YLG Conference

I had such an inspiring weekend at the Youth Libraries Group conference! 

YLG invited me to give seminars on Saturday, teaching librarians easy drawing techniques, to help them tell stories with children, through pictures. As it was held all the way down in the depths of South London, I decided to stay for the whole conference, and I'm so glad I did.

There were fascinating talks by some BIG names (Micheal Morpurgo, Roddy Doyle, Anne Fine, Roger McGough, Malorie Blackman...) and I met loads of really lovely people from the children's library service, who had come from all over the UK.

I got to see one of my fave illustrators again too: the lovely Mini Grey. I can't get enough of her work and the sketch work she showed us behind books like Three by the Sea was absolutely fascinating. 

We were amply plied with food and drink throughout the weekend, including impressive quantities of cake in all shapes and sizes. Yum!

I documented the whole conference in my sketchbook (after the fun at the Urban Sketchers symposium, I even sneaked out my paints in the auditorium!):

I desperately need to crack on with my Baby Can Bounce artwork now, but I will post more of the conference sketches next week, when I have had time to scan them.

Thanks so much to everyone at YLG for inviting me, looking after me so well, and being so friendly. Thanks too to my publishers Egmont and Gullane for footing the bill for me to stay the whole weekend. Much appreciated.

Right, eyes down...