The 100 Day Project

I've decided to join in The 100 Day Project this year. I regretted not doing it last year so though it best not to make the same mistake again! I didn't find out it was starting until the day before though, so didn't have as much time as I'd have liked to come up with a theme!

I've been trying to work more with characters lately so I figured that was a good direction to go in. So for the next 100 days I'll be sharing a new illustration (mostly sketchbook work, sometimes coloured images) of a character. The characters will either be new ones from my imagination, or from books I'm reading or TV I'm watching.

I'll be sharing them all on Instagram with the unique hashtag #emi100characters

And every week or so I'll do a catch up post here on the blog.

First up, me and Jamie have just begun watching Game of Thrones (and desperately trying to catch up by the time the new season starts so we don't get too many spoilers!)

I didn't think I'd particularly enjoy it but right from the first ten minutes of episode one I've been completely hooked! So it only seemed right to make it the theme of my first entry for this project. I went with a baby dragon, inspired by my favourite scene so far, when Daenerys awakes from the ashes of the fire with her newly hatched dragons. Expect a few of these illustrations to be Game of Thrones themed!

For day 2 I've drawn a little character design for Heidi, the book I'm currently reading.

There's a new series of illustrations on the way for that one, but I've been having a few computer issues so haven't been able to colour them yet. Hopefully they'll be ready to share next week!

So thats 2 down... 98 to go!

(Although I'm away for 2 weeks in June so I may have to skip those entries)

In my Sketchbook: 06/04/16

Its been months since I shared some pictures from inside my sketchbook, so this is just a tiny selection of everything I've drawn since then!

Included here are some sketchbook pages from various projects: Alice in Wonderland, The Language of Flowers, A Little Princess, British Butterflies etc.

In my Sketchbook: 10/2/16

After a few weeks of being less productive than I'd have liked (blame a nasty cold and lingering lack of motivation!), this week I decided to try and make some real progress on some new products. I'm designing some new colouring books* including a new, larger and better second edition of my Animal World design. This one will be A5 sized with 24 pages (thats twice as big as the old versions!)

So for the last couple of days I've been filling sketchbook pages with various animals ready to go into the colouring book! I've got a list of animals I'd like to include but I'm happy to hear any suggestions!

Here's some sketchbook pages from the week so far:

*I'm also working on a second edition of Positive Thoughts, and possibly something fairytale and/or nature themed too!

Holiday Sketches

Over New Year I went on a five day cruise with my family to Belgium and Germany (which is where this happened!)

As always I took plenty of photos whilst we were away, and I've been working on some illustrations from them this week. I think I'll be keeping these as sketchbook illustrations this time rather than scanning them in and adding colour. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll find the time to do a few more!

Snap snap: 23/10/15

Its been well over a month since I last shared a Snap Snap post, so I have lots of catching up to do!

- First of all, it wouldn't be a Snap Snap post without featuring Beabea.

- I treated myself to some lovely things from one of my new favourite online shops, Sticker Stack.

- Florals are always a big feature in my sketchbooks.

- I've been making lots of these Positive Thoughts Colouring books as they've been pretty popular in the shop.

- I've also made some new products! These are the A6 notebooks part way through production.

- With Christmas approaching my sketchbook pages have started to look a bit festive.

- Trying to make a habit of drawing something every day, even if its just a quick doodle.

- Organising stock for Crafty Fox Markets.

- I designed this Totally Awesome To Do List with Lisa from Make Me Pretty Shop. You can read more about it here and buy it as a PDF download here (£1 from each sale goes straight to the mental health charity Mind)

- Packaging up lots of stock for craft fairs.

- My stall at Crafty Fox Market in Brixton a few weeks ago.

- I got the exciting news that I'll be selling at Renegade Craft Fair on 7th and 8th November (Just over 2 weeks to go!). Expect to see lots of snaps of my preparations for this over on Instagram.

- Another new product, A4 prints. I also gave my wholesale catalogue an update, let me know if you're interested in stocking my work and I'll send you the link!

- A big deliver from the printers consisted of some new Christmas cards as well as re-stocking some older designs.

- The A6 notebooks that aren't quite good enough to make it in to the shop automatically become my doodle books. I've already finished one and got half way through another! They're the perfect size for quick doodles at lunch time.

- A little section of my stall at Crafty Fox Market in Peckham.

- Packing up an order for my newest stockists, The Fox and Spindle in Margate.

- More festive drawings in the sketchbook, I've been working on some more Christmas products to debut at Renegade Craft Fair.

- A recent doodle obsession: gems.

- My newest product: Christmas Countdown Colouring Book.

As always, you can keep up to date with all of this over on Instagram @EmmaMargaretIllustration (but I'll try not to leave it so long between posts next time!)

In my Sketchbook: 30/09/15

Its been another busy few weeks filled with lots of drawing in my sketchbooks.

I've worked on new products for the shop (new notebooks and prints will be added in the next couple of weeks!), Illustration Friday and my Fjord inspired series. (I've also been drawing a few Christmas related things but I'll save those for next time)

You can keep up with my sketchbook work by following me on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and following the Instagram hashtag #emmamargaretsketch.

In my sketchbook: 10/09/15

Lately my sketchbooks have been filled with scenery and landscapes for a variety of projects (mainly illustrations inspired by the Fjords)

Some of these have already become illustrations which I've shared here on the blog, others will be ready to share very soon.

I've been feeling a bit unwell this week and trying to juggle quite a few projects so I'm missing out on Illustration Friday this time. But I hope to get back on track with it next week.