Children's Book Week - Picture Book Workshop

The Tuesday of Children's Book Week stormed on the Gold Coast. There was heavy rain, blustering wind and a gale was blowing in from the sea. In spite of it all a large group of determined workshoppers patiently waited in the foyer of the Palm Beach library. 

My first workshop session on 'Writing and Illustrating a Picture Book' was fully booked. Another workshop session was hastily organised for the following week at the Elanora Library and that too was quickly booked out. There were even six people on the waiting list. Gold Coasters are keen.

As the workshop group filed into the room they were eager to get started...

storyboarding

working out plot structures

analysing visual narrative

developing characters.

Testimonials from 'Write and Illustrate a Picture Book Workshop', August 2011:

'My head has held onto so many stories and characters and I have not known what to do with them, until now. Since yesterday I find myself with exploding enthusiasm to the point I have just realised I forgot breakfast, which never happens. Everything I have kept for so long inside my head is now uncontrollably spewing out onto pages.' Kim

'Your workshop was informative, entertaining, and presented in such a professional manner with just enough humour to keep it flowing. A million thank yous. I now have a list of books to read before I do anything more with my childrens' book idea.' Lin

'I just wanted to thank you, for all the hard work, and the amount of material that was covered in today's workshop was incredible. I never imagined the amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into creating a children's picture book.' Linda

'Absolutely amazing day - so much more than I thought was covered and so inspiring. I now just HAVE to write a children's book!' Anne

'So fantastic, fun, exciting. Loved it and am so glad that I came! Can't wait to get home and start creating!' Rosalie

'I found this workshop extremely informative. It has opened my eyes, inspired me and given me a sense of direction and a good guide towards writing and illustrating.' Fiona

'Made me change perspective 100% in all aspects of a child's book. I appreciate the efforts and learnt so much for myself to help me follow a passion of mine. I was very lost in which way to go and now I have confidence to go the next step in writing children's books.' Lisa

'A fun, interactive, interesting day to help kick start my inner author. With so much information and handy hints to take home and get started.' Ingrid

'A really detailed workshop given with insight and humour. Much appreciated time spent.' Joanna

'Fabulous, fabulous workshop today, Angela ... left feeling confident, empowered and inspired!! Thank you so much! Wish you'd been my teacher at Art School 30 yrs ago!!' Terri


Thank you to the Gold Coast Libraries and the Gold Coast City Council for your support.

Join my Facebook author page to find out about upcoming workshops.

Contact: angelasunde@live.com.au

Children's Book Week - School Visits

I've just completed a week of school visits and library workshops for Children's Book Week. It has meant putting my family and friends on hold while I raced around between gigs, checking and double checking: my bag, my books, my notes, my handouts, my art folders, my sketchbook, my scrapbook, my sketch pad, my USB, my giveaways, my cards, my lunch, my water... my head. Yes, that was screwed on.

Monday kicked off with a full day of Illustration Workshops at a local primary school for classes from Prep to Year Seven.

The focus of the workshops was to learn how text and images work together in a picture book with expected outcomes for students being: improved visual literacy and understanding of narrative structure.

This was also a wonderful opportunity for me to trial my unpublished picture book The Blue Tutu on an eager audience of 5 to 12 year olds. I relished their reactions to the story and my main character, Molly's problem. The page turning suspense kept them hooked and the plot twist in the second act caught them by surprise. I could've cried for joy.

The Prep – Grade 1 workshop was purely visual and auditory, looking at how a picture book is developed and created, with hands on drawing. Some children focussed very hard on 'drawing from the shoulder' and keeping their hands relaxed.

The Grades 2-4 workshop also involved story structure and first rough illustrations. They went back to class with a simple storyboard and ideas for developing characters.

The Grades 5-7 workshop included looking at picture book structure, the visual narrative, page layouts, story flow, developing characters, preliminary storyboarding and creating a dummy book. The highlight for me was when a group of Years 5-6 stayed behind at lunch and asked me to help them with plotting. We had fun mind-mapping ideas on large sheets of paper. They came up with more plot twists than a crime novel!

All classes saw first hand examples of preliminary sketches for my picture book The Blue Tutu, as well as rough illustrations, a storyboard, a full size dummy book, final sketches and final artwork. It gave them an insight into the work that goes into creating a finished picture book. There was a lot to cover!


