A MONTH TALKING ABOUT SKETCHBOOKS

We just returned from Germany, where we spent a few weeks, visiting family and acting as American-style Thanksgiving ambassadors, bringing a few southern traditions over to my German in-laws.

Can you guess which packaged product we imported because it's unavailable across the Atlantic? See below to find out.

Before Germany, I was in London for an incredible event with the Association of Illustrators, in Harrogate for Thought Bubble (which is now my favorite comics and illustration show), in Cambridge to speak at the Cambridge School of Art, and in Antwerp, Belgium, for the Graphixx comics festival.

It was a full month of getting to talk about my love of keeping a sketchbook and the business side of being an artist. I met lots of great humans along the way, too many to list. I met the band Pocket Vinyl, who made a book about the time they attempted to beat the world record by playing 50 shows in 50 states in less than 50 days. I read the book while riding a train from Belgium to Germany and loved it. Get it here.

THE THANK YOU SECTION BEFORE I SHOW MY DRAWINGS!

A quick note of THANKS. These events take a lot of planning and prep, and I wanted to say a quick, but huge, thank you to everyone who was involved. If you sent in suggestions for organizations to meet up with or places to reach out to, thank you! This was a huge help.

It's too many people to list, but thanks to Author/Illustrator Wendy Warren, AOI and Dave Bain for setting up the event in London, Shelley Jackson at the Cambridge School of Art, and her husband Jeff who after introducing me to their incredible students, led me through a graveyard to get to a pub (photo evidence below). Thanks to the team at Thought Bubble, who invited me, especially Martha and Chloe. 

And a huge thanks to Mandy Betts, my friend and studio coordinator, who helped organize this entire tour.

Know a great art group, organization, book shop, library, gallery, or anywhere else that would like a visit? LET ME KNOW.  
I'll be in Japan in February and need suggestions!
SEND ME YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS HERE.

AND NOW FOR THE SKETCHBOOK STUFF!

The trip started with a tiny stress thing. A few hours before my flight, the entire chain of hotels that I was staying at in London went out of business. I landed in London with no place to stay. Luckily, I found a hotel quickly that I ended up loving. Then, I met up with friends for high tea.

One of my favorite things to do is to wake up early and draw in a hotel lobby/breakfast area if it's not too busy. It's just the right amount of people watching, etc. My first morning in England, I observed an egg-cooking station where things went sideways. 

I gave a presentation at Thought Bubble Festival in Harrogate, England and loved it.

Since my new book, Nocturnal Creature, is about sleepwalking, many people shared their sleepwalking stories with me.

I went from Harrogate to Cambridge, where I spoke at the Cambridge School of Art.

I made the mistake of buying a very expensive coffee. And then made an even bigger mistake of mentioning it to the group of illustrators in London. It's possibly the main thing they took away from the presenation. (not really)

I took the train from London to Brussels to attend the Graphixx comics festival.

I was on a German radio show that aired in Hameln, home of the Pied Piper. We talked about music, whether or not we liked harmonica in songs, and I played two songs with a guitar I borrowed from my mother-in-law. 

I rode the train down to Heidelberg to visit with Kyle Webster. Who is a frequent guest in Getting Paid to Draw.

It was grühnkohl season in Germany! In just two weeks I think I had it six times. Maybe more.

Our trip ended in Lübeck, home of marzipan and the self-proclaimed "Christmas capital of Northern Germany!"

Oh, and here's a photo of me sneaking through a graveyard to get to the pub in Cambridge.