Children's Book Illustration Summer School 2017, Anglia Ruskin University

And so it happened!

I had as a gift this course in Cambridge,

and I really recommend it,

the teaching was great!

This is the Ruskin Gallery, where we had our week of lectures

and studio time...we were basically living in there!

The campus was very near, maybe two minutes walk,

and I'm afraid the staying was awful as the room and shared kitchen 

were very dirty , and building works on site

made it extra uncomfortable ..

All together, it was an unforgettable experience!

I discovered that even Syd Barrett,founder of Pink Floyd band, studied here!

This is a view of the studio, a great space that the teachers filled up

with children's book, for sale

and for reference...

So if you felt stuck you could go round seeing other people's desk,

or finding inspiration in the books..

We had to bring our own story,

that during the week has been constantly

changing according from what we learned 

step by step,

and each day tutors were visiting our desk and

helped us... we were more than 60 people,

so we only had the chance to see one tutor a day,

and this was maybe too less for my wish..

but at the end of the day,we met for questions time,

so any doubt could be clarified ..

I tryed to have my daily review with the tutors

as soon as possible in the mornings,

so that the imprint of the daily task could be

good from beginning...

The course started on Monday and on Friday at 2pm

we had to present our book to the class,

we were divided in groups with a tutor each and with did

a critic of our work,

and everybody could give his/her constructive

feedback!

On Friday evening we went to

Heffers Bookshop to celebrate and 

immerse ourselves in a sea of books

( but at that time we were so warn out that

our eyes could barely stay open !)

On Saturday we could attend to a public symposium

full of enthusiastic speakers,

agents like Helen Mackenzie Smith, makers like Helen Musselwhite, 

curators like Olivia Ahmad, 

and social media experts like Tom Bransby!

I was sad to leave it just before the end as I had to catch my bus 

to come home..

But I'm very proud of my story

and most of all,

of what I learned,

and I'll treasure it for sure!

Here the link to the school,

they organize  a MA 

in Childrens' illustration Book!

(full time 18 month, and part time 2,5 years duration)

Now I'm happy to be

home in my little green island!