Here’s to an inspiring 2024! ✨
But first a look back on an inspired 2023
It’s year-in-recap time. That’s one good thing about posting your work: it makes it easy to track what happened in the past 12 months. More often than not, in spite of all the shit life throws at us, looking back makes you remember all the things that actually went well.
I started the year talking about my amazing godmother and rethinking where to find my life purpose (if there’s such a thing). It’s an ongoing battle for me not to fall back into thinking that work should be it.
I wrote a lot about evolving my style. The first time I mentioned it I wasn’t sure yet if I was going to adopt the new style I was experimenting with. The second time, eight months later with the new style fully adopted, I wrote about how it might not be what people want from me.
As an aside, this led to a very interesting conversation with an artist friend who thought I shouldn’t have given in to the client’s request. It also relates to having a graphic design background and the balance between art and design. I might go into more detail on this in a 2024 post as it’s a recurring conversation for me and it’s worth exploring.
I inadvertently made an illustration in time for Women’s History Month with my homage to Gloria Steinem and all the women who’ve been fighting for our rights. It was my second drawing in the new style, so I felt surer of what I was doing. I still like this one a lot. Also, yay for representing older women!
I reappraised my past work for the better. It was a nice discovery and a lesson to never throw away old work.
I tried to get into the publishing industry through an illustration competition… and failed. But I learned from it, so this is still sort of a positive… right?
I put an actual call out to the publishing industry 😅 with my take on the cover for My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I talked about the full process, which you all seemed to like because it was my most read post. 🥰
Inspired turned two! 24 months of writing this newsletter, I consider quite an achievement. I celebrated with an older illustration and fabulous photos from Louise Dahl-Wolfe.
I played with light and shadows in an illustration that found inspiration in Studio Ghibli animes, a friend’s beautiful work, and a photo of two dapper men.
I made my first gouache painting! It was based on an idea for a new series of illustrations/paintings, all about friendship. In Café Euphrosyne (the title of the painting) the friends are hanging at a coffee shop and they’re having a blast.
Finally, I presented my second gouache painting and walked you through almost all the decisions I make along the way when I create. It’s easy to forget once a piece is finished how much thought went into it, so it was fun to go back and remember.
Speaking of decisions, you might have seen on my IG stories that I took one regarding my art print business. Tune in next year for more details 👀
With that, let me wish you a happy holidays and New Year! May your 2024 be filled with time spent with loved ones, good health, and enough money to live comfortably (the cost-of-living crisis is no joke). ✨❤️
Lastly, let me tell you how happy I am that you take the time to read this newsletter/post. We’re all time poor, so I don’t take for granted that you choose to spend time with me. See you next year lovely people!
Lots of love,
Judith xx
You can follow my illustration and graphic design work here.
You can visit my shop here.