Helen Stephens Drawing How To Hide A Lion
Helen Stephens Drawing How To Hide A Lion

Author, Illustrator, Picturebook Maker

“My favourite book is How to Hide a Lion because you make books less boring. You put exclamation marks in and by the way you are the best author in the world. I’m six, I forgot to say that. Oh well.”

Maya, age 6

Helen Stephens Drawing How To Hide A Lion

I am probably best known for How to Hide a Lion

“Funny and warm-hearted”

AXEL SCHEFFLER,
ILLUSTRATOR OF THE GRUFFALO

“I read How to Hide a Lion with my son. We love it together.”

DAVID WALLIAMS

Photo of Helen Stephens smiling on a boat beside a lighthouse.
Picture book cover, the book is called Smelly Peggy and there is a drawing of a girl and a scruffy dog on a rug.

Smelly Peggy out now!

…based on my real life smelly dog, Peggy. I share all her bad habits (don’t tell her she’s in a book, it’ll go to her head. Or worse still, she will write a book about my bad habits)

This acutely observed picture book distils dogs’ unrepentant joy in stinky mischief, and their small owners’ secret delight. ― The Guardian

We are big fans of the “How to Hide a Lion” books but I think we love “Smelly Peggy” even more! It has all my 4 year old’s favourite things in it - doggies, poop and farting! He is still giggling and shouting “oh, Peggy!”— Karen

If you get your paws on a copy and love it, please leave a review, it makes a big difference. Thank you. Peggy will owe you a big lick on the face.

Photo of Helen and her friends from The Good Ship Illustration sitting on deck chairs on a rainy beach.

I am one third of The Good Ship Illustration
(that’s me on the left eying up Katie’s chips)

Creative work should FEEL good, make you a decent living and leave you feeling confident.

#walktosee drawing in a sketchbook, blue ink location drawing by Helen stephens of fishing nets

#walktosee

Drawing from life gives our drawing brains a nice workout. So I started #walktosee to celebrate drawings made from life in a sketchbook.

How to join in:
Take a photo of your drawing and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #walktosee.
Easy peasy!

I sprinkle lots of my favourites on my Insta Stories.

Helen Stephens HELLO illustration orange and black.

By the way, are we pals on Instagram yet?
I love chatting over there.

Every Friday since the start of lock down we have been going live on Instagram for an hour of fun, low pressure drawing. Our daft tasks against a timer leave no room for perfectionism! The perfect way to spend an hour on a Friday night.

We now do special pop-up Art Clubs and the BEST way to find out when the next Art Club is happening is to subscribe to our emails or check the recent posts on our Instagram profile @thegoodshipillustration).

Good Ship Illustration

Art Club

Katie Chappell and Helen at Good Ship Art Club

Good Ship Illustration Picture Book Course

Salty just slipped us a note over the breakfast table to say,
‘Don’t forget Helen made you a picture book course.’

Our shop will open again this Winter

My partner Gerry Turley and I have an online shop…

#childhoodillustrated

A spooky, eerie illustration of a Childhood dream of a Wolf floating in the air at night, a girl watching from her window. Drawing by illustrator Helen stephens

When you’re illustrating picture books it’s really helpful to be able to remember how it felt and how we saw the world as a child.

#childhoodIllustrated is a really easy and useful way to access those memories!

BEHOOOLD - my gift to you!

I made this amazin’ in-depth video guide to #childhoodillustrated, as well as a printable page of prompts to get you started.

Clickety-clack, ping!

(THAT’S ME AT THE TYPEWRITER)

Don’t forget to sign up for my Pencil Pals newsletter. It’s like a juicy chat between illustrator pals. I’ll be sharing stuff about making picture books that you might feel daft asking. When you sign up you’ll get the Illustrators Freebies.