Inspirations!

Recently I’ve been feeling deeply uninspired. I get in my head a lot about my art and my writing, and have a tendency to spiral down into a deep dark hole of “Everyone else is better than me and nothing I create ever adds anything to the world and I’m silly for even pursuing this because it has no significance at all.” Such silly thoughts coming from a person whose life is infinitely better because of the art and the stories of others!

So I decided I’d compile a post with some of my biggest inspirations, ranging from books I loved as a child to my favorite illustrators of today! Copyright for all the images in this post belong to the amazing artists— I’ve linked their socials and websites, go support them!

Illustrators

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Illustrators -

REBECCA GREEN
IG: @rebeccagreenillustration
WEB: myblankpaper.com

I could write sonnets y’all. Rebecca Green is by and far my favorite illustrator. I love her textures, composition, characters, EVERYTHING! She really inspires me to think outside of my own box and embrace the risk and potential for the unplanned in traditional media. I’m a member of her patreon and it’s the best $5 I spend every month.

I mean, look at the way she uses gouache! The texture and color and composition of this whole image is so good, and I just adore the way she draws animals. I want every single book she’s ever illustrated.

TARYN KNIGHT
IG: @taryndraws
WEB: tarynknight.com

Taryn Knight is the queen of cozy. I love her sweet illustrations and everything she does manages to be so detailed without being too overwhelming, which is so hard to do, yet she pulls it off effortlessly!

Just look at the wings on this owl! Such goodness!

LENNY WEN
IG: @lunartcy
WEB: lennywen.com

I love how Lenny Wen combines colored pencils and gouache. Her author/illustrator debut just came out and I was itching to grab it! This book is about a little girl who is so excited for her grandmother from Indonesia, but is sad when she realizes her grandmother’s sambal is too spicy! My husband’s family is from Indonesia, so I was super excited to add this book to our collection.

When I got to the bookstore to make my purchase, I flipped open the book and burst into tears. What I didn’t know about this book was that, while the main character’s father was from Indonesia, her mother was white. I just started crying thinking about how my future children will be able to look at this book and see themselves and their family represented!

SIBYLLINE MEYNET
IG: sibylline_m
WEB: sibyllinemeynet.com

I am utterly in awe of the way Sibylline uses gouache! The way she applies it and the consistency she’s able to get— it’s unreal. Plus her illustrations are just all so fantastical and dreamy, I want to live in them.

I especially love her knights— I have a print of one hanging beside my art desk!

Books

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Books +

THE INQUISITOR’S TALE
By Adam Gidwitz
Illustrated by Hatem Aly

Topping off this list is The Inquisitor’s Tale. YALL! THIS BOOK! It combines fantasy and history and religion and humor and heavy topics with SUCH GRACE. Since it’s set in Medieval times, the whole book is “illuminated” (basically illustrated), just like a text from that period would have been.

The character designs, and really the whole of the illustrations, toe this very thin line of simplicity and detail. It’s one of my favorite books of all time and is one of those beautiful stories that sticks with you. I know I’m an adult who loves children’s books, but I truly think this book is for everyone.

THE ORDINARY PRINCESS
Written and Illustrated by M.M. Kaye

I picked up this little book at a local used bookstore when I was only 7 or 8, and it’s become one of my dearest possessions. It’s a delightful story of a princess “cursed” to be ordinary, to the dismay of her parents. When they have to hire a dragon to kidnap her, she runs away to her own adventures. It’s such a sweet book and it’s illustrated by the author so beautifully.

Reading this and looking at the illustrations, you can tell M.M. Kaye poured a lot of love into this little novel. It’s such a great read when you need a spot of brightness in a dreary world.

Speaking of dreary worlds…

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
By Lemony Snickett
Illustrated by Brett Helquist

Is it woeful? Certainly. Yet I can’t help but love A Series of Unfortunate Events. I think it captures that childhood annoyance of adults not taking you seriously. Obviously everything is Not Good At All, yet the whole thing manages to tackle the bad and maintain a sorrowful tone without the whole thing getting bogged down. Perhaps it’s the subtle air of ridiculousness contrasted with the tragedy.

The detail in these pencil illustrations is just too good. Helquist does a great job of capturing both the whimsey and the woe. Side Note: The Netflix series of SOUE is one of the best book to TV adaptations I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty darn spot on to the books, and what little they did change adds to the whole thing. It’s a series I love to both reread and rewatch!

Finally, maybe selfishly, but I do get inspired when I go back to look at the pieces I’ve created that I love. This little celebration parade really reflects the qualities I want all my works to have, even if I’m still getting there.

That’s all for this blog! There are many more illustrators and authors and books that inspire me, but that would be quite the long post! For now, these are the ones that stand out in my head when I think of my work and the ways I want to challenge myself creatively!

Thanks for reading, and thank you to these lovely creatives for inspiring me and so many others!