From Graphic Design to Illustrating Children's Books with Heidi Griffiths

Step into their shoes and see the world from their tiny shoes and wonder in the world of this new world. And oh, look, there's a ladybird. I've always been like that childlike. But having children and then you just remember what it's like to be a child and for me, making children's books, that's really important to be see the world from a child's perspective.

Welcome to the Moms Who Create podcast. I'm your host, kelly Hile, and I am thrilled to share a podcast that celebrates the incredible moms who are pursuing their creative passions. Are you a mom who feels like you just can't balance your creative pursuits with the demands of motherhood? Each week, i'm bringing you interviews with accomplished and talented moms who have made their creative dreams a reality. I talk to writers, artists, musicians and entrepreneurs who have successfully found a way to do what they love while raising the ones they love. Some of the writers I talk to are New York Times bestselling authors, while some are self-published first-time authors. I also share my own insights and resources to help you navigate the unique challenges of being a mom who creates. So, whether you're an early bird or a night owl, a seasoned pro or just starting out, i want you to know that you can pursue your creative passions and be an amazing mom at the same time. Grab a cup of coffee, a notebook and get ready to join our community of like-minded moms who are on a mission to live intentionally and create with purpose. This is the Moms Who Create podcast, and I can't wait to share this journey with you. Hi everyone, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Moms Who Create podcast. So how are you guys doing? How's your day so far? If it's nighttime and you're going to bed, how was your day today? I'm honestly hitting burnout. I'm not going to lie, because we don't lie on this podcast. I kind of talk about the good and the bad of everything, like life's really good. I'm so happy, i love the podcast, i love everything I'm doing. I'm just hitting a limit of actual burnout and I'm aware of it. I'm acknowledging it. So this week I think I'm going to take it kind of easy. I think I'm going to not put too much pressure on myself. You know, summer, you try to do a thousand things with your children and make sure they have like the most fun every day. Well, i'm going to think of some activities that don't involve me like putting too much on my plate, making the kids have too much fun, because they don't have to do these extravagant things to have fun. So I think I'm going to tone it down for a few days and see how I feel. It's important. It's important to feel good mentally and physically, and burnout can make you feel bad physically and bad mentally. So if you're feeling that and if you're with me, though. It's okay. Everybody feels like this every now and then rest, relax, do a self-evaluation of yourself and you know we got this. It's okay. It's funny because I didn't have that written down or anything to say, it just came out as I hit record. So maybe somebody else out there is also feeling a little bit of burnout, and I was just supposed to say that to encourage you. So, hate, message me. Let's have a talk about our little burnout so we can light that match again. So in the spotlight today we have the absolutely wonderful Heidi Griffiths. Heidi is a self-taught freelance artist and illustrator and mom, of course, living and working in the southeast of England. By the way, you UK people, i have checked my stats for the podcast recently and I have this huge influx of listeners from the UK and it just makes me so happy and it makes me want to go there and have a meetup. I've only been to the UK once and I want to go back like a thousand more times at least. So thanks for listening. Like thank you so much for supporting me And Heidi. Heidi being from the UK herself, she is, oh she was such a joy to talk to. So about her. She divides her time between Mickey children's picture books drinking coffee. She wrote this mounting at her two children to brush their teeth and looking for her pet tortoise, who apparently escapes on a regular basis. That's funny. She's illustrated four picture books, including these two Grow, forage and Make, written by Alice Fowler and published by Bloomsbury, and A Treasury of Tales for Four-Year-Olds. This book looks so good. It's written by Gabby Donnet and published by Frances Lincoln from Cortot. She is so much fun to talk to and, like she is severely talented, i love her style. Check in the show notes for all her links to connect with her and buy her illustrations and buy her books. She's so good. So here's Heidi to introduce herself, tell her story and get the conversation started. Enjoy today's episode.

