What makes your heart sing?

Have you worked out what makes your heart sing yet? I actually think this is something that is probably continually evolving for most of us. It’s certainly changed throughout my life, but even changes a bit from day to day or different times of the day.

I think people who find this out early on and stick with the same thing through multiple decades are probably quite rare. (No empirical evidence of this, though; it’s purely based on my own ponderings, experience and chats with friends, so would love to know whether others agree!)

Some things have always called to me, though, and never stopped. Books and drawing of some kind or another are probably my forever things. I’d also probably say languages and travel, but I don’t think they’ve fully stuck throughout my life.

Most of my life, my career has been in books (though encompassing digital publishing of various kinds as time went on) and I love that my more recent illustration career has overlapped with the publishing world, because I don’t think I would ever want to leave books behind completely (though, obviously, I’m never going to stop reading them).

(SIDE NOTE to any art directors in the book publishing world – I think I’m about ready for another chunky book illustration project, so give me a shout if my style fits your requirements.)

Anyway, there’s a little Sunday introspection for you. I’d love to hear what you think. Do you have some forever things that have always called out to you? Do your passions change with the seasons or the decades? Have you been able to find a career in some aspect of what makes your heart sing?

PS You may have noticed there are three versions of this hand-drawn type piece. I’m making a point, now and then (not for EVERY illustration, as that could be a bit time-consuming), of rejigging an illustration into different formats, or planning out different formats from the start. I think this is something that’s quite useful for commercial illustration – for example, different formats for social media, a thumbnail format and a full-page format. So, if you’re commissioning me and this sounds helpful, do ask about getting an illustration in different formats.