This week’s Illustration Friday’s topic – Secret
Berkhamsted and Tring Gazette
Chaulden Infants School bookworms learn eye-popping techniques from children’s author
Published on the 04 October 2013 11:04
Little bookworms at Chaulden Infants and Nursery School have been treated to a visit from a children’s pop-up book author.
John O’Leary, who has masterminded kids’ titles such as Pirate Treasure Hunt and Detective Paws, visited the school during Book Week.
During the visit, he worked with all the pupils in small workshops, showing them techniques and helping them to design and construct their own books. School spokesman Julie James said: “John is an expert at paper engineering and in his books he creates amazing and surprising pop-ups.
“The children used words such as ‘ wow’, ‘amazing’ and ‘brilliant’ when they realised the pop up effects they had created themselves under his direction.
“The buzz of excitement from the children continued throughout the day and was enjoyed by all.”
Author John also illustrated a picture of a snake and monkey for the school’s main hall wall to mark his visit.
Chaulden Infants
First visit of the school year spent with the fabulous children of Chaulden Infants in Hemel Hempstead. The giant pop-up was created by the two Reception classes.
Hamster! Hamster!
I’ve just finished working on the Hamster Device Mark II. This is the thing we use to make projected images appear and disappear on the wall during the PoetryJoe Show. Even though what you see isn’t the end product, I can’t help thinking it’s quite a nice object in it’s own right.
The PoetryJoe Show’s autumn tour kicks off properly at the end of the month. For details of all the dates, please go here.
What the Thunder Said
I’ve always wanted to try my hand at a theatre poster and was finally given the opportunity after a chance meeting with Alan Ward at the Museums at Night event in May. As a result of our brief encounter, Alan, from The Theatre Centre, asked me to design the poster for one of their upcoming productions.
What the Thunder Said, a new play by award-winning writer Ed Harris, is based on a series of conversations and workshops with children about violence in five inner-city areas. These children spoke as victims, witnesses and sometimes perpetrators.
I was aiming for the feel of a comic book or manga style to connect with the age group and the fairly limited palette was a result of this. A lot was decided through trial and error – I did like the way the people at The Theatre Centre took ownership of the design and took a very active part in the development of their poster.
The decision to make the child look upwards towards the clouds tended give it a slightly more realistic feel and there was the added challenge of making the girl angry and frustrated without looking ugly – we needed to feel sympathetic towards her. The finished drawing of the girl has a touch of the David Shrigley about it – especially the fists – which I think is good as it does gets across a nice a sense of awkwardness.
For more information on What the thunder Said, please go to the link:
http://www.theatrecentre.co.uk/downloads/showsprojects/page/What_the_Thunder_Said_-_online_programme.pdf
Illustration Friday – Jungle
from Motor Mouse! published by Tango Books
3 Corners
Pictures from the workshop at 3 Corners Centre over the weekend. I was very pleased to see a good range of ages and abilities – one woman who brought her child ended up doing the amazing construction below.
Some of the work produced will be on show in Bookends at 66 Exmouth Market until the end of July as part of Islington Exhibits.
Pop-up books workshop – 3Corners Centre
I’ll be running a workshop as part of Islington Exhibits, organised by Rowan Arts. Irma will be assisting, bringing her own special expertise to the event.
Saturday 20 July 11am-3pm
at 3Corners Centre, Northampton Road, EC1R 0HU
Email events@therowanartsproject.com or call 07975 758 756 to book a place
Come and create your very own pop-up book – all materials and instructions will be provided. The workshop will explore themes of family traditions and the finished books will be exhibited at Bookends, 66 Exmouth Market from 22 July. After the book-making session, the group will be going to the Whitecross Street Party to join in the festivities
If you’d like to join us for the full-day session, which will cover more advanced techniques, please book in advance. Anyone who would like to join us for part of the day is welcome to drop in at any time.
Suitable for children (6+) and adults (children under 10 must be accompanied by a carer)
The Book of Light Poems
I like the idea of a book without text which then becomes complete with the addition of spoken words. I’ve just finished constructing The book of Light Poems which will be used by Joseph Coelho in The PoetryJoe Show, soon to start touring.
As we developed the project, it became clear that we needed a ‘book’ to contain the bits which made the visual part of the show work and that it required a certain look to get across that special quality of Joe’s poems. There also had to be an some element to carry through the theme of light.
The show’s Autumn schedule is filling up fast with a few early shows, including this Sunday at the Warwick Arts Centre.
To see all the dates so far, click here.
John O'Leary 