I Hope

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning."
(Albert Einstein)

I love this quote by Einstein. I have been holding onto hope this month more than ever. The big question for me is "where will all of this passion to illustrate take me?" 

But the more I have pondered on this, the more I try and let it go.
I think the important thing is really not to keep looking too far into the future. Instead it is to grasp what is in front of me right now - that is to LIVE FOR TODAY - and trust and hope that these day to day workings will gather momentum and plant seeds that will sprout so gradually and naturally that I will be standing in a field ready to be reaped before I even know it. 

So what is in front of me today?

Firstly, my studies. I am just months away from graduating. There is still much to be learnt before the end of January. There are connections to be had with my classmates as we inspire each other along. There is a wealth of information to be sought after from my teachers. There is the joy of knowing that as a student I have the right to make mistakes - and fail spectacularly if needed. It's part of the process of learning after all.

Secondly, my work as a drama teacher. Although this work is not illustration based, it is fuel for inspiration and passion. Children need you to be present and awake to reach them. And when you reach them the magic can happen. I recently directed three casts of about 60 kids in each in a musical version of the ugly duckling. Earlier this year I volunteered to create the poster for these performances. On the weekend the last show was played with the final cast. It was when I was doing one of the final runs of the show that I realised I had a group of seven year olds peering over my shoulder with concentration while waiting for their turn to go on. They were pointing at my doodles, which until then I had not noticed were on almost every page. As they waited for their turn to go on stage they excitedly waited for the page of my script to turn so that they could see the next drawing I had absent-mindedly scribbled while nutting out directing notes.

As they smiled and moved closer to inspect my work the words of one of my favourite writers - Ralph Waldo Emerson - suddenly flew before my mind's eye:

"To laugh often and much
to win the respect of intelligent people
and affection of children…..
This is to have succeeded."

The joy on these kids faces was infectious. If kids are loving what I do then I must be on track. After all, if a child doesn't like something - they will tell you! They are the best and most honest of critics.

The show poster I designed for Honk:

So what else is in front of me?

Well, this is the obvious one. My sketchbooks, my pencils, my pens, my Wacom and my computer. The artists tools. Drawing almost everyday is second nature now. I am jumping at chances to take my pencil for a walk on the page. After recently joining Twitter I started to seek out other illustrators across the globe. I found a little fun weekly drawing challenge set by a design agency in the UK - Broccoli Creative Design.  To keep my pencil moving and inspired I have entered a sketch every week called "Saturday Scribbles" based on a set theme for the last month or so. It's been fun to see my work shared and retweeted and to know that oceans away people are engaging with what I love to do.

Here are some of my contributions:

Theme: Moustache

Theme: Bears and Bandages

Theme: Fireworks

Theme: Frost

Soon I will be sending my portfolio out into the world to seek representation from an illustration agency. This is a little bit nerve wracking, but I am feeling that perhaps an agent might point me in the direction of actual paid work. While thinking about my hopes and my dreams I drew this picture (which prints are now available from my Etsy shop I hope - print for sale)

So what are your hopes and dreams for the day? I hope that you have hope in your own hearts.

- Lou

Problem Solving

"All his life Klaus had believed that if you read enough books you could solve any problem, but now he wasn't so sure."
(Lemony Snicket)

So at the moment I am a little overloaded with information. I have entered into a subject this last month or so where I am required to learn coding for web design. I keep getting flash backs from high school maths class. 

I used to get so worked up reading mathematical problems that my heart would beat faster, I could literally see the pulse in my eye and I would have to choke down tears brought on by the anxiety. My best friend in high school would pass me the answers secretly so I would pass the subject. She even let me copy all her homework. It wasn't that I didn't try. I remember putting equations up on my wall and writing notes and I even had a tutor for a while. I just couldn't conceptualise that which I could not see. 

After about half way through this maths course I dropped the subject and took up an "easier" maths. It was called Maths in Society. I called in "Maths in Space".  A course for the space cadets like me. The "non bright ones". I passed this course - but only barely.

It wasn't that I wasn't bright. 
In fact I think the concept of "brightness" is a dull one. 

There are so many different learning styles and time frames for learning. And there are so many different kinds of intelligence. I am a kinaesthetic learner. I need to DO to learn. Then I back it up by doing again. And again. And again…. Repetition and experience.

