The Cambridge Summer School for Illustration

With the summer season of courses and schools for book creators fast approaching, Margaret Sturton looks back at her experiences at last year's Cambridge Summer School for children's illustration at Anglia Ruskin University.



Each year, I set time aside to attend a summer school, conference or course for professional development. Last year I signed up for the Cambridge School of Art summer school for writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

The aim of the Cambridge summer school was for each of the 40 odd students to produce a dummy book of a story written before the summer school started. Friday afternoon was devoted to a critique where each student’s work was commented on in depth. Saturday was a day conference with various industry guest speakers.

The summer school was organised by Pamela Smy who is an illustrator and the main course tutor for the Writing and Illustrating MA at Anglia Ruskin University. The co-tutors for the 2013 summer school were Birgitta Sif, Marta Altes and Ness Wood. Martin Salisbury and Emily Gravett both delivered lectures.

 

The basic structure of the course was a lecture each morning followed by a personal tutorial each afternoon. The rest of the time in between was for drawing, storyboarding and structuring your picture book. The conference on Saturday was a chance to network and have feedback from a variety of editors, agents and designers.

 

Character studies © Margaret Sturton

The Course 

The tutors were excellent. Birgitta Sif delivered an inspiring talk on ‘Getting to know your character’. Ness Wood, who is a freelance designer, gave a lecture on the role of the publishing house designer. Marta Altes was an engaging and witty speaker who delved into the variety and possibilities of the relationship between words and pictures.
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Storyboard

My reason for attending the summer school was the lure of Emily Gravett. She did not disappoint. The opportunity to flick though Emily Gravett’s sketchbooks was amazing.  Knowing her books and seeing the initial ideas was an incredible experience.

Summer Schools generally are an opportunity to have feedback from industry experts. For me, the value of the Cambridge summer school was the quantity and quality of the input. My work improved so much over the course of the week. If you do choose to go on the 2014 Cambridge summer school, good luck and work hard!

Dummy

General advice

• Applying early and getting university accommodation is an advantage.

• Doing lots of work each day made the input during tutorials more productive.

• If you have a portfolio, take it! The more visual information the tutors have the better.

• The conference is a useful networking opportunity so take business cards and don’t be shy.

• Take drawing equipment you are used to using. If you are not an illustrator, bring a basic drawing kit (soft drawing pencils, a decent rubber and drawing paper). There is not much time for experimentation.

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Margaret Sturton is an illustrator and animator based in Winchester. Her website is at www.margaretsturton.co.uk

Let's celebrate with The Nowhere Box and a Perfect Prig!

This week, as we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse, we take a pause in our feasting to toast two debut picture book author-illustrators, Sam Zuppardi and Julie-Anne Graham. 

First, a huge hip hooray! to Sam Zuppardi, whose debut picture book The Nowhere Box was published in the US and UK on 12th November, by Candlewick Press and Walker. 

The Nowhere Box: George's little brothers wreck his toys and his games and trail after him wherever he goes. Try as he might, there's just no hiding from them. George has had enough! So he commandeers an empty washing-machine box and goes to the one place his brothers can't follow: Nowhere. Nowhere is amazing! It's magnificent! It's also, however, free of pirates and dragons and ... well, anyone at all. 

Sam Zuppardi used to draw pictures at school when he was supposed to be doing work. Since then he’s worked in a book warehouse, as a student, as a nursery worker, a bookshop assistant, a toyshop assistant and a care worker. At the moment he works with children. He still draws pictures. He is the illustrator of the middle grade series The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe. His debut picture book The Nowhere Box was inspired by an enduring childhood love for hide-and-seek. And cardboard boxes. He lives in York, England. Visit his website at www.samzuppardi.com. 

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@Ja_illustrator

Congratulations also go to Julie-Anne Graham, who has just scored a publishing deal with The Perfect Percival Priggs. Lisa Cheng at Running Press Kids has bought author-illustrator Julie-Anne's debut picture book. It's about a boy who is perfect in every possible way – but when his aunt comes to town, she uncovers what is hidden behind his perfect smile. It's pitched as a young Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory meets Tim Burton and publication is set for spring 2015. Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media brokered the deal.

