The end of 2017’s mentoring scheme – what next?

We have reached the end of another round of mentorship!

Our mentors and mentees from the 2016/17 cohort have their work in our exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art, until 18th February 2018. After this the exhibition will be touring – we’re finalising the dates and venues so keep an eye on the website and our social media (@picturehooks) to see if we’ll be bringing it to you.

The exhibition showcases the final projects of our mentees Hazel Dunn, Anders Frang, Rachel Everitt, Hlín Davidstottir, and Kirsti Beautyman alongside original artwork by our mentors Patrick Benson, Steve Antony, Debi Gliori, Ross Collins, and Helen Stephens. We also have sketchbooks and working drawings on display so visitors can get a feel for the full creative process.

We also had fourteen emerging illustrators taking part in our Speed Dating for Illustrators event back in October, to coincide with the private launch of our exhibition. These lucky illustrators were matched with a number of eminent publishing experts, who gave their expert advice on getting work noticed and offered feedback on our participants’ portfolios. We were delighted to have publishers visiting us from all over the country, including Tiffany Leeson of Egmont, Paula Burgess from Orchard Books and Little, Brown Book Group, and Leah McDowell from Floris Books.

We wish all our illustrators the very best of luck – we’re sure that they’ll go on to many great things!

Picture Hooks enters 2018 as a fully-fledged charity, which we hope will go a long way to helping us provide further opportunity to emerging illustrators. We are working away to renew our funding and planning for the next round of the mentoring scheme. We hope to open applications in the summer – look here for more information on the scheme.

We are pleased to announce we will be running the next Picture Hooks conference in May, hosted by Middlesbrough Central Library. Plans are underway, and its shaping up to be a great event.

It’s going to be a busy few months in the Picture Hooks office, and we can’t wait to get started. In the meantime, remember to stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more updates from us and to share the love for picture book illustration.

Image: Preparing for Adventure by Anders Frang.