March and me - big expectations for my career as an illustrator

Hallo dear Reader,

Awww March is finally here!

Today in Trieste - LNI

February was a slow and long month, a quarter of it spent in the hospital, but what’s important is that all is going well and I hope we will came out of this awful and uncomfortable period of our lives.

I did some profound thought about what’s have a meaning for me in my life and at least I can say I’m not different from many of you:

• The wellbeing of my family is a priority

• Being open to other people without prejudice:

  Open mindedness allows us to see beyond our small world and appreciate the diversity and experiences of others. I find it very stimulating to see how the simple act of listening and understanding someone else can pave the way for new friendships, ideas, and collaborations. It's a way to enrich each other and to build a more inclusive and compassionate world. Curiosity and empathy are our best allies.

• Working on things that have meaning to me and bring value to the world I live in, and this is my why:

  1. Personal Fulfillment: I love to be engaged in activities, projects, or careers that resonate with my core values, passions, and interests. When I work on something meaningful to me, it gives me a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

  2. Contribution to Society: Highlighting the importance of contributing positively to the community or world around me. By working on things that bring value to others, we can make a difference, solve problems, or improve the quality of life for people.

  I really want to find a balance between personal fulfillment and social contribution, creating a harmonious and impactful way of living.

• Traveling and collecting good experiences with my loved ones

  For all those above, I will strive to ensure that these aforementioned points become the milestones along my life and work journey.

And now a little recap on what I’ve been to in the past month.

Well, I’ve been working a bit on my portfolio just because it needs to be updated.

My portfolio cover page

I revealed the image I entered to one of the big competitions in January for the WIA presented by TheAOI and the DI

my enter to WIA 2025

There is another one to be revealed soon as possible, since the jury will decide the finalists in the coming weeks, let's keep fingers crossed and wish me luck!

This year I couldn’t participate to the BKS challenge, this year theme was Peter Pan, and you can spot all the entries at Instagram using the tag #BSKPeterPan. I really love all the illustrator’s colleagues involved in, and also I was really sad I couldn't find the time for it. But when I was in the hospital, I’ve got a moment to sketch Captain Hook for the prompt of day 5. And I loved to imagining him, especially his hair that seems candles from a certain distance and also his fringe jeans.

And at least I’m into a creation of new stickers again! I did some sheets in the past, and here are some new stickers sheets I designed on February. I’m going to refresh some old ones too to use into my planner, could you live without a planner and some embellishment for it? I surely cannot. And thanks to it I can say I could accomplished all my February goals this year.

Well, my plan for March is to get prepared for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair! I really can’t wait to plan some meetings too. For now, I’m planning to stay just for one day, but there is still room to change my mind, especially if I could arrange where to stay for a couple of days maybe with an illustrator friend… will see.

So that’s all for now. I hope you’re all well and happy and I encourage you to try to escape from the bad news and get into life with eyes wide open and a open mind and heart.

Since next time, xoxo, G. aka Jdeebella - at Soulfulcrane, the creative nest in Italy!

Making the most while navigating bad days

Hi, how are you?

January is always a blue month for me, but as I said on the last post, I’ve got a sort of anticipation in November-December, so Jan gone by with a renewed energy even if I had to accept to navigate bad days making the most I can without complain, and it goes well.

I didn’t any big resolution for the new year, my life is very complicated actually and without going in deep to the focal point of those issues, I can say that I feel brave enough to continue to pursue my own little step goals, one to another, just because I won’t throw the sponge yet.

So, between one washing machine and another, between some thoughts and a constant job that keeps me busy 9 hours a day to keep things going, I found the time to pursue my goal to apply to some big illustration awards for this year, and so it was that in January I sent my application to 2 important competitions.

I cannot show you any of them yet, and sincerely I cannot wait. Those two projects I’ve entered are very personal and I felt very involved, so couldn’t share them is hitching, but you know, everything that calls for a wait is a good one.

