A report on the workshops conducted in New Delhi and Ahmedabad
JUMPSTART - Illustrating Children's Books Workshop
Furthering its focus in the field of Children’s Book Publishing in India, the German Book Office New Delhi organized the second workshop in the Jumpstart series for illustrators of children’s books in New Delhi and Ahmedabad. The master class and workshop was conducted by leading illustrators, designers and an art director brought together from different countries in collaboration with our partners, ProHelvetia- The Swiss Arts Council and the Norwegian Embassy.
The Masterclass for illustrators in New Delhi was organized in partnership with Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) and took place within the ambit of The Delhi Book Fair in the Pragati Maidan premises. 20 participants were selected from applications received with work samples both published and unpublished. The day long session included presentations of works by the resource persons and discussions on Illustrating for different age groups, Matters of style: computer graphics or working by hand – possibilities and constraints, Telling a story in visuals: working with text, Presenting your work to a publisher, Networks/book fairs/professional forums, What to expect when you are commissioned for a book illustration project. The role of the designer/art director, What kinds of illustrations ‘travel’ well – and which ones are more culturally specific? etc.
A match making session with children’s books publishers was organized, which saw the participation of 10 children’s books publishers who came to meet and look at the portfolios of the illustrators individually. Some of the publishers were Scholastic, Karadi Tales, Eklavya, Wisdom Tree, BPI, Campfire, Young Zubaan, Puffin & Ladybird- Penguin.
In Ahmedabad the 2 day workshop was conducted in collaboration with National Institute of Design (NID). It was formatted differently; targeting students from both animation and graphic design departments, the objective was to expose them to the possibility of working with children’s books and what it involved. Exciting new works which resulted from the workshop will be showcased soon.
The workshop was conducted by Ajanta Guhathakurta, an illustrator who also heads the Puffin and Ladybird design team in Penguin Books India. Iben Sandemose, an award-winning Norwegian artist and a master of imagery. Pierre Thomé an illustrator and has been head of the illustration department at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts - Art & Design (HSLU- D&K) since 2002, the only course of its kind in Switzerland, where he focuses on authorial illustration. And in Ahmedabad we had Jonathan Tooru Shiguehara Yamakami a graphic designer from Brazil and currently with Tara Books, Chennai join us.
In the words of an illustrator who attended ‘It was really unusual to have an event organised for illustrators- and we all appreciated it a lot!’. And another while thanking us said that this was the first workshop she had attended with a special focus on children’s books. The matchmaking exercise was appreciated both by illustrators and publishers and quite a few of them will see new work flowing as a result of this meeting.
Our next workshop will be ‘JUMPSTART – Bringing Books and Children Together - the role of librarians and teachers’ will be held in November 2009. This workshop will aim at addressing specific concerns faced by librarians and teachers. Libraries are at the heart of the campaign to get children reading, and to keep them reading. The workshop will focus on, among other things:
• making the library into a child-friendly space
• presenting and promoting books to children
• using books in the classroom
• exploring the world through books
• accessing & disseminating information
• role of libraries in a world of electronic media
among others…
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