So although my brain fills like it's about to explode with web code, I am trying to breathe deeply and remind myself that I will learn in my own time and in my own way. Coding is important in this digital age. But it's not my passion. And there are people who do have this passion. So lucky me that in the future should I need coding I will understand a little about how it all works and hand it over to the professionals so I can focus on my own passions with illustration and design.

I was thinking all of this over as I walked to the train station this morning as last night I was up late pouring over textbooks and trying to understand my homework in time for class today. And as the fates would have it a little sign from the universe prompted me to thinking about learning and problem solving in action. A man got on at my second stop. He was perhaps a few years older than me. Wearing an old style cap, knitted jumper and cardigan with big pockets, he was ordinary but just a little extraordinary. 

But then…..

He promptly pulled a Rubik's Cube out of one of these pockets and began to twist and turn it with an intensity of one running an Olympic sprint. I was mesmerised by him. His focus and his commitment were palpable.  A few amused onlookers smiled. But he was oblivious to them. He was deep in the zone of problem solving. He stood the whole time right in front of me by the door which gave me a chance to really take in this man lost in the pursuit of his goal. At one point a bead of sweat rolled down his face. He pushed it aside in half a heart beat and continued to twist and turn with increasing fervour. He was a man on a mission. One and a half stations along (under five minutes), the jumble of colours suddenly matched up on all six sides.

He had done it. Problem solved. A calm overtook him. The train pulled up to another stopped. He let out a satisfied smile and exited the carriage.

We are all good at something. We all have those moments when our expertise is needed to solve problems. Maybe not Rubik's cubes, or mathematical ones. But seeing this man this morning reminded me to not compare my skills to others skills. Just to focus on the skills I have right here at hand. And to value what I CAN do. I got off at my station, went to coding class (yes, it was HARD!) but felt inwardly a lot calmer.

During the class, (In between taking web coding notes, asking the teacher questions and practising code on the computer) I did a little quick sketch of the Rubik's man. Sometimes multi tasking actually helps me focus. And tonight I have added a little colour to bring it to life. 

Because that's what I do well: Colouring-in ;-)

one two caribou!

"Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality"
(Alanis Morissette)

So it begins! I have just opened my first ever online shop!

Introducing.....

one two caribou - Original Prints by Lou Endicott

Here is a screen grab of my little online shop:

 













 
A few months ago I was asked by a Facebook friend if I sold prints. My answer was "Not yet" - which sounded better than no! I had for some unknown reason had the phrase "one two caribou" stuck in my head over the last few months. I love a good rhyme and a bit of nonsense so the catchiness of the phrase stuck. So when it was time to name my shop the words just fell out onto the screen.

It's been a little bit of a challenge to open this new store. On a student budget, test prints and paper are worth as much as my weekly shopping bill - so it was a risk to put the money forward before having an actual sales.

But I decided that it was worth the risk. I have belief in what I do and have had such incredible feedback from friends and strangers alike since starting this illustration journey. It was time to step it up a notch and to see myself as a professional and begin to play in the market place. 

So far, I have sold five prints. FIVE! This may not seem a lot to seasoned shop owners, but to me (only three days in) it's a cause for celebration. My best seller so far is my Back Stroke Maiden (whose creation I shared some months ago here on my blog). She has remained a favourite with me - and obviously others like her two :-)

Here she is on her side, just enjoying the water....

I go back to college on Monday after a 3 week break (which has been heavenly!) I am excited to be learning new things again but also a little nervous as this term my design course heads into the direction of multi media and coding. Not my strong point. 

But I have to trust that if I don't know how to do something I will have the courage to just ask for assistance.

Recently I decided to be a little brave and contact a Melbourne illustrator for advice and tips on working in the industry. You can check out her beautiful work here:Laura Wood Illustrations  

She most graciously replied to my email with lots of advice and even gave me the name of her printers (which I have used for my shop). I subscribe to her blog and a few days ago received a blog entry that mentioned she gets contacted by students from time to time and she wrote up even MORE tips and advice. Legendary. I hope that when I am working full time in my field my door will always be open to share what I have learnt. 

Among her pearls of advice on her recent blog posting was this one:
Where should a person start if they want to pursue this career?

