Calvin Innes

Today started with an assembly to introduce the author/illustrator Calvin Innes to the school. The children sat in quiet awe as they entered the room to see Calvin drawing the most amazing cartoon monster. He spoke to the children about how he bacame interested in writing and illustrating. He told them that he had his first book published when he was 16 and that it was a story he had written when he was 12. He went on to talk about his work illustrating for London Zoo, the Smurf movie, Doctor Who and for the Brownies and Guides (he designed their badges!)

Later on in the morning Calvin came to work with thee Hippos and talked them through, step by step how to draw a cartoon monster, Thw eork they produced was fantastic; some of the best art work I have seen from the class in the 18 months that we have been to gether. Calvin also told the children that it is important to use only a maximum of 5 bright, contrasting colours when colouring in their characters. He said that most cartoon characters only have 4 colours. At the end of the time the class had with Calvin he had produced a fantastic cartoon of a monster which he personalised for the class and signed.

After dinner the children created another monster using the techniques learnt from Calvin and coloured them in. These characters will form the basis of our Literacy lessons next week as we have decided to have a go at writing our own short storiesin the style of Calvin.