The Good Ship Illustration
Welcome to The Good Ship Illustration - the podcast for illustrators who are quietly working away in their sketchbooks thinking… “is it just me?”
…it’s not just you!
We’re Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell and Tania Willis - three full-time illustrators from three different corners of the industry (and three different age brackets ). We live in the same seaside town in the UK and started having cuppas and chats… and accidentally became illustration agony aunts.
Now we record those chats for you! We answer your questions about confidence, tricky clients, pricing your work, creative block, picture books, publishing, and everything in between.
✨ New episodes every Friday. ✨
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and do send us your questions!
P.s. Fancy some freebies? Head to thegoodshipillustration.com for colour workshops, picture book templates, and other treats.
Byeeee for now!
x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania)
🚢🚢🚢
Episodes
112 episodes
'They keep asking me to tone it down.' Flying your freak flag in their faces 🚩
This week we're answering a brilliant voice message from @shanaramadesigns.Shana asks about Russian illustrator Victoria Semikina: how does someone learn to draw in that gloriousl...
"I used to cry in the toilets before every job (and then I'd go draw)" - a live illustration chat with Katie
This week, our Katie's chatting with Helen and Tania about her favouritest thing and specialism/niche: live illustration. What's it like to arrive at a fancy corporate event with an iPad (or a board and some paint), when someone say...
You don't have to pick just one thing - an interview with illustrator-astrologer Nicola Allan
This week, our Katie is chatting to Nicola Allan, an artist, writer and consulting astrologer based in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. After 12 years working as a lawyer, Nicola pivoted to illustration and has since built a brand that weaves together ...
This illustrator got a book deal lead on DAY ONE of Bologna… 😳 (part 2)
Here's part two of our Bologna interviews. Thank you so much for listening, and if you managed to come and find us at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, thank you. We had so much fun meeting everybody, and we’re hoping to do that again one day becau...
Brave Good Shippers at Bologna - we shoved a microphone in these illustrators faces 😆 (part 1!)
Interview #1 is with Paulina Zawiska and Kate Osmond.Interview #2 is with Lorna Burt (begins at ...
Helen Stephens chats to Prof. Martin Salisbury - Is your illustration style really yours? When influence turns into imitation 👀✏️
Ever worried your work looks a bit too much like somebody else’s? 😬 This one’s for youuuu.In this episode, our Helen chats with the brilliant Martin Salisbury about plagiarism. The temptation to borrow a bit too heavily when you’re surro...
Guide to the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2026 - The Good Ship Illustration
Absolutely knackered just thinking about Bologna? Same 😅Here are our Bologna Children’s Book Fair survival tips. Whether it's your first time or you're a seasoned Bologna Book Fair-er. Exciting news: The Good Ship Illustratio...
It’s not too late, you’re not behind, and yessss, you should still start - an interview with illustrator Carys Wright
This week, our Katie is chatting to Carys Wright - a London-based writer and illustrator, hardcore Good Shipper, and all-round excellent example of what can happen when you follow the creative thread, even if your path looks a bit wiggly...
The 7 email rule: Pitching your work to illustration clients - Kira Matthews
Nobody is born knowing how to pitch.(Katie here) I've been known to pitch once, hear nothing, and decide 'Oh well. Never mind.' Then never reach out ever again. 😅So you can imagine my SHOCK and INCREDULITY (is that a word?) when K...
How Salty (our Picture Book mascot) became a 2-book deal
This week we're pulling up a chair at Helen's kitchen table to finally spill the beans on Salty. Salty Dog and Pals is the book that started as
Identity + rejection: when your illustration work *is* you 🥲
This week we're dragging ourselves away from our hypothetical gardens and custom urn businesses (lol) to have a proper sofa-chat about the big question: what would you do if you weren't an illustrator?Specifically: Is your identit...
Instagram Is Not Your Portfolio (PHEW!)
This week we’re wrapped up in some blankets havin' a proper sofa-chat about Instagram.Specificallyyyy:Should your Instagram be your portfolio?What's the difference between a snazzy website folio and the mad addictive world of ...
🍎 Elephantasia (aphantasia) - can you see an apple in your mind?
This week we roll headfirst into the interestin' world of aphantasia.It all started with conversations inside Find Your Creative Voice and The Picture Book Course - when Good Shippers were telling us, “I can’t se...
Anna Mac on finding her creative voice (after years designing for retail)
Permission to play can change EVERYTHING!This week we’re chatting to Anna Mac - artist, printmaker, illustrator, product designer, sleep counsellor, mum of twins, and hardcore Good Shipper who's been sailing with us since 2...
Are illustrators doomed… or is this our time to shiiiiiine? [AI workshop replay]
Here's the audio replay from our AI workshop last week. There are slides too - the full replay with slides is available to watch HERE (but it goes away today. We're putting the workshop inside Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag.) The...
Tara Tayyebi Fard on finding her creative voice (and illustration career) after 10 years of being an architect
Pssst, while you're here... On Tuesday 10th February 2026 we're running a live workshop! https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/aiworkshop Standing out in a sea of...
Want to know what February’s #WalkToSee prompt is?
Are you joining in with #WalktoSee?In this episode, we chat about how our Helen's hashtag Walk to See started, how it works, (there are basically no rules 😆), and why monthly prompts are muuch gentler on the brain/energy levels than dail...
When you want to work but can’t seem to start
Ahhh this ol' chestnut. You know it. We've aaall been there. You sit down...you need to work. But you get absolutely nowt done. Instead, you do absolutely everything else... then panic-work at the last minute, or just never get round t...
Is copying ever OK in illustration? When does inspiration turn into plagiarism? 👀✏️
Let’s talk about the big hairy thing that no one really wants to talk about… copying.In this episode, we discuss inspiration, and how social media has changed things so much for illustrators. Trying on someone else’s illustration hat for...
You're invited! Plan your creative year with The Good Ship Illustration
Sign up for the 2026 planning party HERE: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/planningparty This is a wee replay from last year (with a new intro to...
You’ll Never Feel Ready. Do It Anyway. An interview with Good Shipper Amber Au.
What a treat of an episode! Today we’re chatting with Good Shipper and picture book author–illustrator Amber Au.Amber talks about how drawing became part of her recovery from an eating disorder and how her therapist encouraged her to sen...
An interview with Lisa Congdon - consistency and finding your creative voice
If you're an illustrator with access to the internet and you have eyeballs, you might've seen Lisa Congdon's work. Lisa started blogging her collections and illustrations back in the good ol' days, and even remembers Instagram back when it was ...
How illustrator Jill Calder built a long-lasting creative career (without losing her voice)
In this episode, our Tania chats with multi award-winning illustrator Jill Calder about 30+ years of illustration, and how she’s explored pretty much the entire “illustration atlas” without losing herself along the way.Stuff we...
How to stop your illustration style looking generic & blah
Y'know when you feel like your work is neeearly there… but it's missing a lil something-something? This podcast episode is all about that. Overcoming that.How the heck do you put more humanness into your work?...
We’re good at failing (and you can be too) 🤣 the power of experiments
This week on The Good Ship Illustration Podcast, we’re chatting all things experiments - we get particularly excited about FAILED experiments. In the words of that there Bob Ross, "we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accid...