Illustrator Talks

A little about Serena Geddes...
Spending most of her childhood watching Saturday
morning cartoons and flicking through
her brothers comic collection, Serena
was destined to spend her adult days
hunched over a light box, scribbling
illustrations for picture books and
working for a mouse in trousers.
She spent six years working for Walt
Disney Studios in Sydney before diving
head first into the world of publishing in
2009. She’s the illustrator of the highly
successful ‘Lulu Bell ‘ series with Random House Australia
and is currently working on a new US series called ‘Misty
Inn’ published by Simon & Schuster. She has illustrated
over 30 books ranging from board books to picture books
through to junior readers.
website: www.serenageddes.com.au
email: serena.geddes@gmail.com
mobile: 0435 072 665
Talks and Workshops
1. Walt Disney Animation Talk
4. It All Starts With A Shape
Session description:
Spending six years working for Walt Disney Studios
in Sydney, Serena has worked on several well-known
sequels such as the Lion King, The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, Another Goofy Movie, Peter
Pan Return to Neverland, and a variety of Saturday
morning cartoons from 101 Dalmatians to Tarzan and
Hercules. Serena will talk you through the process and
production stages of an animated film referencing
work from the Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, with copies
of her artwork and scenes she worked on during this
time.
Session description:
Learn how to play with expression by using
three features of the face. Understand how body
language can emphasis a characters personality
and emotion, while using shapes to create animals
and characters. The session starts with Serena
talking through the process of illustrating a book,
drawing expression from worksheets, and ends
with the students working together to develop a
character for Serena to illustrate. This is a hand’s
on workshop and encourages students to use their
creativity and imagination.
2. Creating Monsters, Painting Cells
5. Illustrating for Picture Books
Session description:
Before the days of digital animation, studios had
the tedious task of hand painting
thousands of cells for every animated production.
Serena’s workshop will touch on the history of
traditional animation and cell painting before
working with the students to develop and design
a monster to paint.
Session description:
Serena will talk the students through the process
of creating a children’s picture book, where her
ideas come from, how she creates and develops her
characters how to break down a manuscript into
images. She will show examples of the creative stages
from storyboarding roughs through to colour selections
and finished art with reference to Samuel’s Kisses and
the highly successful Lulu Bell series.
Serena will demonstrate creating a character based on
the classrooms description for the class to keep
3.The Story Behind Lulu Bell
Session description:
The process of creating Lulu Bell, the highly
successful new series by Belinda Murrell, were
based on true events, a vet hospital in Sydney,
a home in Manly and even Lulu herself was
created with someone in mind. Join Serena
as she walks you through the process and
development of Lulu, the Bell family and all
her friends.
Hi Serena,
I just spoke to my Year 3 girls about your visit and
asked them for some feedback:
What they loved:
-you are very pretty
-you are very good at explaining things
-they loved watching you draw
-they loved your drawing tips and tricks, eg using
lines and shapes
-they loved having an opportunity to draw with you
and have your guidance
they thought the session was FAB x 10 to the power
of 10
What I loved:
-you were very generous in researching and preparing for the theme of the session and this was
reflected in your being able to ask stimulating recall
questions for the brainstorm
-you were very flexible in being able to respond to
questions and adjust your presentation for different
year groups
-the demonstration and explanation of how to draw
a person relating to the theme -your drawing demonstration was truly magical for everyone to see
-you were very kind and patient when helping the
girls with their own drawing.
- Julia Petricevic, Genazzano FCJ College
During our Book Week celebrations this year we
were delighted to have Serena Geddes spend time
with our students from Kindergarten to Year 6. With
the younger students (Kindy – Yr 2) she spoke with
enthusiasm about the way her illustrations make it
into books and entertained the students with her
drawings making sure there was collaboration from
the students as to what she drew. One of our students was chosen to help her as she read Samuel’s
Kisses and he will certainly remember this for years
to come.
Our older students (Yr3-6) were given a great insight
into her work with Disney and they were absolutely
fascinated as this is very topical for the students in
this age group.
Serena was very generous with her time and her
knowledge and was happy to answer all the questions which the students had for her and there were
many, many questions. The students would have
happily stayed watching her draw for hours and were
rather disappointed when the hour with her was finished. The students went back to class sharing with
their teacher that “…..this was the best time ever….”.
We at Arden were thrilled with the drawing she did
for us; it is currently awaiting framing and then it will
be hung proudly in our library.
- M.deRijk, Arden Anglican School
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Serena. She read one of
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Serena has a lovely bubb
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thoroughly entertaining
nwick Primary School
- Elinor Knappert, Elster