Julie-Anne is currently studying an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She has a background in fashion and her love of fabrics comes across in her illustrations. In 2013 she was Highly Commended for The Perfect Percival Priggs in the Macmillan Prize for Children's Book Illustration. Her work will be on display at the CSA graduation exhibition, Candid Gallery, 5 Torrens Street, London, from 11th-15th February.

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is currently writing a YA romantic thriller, has just joined The Golden Egg Academy and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.

FEATURED ILLUSTRATOR - Julia Groves

@julia2groves

Julia Groves, Norwich based Illustrator and Printmaker is this month's Featured Artist, see her work in the Showcase Gallery here!

Thanks for inviting me to be the Words & Pictures Featured Illustrator!

I have created a banner which reflects the Words and Pictures theme for June of; ‘Festivals, Workshops and Retreats’. The characters are from a picture book idea I have recently written and illustrated. The original story is set at night, but I wanted this illustration to be all about colour.

I joined SCBWI in 2011, on the recommendation of a friend in order to enter the Undiscovered Voices competition. To my surprise and delight I was selected as one of the six winners in the illustration category. It was a great introduction to children’s publishing and I had a wonderful time at the launch party; meeting new SCBWI friends and receiving invaluable advice from editors and agents. My selected entry was also published in the Undiscovered Voices 2012 anthology.

My winning UV2012 entry Birdsong

I originally studied Illustration at Cambridge School of Art and Printmaking at Brighton University. Since then I have worked as a lecturer in Art Schools (teaching most Art & Design subjects!). In 2011 I was fortunate to gain a place on the MA Children’s Book Illustration course at Cambridge School of Art as a part-time student and I am currently in my final year.

The course has been a rollercoaster ride and a brilliant crash course into the children’s book world. The first semester was all about drawing, we chose our own theme and I concentrated on ‘interiors’, giving me a great excuse to sit in museums and cafes drawing exhibits and people watching.

Sketchbook page, Cambridge Museum of Zoology

We went on to a Sequential Image module, on the advice of my wonderful tutors Paula Metcalf and Marta Altes, I bit the bullet and wrote and illustrated my first picture book, Monty’s Midnight Friend. A black and white story which explores issues of loneliness and new friendships, as well as teaching children about different nocturnal animals! The illustrations were based on chalk-board drawings; I started working on actual chalk-boards, then black paper and finally on washes of black ink on watercolour paper.

Spread from Monty’s Midnight Friend

My next book came about through painting and doodling, when my mind was a blank. It’s a ‘zoom style’ board book, I made it using relief prints and typeset the text using old wooden fonts. I really enjoyed working on a board book, there are fewer restrictions in terms of page numbers; mine was only six double pages (picture books always have to conform to the 32 page layout, for printing reasons). I can’t reveal the whole sequence as it is currently with a publisher in the USA, but here is a sample page.

Spread from I SEE board book

I have been developing a way of working using a simple table-top print method. I print black proofs and scan them as separate layers in Photoshop, where I colour and compose my final images. I favour simple, graphic images with an emphasis on bold compositions. I have also been working on a counting book. 

 

I have been lucky to visit the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy for the past two years. It’s an amazing experience for any aspiring children’s book illustrator, as publishers from all over the world congregate in one place to sell foreign rights to each other. Of course this presents a wonderful opportunity for British illustrators to meet publishers from all over the world.
This year I was selected to be represented on the Cambridge School of Art stand (the only participating university at the fair). It was all arranged by the amazing Pam Smy, our course leader. It was very exciting as I assisted in several meetings with publishers on the stand, had meetings arranged for me by my tutor Prof. Martin Salisbury, but also managed to see several other publishers during the week. The experience has enabled me to make contact with publishers and to gain invaluable advice about my work.

Cambridge School of Art stand at Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2013

My advice would be not to underestimate your own experience; I had no idea what sort of illustrator I would become. My years of printmaking and my interest in graphic design have really shaped my approach to design, colour and composition. My time on the MA course has opened my mind to discussing and developing new ideas, both with fellow students and tutors. SCBWI offers wonderful networking opportunities via workshops, conferences, the website and the NING social site.

My two children are also a constant source of inspiration, both for stories and characters.  It’s good to run any idea past a child if you possibly can, you’ll be amazed at their brainstorming abilities! 

See more from Julia in her Showcase Gallery, her blog and on Twitter.