Aidan Cassie studied animation and earned a media arts degree at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Edinburgh College of Art. While spending a year in Provence she finished her debut picture book, Sterling, Best Dog Ever. Now that she's not gallivanting through medieval villages and eating buttery croissants, she's working on more books. Little Juniper Makes It Big (2019), is about a feisty raccoon who's feels too small for everything. Aidan's most recent book, The Word for Friend, (2020, Kirkus Starred Review) follows brave Kemala, who has the daunting task of learning a whole new language when she moves to a new country.
Aidan lives on a small island in the Salish Sea with her wee family, and giant dog.
A standard presentation (about 50 min), is interactive, and includes a bit of everything:
- Making and Editing Picture Books
- Ideas for Coming up with Ideas
- Creating Characters, with demonstration
- Her own struggle as a young reader/speller, and her path to storytelling
- Q&A
Presentation and Workshop 1: Making Picture-books (60 min)
For: Grades K to 4
In this interactive presentation, Aidan Cassie leads children through the picture-book creation process. After reading a selected picture book, she discusses how a book is made with a visual slide-show; from sketches, to dummy books, to final artwork. Aidan will help kids discover many tools for coming up with story ideas, what parts come together to make a strong story, and how the illustrations can do a lot of the storytelling when the words can’t.
Presentation and Workshop 2: Creating Characters (60 min)
For: Grades 3 to 5
In this interactive presentation filled with visual examples, Aidan Cassie will lead participants through character driven story-writing, and character design. After reading one of her picture books that started with a single character, Kemala, in The Word for Friend, kids will get a chance to work alongside the artist by playing with unusual shapes and examine the impact of changing features and proportion. As drawn characters emerge, kids will explore expressions and eventually begin to build a story around their characters and think about the ideas and narratives their images inspire.
A standard presentation (about 50 min), is interactive, and includes a bit of everything:
- Making and Editing Picture Books
- Ideas for Coming up with Ideas
- Creating Characters, with demonstration
- Her own struggle as a young reader/speller, and her path to storytelling
- Q&A
Presentation and Workshop 1: Making Picture-books (60 min)
For: Grades K to 4
In this interactive presentation, Aidan Cassie leads children through the picture-book creation process. After reading a selected picture book, she discusses how a book is made with a visual slide-show; from sketches, to dummy books, to final artwork. Aidan will help kids discover many tools for coming up with story ideas, what parts come together to make a strong story, and how the illustrations can do a lot of the storytelling when the words can’t.
Presentation and Workshop 2: Creating Characters (60 min)
For: Grades 3 to 5
In this interactive presentation filled with visual examples, Aidan Cassie will lead participants through character driven story-writing, and character design. After reading one of her picture books that started with a single character, Kemala, in The Word for Friend, kids will get a chance to work alongside the artist by playing with unusual shapes and examine the impact of changing features and proportion. As drawn characters emerge, kids will explore expressions and eventually begin to build a story around their characters and think about the ideas and narratives their images inspire.
