Who are The Good Ship Illustration?

We're so lucky to all live close to each other in a windy little town by the sea.

Meeting up over coffee and biscuits (and crisps) and talking about our work, the illustration industry, and creativity... we realised we were asking each other the questions other illustrators needed answers for too.

Between us we’ve clocked up a whopping 60 years of experience, winning awards and illustrating for big clients and publishers all over the world.

This was stuff not every illustrator had access to. It would have been selfish to keep it to ourselves! We needed to share it with the world.

Helen Stephens

Helen is an award-winning author and illustrator best known for Smelly Peggy and her How to Hide a Lion series, which has become an international bestselling classic.

She taught at the highly respected Cambridge School of Art MA in Illustrating for Children and has mentored graduate illustrators on the Picture Hooks Scheme.

She started the popular #walktosee hashtag on Instagram to celebrate drawings made from life in a sketchbook. It has 100K+ contributions so far.

Helen’s work has featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Uppercase Magazine and The Guardian. Her books have been Guardian Book of the Year and Times Book of the Year (twice).

Her books are published in about 30 languages, and her clients include Walker Books, Random House, Penguin, Scholastic, Macmillan, Nickelodeon Junior and Bayard Presse.

Career highlights: How to Hide a Lion was adapted for stage by The Polka Theatre and toured the UK. Helen won a BLUE PETER BADGE as a grownup by being on Blue Peter!

A couple of extra fun facts: Helen’s favourite book review came from Maya, age 6: “You make books less boring... by the way, you are the best author in the world. I’m six, I forgot to say that.”

https://www.helenstephens.com/

Katie Chappell

Meet Katie! Our most recent graduate (2012).

She is a live illustrator working all over the UK and Europe. Her clients include Workplace for Facebook, Google, Dove, Lululemon, Royal Society of Biology, Nespresso and lots of the UK’s top universities.

Her live illustration work covers everything from graphic recording in corporate meetings, to painting giant murals on shop windows in Regent Street, London.

Katie has an MA in illustration from Edinburgh College of Art, as well as a foundation degree in animation and a BA in illustration and graphic design.

She has lectured in illustration, from foundation to MA level.

Career highlights: Live-Illustrating in the boardroom for management at Google HQ in London. Painting giant boards for the Royal Society of Biology’s gala dinner, where David Attenborough received a lifetime achievement award.

A couple of extra fun facts: Katie is an accidental TedX speaker, and is really good at backwards mirror writing and napping.

https://www.katiechappell.com/

Tania Willis

Tania is an award-winning designer/ illustrator with 30 years of experience, and an MA in Illustration from the Royal College of Art.

She has taught illustration at BA & BFA level in the UK and Hong Kong and has more than 20 years of perspective on the industry in Asia. Her illustration clients include English Heritage, Conde Nast Traveller, Cartier, Time, Waitrose Magazine and Swire Group.

Her illustration experience covers advertising, murals, editorial, design, surface design, licensing, publishing, branding, event, editorial and corporate - but her biggest passion is illustrated maps.

Plus we are so lucky, she designed our gorgeous ship-in-a-bottle Good Ship branding.

Career highlights: Designing a livery for an A330 Airbus and a Hong Kong tram.

A couple of extra fun facts: Tania taught Helen at Glasgow School of Art. She swears too much (unrelated to teaching Helen), loves Hong Kong trams & wanted to be in The Slits.

http://www.taniawillis.com/

Alice Wood

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER

Alice is our brilliant Good Ship Administrator, pal, fellow illustrator and toymaker. (Administrator sounds a bit boring so she likes to be called Lifeguard or Chief Petty Officer!)

Alice has been with us from the very start and keeps things ship-shape and organised behind the scenes here at The Good Ship Illustration.

She studied Illustration at Camberwell, and MA Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art (where she met our Helen, yay!). She has been working in illustration and the arts for over 30 years - as a freelance illustrator, picture book author/illustrator, book designer of grown-up non-fiction books, and as a maker and designer collaborating with fine artists.

For 20 years she worked with artist Tom Phillips making textiles, painting, designing books, and generally being indispensable. She currently works with sculptor Cathie Pilkington making sewing patterns for strange limbs and animals!

Alice is a Crafts Council Directory maker and member of The British Toymakers Guild with her toy making business, The Little Toy Dog Company.

Career highlights: Having two picture books published by Little Tiger Press, designing A Humument for Thames & Hudson, and Tristram Shandy for The Folio Society. Hand-sewing an enormous paper quilt for Tom Phillips that was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts.

A couple of extra fun facts: Alice has 2 budgies, Lenny and Marilyn, who love singing along to Roxy Music. She loves proofreading, knitting, lemon drizzle cake and her dog, Franki.

Against wise Good Ship advice Alice has two Instagram accounts #sorrynotsorry
@littletoydogs and @alicewood

What does The Good Ship Illustration do?

We create online courses and content to help illustrators and image-makers navigate a creative career. When we have a new course open for enrollment, we will tell you about it!
We have LOADS of freebies - workshops, templates, audio drawing guides, which you can grab here.
We run free live Art Clubs on Instagram where we do timed drawings on different themes.
Our podcast! It's called The Good Ship Illustration podcast and it's available wherever you put podcasts into your ears.

Bethany Kaiser, USA

I attempted The Good Ship drawing exercise. It’s helpful if you get bogged down in details! Thank you for the helpful tips, tricks and encouragement!

Jay Tower, USA

If you are not following The Good Ship Illustration, you should be. These ladies are amazing. They literally walk you thru the steps.

Karen Moore, UK

If you haven’t already, follow The Good Ship - so much support and advice out there for illustrators. Looking forward to seeing what they offer in the future.

Clank, whir, rumble, hum, whoosh! Clank, whirr, rumble, hum, whoosh!

What’s that?

It’s the sound of Salty Dog and Pals flying through the printing press!

Place your preorder now and we will send you a special ‘Picture Book Masterclass - The making of Salty Dog’

Salty Dog and Pals is filled with sea shanties, Highland dancing, howling storms and extravagant bath time routines, life on the island is certainly NEVER dull!

Preorder at Bookshop.org

Preorder at Amazon

Preorder at Waterstones

How will I get my masterclass?

Place your pre-order and add your name, email and receipt/ order number to our special form. Then, ta-dah! You’ll find the Masterclass link appears when you click submit!

What will I learn in the Masterclass?

How Helen and Katie wrote the stories together at Helen’s kitchen table - on two iPads, one Google doc, a load of layout paper and sticky tape
How they brainstormed 10 stories over 10 days. Yes, they did!
Where their ideas came from (*spoiler* Salty lives in an upturned boat, and so did Helen’s Grandparents—sort of. They squatted in a WWII Nissen hut)
How Helen and Katie knew if an idea was a keeper
How they pitched Salty Dog to the publisher
Why did they base Kitty on Good Ship pal, Tania
How Helen illustrated the stories: paper, paints, palettes, all that stuff
How they designed their world: their island, their upturned boat house, the bunk beds of dreams and Bernard’s nik-naks

Salty says ‘Anchors Aweigh!’

Click to fill in our magic form

p.s. We're on instagram!

Come and say hi. We're friendly.
Our free Art Club happens on Insta, and you're welcome to have a look at our hashtags
#Goodshipillo & #ArtClubAftermath

The Good Ship Illustration are on instagram. @thegoodshipillustration