I’ve also decided to keep all my art material recorded in a sketchbook to get a reference every time I’m going to choose a color palette or a medium for an illustration, I want to be more organized and conscious about what I’m doing.

Talking about drawing, this month I ended up with two postcards, I’ve got the Valentine one on Etsy for about ten days before shut down the shop yesterday, cause I’ll not be able to ship anything in February.

The Bear and the Owl is an illustration that was enriched after a chat talk with two member of SCBWI-Italy group, and if you want to know more about the vantage of joining a critique group,I wrote a post on my Substack titled "Are You Stuck? Join a Critique Group." In it, I discuss the benefits of participating in a critique group for writers looking to improve their craft and find support within a community. If you're interested in exploring what a critique group can offer you, check it out for insights and tips on getting started.

Talking about small step goals, in February and March I want to improve my digital coloring skills, I gear my Ipad Pro with a Sketchboard Pro 2, so will see if this helps to work better.

For now I’m lost into my sketchbook, grabbing it when I have a few minutes to be creative (and believe me, in this time of my life, it’s very rare finding the time to draw), I like to share those instant sketches on Instagram and now also on Bluesky.

See you there and here monthly, and if you want to boost my drawing and support my dreams, consider to sign up to my Patreon.

Thanks a lot for reading this, I really appreciate your interest. So, that’s all for now, since next time, xoxo, G. aka Jdeebella at Soulfulcrane, the Creative Nest in Italy

December 2022 - wrapping up a thoughtful year

Hi there!

What is your favourite festivity time? Mine is Christmas for sure.

This is a bittersweet time of the year for me: I love the magic you can feel in the air, the preparation of the Advent, the calendar, the Christmas tree and home decoration, the sweets you can eat almost without control *yes! But for contrast you know that day 25 will come very soon, this year I feel the pressure of living this period at my very best every single day from 1 to the end of Christmas time.

I spent the last days of November in coziness and sofa after dinner, watching Netflix series while knitting.

I can’t recommend enough you to watch WEDNESDAY directed by Tim Burton and THE SANDMAN from a novel of the genius Neal Gaiman.

All that had an impact on my creativity and I couldn't resist to draw a fan art / non fiction illustration card.

I appreciated Jenna Ortega role playing so much, and if you, as me, have a teen or a pre-teen at home, probably you have recognised her as the shop a holic friend in the TV series Richy Rich.

Christmas is also a wonderful inspiration time for picture books. Have you some favourite novels on this time of the year?

I do love some very classics, and my most loved novel is “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and also “The Taylor of Gloucester” by Beatrix Potter.

I wish to draw more Xmas scenes this year, so I joined the Advent Challenge held by Ema Malyauka on Instagram. For the first week of December I did the following illustration. I love so much how it turned out and the vintage feeling it took.

I draw first a sketch in graphite and then I redraw it digitally on procreate, finishing the colour laying on photoshop.

Since I haven’t holiday for Christmas as always, I will make the most from those magical days and this year I’ll write intentions and wishes out loud that I hope became true in 2023.

So, since next post I wish you all the best and if you would like to tell me how do you’re going to spend this advent time let me know down below or drop me a line. I’ll be happy to read and write you back.

Xoxo Jdeebella

November BLUES

Dear Reader,

How are you?

For some aspects this Autumn is really glorious to me: warm weather was going on, but today the air is finally much more crisp and I am indulging in Autumnal/Wintery outfits dreams.

You know, fashion is something I really love, but for me wearing has to be very personal and colliding with my own style, my feelings, so I could say I do love STYLE over TRENDS.

On my research lately I’ve discovered more about what my style looks, It seems I stick over three styles:

• Dark/white Academia

• Classical/Balmoral

• Woodland/Cottage Academia

Yes, In winter I love to live in tweed and wool garments, reading, drawing, writing and sipping hot milk, tea, coffee, eating comfort food and watching tv series on Netflix and co., I also love meet curious people and go to theatre.

