Happy New Year, #kidlitartpostcard! 🔥 I'm Jade, a New Orleans artist using ink and watercolor to create a world full of comfort and whimsy (and looking for a literary agent!) 🖼️ www.jadejohnsonillo.com 💌 deskofjadejohnson.substack.com

Not bad for my first time drawing a horse, ey?! 🔥 I’m also teaching myself how to use watercolors, so stay tuned for a drawing video in my next newsletter in which I’m being very brave with this wily medium

Kid Lit Art Postcard is THIS Thursday!!! If you have trouble with remembering the right hashtag, just copy and paste this: #KidLitArtPostcard

Postcard day is NEXT Thursday, not today

Had an idea this morning and didn’t want to lose it, thus this trackpad sketch was born 😝

By the way, you can read all about my first ever market experience here (and everything I did *right* this time!):

Definitely going to do more markets next year! Spent yesterday selling greeting cards, growing my email list, and sketching everyone in their holiday fits 🎄

Hope I'm not too late, #kidlitartpostcard! jadejohnsonillo.com

As a recovering overachiever, I’m really embracing the idea of “less is more” next year. If you’ve been struggling, consider pulling back a bit lest you become a burnout gremlin like I did 🫣

Fun!!!

Exactly! I say the same about winning the lottery. Literally nothing would change except I'd be very stress free

if you see this post, your actions are: - if you have a spare buck, give it to Wikipedia, then repost this - if you don't have a spare buck, just repost your action is mandatory for the world's best source of information to survive

*slams christmas tree shut and throws it into the woods*

Archived all my IG posts, clap for me

Believe it or not, the practice is the point. And that whole process is muddied by how artists need to cater to the stunted tastes of companies who don’t give a shit about the process or the artist. And you need to eat! I get it! But you gotta take a step back and reconsider what your art is to you.

I want more people to consider what art means to them without the pressure to impress. How does your hand like to mark a curve? Where does it apply pressure and where does it release? What sorts of shapes are you drawn to? Do you hold your breath when you draw a delicate straight line?

Looking to connect with others in the kidlit/YA community? Feel free to browse my LISTS. Go to my profile, click on LISTS tab. Once you select a list: click POSTS for feed of people on the list, ABOUT for list of users. Note that feeds only incl. past 7 days' worth of posts.

I’m really into this chiseled inking brush lately and if there’s one thing you should know about me, I’ll find one good brush and ride it until the wheels fall off

Any kid lit writers I know that are part of a critique group? Would love to get some eyes on a story I’m reworking!