SCHOOL SKETCHING

School budgets have been cut and author/illustrator visits are down in number but with World Day approaching, I’ve found myself with a few bookings. But what does one do on a day in school? Some schools know exactly what they want and have a theme or topic they’d like included, but many schools leave it all up to the author or illustrator.

 So I've had to devise a way of inspiring pupils to want to read, write and illustrate, themselves; a balance between talking about ‘what I do’ and getting them to do something during a fun, hands-on task. Tricky, when you have a huge primary school wanting every class to take part.

The school I recently visited was so large I couldn’t fit every class into the one day but, luckily, they had the funds to have me back for another half day at the end of the week.

  I've always loved sketching and one of the hands-on exercises I find works well is 10 min sketches.

Here are some 10 minute sketches done by Year 4 pupils using chunky white-board markers on A3 paper. With no rubbers and pencils in sight, the pupils were freed up to work fast and enjoy all sorts of different line on paper: 

lines which create  movement,

pattern, 

silhouette and blank spaces

drama and atmosphere.  

 

These first rough sketches are the setting and the starting point for a story and can inspire even the most reluctant pupils to go on and write something.