All this, You may say, it’s a bit Girly, but it’s really what I TRULY feel I belong too. (Not the only one, it’s what the lovely last Queen Elizabeth wore).

I could probably say that I belong to those who love reading classical or modern books with a sophisticated individualism savour (currently I am immersed in Donna Tartt’s #thesecrethistory book, I’m adoring it!)

So, I also got the opportunity of watching the HARRY POTTER saga again, (thanks to Massimo Battista new book that make me want to go deeper at Hogwarts).

Which house you belong to?

As I did my test on the official website, I was happy to discover that I am a Ravenclaw member, my patronus is a deerhound and my wand is a very special one since is made with Acacia wood that I adore and Unicorn core (love them a lot!). And if you’re asking me, yes I am a fan of Luna Lovegood.

So, speaking on Art & Crafts, this month I create some magical icons you’ll be see very soon on my Patreon Page, the course at The Goodship Illustration is wonderful, Thanks to it I wrote a story, I need time to put it in pictures, since I hope it will become a real book on the next year! (This sound extremely scary to me, but that’s it!)

And as crispy weather comes, I’ve got my knitting mojo set in, so I’m making a new sweater for the new year.

Ok, that’s all for now from me, wishing you a magical Autumn’s end.

Xoxo, Jdeebella

La primavera non esiste, l’estate avvilisce, ma andiamo avanti lo stesso.

Lo scenario di questi anni ‘20 pare essere ancora una volta segno di catastrofi e degenerazione. Come il precedente. Ma qua non é solo guerra, carestia e pandemia, (che già non sono sciocchezze, né robe leggere), facciamo anche i conti con il cambio climatico e non so tu, ma io torno a cercare su “Conoscere” alla voce “Come si sono estinti i dinosauri”. Ma tanto c’è quel garrulo di Elon Mask che ci salverà da morte certa con i suoi voli interspaziali, (Giu, comincia a risparmiare per pagarti la corsa… te lo consiglio, perché non sarà come volare in Economy).

Scherzi a parte, fa davvero troppo caldo questa estate ed io faccio i conti anche con il climaterio che si avvicina, ho momenti in cui mi sento bollire la faccia e comincio a diventare fastidiosa. La primavera non esiste più, l’estate dura sei mesi e questo è stato per eccellenza l’anno in cui mi sono sentita meno creativa di tutti.

Nonostante tutto sono contenta, non faccio salti di gioia, e anzi non racconto quasi mai sui social e qui le frustrazioni o le sfighe con cui lotto quotidianamente, ma come dicevo, tutto sommato sono contenta.

Ho fatto vacanza a Giugno, erano anni che non mi muovevo da qui, ed è stato un momento per riprendere fiato, lontano da tutto. Poteva andare meglio perché l’hotel non ha superato lo standard qualitativo che cerco, ma dicono chi si accontenta gode (solo a metà, cantava però Ligabue).

In questi mesi mi sono barcamenata tra famiglia e lavoro in un 49% x 49%, quel 2% rimanente ho cercato di suddividerlo millimetricamente tra amiche, disegno e maglia.

Se guardo invece il mio Monthly Report su Google viene da piangere, perché ho visitato praticamente solo pasticcerie e supermercati, ed ho camminato poco rispetto agli 81 km di Aprile, ma su Instagram mi sono anche divertita a giocare con il mio “Mylovelook”, ovvero uno stile tutto mio, senza seguire mode, ma solo il mio gusto personale.

Infine, come avrai intuito, non vedo l’ora che arrivi l’autunno, perché questo caldo non mi fa fare granché, tranne che sognare le lande scozzesi, come meta dove prender casa e cittadinanza per la vecchiaia. Nel frattempo continuo a fare progetti per l’illustrazione dell’infanzia, entro fine anno voglio aggiornare il mio portfolio, il mio sketchbook è un fido alleato, ma di questo parleremo la prossima volta.

Mentre concludo questo post si avvicina un temporale, e speriamo rinfreschi un po’.

Till next time, xoxo, Giusy aka Jdeebella