Friday 27 January 2012

First School Visit of the Year




On Wednesday I got up early and took the train to Crewe, from where I travelled into Shropshire to spend the day at Longland Primary School: 4 small schools in the area had clubbed together to invite me to do a couple of workshops with their Y5 and Y6 children.


It was a really good day - the kids were great. We looked at creating characterisation. Sketching in conte, I showed them my 'starting-with-a-snowman' idea, then demonstrated how they could draw their character moving (by running round the perimeter of the classroom - keeps me fit!). Then they each created an illustration with a running character, adding elements to weave stories into their drawings, ready for a writing session in class.


On the way home I was lucky enough to be sitting opposite the wonderful old man at the top. Luckily he was mostly staring out of the window, so I was able to look properly and get a pretty accurate sketch. I'm finding the clandestine sketching more tricky these days: my varifocal specs give the game away as, to keep everything in focus, I have to move my head up and down, not just my eyes!


This was the last drawing of the journey. She curled up in her seat and fell asleep just as I finished the old man and I just got her done in time before we came into Sheffield.

6 comments:

hfm said...

Great work, Lynne.

Cathy Holtom said...

Great sketches but the old man is wonderful!

Maureen said...

You could try some 'ready readers' to be able to just flick your eyes up and down!

I understand the probs with varis as I wear them. I'm going to copy your man until I can do him reasonably well. I need to get my shading techniques improved!

Gillian Olson said...

Great work, as always. I really enjoy these vacarious journeys.

Anonymous said...

hi lynne i love your work, and i am very interested in what you do. i have been trying to get into illustration work for a long time, so could you take a look at my blog and tell me what you think. i will email you soon but cant seem to on this laptop. technology for you !

Lynne the Pencil said...

Sorry Moira - I have too many similar requests, so can't possibly give individual feedback. Hit the 'hot tips' label on the right for posts containing useful advice and info about the business of illustrating for children's books.