illustrating more on. On purpose, Walk to See was a big thing for me. Like to see who was on it. Even if I didn't join in, I was like, people worth following. What are these people up to? And have a little look on the hashtag and scroll through and just see what people are doing.

[B]

And just to join a gang of people and feel like part of a community, especially when you're isolated as an illustrator working on your own and you haven't got community around you, it really feels like a comfort blanket to connect with those other people. The only thing I'll keep thinking maybe people that have never heard this before with our super speedy talking, especially when we refer to this hashtag walk, walk. C. Yeah.

[A]

D A, D, D, Walk. Like walking with your legs to. And then see with your eyes. Not the C. Yeah, exactly. Also, I made some gifs ages ago. So if you go into Instagram gifs and you search walk, you'll find a couple of walk to sea jumpy around gifts. Plus there are special ones for drawing in the rain and drawing in the dark, because those are my favourite types of drawings. And this is perfect for drawing in the rain. I really love drawing in the rain because you lose complete control of your drawing, so your page is wet and you just get what you get. Some of my best drawings are done in the rain because you lose all control. So any perfectionism you've got about your drawing being really great, you just have no chance. You get what you get and you get some really interesting results.

[B]

The drawing that's evidence of the weather that you sat in is a physical thing that got rained on. You know, you can see it as a something you'd find in a museum.

[A]

Look, here's a bit of Paper with a drawing that got drawings I ever did was in Iceland. There was a wooden sailing boat with all its rigging, and I sat on a hill near the harbour to draw it. And it just started to drizzle a tiny little bit. So the paper became moist, but not swimming, just a little bit moist. And then when I pulled my dip pen with ink down through all the drips, each drip made a little poof, like a little star of ink. And so all the rigging are lovely, delicate, very straight lines with these little bursts where the raindrops are on the paper.

[B]

Yes. You're collaborating with nature and the weather.

[A]

Yeah, and drawing in the dark. I love drawing in the dark. So going to the theatre, opening up the sketchbook on my knee, putting my finger where my pen starts and trying to draw what I can see on stage. So you gotta be really, really fast. And you can't see your sketchbook, which is brilliant because your eyes are on what you're drawing more than the drawing, which always works well because you've got your finger on. You try and do the drawing and aim back where your finger is on the start of the drawing. So those are. I think I did some drawings at Swan Lake. You know the. What's the Swan Lake with all the male ballerinas? That guy called.

[B]

Oh, I know. She loves him.

[A]

Anyway, yeah, I did some really great drawings of that with all the male ballerinas doing Swan Lake. So you can use the gifts, the little Draw in the Rain, Draw in the Dark. And I share loads of them on my stories. And people who manage to draw in the rain and draw in the dark get extra awards. They get like Walk to Sea plus extra gold medal gift.

[C]

You should do that. Have you done Walk to See you Dark as a prompt?

[A]

Not yet.

[C]

That would be a good one.

[B]

Post your Walk to See Draw in the Rain gifts again so people can find them if they go onto your Instagram.

[A]

Yeah, you just go into Instagram, you know when you're posting on your stories and you dip into the GIFs to have a look for something to stick on your stories. If you type in Walk to sea or Draw in the dark or Draw in the rain, little gifts pop up and you click on one and then it's on you.

[C]

We've got good ship ones as well.

[A]

We have back in the day, if.

[C]

You just type in good ship or one word, you get a foot drawing. We did one art club where we drew with our.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that was really good. Nice palette. That says Art Club on it. That's ours.

[C]

Draw, draw, draw.

[A]

And some cress.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Because early days of art club, I was telling everybody about how I met my partner Jerry. So we were at art school together. And the first time he ever thought, oh, I like the look of her, was when I drew some cress in a cafe. This became an in joke about how to get a really great artist boyfriend. Learn to draw cress really well. That's all you need. I think that's because the first art clubs we did were maybe around Christmas. And I bought a glass of Bailey's with ice in it.

[C]

The ice cube is the right.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I made sure that we didn't do a gif.

[B]

I found the gifts. They're so lovely. Go and check out Helen's gifts. Walk to sea. Draw in the rain. Draw in the dark. They're really nice, and they will make any drawing look wonderful if you slap one of those on and they wiggle as well.

[C]

So hopefully you're feeling all inspired now.

[A]

Yeah. All I can think about is slippery nipples. These drawings are going to be, like, the dirtiest road we've ever seen at Art Club.

[B]

You can even just push some paint about. There's wet on wet, isn't it?

[A]

I love the idea of wet materials on wet paper. It's so great.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think I've got some plans. I'm gonna do it this month.

[A]

Okay. Bye, everybody. By. Sam.