So I've been illustrating for 11 years and that's the age of my eldest daughter. I did go to art school. I studied graphic design and I didn't have any confidence. I just didn't like graphic design. I knew I didn't want to do that for a job, but I had to get a job. So I did a non-creative career for about 12 years And, as far as I'm aware or realised, i just wasn't an artist. That was something that I gave up a long time ago. And, yeah, i met and married my husband and he didn't know me as an artist. And, yeah, my daughter was born a year later and she was born really sick. She had pneumonia and sepsis at birth and she, yeah, we nearly lost her and it was really traumatic, as you can imagine, and subsequently she had health issues. Up until she was five She was in hospital every other week. So when she was about a year old, we had some combined stress with her being sick and we had a lot of deaths in the family. That just one year we just lost a few members of family and she was having an afternoon nap and I was looking through the newspaper. There was this image of a cat with a top hat and I always like I just remember this moment of then getting a bi-row on the back of a envelope and drawing this image and I hadn't drawn for, you know, over 12 years and being quite surprised at my ability. And oh, well, that's. You know, that's not too bad, and I just really loved the process. You know the focus, and it was really like healing for me. I just felt like, oh, i don't know what to do. I was so stressed with various things that it was like a release just to sit there and draw, because you know what it's like when you've got really young kids. For that nap time you're usually rushing around, you've got things to do, laundry to sort out. But I just gave myself this time to just do that without even really thinking about it, and I loved that and I was look at this. I said to my husband, look, i drew this. And he's like, well, you're not too bad. And then every nap time I did that, i just would draw something and it kind of sort of developed like that. And then I had to raise money for well, not had to, but I wanted to raise money for a charity for my daughter's, for the hospital she was in when she was born and I thought, how can I personally raise some money? and I thought, well, i might try and do some children's wall art for their bedroom, you know, with their name. And I did that and I sold them to friends and family and I've got lots of requests for that and I opened up an Etsy shop in the end and yeah, so it just snowballed like that and I ended up doing books. My first book was in 2019 and things had changed, was selling online with algorithms, and so I had to look at another way that I could maybe carry on being creative and earning money, which was really important for us. As I said, my daughter was sick a lot, so to have a conventional job was really hard to hold down, so I had a lot of pressure to earn money with it as well. So I looked at trying to build up a portfolio for children's publishing, which I did, and then I got contacted by Bloomsbury in 2019 to do my first book. So, yeah, so I mainly self-taught three books since then to try and carve out a career around the children has also. Well, there isn't another job for me.

I mean, there wouldn't be anything that would have fit in around trying to care for them and my daughter's hospital appointments and so you said, whenever your husband didn't really know you as an artist, was that weird for you, because that was such a big part of your identity, probably, but since you kind of put it on the back burner, he didn't really know you as as an artist, was that? was that like, did you want to share that with him? or was it just something you're like, ah, no, i'm not doing it anymore.

I'm not really good enough. You know, that's what you know. I think he I probably would have discussed oh, i was quite creative and I went to art school. I think we'd had that discussion. But I think a lot of people do go to art school and then don't end up following that path. So it's just so. But when I say like I'm I wasn't an artist but I was creative, i can see that now, like I was always making things. So I'd make curtains and all the stuff for our wedding I would make myself and cakes and candles. I had to make things.

That's me that whole time yeah, wow, i'm so in art school. I feel like a lot of times when you go into it and you're like 18 years old, you go in and you're like, okay, i want to be an artist for a living and they don't really show you all the options of everything you can do with art. It's mainly like, oh, are you going to be a famous painter or are you going to be a photographer? and if not, you're really not going to be an artist and you're going to have to you know work as a receptionist somewhere.

So yeah, because I did that too, right?

yeah, that's what I did because it's like, oh, i'm never going to be. Yeah, there's, there's so much more to it than that. Like art school really shows you all of your creative sides. You know there is so much to being an artist instead of just being a photographer, photographer or, you know, a famous painter. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. That would be amazing if I could make, you know, tons of money off of selling my paintings and everything. But yeah, it's, there's so many facets of art in so many ways that you can, like start a business or, yeah, make money from it. Right, but it's maybe it's like the creative people, like the creativeness in us, that if we like can't do it on the first try Sorry, my cat's not hearing me on If we can't do it on the first try, it's like I'm never going to make it as an artist. I'm just going to put on whatever. It's like a little pipe dream and like who am I going to do myself?

And it's not like that, but it's so hard.

