NEWS: List Happy by Vanessa King, illustrated by Tasha Goddard
Exciting news! At the end of last year and the start of this year, I was very busy creating lots of illustrations for this lovely book List Happy, which is written by Vanessa King and illustrated by Tasha Goddard (that’s me!).
While I’ve had illustrations in books before, this is the first with my name on the front cover, so it’s especially exciting for me. The book will be published, by DK on 28 June 2022, in the UK and the US.
And here’s the cover – and, yes, that’s a tonne of my hand-drawn type.
The blurb
Improve your mental health by finding joy, gratitude and happiness in everyday things.
We have so many good things in our lives and yet much of the time we fail to notice them. But taking the time to think about the small, everyday things that bring us joy and make us thankful can have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. What better way to boost your mood than to spend time listing all the good things around you? Where are the places that you feel most at peace? What music brings you joy? Who are the people who have made a positive difference in your life? What challenges have you overcome and helped grow your resilience?
In this beautifully illustrated book, over 75 lists guide you on the path to a happier life, including quick lists to help create mindful moments throughout your day and action prompts to further your positivity journey.
Choose a list at random or work through them one by one. Whenever you’re in need of a boost, you can come back and add new things or remind yourself of encouraging thoughts and reminders you’ve written. List Happy is the perfect way to take time out for yourself, focus on the here and now, and remember all the good things in life.
Spreads
Here are a few spreads from the book.
Some of my favourite artworks in the book
I loved all the artworks and it was wonderful to get to illustrate in my bright colours. There are chapter openers, half-page illustrations and then lots of other illustrations of a variety of sizes through the book, with spots throughout. 190 illustrations in total!
It’s really very hard to pick favourites, but here are a few that I particularly love!
Process
I did all the work for this book in Adobe Fresco and handed files over as Illustrator-editable PDFs that Fresco will save out.
Each of the main artworks would start with a brief, which would usually be fairly simple, and would mention anything essential that had to be include. I would then draw a rough.
Sometimes there would be feedback and changes on the rough, while some would be ready to colour. Once the roughs were approved, I then laid down the colour. Sometimes there were changes after the colour was finished, too, though less than at rough stage, as I do fairly detailed roughs.
Most of the spots were drawn straight to colour, and some of them a number at a time and then extracted into their own files.
Pre-order the book
I can’t wait to get my copies of the book – not just to see me artwork in it, but because I’m really looking forward to going through it and learning from Vanessa’s extensive experience and get better at noticing all the good things.
You can pre-order the book now from:
Or why not ask your local independent book store to order a copy in for you?
I’d love to know if you do buy a copy, and if you have any favourite artworks from it.
Happy Weekend Free Colouring Page
Lots of people have been coming to this page recently, so I thought I’d give you an extra Happy Weekend colouring page, that I created this week (today being 23 September 2022, a LONG time since the original one below was created). Scroll to the bottom of the page, for the new one. (And you can still download the original one, too!)
I figured it was well past time I gave you a free colouring page, so here’s one for the weekend. Fairly simple one suitable for kids as well as grown-ups, but hopefully will help put you in the mood for having a really good weekend.
Download your PDF of this Happy Weekend Free Colouring Page here.
Brand-new Happy Weekend Colouring Page
And as promised, a brand-new Happy Weekend Colouring Page for you. I’d love to know which one you prefer, as they’re quite different (though both have lots of flowers).
Happy Weekend Colouring Page illustrated by Tasha Goddard illustrated by Tasha Goddard 
Happy colouring or art-making or whatever creativity makes you buzz… and happy weekend!