On Saturday 4th July, SCBWI SA hosted their first ever on-line Winter Gathering. The event was open to SCBWI members worldwide, and we we were delighted to be joined by members from interstate as well as the US and Asia.
The day commenced with optional peer manuscript and portfolio critique groups. Members who selected to take part were allocated a group according to their submission. They were given the opportunity to read and review other group members’ work prior to the session and provide and receive critiques on the day. The sessions provided valuable feedback as well the chance to make connections with other SCBWI members.
Picture book writer and poet Mike Lucas opened the main session with his presentation Patience, Persistence and (finally) Publication. Mike provided a wonderful and honest insight into the hard road to publication. Mike talked about his early writing career which began with self-publishing three children’s poetry books including ‘A Load of New Nonsense’ which he published to raise money for UNICEF. Mike talked about the difficulties of self-publishing especially with distribution. Mike provided some wonderful advice for new and aspiring writers, in particular, the importance of perseverance and self-promotion. Mike also shared some of the hilarious poems from his books and gave us the opportunity to create some nonsense poetry ourselves.
Marjorie Crosby-Fairall shared a wonderful creative session which focussed on building characters. Marjorie guided us through her thought process for creating characters; looking at gesture, construction and story-telling. Step by step exercises gave us the opportunity to create our own characters from her books ‘Bear in Space’ and ‘Brothers from a Different Mother.’ Marjorie demonstrated how illustrations are built on simple shapes, and the importance of poses and exaggerated gestures to create genuine illustrations.
We were honoured to share a mesmerising insight into the creative process of the incredibly talented Shaun Tan. Mandy Foot introduced Shaun and shared an extract from his recent Kate Greenaway Medal winning book ‘Tales From The Inner City.’ Shaun described the importance of research in his work; the particular extract read by Mandy was based on the use of horses in 19th century cities.
Shaun explained that ‘Tales from the Inner City’ began as a charity project for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. When visiting the hospital he noticed that the wards were named after animals. As an artist, he often takes something familiar and looks at it in a new way to create a story. He thought about these animals being part of the hospital i.e. owls caring for children in the Owl Ward, and this provided inspiration for his story.
Shaun explained how he uses a sketchbook and ballpoint pen to record early ideas; little drawings with captions, things he will cut out and paste in, although disconnected they tend to circle around themes and stories start to form. Shaun treated us to a glimpse inside some of these amazing sketchbooks.
Shaun also talked about his use of miniature scenes and sculptures to create illustrations. Photographing these models helps him with lighting and shadows. For ‘Cicada’, he built the main character as a model from Das clay, and the office building out of cardboard.
As well as showing us his creative process and sharing some of his wonderful work, Shaun had some great advice for aspiring illustrators. It was a truly enlightening and information-packed presentation—not to be missed. A special thank you to Mandy Foot for organising this interview.
To finish off a fun-packed day, SCBWI SA’s very own Kelly Hibbert took us on a tour of the SCBWI website. From creating a profile to promoting your book, voting in the Crystal Kite awards and applying for grants there was something for everyone to discover. Kelly also highlighted the website’s fantastic free digital workshops (these are only available for 30 days following their live broadcast so don’t miss out) and the many and varied workshops/presentations available in the digital archive.
It was an amazing day. SCBWI SA would like to thank all attendees, the fantastic presenters and everyone who helped with the preparation. But don’t worry if you missed out. After a number of requests, access to the digital recording is available through Trybooking.