Thanks Mt Claremont Primary

By Michelle Hammond of the North West Telegraph
WA BOOK illustrator Tracey Gibbs shared her passion with local children and parents at South Hedland Library last Friday. Gibbs’ illustrations have appeared in publications for the WA State Library and Fremantle Press, including Let’s Go Baby and Spider Lies. She recently collaborated with Tom Baddeley on a book of ballads for children titled Aussie Legends. Her visit was part of the Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, which finishes on February 8. The challenge is part of an annual program delivered through a partnership between the Department of Education, the State Library of Students from kindergarten to Year 3 were asked to read for 10 hours during the holidays -less than 10 minutes a day – and students in Years 4 to 7 as well as parents were challenged to read for 15 hours.

How much do you charge?

There is an industry standard for this which is the rate I go by. You can find the link here, but essentially this is the information you need. 1.5 hours is total talking time, breaks between sessions will be negotiated, ie 15 minutes is fine, but a 3 hour break will need to be accounted for. Travel time and expenses for rural destinations will also need to be negotiated. Locations within 50km of Perth CBD do not incur a travel fee.

Schools (primary and secondary)
A group should comprise of no more than 60 students per session. A single session can be 60 mins but where there are multiple sessions each should be no longer than 45 mins.
Whole school day (max. 3 hours) $500
Half school day  (max. 1.5 hours) $350
Per school session (max. 1 hour) $250
Weekly school rate (max. 5 days – average 3 hours per day) $2200 - NB: this discounted rate applies only if the booking is for one school, for a one-week block.

What age group do you talk to?

I am happy to talk to any age group with enough preparation time, although my current presentation is best suited to year 5s to 7s.

What do you discuss?

My current presentation runs for about 25 minutes, I encourage children to ask questions as they think of them and prefer to run the session as more as a discussion. I hand out books for the kids to look at and touch whilst I am talking and find that they actually stay more engaged with some relevant distractions. The session ends up running for around 45 minutes to an hour, this includes and introduction of myself, questions about the role of an illustrator vs an artist. I run through my latest publication Aussie Legends which features 6 famous Aussies. I show the students how a book is created, from initial reading of the text, quick thumbnails, a storyboard, revisions, colour, more revisions, typesetting and final product. I do the same process on another two books that took a long time to complete, one with over 100 versions (not all shown one by one ) and another with some terrible drawings at the beginning. This shows that even professional illustrators hit some speedbumps in the road and persistance is the key. For younger students I often read a poem from Aussie Legends if time permits.

Do you run workshops?

Yes, I am happy to run workshops, these would need to be tailored to class sizes and age groups though. We would need to discuss a budget for materials and arrange a suitable space for it to take place.

How can we contact you?

This link has my email address and phone number.

I hope that answers most of your questions, I hope to see you all soon!

To find out how to book a presentation for your school- click here.