Creating appealing, engaging and authentic characters is essential to making successful picture books. In this one-day masterclass with the award-winning Dapo Adeola (Look Up!) and acclaimed illustrator Chanté Timothy, you’ll explore character case studies, and use practical exercises and group sharing to transform your sketched character concept into a believable character through movement, gesture and interaction, using story to bring them to life.

All you’ll need to bring with you is a sketched character concept (detailed guidance will be provided by the artists when you sign up). During the masterclass, participants will be developing their draft character concepts, working on character design and visual development to produce a finished character. As part of this masterclass, you’ll also receive valuable and critical feedback on your character design.

This masterclass will be delivered in-person. If you are unable to join the session in-person, we are happy to accommodate online attendance for limited numbers. Please email pathways@pop-up.org.uk if you wish to join online once you have purchased your ticket.

After the workshop, every participant will receive a comprehensive resource pack on character design compiled by Dapo Adeola & Chanté Timothy.

Acclaim for this Masterclass:
‘Dapo and Chanté made the effort to attend to everyone and answer our specific queries…They are incredibly friendly and great tutors’
‘I look forward to learning more from these guys another time! Please run these courses more regularly!’
‘A great experience’

With:
Dapo Adeola is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and character designer who creates characters and images that challenge expectations around race and gender in a fun and upbeat way. He is the co-creator and illustrator of the bestselling picture book Look Up!, winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Number 1 debut picture book of 2019. Dapo also runs illustration and character design workshops in and out of schools, to help highlight the importance of representation in popular media and the possibilities of a career in illustration to children from diverse ethnicities.

Chanté Timothy is a children’s book illustrator whose work explores movement, expression, and storytelling through her characters. A Pathways alumni who is published in four amazing titles, Hey You! by Dapo Adeola, My Big Mouth by Steven Camden, Happy Here introduced by Sharna Jackson alongside 10 Black British authors and 10 illustrators, and A Black Woman Did That by Malaika Adero. Chanté’s work consists of vibrant imagery focused on different themes of diversity.