Top illustrator paints fascinating picture of her work during Buckie High visit
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BUCKIE Community High School (BCHS) welcomed one of Scotland's top illustrators to the town recently.
The school library laid out the welcome mat for Kate Leiper, whose extensive portfolio includes the two treasuries ‘Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales’ and ‘Scottish Mythical Creatures’ as well as a re-imagining for young readers of an old Scots poem ‘The Book of the Howlat’.
Ms Leiper's visit, supported by the Scottish Book Trust, saw her chat to representatives from S3 art classes about her work and inspiration, before moving on to help them with ideas for their forthcoming project World in a Jar. This creative challenge asks students to take a book they have read and using a jar template on paper illustrate the world, landscape or cityscape from the novel.
The representatives from each class at the session have been tasked with reporting back what they had learned from Ms Leiper to their peers.
Some senior students also joined in the session.
While it was Ms Leiper's first visit to BCHS she is no stranger to the town itself, originally hailing from Lossiemouth although now living in Edinburgh.
The afternoon she spent at BCHS was a very pleasant introduction to the school.
Ms Leiper said: "The students were very receptive to ideas.
"It's sometimes hard for teens to speak and ask questions but they were all really good.
"During the session I began by speaking about the process of illustration and what it's like to work with a publisher.
"We then looked at the World in a Jar project they're going to do and I gave them some ideas of what they might do. One of the biggest challenges will be trying to create the right atmosphere of the book so someone who's never read it gets a good idea of what it's about.
"It will be interesting to see what they do with this project."
Ms Leiper went on to say much of her inspiration for becoming an illustrator came from her time as a printmaking student at Gray's School of Art where she had a keen interest in Renaissance paintings and depicting stories in pictorial form.
However, becoming a professional illustrator came about by accident, she explained.
"I kind of fell into it by accident.
"I was doing some work for the Scottish Story Centre when one of my colleagues left to go and work for a publisher. They put my name forward and the publisher got in touch to see if I'd be interested in doing some work for them and it all went on from there.
"I was really lucky, it can be really hard sometimes to put yourself out there, going round publishers trying to get a foothold."
Undertaking an illustration commission for a book is a lengthy process with a lot of research work often involved.
Ms Leiper continued: "It depends on the type of book, first of all, for example, is it for younger or older children?
"One of the things I look for is what the writer hasn't talked about in the text and how I can fill in the gaps to give a fuller story. Creating an atmosphere is very important, evocative images help pull you in.
"It takes about a year to illustrate treasuries and around eight months for picture books.
"Research is really important, it's part of what I use to get there even if it doesn't feed in directly."
Welcoming Ms Leiper to BCHS was school librarian Stephen Leitch.
He said: "It was a really enjoyable afternoon and the students really engaged with Kate and the topic.
"She was very happy to get involved and share ideas.
"Kate is the first illustration we've had as a guest here at BCHS and the first visit we've had to the school library since the Covid restrictions were fully lifted last year.
"We're all very grateful to her for coming and also to the Scottish Book Trust for supporting her visit."
During her time in Moray she also visited Keith Grammar School and Forres Academy.
