Koala therapy, a decade of diaries, and how to be more Brian

Story Street #28

Welcome to Story Street – a monthly newsletter from children’s author and illustrator Jane Porter. Read on for ramblings about my life as a picture book maker, community artist, comic diarist, under-confident fiddle player and very, very amateur luthier.

January has been utterly crushing for me, and I am very glad it’s over. I’ve had some tough things to deal with - but what has kept me going through it all is comics. Seeing my lovely students online every Wednesday really cheers me up (have you seen what Helen Stephens did in koala week? Getting students crying with laughter is my goal!) Keeping a comic diary can be so helpful for processing life’s big and small challenges - as Helen said, “‘using only a koala and a pencil Jane helped me lance an old wound”. One day last month was so difficult for me I needed SIX whole pages in my diary to process it (but no koalas) - and that’s definitely a record.

This month marks the tenth anniversary of my diary keeping - here they all are, packed with highs and lows and everything in between: I’m quite proud of my new filing system!

I was planning to make a video to celebrate a decade of diaries, but I just haven’t had the time or energy - though there’s lots I’d like to show you in those pages. Is that something you’d like to see? Let me know in the comments!

It’s a funny feeling dipping in to these volumes and seeing my life flash before my eyes, as well as watching threads developing that I just wasn’t aware of at the time. In the meantime, here are a couple of old videos about my diary habit (and if you’d like to know more about my comics class, you can find out here):

THIS was how exhausting January 2025 felt…

…repeated ad infinitum and interspersed with little moments like this:

(Have you seen Marcel the Shell with Shoes On yet? I’m very late to this particular party but I loved it so much - and it made me cry.) I am really hoping next month will be easier - and I’ll finally get the time to dive into creating some brand new work.

February highlights

There’s a lot to look forward to in February. I’ve got several events coming up to celebrate the launch of my new picture book with Jenni Desmond, Be Bold Bob. If you are anywhere near, do come along to one of these events and say hello! The first is at Nomad Books, Fulham on Saturday February 8th at 11am:

The following week, I’ll be at Paper Cat Bookshop in Herne Hill with illustrator Jenni for a story-time and activities - Thursday February 13th at 4pm. If you’re in south London with children, do come along.

And finally I’ll be at The Straw Yard in Berwick-upon-Tweed for a whole special day on Saturday 22nd February. There are two workshops, at 11am and 3pm, priced at £6 per person, and I will be there all day from 10-5pm if you’d like to drop in just for a chat, to have a look at sketchbooks and artwork, or ask questions. Do come along, and spread the word - you can book the workshops through the button below.

But best of all, February starts with Hourly Comics Day. February 1st is when comics makers all over the world document 24 hours - 60 minutes at a time.

Looking back at previous February 1sts, one of the things I like most about those diary entries is how I have been forced to record very ordinary everyday things. But TODAY some of those hours are going to be especially fun to draw as later I will be doing one of my favourite things - going to a CEILIDH!

Are you going to join in with Hourly Comics Day? I’ll share a bit of my day with you next time.

Brian’s ‘profitable wonders’

January had started so well, with an explosion of inspiration in Yorkshire. Barnsley Museums treated the world to not one but TWO exhibitions bursting with the work of illustrator Brian Wildsmith, with original artwork, sketches, and even Brian’s favourite chair on display. If you’re not familiar with the work of Brian Wildsmith, here’s a flavour:

…but you should really take a look at the website his family have curated, which is packed with visual treats:

One of the things that caught my eye in the exhibition was this picture:

Of course I couldn’t resist trying this at home! Think I life the left-hander better…

Despite the glorious feeling at the exhibition of being drenched in colour, pattern and sheer playful inventiveness, what really stayed with me most powerfully was this quote:

“A child’s soul is like an empty book in which anything can be written. It is capable of all things… We must therefore write in that empty book about love, humour, compassion, truth, understanding and justice. Profitable wonders that will determine how the child will develop in order to ensure a happier and more peaceful world.” - Brian Wildsmith

If anything motivates me to keep making picture books, it’s this! What could possibly be more important? And Brian puts it so well.

A big thankyou to Fiona Woodcock for tipping me off about this marvellous exhibition in her newsletter The Woodcock Dispatch - and you can also read about how the show inspired fellow illustrator and author Claire Powell to dive deeper into colour here:

AI and the threat to creatives

The Brian Wildsmith exhibition very much left me wanting to stay analogue in terms of art-making. Although I love drawing on the ipad for making comics, and it’s very useful for some of the illustration commissions I’m currently working on, I find the more time I spend on a screen, the more I want to reach for paint, scissors and glue. And the rise of AI generated artwork is making me feel this very strongly.

AI is a very real threat to the livelihood of illustrators, writers and creatives of all sorts. I had a brief encounter with it a couple of years ago and wrote about it in Story Street #7 - it seemed scary then, but things have got worse.

Any work posted online may be legitimately ‘scraped’, and here in the UK a government consultation is suggesting that this can be solved by allowing creators to ‘opt out’. However this means a very lengthy laborious process is required for every single image - totally unworkable.

Against the Box has a very useful summary of it all, and various organisations are conducting surveys to help campaign against it. The Association of Illustrators’ survey deadline has passed, but there’s still time to fill in these two if you are a creator - and write to your MP too.

Filling the blue sky bank

A million years ago at the beginning of January I had a couple of glorious days out under blue icy skies - and I remember thinking at the time, “I must store this experience up to keep me going in grey times”. I’m glad I did. Here are a couple of wintry scenes from Northumberland to remind you to store those blue skies up whenever you can! We are all going to need them in 2025 I fear.

See you on March 1st. If you’ve enjoyed reading this, do share with friends, and do leave me a comment, I love getting those!