Author Archives: Natalie Eldred

Christmas Cacti

I did these for a small pop-up art fair in my home town. I got into the flow of it and PLAYED. Initially I had been drawing cool retro mugs (something else I like) but that just wasn’t going well. Clearly not organic enough. So I looked through some old sketchbooks and found these. TheyContinue reading “Christmas Cacti”

11 December 2017

It’s been a difficult day to know where to focus my energy. The weather was awful, the house was a mess… it was hard to focus. Much of what I was doing did not go well. I had previously been looking through some old sketchbooks, and an image from one of them inspired this littleContinue reading “11 December 2017”

Developments with Matti

    Matti is slowly becoming a book I am really proud of. It’s a much, much stronger book than it was when I first conceived of it in the Summer of 2015. I’m now working hard on getting a dummy ready for after Xmas, but especially for Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2018. Here areContinue reading “Developments with Matti”

The Fading Light of Summer

I’m blogging about these because I have been enjoying doing sketchbook-diary pages as a way back into working on my stories and picture books; after having recently moved house and my aunty dying in early June. It’s been a hectic summer and my children and I have been left a little with the feeling thatContinue reading “The Fading Light of Summer”

Honduras in 1997

In 1997 when I was just 26 and living in Bristol, I travelled to Honduras to stay with a friend who I’d shared a house with. We’re still friends now. I have rediscovered this sketchbook because I’ve just moved house and found all my sketchbooks in the loft. And when I say all my sketchbooks,Continue reading “Honduras in 1997”

Buildings with Personality

Buildings have always been an anathema to me, well – unless I can draw them in a very scribbly, lazy sort of way (maybe looking back at the Rome sketchbook will show that perhaps I wasn’t ALWAYS afraid of tackling buildings). But to give them personality, play with the reality of them, treat them asContinue reading “Buildings with Personality”

Owning a ‘Pet’

I really enjoyed this ‘homework’ brief. It was set by Jo Byatt, a member of our local illustration group – we set ourselves small illustration briefs each month, the members take turns to set them. As Jo indicated when she set the brief, anything can be a ‘pet’. Hence the plants. I found this toContinue reading “Owning a ‘Pet’”

The Decline of White Plastic Chairs

During my MA Conceived of a project I called the ‘White Plastic Chair Project‘. It was about drawing in the kind of places and spaces that you might find white plastic chairs. Interestingly they are rather more difficult to find these days. Most seem to have been replaced by aluminium chairs: much stronger, less mucky-lookingContinue reading “The Decline of White Plastic Chairs”