Character Creation Workshop with Tracy Subisak: A Fun and Creative Experience

We had a great time at our school with a visiting author and illustrator named Tracy Subisak. Tracy is Taiwanese-American and studied industrial design in school. She is the author of several children’s picture books. She recently visited our school to talk about her career, process, books and show some techniques for character creation. She read aloud to us the delightful book Sorry, Snail (Amazon Affiliate link used at no extra cost to you). I was immediately drawn to the book because of the neon orange colors. The colors in this picture don’t show how beautiful the colors are in real life. This book is hilarious and charming and it explores what it means to give a real apology. Tracy did a fabulous job reading the book to the kids in lively and animated voices.

After the presentation, the kids had the chance to watch Tracy draw characters that they developed together by calling out suggestions for characters, and things that the character liked and disliked.

Next, the children tried their hand at creating and drawing their own characters. They completed pages that had them brainstorm ideas about their character’s likes and dislikes, family, location and facial expressions. Such fun!

I of course had to get a signed copy of the book for my autograph collection!

Have you ever had an author or illustrator visit your school? Who was it? Share in the comments!