… before a Pirate Expert who was sent the sketches to vet them for accuracy came back with the following: In the case of Pirate Queen Anne Bonney our team approved my sketches right up until the final round … However, sometimes, things just don’t go according to plan! (Artemisia of Caria in Trireme Ship Battle Scene) It IS National Geographic, after all! Here I was given photo reference and notes on culture, history and the role of women in society to help me get the right costume, the right ships, and the right actions for each woman. This book challenged me to create depictions of six different women from six different time periods and six different cultures… all with the requirement of historical accuracy. Pirate Queens was an especially fun and interesting project to work on for this reason. To create our illustrations we read a lot, we watch everything we can on the subject, and we find the right references and we source the right models.Īnd sometimes it’s JUST US. I’m a bit of a creative magpie, so it's probably my favorite part of the job! Each assignment means getting to learn about something new in a nerdy deep dive of detail, so that the illustrations I create are relevant, intelligent, and accurate. Usually this team work is facilitated by our Art Director.īeing an illustrator often means we get to work on projects that are about subjects that we may not be experts in ourselves. Illustration is a collaboration where we work as a team to make sure the images we create are the right ones for the project. Though our artwork is creatively fulfilling to ourselves, we are accountable to more than our own creative vision.

I love being an illustrator! Illustrators are more than just artists. To celebrate Women's History Month and the release of Pirate Queens by by Leigh Lewis and illustrated by Sara Gómez Woolley on January 11th, 5 sites will be featuring exclusive guest posts from Leigh and Sara plus 5 chances to win a Pirate Queens prize pack!

Pirate Queens by Leigh Lewis