[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-south-ken-kids-festival-drawing-europe-together":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"On Thursday, a bunch of illustrators and I had the honour of opening the \u003Ca href=\"http://southkenkidsfestival.co.uk/\">South Ken Kids Festival\u003C/a> at the Institut Français in central London. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/586938_original-73443bfa17.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo tweeted by Jonathan Rogers @jejr100\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nSo much of what the French Institute is about is cross-cultural exchange and education, so they thought our \u003Ca href=\"https://www.panmacmillan.com/books/drawing-europe-together/9781529010879\">\u003Ci>Drawing Europe Togethe\u003C/i>\u003C/a>r book would be a perfect start. Here are three of the 45 artists represented in the book: \u003Ca href=\"https://www.bridgetmarzo.com/\">Bridget Marzo\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.martaltes.com/\">Marta Altes\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.torfreeman.com/\">Tor Freeman\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/587309_original-3498c24ff5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd drawing together was what we all did! To be honest, it's not easy getting that many illustrators and pens and hands under a visualiser all at once, and not easy to get very professional looking drawings! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/588493_original-39a29a95b5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by \u003Ca href=\"http://heatherkilgour.com/\">Heather Kilgour\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nBut it was fun chaos, more like a game than a high-pressure drawing demonstration. Here you can spot illustrators \u003Cb>Axel Scheffler\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Tor Freeman\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Bridget Marzo\u003C/b>, Okido magazine's \u003Ca href=\"https://alexbarrow.co.uk/\">Alex Barrow\u003C/a>, junior illustrator \u003Cb>Wilfred\u003C/b>, me, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pennydale.co.uk/index.html\">Penny Dale\u003C/a> and\u003Cb> Marta Altes\u003C/b>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/588099_original-e998aad3da.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo tweeted by the Institut Français @ifru_london\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more photos under the cut!-->\\r\nIf you're wondering about the junior illustrator, he was sitting in the second row and making wonderful pictures, and we got him up on stage to work with us. Here's another drawing I did with him, where I drew the bottom half and he drew the top half. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/587093_original-0d796a5e68.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI love it when drawing is a grownup thing but kids get to be part of it and draw alongside us. So many adults see drawing as something people stop doing when they get to a certain age, and that sentiment rubs off on children; if adults see drawing as childish, children will see it as childish, too, and it loses its attraction. Much better that they see adults drawing and, if they're lucky, something they get to take part in. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/587875_original-afb654e3b2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo tweeted by Tom Price @pricetom\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nThere were a few other projects that \u003Cb>Lucie Campos\u003C/b> and translator \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahArdizzone\">Sarah Ardizzone\u003C/a> bigged up on the night. Here's a wonderful project with young Baltic illustrators, where they were teamed up with professional illustrators and their work printed up into an accordian-fold booklet. This beautiful one's by Estonian artist \u003Ca href=\"http://annaeespere.daportfolio.com/\">Anna Eespere\u003C/a>, being mentored by Greenaway-medal-winning illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://williamgrill.co.uk/\">William Grill.\u003C/a> \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/588564_original-4627279723.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/589046_original-c9e6a3bfa3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Dylan Calder\u003C/b> from organiser \u003Ca href=\"https://pop-up.org.uk/\">Pop-Up Festival\u003C/a> came up on stage to talk a bit about it and you can find out \u003Ca href=\"https://pop-up.org.uk/uncategorized/pop-up-creators-artwork-from-an-international-illustration-exchange-across-estonia-latvia-lithuania-uk/\">more on their website\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/589304_original-774a08d02a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a group of BA graphic designers from Central Saint Martins art college who also did live drawing on stage. It was great practice, many of them hadn't even done live stage drawing before, and it takes some getting used to! Big thanks to Lucie Campos, Zélie Malaret, Camille Ondet, Sarah Ardizzone, Alyx Price from Macmillan and everyone from the French Institute and beyond who made the evening possible! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/587699_original-75499d25f0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">","2018-11-25T16:00:00.000Z","south-ken-kids-festival-drawing-europe-together",[],"south ken kids festival: drawing europe together",1776628729892]