About Productivity And So Many Things
Dear Imaginary Friends,
How Summer treated you? Are you vibing with Autumn? Here, from my side of the world, Copenhagen, is finally that Autumn kinda weather - bit of sun, bit of cold, bit of rain.. enough to want to buy more tea and some fancy coffee using cute mugs again - I love it!
I’ve got my coffee and my phone with some of the snapshots to show… We have lots to catch up - again! Nothing fancy just lots of honest thoughts and happenings around my studio. Shall we start? :)
About Productivity
After that rollercoaster of May-July I welcomed August dressed to the job I want mindset. I felt the energy of recovering from emotional bottom and looked at my 2025 Bingo Goals. I wanna move forward. So I hired a coach to help me stand up and get moving! Hiring a coach was a daunting decision but also felt SO right. It was my first time. Sure was an expensive decision but I needed to leave my old pattern of: drawing ambitious plans, starting, going well and by the end, just simply not delivering for some fear/block reason. I was seeing the possibility of this happen again. I hired a coach not really to hold my hand but to keep pushing me when I start to feel afraid of my own decisions. And so far, has been quite life changing! Yay to good decisions!!
First thing we did was to write down everything I wanna do and my steps. It took me 2 days. I was overwhelmed, I never really organise ALL my ideas/plans to SHOW/TELL someone. So I did it. Once I put all in one page I felt relieved and I could see my dream job life. And honestly, I felt double energised to get that started. It was scary to tell and explain each step and reason it out loud. But I was SO ready! It was time.
First thing I had to do was, obviously, prioritise all of this. And, you know, it was surprisingly easy, because it really was there, all in one paper, I could see it all and I was in love with that person. So, I kept on going starting the day with my projects first and then, afternoon was for clients and others. Lots of focus time had to be placed but I’m happy to say these past 2 months have been THE MOST PRODUCTIVE I have ever been. And very few days of low energy.
BIG Personal Project: Calendar 2026
I’ve been getting better and better with my Procreate since the 100 tiny drawings project - which I end up stopping at 80 since I decided to start a calendar.
It was a waaaay more ambitious project from 2020 past Malu but I wanted to make it simple now, something that I could do with screen printing technique. Small. 3 colours only. Then, everyday I came to studio and the first hour, before turn on the computer anything, I would open my iPad and draw something for the calendar. 5 years procrastinating and 1 month of 40min daily made it happen. I’m SO happy about this!
Not the final-final version, but I wanted to share a bit of the crazy colours I chose!
It’s about small celebrations - mostly food related - because is the best way to celebrate! - It could be a birthday calendar, but It got ready in September so I got ambitious and made a test as 2026 calendar -waiting for sample delivery!
I plan to show this in details later. Stay tuned for my next / first post about process.
Client Work: Halloween and Unicorns and Stickers Sheets
When it rains it pours. After locking myself out of clients to focus on my book dummy and then.. life. I got one job in July.. then another.. then another! I’m now busy until January. Right now I have 3 books in the pipeline - 2 ongoing (Halloween and Unicorns) and one to come (Christmas). And happy to say they are all fun! Also started working with a new US client - 2 sticker sheets.
These past 2 months I did sketches for 1 Search and Find and 1 activity book + 2 small sticker sheet assignments.
In numbers:
1 Search and Find Book: 5 spreads filled with spot illustrations. Each spread have around 30-40 spots + one big one. Sketch: I make around 2-3x this amount so the client can choose the best option/composition.
1 Activity Book + Stickers: 32 pages. Most of them are scenes and some are double page scenes. Other pages have just spot illustrations. Plus around 50 spot illustrations for stickers. Sketch: For scenes I make only one option/version - unless I have time and have more ideas. For the spot illustrations I make a some extra if I feel there is room for better composition. For stickers, same as spots, I usually go for 2-3x options - unless is some complicated character. In this case, I do only one option.
Side note: Of course I do more if the client request. But usually I have less than 3 weeks for all and try to prioritise because I’m a slow sketcher. I like to research and think of something I haven’t done yet. On the other hand, since I’ve been doing these kinda book for a long time, these days I mostly get just a couple of notes like: move this leg here, add something there, different detail here. Minor changes that I can adjust in colour. I’m a fast colouring. And overall I do think all looks better.
