Author and illustrator Andrew Plant toured the Riverina ahead of Book Week. Photo: Riverina Regional Library.
In celebration of Book Week, a renowned Australian illustrator has toured the Riverina, inspiring students through engaging workshops to harness their creativity.
Melbourne-based author Andrew Plant recently visited Temora, Gundagai, Coolamon, and Junee to share his creative knowledge with the school students.
Andrew told Region his tour of the Riverina was “enormous fun”.
“Because I’m from Melbourne, I forget there’s quite a difference between city kids and country kids when it comes to creating stories,” Andrew said.
“Regional kids don’t even realise where they live is an amazing place. They do, see, and experience things that kids in Melbourne would consider amazing and just like their everyday life.
“They don’t need to have zombie armies, apocalypse, dinosaurs and explosions … just tweaking their everyday lives and looking for the absurd and little exaggeration can create amazing stories.”
The illustrator said Book Week was vital for engaging children who weren’t naturally drawn to books.
“There’s always a book out there, and they just haven’t found it yet. For some kids, it takes a long time because their interests are so different,” Andrew said.
“Particularly the families who aren’t into books, so the kids haven’t been brought up with them … there are adults who don’t believe in the importance of books. It’s very hard to get the kids engaged because it’s more homework as far as they’re concerned.
“Maybe these visits show it’s not just homework, it’s fun.”
Andrew Plant was a scientist before he became an author. Photo: Riverina Regional Library.
Andrew loves touring regional Australia because he gets to see fabulous parts of the country and is paid to do so.
He thanked Riverina Regional Library for organising his tour in the region.
Andrew is also a theatre designer, science educator, and mural artist. He has contributed artwork to more than 100 books and magazines and created picture books such as Stardivining (2022), Jump (2020), The Perfect Leaf (2018), and The Poppy, which was a CBCA Notable Book in 2014.
With a degree in zoology, Andrew has a particular gift for drawing creatures, with a focus on accurate biology.
He loves all things prehistoric and has illustrated detailed books about ancient animals, dinosaurs, and megafauna for CSIRO Publishing, Penguin, and Cambridge University Press.
“I’m a scientist, but I wasn’t very good, and the best parts of my thesis were the drawings,” Andrew said.
“I should have always known. I did art at school and couldn’t help but come back to it.”
Andrew was in Year 11 when his first illustration was published for a book by his local council.
Andrew said he became an “accidental author” after illustrating poorly written books.
“I thought I could do better than that, and I gave it a go,” he said. “Of course, it is much harder than you expected.
“I was sort of an accidental author/illustrator or as we call ourselves ‘author-strators’.
“We’re a breed. We’re different from others. We think in both words and pictures at the same time.”
When asked what drawing meant to him, Andrew said it was “an innate thing” and that he just needed to draw.
“If I had a pencil, piece of paper or the back of a box, I would draw from when I was in Kindergarten,” he said.
“I was producing stuff non-stop in kinder. It’s something that’s there. Any artists out there will know exactly what I mean. You can’t help yourself.”
Andrew had a special request for parents: keep some of your children’s drawings and date them.
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