Yeah, it's so hard to like break into the quotations, into the art world you know as a Yeah, creativity, so emotionally entwined with you, uh-huh, uh-huh.

That like when I remember, like when I thought I'm not going to do this as John, i'm just, i burnt all my artwork. No way, it's like this dramatic ceremony of goodbye, oh.

That's so. That is such a like an artist thing to do too. It's such an art thing to do.

So when anyone says where's your artwork from art school, i'm like oh, I burnt it, that's cool.

You should have like kept it the ashes and put it in like an urn. Yes, my art of my past life.

That's awesome. And what's weird is I was good at, brilliant at art. Actually, i mean, i'm just blowing my own trumpet here. No, that's great. Yeah, school life like primary and secondary, and I struggled academically. So there was only one route for me I was going to be in the 90s. You know they really they were trying to just think as practically career-wise as they could for you. So they said, ah, you know, it's a digital revolution, you're going to be a graphic designer, you're going to have loads of money, and I think most people went into graphic design at that time. You know, it's brilliant if you absolutely love it, but a lot of us didn't, and we were made to feel as if you know, if you're not going to do this, then you're never going to earn any money in a creative career.

I know I had a friend that wanted to do like art. She did graphic design. But then she got it was like an advertising degree, i think, or like a minor with it, because it's like well, you're just never going to be a freelance graphic designer, so make sure you get one of your business degrees with it so you can work at a firm somewhere or a big company. There's always like that stipulation with it Oh, you're never just going to make it, you know, as a freelance.

And it's so it's it really.

Just like you said, we're already emotional people as artists anyway, Which we just tear ourselves down, you know. But like, look at you Now you have three books that you've illustrated. Yeah, four, I've just finished my fourth. Oh no way.

Yeah, i can't quite believe it. Actually, if I stand here now I think, how have I done it, especially having two children at the same time? And I my first book, i got yeah, i got the email to say they want me and I couldn't believe it And it was due to start in March 2020.

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Oh no, why The exact week that I started work was the week my kids school closed and I had to homeschool them as well. Oh, i didn't know. It was a real challenge but we did it And in a way it helped me homeschool them, because it was a non-fiction book Grow, forage and Make written by Alice Fowler, and it's out with Bloomsbury. But it's about plants growing, all about them, different experiments and craft projects, and I did that with the kids. They'd send me the text each week to illustrate, and whatever it was I'd say oh, this is what we're going to do in homeschool today.

That's me.

Yeah, so we did it and it really helped. and it helped me see how the kids you know they're crouched over with their trowel and their planting And I would take photos of them and draw them for the book.

So yeah, it was a good work, job, that's, so you could intertwine it very nicely. That's a really good. Like, i like, yeah, that's a good segue, you know, as I was gonna ask you about how you do balance your creative life with that, and I mean getting Getting a book to illustrate at the same time as a global pandemic is starting, at the same time as your children having to be home with you. Yeah you really took that head on. It's like, okay, these kids are gonna be my, my models, my muse, and Educate them through this too. Yeah, i worked out for you.

Well, yeah, that was the entire Pandemic of that first round, 2020, and then 21. I started another book did on 21, when, when they came home again from school But, yeah, i mean that was lovely. That was the treasury of tales for four-year-olds written Gabby Gabby, don't it? Yeah it's like And some lovely stories That I would read to them and then we talk about them. You know, mostly all the homeschooling was creative. I think that was valuable time. How old are your children? My daughter's 11 and she's a staff starting secondary in September, and my son's nine, just nine last week. Oh, so they're older now Um, i have more time, it is easier. Yeah and like the balance. I don't really think there is a perfect balance. You just have to make it work. If it's something that you know is like a real passion that you have to Fulfill, like it was a second chance for me to really do this, that I was gonna make it work and and It's wonderful, yeah, and I think after as soon as my daughter was born, i felt like I started trusting my instincts a little bit more, instead of just dismissing Like, oh you know, it's just a pipe dream. I just had this belief That it was gonna happen and it was a real long. It was a long process, but I always knew that I would get there some somehow.

You had that intuition and it was true.