2 Sticker sheets: 1 had 12 characters spot illustrations and the other had 30 small spot illustrations - like envelopes, mail boxes, pens, mostly objects and 2-3 characters because I simply can’t resist!
Each I had 4 days to sketch/ colour and send. It went well. I used to say no to these small jobs because of the tight deadline and stress me a bit not have time to think of possibilities. And the payment is as good as 2 days work, so.. you got the picture. But new Malu just said yes and had fun with it!
As usual I can’t show anything yet- bummer. But thought some numbers can help understand the routine.
It’s been intense but I’m sticking to half day only for Client work. I could obviously use more client work for more money, but right now I really wanna focus on all the other personal goals too. Let’s call investments on future Malu :)
August/ September Highlights
I start working with a fantastic coach and friend Uma. She helped me organise my goals and keep moving. I had so much trauma fears holding me back. It has been a big routine improvement.
I’m dancing again! After 20 years dancing and 20 years away from dancing, I got the advice to find something to help process my emotions and I found myself enrolling for Ballet and Contemporary classes. I now dance 3h30min/week. I’m exhausted but so more focused.
My creativity has been overflowing and as a gift for friend’s wedding I decided to paint a plate with their spirit animals: Octopus and Penguin. It’s not the most original design but I was happy with my best not-too-childish motif. I forgot to take a good photo, so here is the process and tiny photo from distance. I used a pencil to trace, porcelain pen to outline and porcelain PEBEO 150 ink with tiny brushes. Let it dry for 48 hours. Got approval from the couple. Baked 30min. And shipped! They seem happy ;)
malulenzi
Me and my friend Effi are still hosting monthly accountability meetup for creatives with big ideas. It’s growing so much! Lots of beginners are showing up and we decided to host a Bootcamp for Creatives. It was a 3weeks decision and we did manage to organise EVERYTHING. But we had a poor reach and ended up cancelling. Now we are getting ready to review and plan for 2026! Never failures, just lessons ;)
Hey Diddle Diddle - Frankfurt Book Fair is around the corner in October and my agents collected our artworks in August and sent over some requests. I usually don’t have much time to do anything and this one was a bit off my comfort zone but I was excited by the challenge. I never heard Nursery Rhymes and thought this was funny and I could do something really personal. And I did all in Procreate, to test how my style could look like in the new tool. The result was quite different from my usual art. A bit more messy and intense colours but somehow It also felt VERY myself. I’m curious where this style can bring to me.
Mid September I started an intensive 3 months Your Picture Book Journey Class by ITSMe and arm from my agency. It’s focused on your own book. Perfect opportunity toFINALLY take my picture book ideas out of the drawers and make drafts. I currently have 4 pitches and happy to share they all got approved (YAY ME!). Of course, for the time being, I will move forward with just One. The chosen one is one of my first ideas and VERY close to my heart - aka deeply personal and I can’t wait to share more about it soon.
Every month I join Owen Dawey on his virtual Portfolio Chats initiative for marginalised illustrator around the world. . I try to offer 3-4 mentoring of 30min every month. If you wanna get involved or get orientation, follow him!
I’ve been mostly listening random playlists on spotify this month. Mix of lo-fi and high energy motivation music. You can imagine the flow my days by that ;) On the background sometimes I had “Once Upon a Time” because fairy tales dialogue really floats my boat.
What’s next:
I need to review my social media plan + my Substack flow of posting. I write too much! I love it, but I’m aware is quite a lot. I do consider recording voice over (what do you think?)
I wanna make a post about my calendar process and development. I’m currently waiting for some test prints and talking to a Riso local print.
I’m also working on xmas cards and a must needed big update on my online shop - can’t wait to share more.
What you would like to see next? I’m getting more subscribers and I feel like I should get more tea and pastries to offer….
And that’s all folks!
Enjoy the best October of the year - watch pink skies, feel warm mugs, play with the leaves and enjoy some fun spooky entertainment!
Love and candies
xo Malu