Available for virtual visits in: Montreal (+ regions within around 1.5 hours drive from Montreal)
Craft: Illustrator
Genre: Picture Books, Beginning Readers, Early Chapter Books, Middle-Grade Fiction, Non-Fiction, Graphic Novels
Target Audience: Kindergarten – Grade 6
Cost for School and Public Presentation with CCBC subsidy: $200.00, plus applicable taxes
Workshop Information:
Workshop 1 (Grades 3-6)
I’m an illustrator too!
How does the artist “interpret” the text to make the illustrations?
Presenting the process of creating the images for the picture book The Prisoner and the Writer. Retracing the Dreyfus Affair in which a Jewish army man is framed and thrown in prison, this story is about racism and the courage to tell the truth. The goal of the workshop is to show how the illustrator can use metaphors and other elements to create added meaning to the story. The artist will demonstrate how to make a monotype and the students will make their own.
Materials: fine-quality oil pastels (costs about $40 for a group of 24 students), white paper
Workshop 1 (Grades 2-6) I’m an illustrator too!
What strategies are used to build a visual narrative in a picturebook?
Presenting the process of creating the images for the picture book The Artist and Me. This story is told by a man reminiscing of how, as a boy, he participated, much to his regret, in the bullying of Van Gogh (fiction). The goal of the workshop is to explain how the illustrator creates visuals inspired by the text and how a second enriched narrative emerges. The students will draw their interpretation of a double page of the story.
Materials: white paper
Workshop 2 (Kindergarten – Grade 2) Sing out!
What’s a folk song?
Presenting the process of creating the images for Pop Goes the Weasel, a popular folk song. The goal of the workshop is that the students understand the historic value of folk songs and how I went about the creation of the images. The students will sing, draw / color and cut out a weasel that “pops”. (photocopies of my pre-drawn weasel can also be used)
Materials: white paper, pencils/markers, scissors
Book List
2022 Middle grade graphic novel picture book, The Prisoner and the Writer, author Heather Camlot, Groundwood books (Toronto, Ontario)
2022 Information book, Same Here, author Susan Hughes, Owlkids (Toronto, Ontario)
2021 Musical picture book, Sing Out! The Secret Mountain (Montreal, Québec)
2019 Middle grade graphic novel picture book, Helen’s Birds, author Sara Cassidy, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario)
2016 Picture book, The Artist and Me, author Shane Peacock, Owlkids Books (Toronto, Ontario)
Biography
Sophie Casson has illustrated more than 25 children’s books published in English and French. A finalist for the Governor General’s Award, she is also the illustrator of the Kirkus starred book and finalist to the Marylin Baillie Picture Book award, The Artist and Me written by Shane Peacock (Owlkids). Helen’s Birds, written by Sara Cassidy (Groundwood), was amongst others, a Best Bets 2020 by OLA and is in IBBY Canada’s Silent Collection 2021. Fond of sensitive subjects, her most recent book, The Prisoner and the Writer, written by Heather Camlot, (Groundwood) highlights racism and the power of the press. She shares the love for her art and books by being a long-time educator, giving workshops in schools in English and French.
