Friendly Demons Pre-Orders!
And a peek into the making of the illustrations
The time has come! I’m very excited to open the pre-orders for Friendly Demons. If you don’t give a hoot about the rest of this letter and want to order the book right this second, you can click here, it’s a shortcut. If you’re not in a hurry, read along :)
This is the book presentation from the back cover:
A dedicated creative practice is riddled with demons. Let’s befriend them.
Your creativity has the potential to change lives for the better, and not just your own. It carries its own rewards but also unique challenges, many of which should be embraced rather than avoided. Yet widespread narratives about the creative practice undermine creativity, reinforcing unhealthy habits and mindsets: real artists must create obsessively and suffer to be true to their art, but they’re doing something wrong if their practice isn’t easy and joyful.
Which challenges are useful and which are not? And how do you keep going when confronted with uncertainty, blocks, and exhaustion? Grounded in compassion and self-discovery, this book will help you identify, understand, and befriend your creative challenges. It’s a guide to discover a deeper and healthier connection to your creativity.
Friendly Demons is an insightful, empowering, and practical resource that shows how transforming fear and obstacles into positive forces can help artists of all kinds carve out a meaningful and sustainable creative life, on their own terms.
Here are some of the things the book can help you learn and practice:
let go of sabotaging beliefs
spot the opportunities hidden behind every difficulty
make decisions based on your own values
approach uncertainty with more curiosity than dread
manage your time and energy more efficiently
understand the benefits of every creative season, even the less productive ones
recognize the importance and value of procrastination
implement boundaries to protect yourself and your work
go further by lowering your thresholds
be on your own side, always
You can now pre-order the book and get some special rewards for your early support: a discounted price of £12.99 as well as a bonus demon vinyl sticker, free for every order.
Some answers to the questions you might have:
Schedule and delivery: the books are still in transit, they should arrive at the end of March or early April. As soon as I get them, I will ship the orders. The official release date is the 1st of May, but this includes a buffer in case of delays, so you’ll probably get your books before that date. The pre-order page will be updated accordingly.
Ebook and Audiobook: will be available soon!
Local bookshops: Friendly Demons will be available at Argonaut Books in Edinburgh. Other retailers to be confirmed. If you’d like your local bookshop to stock the book, let them know! I distribute the book myself, so they can place wholesale orders by contacting me directly at hello@maharel.com.
Events: I will have a book release party at Argonaut Books (probably early April, to be confirmed) and maybe another event in Glasgow (working on that). If you have ideas and wishes for more events, let me know!
Leave me a comment or reply to this email if you have further questions.
Reviews
I sent the manuscript to a select group of artists last year, people whose work and career I find inspiring, people who, I hoped, would be interested in reading and giving independent reviews for Friendly Demons before its publication. Let me share a few of these reviews below:
Neil Packer - Illustrator, Designer and Author:
“An honest and intelligent insight into the creative process which perfectly deconstructs how best to navigate a career in illustration and the arts. A book for anyone at any point in their career”.
Geneviève Godbout - Illustrator and Author:
“Whether you’re just starting out or already established in your creative career, Friendly Demons is the perfect companion to help you find clarity, soothe your mind, and gain perspective on your artistic journey.”
Dapo Adeola - Illustrator, Author, and Visual Development Artist:
“Friendly demons is a refreshingly honest, uplifting and very much needed guide to accepting that to be a creative is very often to walk with the fear of how your work will be received by the world. Marie-Alice writes with compassion as she offers practical tips on how to identify, accept and make peace with your inner creative demons, and protect and nurture your joy while creating.”
If you’re not familiar with their work, click on their names to find out more! And just a note to say that no, I did not bribe them with chocolates or fancy pencils for good reviews… most of the artists I contacted at this stage I had never been in touch with, and they generously offered their time as well as their honest opinion. I’m incredibly grateful for their support. Their positive reviews keep me going when self-doubt inevitably shows up.
I’ll have a few more reviews to share with you in the coming weeks. If you would like to support my work, you can obviously order a copy of Friendly Demons, but you can also share the news on social media, tell the artists in your life, or ask your local bookshop to stock the book ♡
Word of mouth makes a huge difference to small independent publishers like me.
Making the Illustrations
I knew early on that I wanted to add illustrations to the book. That complicated the production quite a bit (because now I had to produce a full colour book), but that’s another story. So how did I approach the illustrations?
Friendly Demon is a book about creative fears, about control and letting go. It is an invitation to befriend parts of the creative practice that are often scary and uncomfortable, sometimes traumatic — ideas and emotions that are routinely consigned to the dark and dusty corners of our minds. To fit this delicate subject, I wanted the illustrations to be welcoming and comforting, light and uplifting. At the same time, I needed them to be more spontaneous than controlled. There had to be a connection to the freedom of childhood drawings in there somewhere.
I made a little video to show you the illustrations I painted, the ones I was happy with and the ones that didn’t make it into the book, the techniques I used, and how I forced myself to be less controlled than I usually would, in order to get the right result. Here it is: