A Masterclass in Picture Book Publishing!

A treat for Year 4 at our Junior School came in the shape of a masterclass in picture book publishing from Sheffield-based author and illustrator Lynne Chapman in November.  Lynne has written and illustrated many well known picture books, such as ‘Baby goes Baaaa!’ and ‘When you’re not Looking!’.

Year 4 have been learning how to set the scene in a story, so they are now designing their own scenery and characters to go with their writing, using different pencil and pastel techniques.

Before they embarked on their drawings, Lynne showed them the fascinating process of illustrating books, from starting the drawing in her studio at her house, to preparing the finished piece to send to the printers, from where it goes halfway around the world to be printed and is finally released in many different languages for children all over the world to read.

This presents some challenges for the illustrator, and Lynne let us in on a few trade secrets, such as how to make pencil lines that don’t rub out by using hairspray, amongst others!  The girls were very inspired by the day:  ‘It was an amazing experience because I learnt how to improve my drawings and NOT use a rubber!’ said Ayla in Year 4.  Anna agreed: ‘Now that Lynne Chapman has been, I have better drawing techniques.’