My second newsletter: All About Me
Good day and good wishes to you, dear reader. I hope today's newsletter will help you get to know me a bit better.
Warning: this newsletter contains honest references to my life as a Christian. I write as though God is real and personal, and the Bible is completely true, because that is the belief that shapes my Entire Outlook on Life.*
about me:
If you’ve met me in person, you’ve probably noticed that I am slightly peculiar, don’t make conversation easy, and speak with a strange accent. And maybe you haven’t noticed just how socially uncomfortable I am because I usually hide it under a facade of confidence and my comforting blanket of weirdness.
But enough about me… Oh, wait… This newsletter is supposed to be all about me, especially for those who have not met me in person.
(And if you already know me, don’t bother reading this. Rather go speak to me in person.)
Well here’s the lowdown in bullet-points:
I was born in a town called Somerset West, near Cape Town in South Africa, and lived there “all my life” until I was 17, at which point we moved to Northern Ireland and my life stopped.
Only joking of course. Actually, spiritually speaking, my life became better as God led me into a stronger relationship with Him, transforming a difficult time - leaving my favourite country, all my friends and most of my family behind - into a sanctifying adventure.
I’d wanted to be “a nartist” since I was at least 5, but I loved making things, so I chose to do my degree in silversmithing and jewellery rather than illustration or animation (two other things I loved). This was partly because I had recently discovered how much fun it was to work with metal, and partly because I believed that I could not draw from imagination (and my painting-attempts were awful).
These are some of my drawings from when I was 17. I could draw what I saw, but struggled to draw from imagination or to make reality more stylised.
Skip forward to 2020, 8 years after graduating: I was living in rural England with my husband and two young daughters, and had given up my jewellery business. I saw an advert for an online children’s book illustration course and suddenly that crazy dream didn’t seem impossible anymore.
Some of my first and worst attempts at "cartoonifying" people. Oh, I cringe now with a terrible cringe, but this awfulness was a necessary step in the journey.
It’s now almost 3 years later and my creative drawing abilities have definitely improved, I’ve started a newsletter, I’ve written at least 5 full stories for children, I’m working towards illustrating them, and have a constant stream of ideas for more.
That’s all I’ll share for now, but I’m sure you’ll keep getting to know me better through future newsletters. Another warning: there will be rants about the state of children’s literature… I do love to rant. 😄
One of my most recent, decorative illustrations.
Please do e-mail me and tell me about yourself.
E.g: Have you ever moved to a completely new place where you didn't know anyone? Is there something you do now that you wish you'd tried earlier?
With love,
Robyn
*I’m saying this in a specific voice because it’s from a movie… I just can’t remember which one.
