From Jubilee Joy to Coronation Excitement: Eleanor Tomlinson one year on
Last year we spoke to Eleanor Tomlinson for International Women’s Day 2022. But since then Eleanor’s business and life changed almost overnight after her illustration marking the jubilee went viral. At the end of April, just over a year on, we caught up with Eleanor about everything that’s happened since her last blog for us.
From a short break to a big break
Last summer, Eleanor thought she’d be spending her jubilee weekend relaxing with family in the Yorkshire Dales. But in fact, her short break from work turned into something entirely different.
After watching some of the fantastic jubilee coverage, Eleanor was immediately struck with a vision of something she could illustrate to embody the celebrations. Although she’d already created a few jubilee pieces, she wanted to share something a bit different to wrap up the celebrations with her followers. What was once a quick illustration, soon became known as the infamous ‘Jubilee Ma’amalade Tea’.
Although Eleanor does illustrate people, prior to this illustration, she was best known for work inspired by the Yorkshire landscape. But looking back at other work, Eleanor can see similar pieces she’d drawn on which also featured figures walking away from the page. Eleanor’s ultimate decision to illustrate the Queen walking away was partly based on this, and that she felt more comfortable illustrating a figure, rather than worrying that she’d get her face wrong!
What started as a post to her followers on Facebook and Instagram soon spiralled as people instantly recognised and connected with her illustration, as well as requesting copies.
“It’s a big thing for an illustrator for their illustrations to be instantly recognisable, and so rewarding for it to evoke such strong emotions from people.”
Eleanor started by adding 70 limited edition, signed prints to her website, never imagining what would happen next. Within 50 minutes, they’d all sold out, and when she added an open edition, she was soon flooded with orders. In fact, her social media post was already her most successful ever.
A viral sensation
At first, Eleanor thought her illustration success was fairly local. After all, she was still on her not-so-relaxing holiday in the Yorkshire Dales, and with a very limited internet connection, she had no idea just how popular she was becoming. In fact, it wasn’t until her boyfriend finally managed to get hold of her – by ringing her mum! – that it finally sunk in that she’d gone viral, and that she’d also had her best sales day ever.
“So much traffic had been directed to my website that it wasn’t just the Ma’amalade Tea which had huge numbers of pre-orders, but every design and product I had. In the space of 48 hours, I got more orders than I had in the previous 10 years of my business, combined.”
Returning home from her holiday, Eleanor was far from relaxed. As a small business, Eleanor usually handled every aspect of the process, only calling in friends and family to help over predicted busy periods, like Christmas. But this was unprecedented. How could she fulfil so many orders? Should she cancel them and refund everyone instead? But help arrived at the perfect time.
“I live in a tiny village, beautiful, but tiny. Opposite me is the village hall which is a bit of a hub for the community, but is rarely fully used.
I was still in my dressing gown, stressed and worried about what to do when I heard a knock at my door. It was the keyholder for the village hall, offering me the space to help get everything sorted in a bigger area than my spare bedroom. It was exactly what I needed.”
As a small, local business, community is a big part of Eleanor’s personal and business ethos. She wanted to continue supporting her local suppliers and businesses despite the influx of orders. With this in mind, she continued to use her normal printers, suppliers and post office.
For Eleanor, ensuring quality control and sticking to her roots was just as important as making the most of her big opportunity. If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right.
The red sofa
After three hectic weeks, it seemed like Eleanor and her team of friends and family were finally getting to grips with orders. But Eleanor’s fame kept growing, until it wasn’t just local news outlets asking to speak to her, but BBC Breakfast.
A self-confessed ‘shy person’, Eleanor admits she tried to do anything to put off her first TV appearance. But BBC Breakfast weren’t deterred, and got Eleanor to the studio for a gruelling 7:30am start, and a successful appearance on the red sofa.
But this TV appearance also caused a surge in orders and Eleanor decided to make the tough decision to temporarily close her website for orders and stop taking new orders. By this time, it was the start of July and Eleanor felt it was time to draw a line and go out on a high with Ma’amalade Tea. It was also so Eleanor could begin to look at her business again and get back to the things she loved.
“Since it went viral, I hadn’t even picked up a pencil or pen”
With her website closed, Eleanor was finally able to get on top of her orders and dispatch around the world. But by stopping new orders, unscrupulous businesses saw an opportunity to use her popularity for their own gain.
