Mark Mills, Plum Pudding Artists Agency

Saturday, 20 April 2013

13:00 - 17:00

Art directors and agents from the children’s book industry give valuable
feedback to Illustrators. We are proud to announce the following reviewers: Mark Mills, Plum Pudding Artist Agency and Elizabeth Roy, Elizabeth Roy Literary Agency, Sharon Chai, Art Director Macmillan Children's Publishing and Emily Bannister, Art Director Caterpillar Children's Books, and possibly one more surprise reviewer!

The Portfolio Intensive gives student, emerging and professional illustrators the opportunity to present their portfolios to professionals in the children’s publishing industry. Illustrators will be put into groups to show their work (including book dummies) for industry-focused feedback from art directors, designers and artists’ agents on portfolio content and presentation. Illustrators will be able to sign up for a reviewer before the event, though numbers will affect how the groups are formed. Also covered will be important information on targeting the right publisher or agent for your work. This session is a great opportunity to network with professionals from the industry and other illustrators, published and yet to be published. Don’t miss out on the chance to get your work seen by experts and to take your portfolio to the next level.

Sarah Malley, art director Egmont Children's Books

Saturday, 29 June 2013

13:00 - 17:00

with Sarah Malley, art director, and a designer (tbc) from Egmont Children’s Books

In this masterclass we will be working with Sarah Malley and a designer from Hodders Children’s Books. Pre-workshop work is necessary. Sarah will provide several texts featuring human, animal or conceptual characters and approaches to the illustrator. This means that several illustrators may well be working on the same text. Don’t worry about this as every illustrator will shine with their own interpretation and approach.

Participating illustrators will need to submit pencil roughs on their character designs and proposed spread for initial feedback from Sarah and the designer.

Deadline for pencil roughs with sample of colour work  - 31 March 2013.

Feedback returned to illustrators - 30 April 2013.

Finished artwork brought to Masterclass on the 29 June 2013.

Note: The sample you send to show how you work can be any artwork you've done that shows your style and how you work with colour.

The masterclass itself will feature presentation of final art samples showing how the initial feedback was applied. There will be time dedicated to discussing final outcomes of art samples brought in by participating illustrators and looking at samples that caught our art director’s eye and finding out why they stood out. If you’ve wondered what makes an outstanding art submission, this is the masterclass for you.

Please be aware that numbers will be capped at 15 due to the intensive nature of the workshop. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Sue Porter, The Giant Dad Snowball

Saturday, 14 September 2013

13:00 - 17:00

with author illustrators Bridget Strevens-Marzo and Sue Porter

Have you wondered what wasn’t working in your book dummy, or how to get the right narrative flow between words and image? This Illustrator masterclass will put your dummy on centre stage, spotlighting its strengths and failings to help give your submission the best chance of success.

Illustrators are increasingly required to submit PDF formats for professional reasons, so you’ll need to send an advance submission of a PDF file of your whole book dummy by 14 July 2013 at the latest. Sue and Bridget will then email you by 1 August 2013 with preliminary feedback so you can work on developing it before bringing a paper dummy to the masterclass on 14 September 2013. Content is open (your own text, a classic tale, a novelty, a 24 page or  32 page picture book...) as long as it is for an illustrated book for any age up to 8 years old. Make sure that the PDF you submit online has clear, if not necessarily finished, text and drawings that show your intentions. A highly polished state isn’t required, but you should also include at least one developed sample, ideally in colour, or finished examples of your work to help Bridget and Sue visualize how you’d like your book to look.

At the masterclass, attendees will be divided into critiques groups in which Sue and Bridget will look at the page turn, where to build tension, release, and the all-important ending. 

Bridget Strevens-Marzo

Bridget Strevens-Marzo and Sue Porter are international illustrators with children’s books published here, in the US and Europe. Sue is an award-winning author illustrator with over 80 books to her credit. Currently, she is working with Mijade in Belgium. Sue also ran Bear Studios with Jana Novotny Hunter for 15 years, hosting picture book critique sessions and workshops for students and established writer/illustrators. Award-winning Bridget writes and illustrates her own books as well as illustrating for publishers such as Bayard-Jeunesse in France and Highlights in the US. www.bridgetstrevens.com and
www.sueporter.fr

Mike Brownlow, cover art

Saturday, 5 October 2013

13:00 - 17:00

Author Illustrator Mike Brownlow shares his secrets of creating living breathing characters to care about.

We know that believable characters that readers care about are the bones of every great story. But how do you develop those visually recognizable, endearing characters? Mike Brownlow will take us through character design techniques that he has developed over the years, exploring shape, silhouette, pose, setting, gesture and expression.
We will also find out about getting to know our characters through drawings, lists, interactive situations and the ever-present ‘what if’ circumstances that form the everyday
characteristics/personality traits of a well rounded character. If creating characters that have a life is your goal, don’t miss this wonderful hands-on masterclass with Mike.

Mike Brownlow

Mike Brownlow has a long professional career spanning advertising, packaging, television and children’s books. Along the way he has worked with other amazing illustrators and animators such as Gerald Scarfe and Terry Gilliam. His second children’s book, written and illustrated by Mike, Little Robots, was picked up by Lego Media and is shown on CBeebies or BBC2. Over 65 episodes have been made so far.  www.mikebrownlow.com