Regarding starting out, my first tip for someone that is about to get out of college is to not wait until you finished college to promote yourself or find the first commissions. An art degree doesn't make any different in the illustration world, so my advice is to start now, immediately, do not wait any more time to actively start behaving like an illustrator and look for work, commissions and possible clients to contact. 

I would highly recommend you to get a proper professional website (behance is good to share stuff with other peers, but not so much as a professional window for your work to show to a client). Having one helped me enormously. 

Then you could start emailing the clients you would like to work with. A nice brief email introducing yourself with a link to your new shiny website will do. 

Most of them might not reply but some will do! And those might become your first clients...

I particularly resonated with this as it is on the same track that I feel I have been on the last few months. Apart from this blog I have a professional portfolio on The Loop, a Facebook page, an instragram account and even Twitter (though this last one is still a little confusing!)

I am feeling like I am on the right path. It's a bit rocky and the going is uphill, but the view is exhilarating and every bit of encouragement from my friends and peers helps.

I hope that wherever you are today the going is easy and the view is a delight.

- Lou

Pressing Play

"It is a happy talent to know how to play"
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Today I drew a picture of a little indigenous boy swimming with a leather back turtle. I guess I was dreaming of my home state Queensland and warmer weather and sunny days to come as the Summer approaches.

This picture also reminds me of the wonder of playing freely - with no gadgets, no money, no extra tools. Just a sense of freedom, adventure and enjoying what's on hand.

I have recently been struggling with the concept of money (or the lack thereof to be exact!) As a student  this year I am the poorest in pocket I think I have ever been. I have had to be resourceful and extra frugal with my budget to pay bills, keep a roof over my head and eat three meals a day. But with this challenge and the inspiration that comes from learning a new skill, I am also the richest in spirit. The currency that enriches my heart this year is the faculty of wonder. Seeing the world differently. Every day I try and keep my eyes open for inspiration for possible drawings. And as I am out and about in the world it's always the children that keep my heart the most happy. Particularly seeing them play. My daily bike ride is always a game of "Look for the Magic". If I cant see it - I look for the children out playing. I guess I am lucky to have the blessing of working (read: playing!) with kids as my casual job as a drama teacher. You don't need much to laugh or to share magic with kids. Just a sense of making do, a good sense of humour and your imagination.

DRAWING DRAWING DRAWING

"Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it... Luck to me is something else: Hard Work - and realising what is opportunity and what isn't."
Lucille Ball.

So here I sit and type this on a typical Melbourne day. It's sunny. And cold. And rainy. And windy. And still. And hot. 

In fact, it's all of the above. Which can make it difficult to decide when to go out for my daily bike ride!

The last few months have been a little like the weather in Melbourne. There's been a bit of everything everyday. But not much time to do my blog. So here I sit smack bang in the middle of my few weeks holiday finally getting back up on the saddle.

It has been a huge learning curve studying graphic design this year and the last three months have been exhilarating, challenging, stressful, inspiring, exhausting yet rejuvenating. I passed all my subjects and got some wonderful compliments from my illustration teacher (yay!) I have been drawing almost everyday and have been happy to see that my hand and eye are moving more in tandem with each other.

Here is just a sample of some of the work I have done over the last few months. A couple of the illustrations were for assignments but a lot of these were done just because I wanted to keep drawing...

I recently joined up to Instagram to share some of my work. This has been a wonderful opportunity to connect with other illustrators and admire and be inspired on a global level with what artists are up to. I have put a lot of pencil sketches onto Instagram in their raw form just to keep my pencil and imagination active. My instagram page

And of course I keep updating my Facebook page with my sketches too....Facebook Page

With just a week left of holidays at my disposal I am doing research to start selling prints of my work. I have had a lot of encouragement and support from family and friends with this idea. So fingers crossed, by the end of next week I will be launching an online store through Etsy.

The end of my course is now not so far away. I am about to embark on my third and final term of my course. Next year I will be launched out into the world looking for work. This is a very exciting (yet terrifying!) thought! I am hoping to find a way to make a living doing what I love to do. My greatest ambition is to be a full time freelance illustrator in the next few years. But in the interim I hope to gain work with a design studio to learn the ropes and be in a supportive and creative team. I feel that I am on the right path - however scary it all may seem going off into the unknown. But any time I get the nervous I just remember this:

I have to keep going forward and trust that the feeling deep in my core to be an illustrator and a designer and have a creative career that I am proud of - and ENJOY - is one that can't be ignored.

