Artist Talk: Helen Heath

This week we were lucky to have two artists come in to talk to us about their experience in the industry and their journey as creatives. Since I asked for my artist talks in a recent group critique I was excited at the prospect of talking to people who work in the industry and could answer specialist questions. The two artists were Helen Heath and Sean Battle, a recent graduate and editorial illustrator who I will talk about in the next post. While listening to their presentations, I took some notes and answers to questions I'd asked based on prior research on their social media accounts and websites. I've always found it interesting learning about how people got into the industry and their process in tackling projects. 

This post is focused on Helen Heath, a local illustrator who has experience in editorial and children's book illustration. Helen works on the animation degree and has previously spoken to me after I showed interest in her children's book published in Waterstones so it was nice to see her again and see more of her work. I decided to keep the notes as bullet points as it is an easier way to refer back to key points and see a more structured timeline of her career. Here are some of the questions I had for her which were answered during the presentation.

McKays Magical Hat storyboard, Helen Heath

1. From your experience of using Not on the High Street and Etsy, which would you say is more successful in driving an audience to your page and selling artwork. I plan to sell prints so it would be good to know which reaches a bigger audience of people likely to buy contemporary prints.
2. Do you feel it's necessary to have an agent when starting out to find clients?
3. How would you approach an author to work with or find authors that are looking for illustrators for children's books, are there websites for that sort of thing or is it more that they'd find your social media and contact you if interested?

Helen's Presentation

• She studied graphic design at Nottingham Trent University at a time when there weren't many Illustration courses, used to get individual briefs suited to her interests and style.
• Instead of a business card or personal statement, she created an illustrated book called 'Ralph', based on her dog but talking through all of her strengths and life story. This was very successful as it gave a better insight into her personality, with a pawprint letter and promotional material to add to the context. She sent this to art directors and people she was interested in working with and got a lot of positive feedback from it, showing that putting in the effort to make a promotional pack rather than an email and digital portfolio worked better as it was a more memorable experience for the audience. 
• By sending out promotional material, it led her to work on a series of books about mermaids. While she hadn't previously worked on seascapes and marine animals, clients would come and ask her to work on book series' after seeing previous work. This shows that it is good to take any opportunities that come because you don't know where it could lead or who could see it.
• 'Raff is Lost' (Scullion, 2017), a children's book created with American author Jenny Scullion in 2017.
• Started a company in 2013 called 'Rosie and Radish' with her graphic designer best friend from university. It has had a lot of success online on Esty and Not on the High Street selling greetings cards and prints. 
• During lockdown, she found a love for sketching daily occurrences in a sketchbook. Whether they were happy or sad memories, she posted them on her personal Instagram and received a lot of positive feedback with people who could relate to her home-schooling traumas and various things that felt normal during the pandemic. She was even on BBC Radio and ad a story on The Guardian which shows that something you many find menial or spend less time on will resonate with someone and possibly lead to greater opportunities. While she didn't want to publish the book, it's a great way to look back on the last two years for her family.

Left: 'I Want to be a Baddie', unpublished, written by Stuart Moore. Right: 'Raff is Lost', written by Jenny Scullion.

What I've learnt

This talk was very beneficial for my progression as an illustrator as I hope to sell my artwork as prints in the near future. I think it is important to build an online presence across social media accounts, online shops and websites and Helen is someone who has successfully done this throughout her career. As she works in many different fields of illustration, it shows that its good to diversify your brand; for example, if I want to produce children's books, it would be good to sell prints on the side as it will boost my income and allow me to stay experimental, improving my skill set and reaching a bigger audience. 

I found it interesting to hear of all of the work she had done and how the things that she may have done for fun or without thinking anything would come of turned out to be the most successful. It shows that all of the pressure artists put on themselves to put out finished outcomes on social media is sometimes less important than posting rougher sketches more frequently. What's important is showing your audience the person behind the illustrations and the processes used to build a deeper connection. 

Rosie and Radish Online Shop, Not on the High Street

References:

Waterstones. 2022. Raff is Lost. [online] Available at: <https://www.waterstones.com/book/raff-is-lost/jenny-scullion/9781999848309> [Accessed 20 February 2022].

Scullion, J., 2017. Raff is Lost. Rainshine Publications.

Notonthehighstreet.com. 2022. Rosie & Radish. [online] Available at: <https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/rosieandradish> [Accessed 24 February 2022].

Illustratedbyhelen.co.uk. 2022. Home. [online] Available at: <https://www.illustratedbyhelen.co.uk/> [Accessed 24 February 2022].

Instagram. 2022. IllustratedbyHelen. [online] Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/illustratedbyhelen/> [Accessed 24 February 2022].