Yeah, it's intro intuition and actually, like when she was born, i Noticed that she wasn't breathing and I feel like that literally Kicked in straight away, that they said, you know, when they put the baby on you, and yeah, and then they're sort of just busy doing other things whilst you're having a moment. Yeah, and I've never seen a newborn baby before. They're all purple and they kind of all look like that, don't they? Yeah, you, there was nothing wrong and That's the intuition and I've trusted that ever since. Yeah, i said that's a big Thing with my art and yeah, there's so many parallels being creative and being a mom. But, yeah, you feel guilty, a lot, you feel guilty. Oh, yeah, if you have a job like a muggle job, let's say, a normal muggles, and then you have a. Art job. You're guilty about that. You know I should be With the kids or earning more money in my regular job. You know there's that guilt. Yeah, it's. You just got to really be. Give yourself some slack on that. I think, being creative and allowing that to Allow yourself to express yourself like that is, it's just making you a better parent. It is you know you can you do kind of think I Like I'm working on my own book projects and it's really busy time, it's the end of term, there's so much going on. I'm like, yeah, so there's all. It's always like that. But particularly now I feel like I haven't got that chunk of time to work on my books. So I go, oh, i've got no time to be creative, which isn't true Like it, isn't you? if I'm prepared and I can take my sketchbook For 10 minutes, i'm sitting in the car waiting for my kids to come out of the clubs or whatever, and I'm drawing something. You can fit it in like that, and that is growth. That is great And that's how it was in the beginning, when they were really young just fitting it in, they're playing, it's off play and I'm quickly drawing, or something like that is like now I'm spoiled. I have five hours between them going to school and picking them up. So that's quite nice to have that time, but you don't have to have that time to grow as an artist. It's frustrating, i know it's frustrating, but also, yeah, things change, don't they? you know, nothing stays the same, so you might be frustrated with the time at the moment, but That will change.

So for me personally like I'll do some stuff during the day, just how my my kids, just how they like to interact with me I do most of my stuff either early, early in the morning or late, late at night Usually late at night, because my my youngest one, if I get up early, i can get up at 5 am. It should be like, oh, i'm gonna get up at 5 am, do so. I guess I do myself late at night and I told my husband a few days ago I was like I just I just want to do my, my creative stuff in daylight.

I just want some daylight.

You know, i like I don't have the nighttime and stuff, but sometimes I just want the daytime or I want to work on it whenever it's not when the kids go to bed And I'm just yeah when you're not Exactly.

So, yeah, we've worked till 12 or one and then go to bed. But you know, now they're older, my kids are up until 10, so I have my time is in the middle of the day because I haven't really got the evening. So it's sort of that time just moves and shifts. But it is most so much better when you've got that daytime and you've got the energy.

The energy right, and it helps my brain be a little more awake. you know, i never thought about when they get older They're gonna stay up a little bit later. They're not always gonna go to bed at 7 o'clock, are they? Yeah, so that's changed in the holidays.

They can Then entertain themselves. So, yeah, so you get more time. And it is sad, it's really bittersweet, it's like I've got more time, but I'm really aware that my daughter's starting secondary school and she's already a bit like, yeah, don't stand too close to me, mom.

Yeah, don't. I'll be so sad when that happens. It is really sad and it's just natural, though I'm excited to see their independence. About the same time I'm like but you're my little best friends, i wanna hug you, i wanna be with you, isn't it weird?

Yeah, i wait. Yeah, and my daughter, i've kind of accepted it with her. But my son, my youngest, I baby him something. He's so long, he's nine, but he's like he's almost the same height as me And I said just pick him up Because he's so tall.

Oh yeah, that's so sweet. That's so sweet. Do you have any other advice that you would give to a mom that wants to perhaps be an illustrator or start her artistic career, or pick it back up from whenever she was in college or when she was younger but she had to go be a receptionist somewhere? I love that we were both receptionists.

Like that sounds, receptionist.

Do you have any advice for that mom to say no, just go after it, find the time.