I hope that whatever you dream of, whatever your core calls out for you to do... I hope that you walk bravely down your dream path with courage in your heart to give it your best.

LOu

IDEAS and INSPIRATION

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” 
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

What a week it has been for this full time student of design!

The pressure has been stepped up with assignments due every day this week. Lucky for me one of those assignments has been to draw everyday for 21 days. For this assignment we were asked to choose an illustrator we admire who's style is something that resonates with our own in some way. The first week we were asked to study the artists work and make direct copies (full compositions or sections if we chose). The next seven days we were to combine imagery of two or more of the illustrators pieces. And the last seven (my favourite part) was to draw inspiration from the illustrator and create our own pieces.

After an extensive search and bookmarking dozens of sites and reading through books and editorials and asking friends and fellow art makers for recommendations I found my artist to study. Her name is Sophie Blackall. She is an Australian who now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She has illustrated many children's books (and won awards) and recently had a book published called "Missed Connections". I purchased this book (it became an instant treasure) and truly set the wheels of inspiration in motion. Not only are the pictures delightfully unique, engaging and just so plain beautiful to me, but the subject matter was the stuff of pure idea generation. The illustrations are inspired from an online column called Missed Connections. Here, people leave messages after having a fleeting moment with a stranger that got their heart racing. In posting, they hope this small connection can turn into something else (if indeed the object of their affection reads the column and chooses to respond!) Check out her work here: Sophie Blackall  And by all means, purchase her beautiful book!

I decided to run with the theme of this lovely artist's work and turned to my own town for inspiration. Those who live in Melbourne would be familiar with the mX - a free daily publication handed out at peak hour at inner city train stations. There is a column in the paper called "Here's looking at you".  On this site commuters post up little notes to state a moment of affection they had with a stranger in the hope the stranger will read and contact the publication so that the two can get together to explore what may be. So I went through my newspaper cupboard (yes, I have a cupboard of newspaper to put under the kitty litter tray) to pour over these little love notes. And the inspiration flowed right from here. I chose to create my own original pieces with water colour (no digital work).

Here are my seven illustrations:

I enjoyed creating these illustrations so much that I decided set up a Facebook page for my illustrations.  Please check it out and let me know what you think: Lou Endicott - Illustrator  

(I should mention I have an Instagram account now too! Cats Are Baby Dragons (Inspiration and Illustrations by Lou) )

I have a large community on Facebook that I regularly connect with so it made sense to create a page with my illustrations to share for those who check their accounts daily. The response has been very encouraging to say the least! Many kind words have been shared and I am feeling more and more like this path is the path I am meant to be on.

It's such a beautiful feeling to be actively pursuing a dream as an illustrator and sharing this with others. After all, an illustrator is only an illustrator when they can engage an audience and create a response. Until then, I am simply drawing for my own satisfaction. Which is nice and all, but not the full gamut of the power I feel the pencil can wield. I feel in sharing my work and my dream the power of manifestation can only grow...

I hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are honouring your own dreams and sharing them with those who recognise the magic that you have within.

- Lou

Swing set of Silly

MAKING ROOM FOR NONSENSE AND PLAY

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” 
Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Ahhh.... nonsense.  One of my favourite concepts of being human. Children play at this game well. They know that it serves more than to pass time. They know that play is an essential part of nonsense. Just being there in that moment of time. It's not an experience as in something that happened in the past. Its EXPERIENCING. Being right there in that moment. Catching the wind in the face. Laughing from the belly. Feeling the rush of blood flowing through the body.

And enjoying the silliness.

Someone once said to me "life is rarely as serious as we believe it to be". We spend too much time worrying and fretting. The first three months of my course this year I think I spent a lot of time with my head down mumbling under my breath "this is toooooo hard!!" I didn't leave room for play or for the spontaneous. 

I am making a dedicated commitment to being easier on myself and to find a healthier balance of work, downtime and play time. To remember that balance is the key to a life well lived. As Dr Seuss says:

"You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.And never mix up your right foot with your left." 

 (from Oh! The Places You'll Go!)

So to remind me of this balance and this sense of play today I drew a picture of a girl on a swing set. Her pup looks up at her enjoying the sight.

How long has it been since YOU swung on a swing set?