Visiting Illustrator- Korky Paul

My son, Caleb, decided he wanted to be an artist last summer when we were at the SCBWI LA conference. He was facinated with the illustrations at the conference exhibit and ever since then, he's had a passion to draw.

So.... when Korky Paul came to speak at our school, we HAD to go see him. Korky Paul is an illustrator for numerous popular books in the UK. Our art teacher, Sally, hooked us up with some one on one time with Korky including autographs, drawings, and tidbits on how to draw.


Caleb didn't talk much (due to awe struckness) but he was soaking up every minute and carefully watching how Korky drew.



Here are some tricks and ideas that Korky, who is an instructor for Oxford University in England, passed on to us.

1. Draw everyday
2. Add blue to your blacks to bring out the light in the picture.
3. When you draw, think about the how and that will bring the magic into your drawings.
4. Imagination is everything
5. Watercolors bring life to your drawings. He liked to draw with a black pen and fill in with watercolor. The watercolors are easy to use, adds shadow, versatile, reproduce well, and captures life and movement in your painting.


6. If your left handed (as is Caleb), start on the right of the paper and move across.


7. If your right handed do the opposite.

Though we were sad to say, we came away with some real treasures.