Noticing Things

and the time I accidentally tried to get an innocent man arrested

A caucasian male in his early thirties was acting suspiciously. It was the day after the ‘Identify Shoplifters’ training session at my brand new bookselling job - at the flagship store of a book shop chain, on Oxford Street in London. It was the early 00’s and I was in the big leagues now. No more bookselling in a tiny, family run, independent bookshop for this country bumpkin.

In the training session (I went to training sessions now) we were told if you watch how customers behave, you’ll easily notice a shoplifter. They won’t be acting the same as a normal customer.

This man was not acting like a normal customer. He didn’t pick up any books. He was watching the staff, clearly waiting for an opportunity to steal some ‘popular science’ paperbacks from my section (I had a section now). So I told my manager, who ran it up the chain (because there was a chain now).

A few hours later I saw my manager stride towards me, black boot cut trousers flapping, lanyard swinging with authority. ‘Here comes some praise!’ I thought. She told me the shoplifter I had noticed was just a secret shopper.

Going about his normal job.

I had been noticing too hard.

Noticing things (not the man in question, btw)

But luckily, watching people and noticing is a big part of illustrating. It’s a great way to find characters and stories, and a great way to see how people really move, what they really wear and how they really interact.

If you look closely enough, nobody looks or acts normal. 

Amazing, not normal, glasses

Here are some things I’ve noticed lately. I don’t think any of them qualify as especially normal, except maybe the last one.

A nervous dog wearing a jumper

A girl skipping while singing ‘skipping, skipping, skipping’

Dogs in pushchairs

A mother gently but firmly sliding her child across the floor of a cafe

The lady over the road hoovering the outside of her house

Not being able to get away because they just. keep. talking.

So, tell me: What have you been noticing lately?

Have you noticed an amazing hat, odd sunglasses, a small child wearing all the patterns?

Have you noticed an amazing wheelie bin sticker, something odd in a tree, a group of birds making so much noise?

Have you noticed an amazing jogging style, an odd turn of phrase, an older adult defying all conventions?

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Other things I’ve been noticing:

📚 Receipt from the Bookshop - A lovely, vivid glimpse into the day to day at a small, family run, independent bookshop (the type of bookshop I love and have deep respect for, despite my younger self described above). This is an excellent regular free feature from Katie Clapham’s Terrible at Titles newsletter. Great observations from the shop floor and insightful book reviews too.

✏️ Graphic prop maker Annie Atkins’ 10 rules for working under pressure looks beautiful and has solid tips. My favourite being ‘Asleep before 10.30, 10pm on Wednesdays’ 

📱Groove - on demand co-working app - This really really works. I heard about it from Katie Chappell of Good Ship Illustration. You co-work in 50 min blocks with between 1-3 other people. Ideal if you work alone. It’s free, but to join it you need a link from someone on it. You can use mine: click here

If you want to get started on Groove but feel intimidated (I did) drop me a message and we can Groove together once or twice while you get the hang of it.