Illustrating My Book

How do you add structure to creativity?

Hey friends,

Greetings from Ashoka University, India!

I am currently working on the illustrations of the book. I’m also sorting out the images and talking to experts on how to market the book. This is a new phase in the book journey and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

I am also planning for life after the book—all the projects I want to do once it’s published. I’m drafting out a 3 year vision and it includes a podcast, more books and a whole lot more. I’ll publish that soon.

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My experience illustrating my book

Making art for fun is one thing. Making art in an organised manner that you intend to show others is a whole other thing.

This is what I learned when I embarked on making the illustrations for my book. The initial plan was to make 12 detailed pen graphics—one for each chapter of the book. This graphic would encompass all the animals and the habitat described in that chapter. The drawing would be placed at the beginning of each chapter, along with the title, number and epigraph.

However, once I began making these graphics, I realised that making a graphic for each chapter would be impossible. It was too ambitious and frankly beyond my current artistic capabilities.

So, the next option was to do 12 detailed sketches of one animal from each chapter, with each creature representative of that chapter. And so I went through the manuscript’s chapters, selecting one animal from each to be my subject. Then, I went through hundreds of images for inspiration. Finally, I began sketching.

While normally doing art, I don’t think too much about proportions and style. I just try to see where the piece takes me. I feel like having too many barriers leaves no room for spontaneity.

However, I soon found that being too spontaneous when making art with a purpose is counterproductive. You end up with a style that is too erratic, lacking uniformity and consistency. As a result, all the subsequent drawings were subpar. They just weren’t good enough. I must have spent 25 hours on them, but in the end, they didn’t come out the way I wanted.

These are some of the illustrations that just didn't hit the mark

Once again, I had to change tactics. 

I realised that I had to take a structured approach for each of the illustrations. That meant meticulously going over each line (as opposed to my loose, gestural style earlier). Here, I had to prioritise anatomical detail over artistic flair. 

As a result, the subsequent illustrations came out very well. They look exactly like the animals, and the lines flow nicely into each other. Each piece took around 7 hours but was well worth the effort. As of now, I’ve finished five illustrations. 

During this entire book journey, I’ve had to constantly adapt to new hurdles. I could write a whole other book on just the process of writing your first book!

The Problem with Nature Writing

Last week, I talked about how my book doesn’t seem to fit the traditional model of a nature book. It is a memoir where my emotions and experiences do take the central stage, that stage being the wild. This “atypical” angle of the book has been nagging at me for weeks. That was until a friend sent me this article.

Published in the New Yorker, this article discusses how nature writing mustn’t just be about nature. It says that if the writer is trying to convert someone from being wrapped up in their humanness into someone who loves nature, you must talk about your personality and how it relates to nature. I think my book does that. Or at least I hope so. You will have to read it when it comes out and tell me!

You can read that article here.

Here are some links I enjoyed this week:

There are many podcasts this week because I listened to several of them while working on the illustrations…

• You have the permission to create: This was the message I got from reading my friend

  John Nicholas
  ’ newsletter called
  Creator's Corner
  last week. He talked about how many people think they don’t have creative tendencies when in reality, they’re very creative. As someone who will champion the cause of creativity till my last breath, I feel that everyone should have the permission to create. If you think you’re into that, then READ THIS PIECE! Just click the box below.

Permission to Create | #55

• Jimmy Soni: Interviewing Elon Musk, Writing Biographies, Lessons of Peter Thiel, The Art of Research: David Perell, the founder of Write of Passage (the online writing school that accelerated by creator journey) started a new podcast called How I Write. This is one of the first few episodes, and I loved it.

• The Full Story of MKBHD: He probably is the biggest tech youtuber in the world. His story is fascinating.

• The Full Story of Lilly Singh: She was a big part of my childhood. Absolutely love her, and I absolutely recommend this podcast.

• An Honest Conversation with Ali Abdaal: It must be no surprise to anyone who reads my newsletter that I am a big fan of Ali’s content. Absolutely would recommend this podcast.

• How To Build Career Success - Behavioural Scientist Dr Grace Lordan: Bit of a clickbait title. This podcast is really just about behavioural science. Listen to it.

Postcard

This is what my current art-setup looks like—my sketchbook and pens, and my laptop with the reference images. I like to split my screen so that I can look at two images at once.

Many people tell me I should shift entirely to digital art. But I don’t think I’m quite there yet. It will be interesting to see when that day comes. Until then, I’ll continue making art the old fashioned way—with a pen and paper!

Favourite Quote

Jimmy Soni writes this line to his daughter in one of his books:

There are lessons that I love you too much to teach you - Jimmy Soni

Write of Passage workshops. If you’re interested in joining the next cohort of Write of Passage, the online writing school that accelerated my creator journey, be on the lookout for the following free workshops (affiliate links for my friend!):

1. Wednesday, September 6th at 2pm ET - Grow Your Audience with the Cultural Tutor.

2. Tuesday, September 12th 7pm ET - How to Start Writing Online.

3. Tuesday, September 21st at 12pm ET - Write of Passage Test Drive.

Have a creative, energetic and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)