If you would like to book a workshop in your school or library please contact me: angelasunde@live.com.au
I’m able to tailor a workshop on writing and/or illustrating for children to suit your needs.

If you enjoyed this post then pop back on Saturday, 3rd August when author Tania McCartney will be visiting my blog to share some tips on Speaking in Schools.

Tania is stopping by on her blog tour for the launch of her new book, Riley and the Grumpy Wombat.

Write and Illustrate a Picture Book

The Calendar of Events booklet has just been released by the Gold Coast Libraries. It's full of interesting and fun-filled activities for Gold Coast residents in the months of June to August.

It caught me by surprise to find my workshop advertised on page 9 as a full page promotion. So I thought I'd share it with you.

Now if you live on the Gold Coast it's free and I promise you a full day of creative enlightenment. You will read, view and understand picture books from a completely new perspective.

It is not necessary to be able to draw to participate in this workshop. Here are the details:

Ever wondered how to go about illustrating a children’s picture book? This workshop will take you through the process step by step as you learn to develop a visual narrative to a supplied text (or your own). From sketching preliminary roughs, developing characters, storyboarding, page layouts, creating a dummy book to preparing artwork for submission, all areas will be covered, including how to approach a publisher.

Join me on the 23rd August 2011  from 10am to 4pm at the Elanora Library.

Phone the library to book yourself in  on (07) 55 811 671.

Elanora Library

The Pines Shopping Centre

Guineas Creek Road

Elanora 4221

Gold Coast

Illustration Workshop Review and Feedback

With two small suitcases loaded with picture books and reference books, notes and handouts, hand drawn posters and blue tack I arrived at the Gold Coast Art School fully prepared to indulge in the passion that is children's picture books and their illustration. When I looked at the amount I had prepared, I wondered whether we would get through half of it. But with two decades of teaching experience I know how to pace a lesson and not allow myself to be side-tracked.

Luckily for me I had a group of intelligent and passionate artists and writers. Together we looked at the genre and its mediums, themes, qualities and messages. The day was broken into topics like: Narrative and Visual Structure, Visual Narrative, Page Layouts, Characterisation, Storyboarding, Dummy books and Submission to a publisher.

We studied carefully the elements above in relation to the following books: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham, The Important Things by Peter Carnavas, Amy and Louis by Libby Gleeson, illustrated by Freya Blackwood, and Mutt Dog by Stephen Michael King.

The participants were given an exercise in analysis of one of the books where they looked at colour, space, movement, composition, perspective and pacing. Later in the day they storyboarded the text to one of my picture book manuscripts. Interestingly their page breaks were almost identical to mine.

I forgot my camera. I can't believe it. I had so wanted to post some photos of my workshop at the Gold Coast Art School. Instead I thought I'd include some of the feedback I received at the end of a very busy day.

"I have attended many workshops and classes on creative writing, but yours was 'spot on' in addressing children's picture books. Your storyboard workshop was particularly helpful."

"The workshop was informative and professional. Angela was happy to share her personal journey in illustrating so we could avoid the pitfalls. Having self-published, I would have loved to have this info prior to my experiences."

"What an amazing amount of info, but easily understood. Well presented and explained to a complete novice - maybe this is a new direction for me!"

It was such a fun day for me also and I would happily re-pack those suitcases and present this workshop again tomorrow. Any takers?

Workshop on Illustrating Children's Books

Ever wondered how to go about illustrating a children’s picture book?

During this one day workshop at the Gold Coast Art School I will take you through the process step by step as you learn to develop a visual narrative to a supplied text (or you may bring your own).

From sketching preliminary roughs, developing characters, storyboarding, page layouts, creating a dummy book to preparing artwork for submission, all areas will be covered, including how to approach a publisher. This workshop may also be suitable for the children’s writer who would like to improve their writing with a greater understanding of the picture book genre and the approach illustrators take when deciding on page breaks, sub-plots etc. It is not necessary to be able to draw for this workshop.


Workshop presenter:
Angela Sunde
Children’s Author and Illustrator
• Pond Magic, an Aussie Chomp, Penguin Australia, 2010.
• 3rd Place Award Picture Book Illustration, Children’s and Young Adult Conference 2009 http://www.cyaconference.com/


Workshop Date:
Sunday 18th July
9.30am – 4pm


Workshop Venue:
The Gold Coast Art School
http://www.artschool.com.au/
57 Nerang Street
Southport

See more here: Chee Chee and Mia