Course Spotlight: Children's Book Illustration
In September 2022 we launched a brand new Year-long Course: Children's Book Illustration led by Harriet Hobday.
You may have already had the pleasure of meeting Harriet, who has been teaching illustration-based Weekend Workshops and Summer Schools since 2021. Harriet is a successful children’s book illustrator, with various titles from ‘Time for Supper’ to ‘Nature’s Toybox’ recently published by Puffin and Condé Nast. We are thrilled to welcome Harriet onto the Year-Long Courses programme and to see her run this inspiring course for the first time.
The aim of the course is to provide students with a platform to develop their own children’s book whilst also developing professional skills in the field. The year will see students through the whole process – from coming up with an initial idea, leading onto the creation of stylistically related images, and finally the production of a full draft of a children’s book by the end of the year.
The course is off to a flying start and we have been amazed by what the students have achieved so far. The first term was full of experimentation and play, with each week introducing new materials and exercises to help increase confidence in drawing and sequencing. One project of this term saw students create a concertina book inspired by a poem and another project had them making a book which had a gutter as its main feature. You can find just some of their work below, we think you'll agree that the quality of work is outstanding!
On returning in January, the class were visited by children’s book writer and illustrator, Rebecca Colby. Rebecca delivered a brilliant workshop on writing for 'Dual Audience', explaining the importance of appealing not only to children but also to the adults who read to them. Rebecca gave the students a number of devices and exercises to try out before giving an artist's talk and Q&A session. Later in the month the group went on a field trip to Edinburgh Zoo where they had the opportunity to draw the many different animals there. Now they will work on a longer, more sustained project lasting 6 weeks before culminating with a 10 week project, when they will develop and produce a final book for the End of Year Exhibition.
If you are interested in doing Children’s Book Illustration, applications for September 2023 are now open. Harriet will also teach a week-long Summer School this August: Silent Stories: Create a Wordless Illustrated Book.
