Art Journal » teaching

No short course in 2010

elise — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:05:52 +0000

I have decided not to run the RMIT short course in 2010 as I expect to have other teaching commitments not to mention a whopping book to do (the epic). However, I may not be able to resist running some course or other – this year I ran a drawing workshop for kids, an illustration workshop for adult writers, a few information sessions for writers and would-be illustrators, and of course the 6 week Writing for Children course.

So I’ll be sure to post if there’s something fun coming up.

And if there is something you would particularly like to take part in, please let me know.

more workshops

elise — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:11:38 +0000

How brilliant are these artists? I taught a cat-drawing workshop at the East Melbourne Library yesterday – we had so much fun. Here are some of the wonderful creations by the kids, a great group of 12, playing with watercolour and pencils. Have a look at these beauties!

Hey kids – If I’ve missed putting something of yours here or if I didn’t put your name with your picture – tell me and I’ll fix it! Thanks for coming along

Memories

elise — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:26:25 +0000

I really envy people their good memories. I don’t have one. I have a terrible one really. And I think I’ve lost so much of my childhood which, being a children’s writer, it would be really good to access! We were talking about memories on the weekend during the session on Grand Final day. One of the things I like to do with writers, especially new writers, is to try to help them step back into their past. I don’t have kids so I can’t watch them encounter the world and use that for inspiration. So when I write, I’m writing for me. The me I remember and the things I liked, remembering the frustrations I had, the adventures I expected to have and hoping to come up with things I would have liked to read then. And every now and then I do this exercise and it’s amazing what resurfaces.
Suddenly…

You can smell and feel the sheets on your bed.
Feel how tightly they’re tucked in so your toes are all scrunched over.
Smell the dusty carpet under the bed.
Hear parents murmuring in the other room as you fall asleep.

Try it now… stand in your bedroom as a kid.
Take off your shoes and socks. What does the floor feel like? Sit on the bed. What is the texture? How does it smell? Are your feet dangling? What can you hear? What season is it?
It’s amazing how things come back. Walk around your house, or run around it… The textures under your toes, the sound of the rooms and halls, dodging around pets you haven’t seen in years.
The smell of freshly washed pyjamas at bed time!

What came back to you?

short course & MWF

elise — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:32:58 +0000

Wednesday night was the last night of my writing for children Short Course at RMIT. I have to say it was such a pleasure to teach – I had a wonderful class of people with varied imaginations and ideas. And they’d better keep me in the loop! I don’t doubt that there will be some books coming from these people. Next year I hope to run two of these classes, one each semester. It would be good to play with the formula a little though. It is a six week intensive course that really crams an awful lot into the time, as you’d hope. One of the difficulties for the students is to find adequate time to work on story drafts in between the classes. What I’d like – and I’d value your input – is to have a break after week 4 and come back a month later for the final two classes. I may also make it so that the focus is entirely on picture books with week 5 being solely devoted to workshopping, and the final class all about presenting to publishers. I think it could work well.

It’s been a busy week actually. There were school visits to Ardeer Sth Primary on Monday and Tuesday - hi kids! You were brilliant!! And yesterday I did an 8 min talk representing the ASA at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. As you’d imagine it was all over very fast… it was part of a whole day of info about the business of being a writer.

I have another MWF session next weekend at ArtPlay, a wonderful business located below Fed Square along the banks of the Yarra River.

Kid’s Art Workshop – WordPlay @ ArtPlay

For more info and to book… click here

On Saturday 29th

At 12, 1:15 & 2:30pm

So you always wanted to write a picture book…

elise — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:12:50 +0000

Later this year – from Wed 15 Jul to Wed 19 Aug 2009 I’m running a six week Short Course in writing for children. We’ll be looking at all sorts of things from picture books to chapter books – and the many styles within this genre. It’s a fascinating area! There’s a lot to talk about – writing styles, working from real life, how to take the illustrations into account, plotting, simple stories, sophisticated stories, rhyme, rhythm, different ages… and practical ways to break into the industry and pitch your ideas.

It’s happening in the evenings at the city campus of RMIT. So, if you’ve ever said “I’ve always wanted to write a picture book…” here you go! It could be the start of a beautiful career…

More info on a new page – here.