This Devil's Drink is Delicious

New print designs + the sketches and inspiration behind them

Natalie Beale

Mar 20, 2025

Reading Time: 4 Minutes

Let me show you what four years of sketching looks like:

What has this pile taught me?

Firstly, every scribble matters: if I could change anything, I would have spent more time doodling and making ‘bad art’. The more you make, the more you learn.
Secondly, my understanding of “observation” has changed: observation is not just urban sketching or life drawing. I feel more inspired when I take thoughts, jokes, memories — plus things I’m reading or listening to — and turn them into illustration.

In that spirit, this post is all about the sketching process and where I find inspiration. I’m finally making illustrations that show my cultural and creative interests; it’s the first art I would want to turn into prints!

This Devil’s Drink is Delicious

I heard a great story the other day. You’re Dead to Me, a history podcast, posted an episode on the history of coffee. The story goes that Europeans were at first suspicious of the drink — was it ‘unchristian’? — until Pope Clement VIII tasted it. As legend has it, PC declared “this devil’s drink is delicious!”

My brain immediately went ding!

After a bunch of sketchbook mess in pen and pencil, I settled on this design to capture those immortal words.

Don’t Talk to Me Until I Have Screamed into The Void

Not much to say about this idea, it’s a spin on the “sad office poster” genre. Is it a Millennial trait to go on about ‘The Void’?

After the sketches I settled on this design:

Little Dog; Terrible Curse

I am a massive fan of Kate Beaton’s comics, and how she can take historical events or classic literature and spin little skits out of them.

Occasionally I get ideas for comics from my reading. At Christmas I read an excellent book about winter folklore, The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg. In it, she retells an odd little ghost story from a medieval book, The Trifles of Courtiers:

'Herlequin' was a great king of England, who, along with all of his knights, attended the wedding of a strange Lord.
As Herlequin and his men mounted up to leave the festivities, a little dog leapt into Herlequin's lap, and their host told them that they should not dismount before the dog did.
When they returned home the dog refused to get down - and when some of the knights decided to ignore the warning they vanished into dust as soon as their feet touched the ground.
Cursed to wander forever, Herlequin and his knights travel the land, not quite living, not quite dead, with a little dog still sitting on the lap of their leader.

The moment I read it, I wanted to draw this little dog.

Initial sketches for the unfinished comic of “Herlequin and Percival”

The comic is nowhere near finished, but here are some of the sketches. I changed the wedding to a dinner and I named the dog Percival. Beware of Percival.

Still Life Struggles

I host a still life art club (Knick-Knacks Art Club) that I love, but often find challenging creatively. The idea is that every attendee brings a trinket or knickknack from home, and we arrange the objects to paint or draw.

The collection of objects is different every time, and it can be hard to paint a satisfying still life with all the items.

On our last session, I focussed on just one object — Cursed Clay Cat — but I did multiple sketches from various angles. I tried to stay loose and just have fun making marks with a very limited palette.

If I’ve learned anything from hanging out with Urban Sketchers London, it’s that once you settle into a hobby, you learn how to ‘break the rules’ to keep the creative spark going.

In Other News, Let’s Ruin Some Clothes

I am a woman who owns some blank t-shirts and some brand-new fabric pens: the storm clouds are brewing.

As I get more confident with my favourite visual motifs — e.g. crabs, crows, cryptids — I had the bright idea that I could refine my designs not just for prints but for clothes.

I haven’t settled on the designs yet, but I’m ready to ‘ruin’ some charity shop-finds! You can draw anything you want on a shirt and no one can stop you.