"I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library." ~ Jorge Luis Borges

Monday, November 9, 2015

A visit from Kevin Hawkes

Today, the wonderfully nice and talented Kevin Hawkes visited with our first graders. They have been preparing for this visit in the classrooms, so all I had to do was provide the space and promote his books. 
As you can see and hear, Kevin drew pictures and talked about where he creates his books as well as how he keeps his creative ideas flowing.



A few of the interesting things my students learned:

Kevin Hawkes gets inspiration from other artists like NC Wyeth and Arthur Rackham.

Kevin has MANY sketch books in lots of different sizes where he keeps ideas for characters and objects and places.

Kevin likes to work in a small quiet space. When he has a manuscript, the small quiet space to allows the images to emerge.

My favorite pieces of advice?

One followed this question,  "Have you ever tried to draw something that didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted?" Kevin advised the children to keep drawing and that almost any shape can become a person. He modeled what it looks like and feels like to feel like you have made a mistake, he continued to sketch until a new shape emerged. 

"You can make a sketch book for your ideas by folding pieces of paper and stapling them."

There were many great questions, like these, from students.

How do you choose which books to illustrate?
It depends upon how excited I am about the manuscript and if I can see images for it right away.

How do you make your faces come so alive? 
I like to look at people and study faces.

It was a fabulous visit!

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