As an illustrator who frequently shared designs online, Eleanor knew people shared her designs on social media or might print them out for their own use. She also began to see fanart of her work online, a massive compliment for any artist! But soon Eleanor began to notice companies and individuals profiting from her work, many of which ignored her request to stop or had an incorrect stance on copyright law when challenged.
From jubilee celebration to a fitting tribute
When it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away, Eleanor’s work soon went viral again.
“I’d see my work printed out and used as part of tributes left at the gates of Buckingham Palace, which was incredible to see. To know my work brought comfort to so many people was both wonderful, and humbling.”
Eleanor illustrated a tribute to the Queen in a similar style to her Ma’amalade Tea, but made the decision not to sell it. She didn’t want to profit from Queen Elizabeth’s death, and instead wanted her tribute to remain simply that – an online tribute. But once again, unscrupulous individuals and businesses decided to profit from her artwork.
In Eleanor’s words, “there were fakes everywhere”. On every site you can imagine there was a company or individual profiting from the Queen’s death, and the public enjoyment of Eleanor’s work. These fakes often looked like the real thing, and many people undoubtedly bought such fakes believing they were legitimately licensed. Even worse, Eleanor spotted eBay listings claiming to be original prints being listed at nearly £1000.
Taking a stand
After watching her work be stolen and used for others gain, Eleanor decided to take a stand. She posted a public plea for those who were illegally profiting to stop, especially in the wake of the Queen’s death. What might have been a shot in the dark, soon gained its own momentum as followers, customers and complete strangers read about what had been happening since the jubilee. Many began supporting Eleanor in a new way – by reporting fraudulent listings and leaving negative reviews to warn others off.
“It was amazing to see so many people support me. I’d never expected that so many people would feel so strongly on my behalf and take on the task of reporting the companies and listings.”
Another unexpected boost came from the BBC who wrote an article about Eleanor’s plight. As part of the article, they spoke to Andrew Eborn, an expert in licensing and copyright who generously offered his advice to Eleanor to help her with her ongoing issues.
One meeting became another and soon it became clear that together they could work together to create exciting opportunities.
Coronation Capers
This year, Eleanor has been busy consolidating her work and launching her coronation collection. The main piece took over 50 hours to complete, and is available in a variety of different types, including prints, mugs and as a jigsaw produced by Ravensburger.
In early Spring, alongside the coronation collection, Eleanor launched a new workshop space in London. Eleanor has always enjoyed sharing her art and expertise, and felt now was the right time to create a more accessible location for her workshops than rural Yorkshire. When we caught up with Eleanor, she’d just returned from a whirlwind trip to host her first workshop in her new creative space.
“It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind, with a steep learning curve. But I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved and so glad that I’m able to stick to my roots as I complete new projects.”
Thanks to Eleanor’s partnership with Andrew Eborn, she’s been able to investigate and take new opportunities she would otherwise never have expected. This has included looking at licensing deals to expand her business without compromising her small business ethos.
“It never would have crossed my mind that my work would appeal to a wider, international audience. I thought my focus on Yorkshire wildlife and landscape with a dash of royal celebrations would be a bit too niche… but I was so wrong.”
In fact, during the hectic summer of 2022, Eleanor created a Yorkshire Day card and assumed it would only have a local appeal. But to her surprise, one of her first orders was from Japan!
Giving back
In the past whirlwind year, Eleanor has also been keen to give back to her community. In late 2022 she designed a fantastic piece which was auctioned at Grantley Hall for Yorkshire Children’s Charity. Her work raised a fantastic £32,000 to support disadvantaged children around Yorkshire reach their potential.
Eleanor has also continued to support local businesses as part of her ongoing business plans, including using small businesses as part of her coronation collection launch.
If that wasn’t enough, Eleanor has also recently become a mentor to an Illustration student at York St John. After Eleanor held a talk with current students eighteen months ago, one of them got in touch for advice and this was recently formalised as part of our Kickstart programme.
“As someone who benefited from business support as a student at York St John, I just wanted to help someone else achieve their goals too. It’s great to be involved, especially as I can offer my mentee specialist advice about the industry they’re growing their business in. It’s been a bit of a steep learning curve for me in some respects, so it’s great to be able to use it as learning opportunity for someone else.”
You can find out more about Eleanor’s work on her website.