Yeah, i think you need to accept where you are. I think that's a big thing. So it's like if you've got young children or older children, whatever time you've got, you've just gotta accept that and try and make the best of it. And financial issues have been a big part of my journey Like we haven't had the money to, like I haven't had the money to just buy all of the materials as well. So I started off with just buying one set of watercolors and I would work with that. So I think it's just like use what you have. With the time that you have, and that will change and grow. So don't be put off by what you haven't got in time or resources. Just really make the most of what you have. Because I really felt like that's what I've done And, as I was lucky enough to earn some money from this, then I would grow that in terms of materials or a day at nursery that we had to pay for. It was a slow process, but one that actually fit around. My family And children are so creative. They just inspire you in whatever form of art that you're creating. I think they are really inspiring And for me, particularly when they're young, it's just being able to step into their shoes and see the world from their tiny shoes and wonder in the world of this new world. And oh, look, there's a ladybird. And I've always been like that childlike. But having children, and then you just remember what it's like to be a child And for me, making children's books, that's really important to see the world from a child's perspective. So they are your inspiration And yeah, don't see it as a negative, it's just you use what you have when you have it and just keep going.

Thank you for also mentioning that you don't have to have everything at the beginning to start out.

Especially in art, things are very expensive to buy for art And I'd like to try different things. So I'll try acrylics and then oils, and then pencils, and I'm mixed media, so I do use all of that, but that is really expensive. But it's a gradual process of building up, and it's like that with anything.

Even when I started the podcast, i had a mic that I had my old iPad And then sometimes I would go in my daughter's closet for the sound, and then I got a new MacBook. I love this MacBook And then eventually I got to stand for it And you slowly growing the things, because at first, if you start out anything, you could buy everything for it at first, but you're going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, if you add it up, i mean, so I've got the Mac and the scanner and the printer, but it's all a gradual thing. And yeah, overwhelm, that's something I've always struggled with. If I think of something like that, i would never have started. If I thought of all of it or known the costs involved, the time frames, the juggle, i would never have started. So breaking it down to think you know, what could I create this week, giving myself some boundaries, so I have deadlines as well, because I work really well when I've got deadlines, because you know anything is possible when you're an artist and everything is interesting. So just breaking it down and just thinking you know I'm going to do a few sketchbook things this week and observational drawings and yeah, small little goals, is also really helpful.

It is, yeah, breaking it down. Don't look at the big picture, Don't look at the end goal or the big picture, because no one does everything right then No, you can have this top goal, But to get there you really got to break it down. Thank you so much for talking with me today and sharing your story. And how's your daughter now, by the way, I was going to ask, is she doing well? It's fine, Yeah she's fine.

I think what happened at the beginning there she had an infection and then some medical intervention and she had collapsed lungs. So she's struggled with her lungs and asthma And they told me that when she's six or seven she's going to grow out of it. and that's exactly what happened. She's absolutely fine. So, yeah, we're really lucky and she's great. now She's a writer. She just writes and writes and writes.

She should write a blog and then you should illustrate it.

That's the plan, that's the plan.

Oh, that would be amazing, a mother daughter.

but I'd look out for that.

Well, where can people go online to connect with you on social media and buy the books you've illustrated and maybe some of your own artwork? Where can they find you online?

Yeah, my website is HeidiGriffithArtcom and I'm on Instagram as Heidi underscore Griffith underscore art. And yeah, i've got four books out One in the US, which is All Your Tomorrow is written by Harriet Evans, and that's with Tiger Tales, and in the UK with Little Tiger, and I think they're available on most websites, pretty much Most places where books are sold.

Hey. So if you made it this far, i want to give you a sticker, like an actual mail you a sticker. Here's what you have to do A screenshot this episode and put it on like your Instagram stories or Facebook, or can you do it on threads now I'm on threads, by the way. Screen shot this episode, put it on there and like at me, like, tag me so I can see it And I'm going to message you and I want to give you a sticker. I do. It's a mom's recreate sticker, mom's recreate pocket. I'm holding it up like you can see it. You know how I talked about burnout in the beginning of this. This is happening right now. I just held it up to the microphone, but it's a mom's recreate pocket sticker and I want to give you guys the mom. So if you just screenshot this episode, put it up, tag me and I'll send you a sticker. I'll just message you and ask you for your address. Okay, that's all. Thanks for listening to you guys. I'll see you next week.