Good Ship Students at Bologna Children's Book Fair Day Five

Day five and we're sharing the work of two more Good Shippers who are exhibiting at The Bologna Children's Book Fair.

First up is Aneta, we asked her about her Good Ship experience, and here's what she said...

Two years ago I’ve decided to swap my career of a doctor for that of an illustrator. Coming from a very science-orientated family and having an all-doctor circle of friends, I’ve had very little support in my creative ambitions. I loved the Good Ship tips on Instagram and Helen’s #walktosee encouraged me to do more observational drawing. I was doing an MA in Illustration, but I felt I wanted to focus more specifically on narrative illustration and needed more industry-based support. The Picture Book course was like a shoulder to lean on. It taught me how to be more authentic through being less critical and freer with my art-making. In this way illustrating became more enjoyable, because I wasn’t afraid of experimenting and going with my gut feeling. The course answered many of my publishing and book design questions, helping me to understand how to best pitch and present my projects. I feel very honoured to receive the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition Award for Excellence and it was incredible to see my illustrations displayed among the work of so many amazing artists from across the world. 

The Picture Book course played an important part in guiding me to find my own creative voice. Being an illustrator and having to navigate the industry alone can be a very isolating and stressful process. Feeling stuck is very common among artists so having a structure to follow as well as friendly faces to look at in the course’s videos helped me to make the tough moments less stressful. 

Gemma is our final Good Shipper exhibiting at Bologna. We asked her to share a bit about her self and here's what she said...

See more of Gemma's work...

Website: gemmapalacio.com

Instagram: @gemma_palacio