CHILDREN at St Mary’s Armidale received a visit from award-winning illustrator Anne Spudvilas on 14 August as part of a tour sponsored by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
The children were enthralled by her stories of creating the illustrations for The Peasant Prince – the picture book version of the adult novel Mao’s Last Dancer.
Anne described her travels through China, capturing more than1000 images, some of which were used in her picture book.
“St Mary’s students were able to appreciate the amount of work that goes into creating such a beautiful picture book,” teacher librarian Stephanie Strachan said.
“The process itself is long and painstaking but enormously rewarding.”
Before leaving, Anne showed the children how she likes to sketch using charcoal.
In minutes Anne replicated the face of a young Li Cunxin, explaining how to get the dimensions of the face right and the tricks on how to draw a nose!
This wonderful sketch will now be framed and housed in the St Mary’s library for everyone to enjoy.
