Emily Fellah is an engaging children's author and illustrator with extensive experience delivering popular comics and picture book workshops to schools. The sessions have the power to get pupils enthused about writing, character creation and drawing, and can be designed to tie in with curriculum topics of your choice.
Suitable for schools, SEND settings and other arts and cultural settings in London and the surrounding areas.
Choose from comics, illustration or picture book workshops with optional curriculum themes such as heroes and villains, myths and legends, Stone Age, Space, Fairy Tales or a topic of your choice. Emily can also design sessions for your World Book Day focus and for literacy and arts weeks.
Typical sessions include an insight into the way Emily works and how she develops characters (emphasising the fact that drawings don't come out 'perfect' the first time). The pupils are taught to draw a character step-by-step, based on simple shapes, and they are encouraged to add their own elements and ideas to make the character unique. They are shown some inspiring illustrated fiction and introduced to Emily's 'character maths' method of mixing ideas together to come up with new characters, then supported to create original characters. The pupils develop a story based on their character's personalities, and they are taken through the fundamentals of creating a comic or a picture book plan which can be created during the session, or afterwards with the support of guidance notes provided.
Printable resources provided in advance by email include comic templates, picture book templates, character planning sheet, comic planning sheet, project evaluation sheet, tips for teachers on supporting pupils to create characters and comics.
Please get in touch through the contact form for more information and pricing. A discounted rate is available for full day bookings, which can include an assembly and workshops with different year groups and topics.
Emily is an Arts Award Adviser and an Artsmark partner.
Emily spent three days at Bradfield workshopping with our pupils. They were taught how to come up with a short story board and then illustrate their ideas in a storyboard cartoon. The children were fully engaged and came up with some great ideas and even better comic strips. We highly recommend this workshop for children of all ages and can’t wait to invite her back again.
Poverest Primary School had the fantastic opportunity of having Emily with us for a week where she taught our children the art of creating comic strips. She guided and supported the children through the process using resources which we were given before the workshops commenced. These resources were clear and concise giving us, the teachers, plenty of material to work with so that the children were fully prepared for their workshops. Emily adapted the workshops to suit the age and ability of the class. We were impressed with how she delivered the workshops and her skills and knowledge she brought to the classroom. We would highly recommend Emily and she is returning next year to work with us again.
Elisa Irwin, Poverest Primary School, St Mary Cray, Kent.
What I really enjoyed was the level of challenge that followed the introductory task. Everyone was fully engaged and seemed to gain confidence as the session progressed. There was a very happy, industrious atmosphere in the room.
Naomi James, Teacher, Old Palace Preparatory School , Croydon.
We loved your visit and all feedback was very positive. We are planning your next visit!
Amanda Curl, Art Lead and Year 1 Lead, Aragon Primary School, Merton.
Emily was very professional throughout the booking of the workshops. She was clear and provided us with some fantastic resources to be used on the day. The children really enjoyed the session - they loved seeing how a character comes to life. My class were engaged throughout the whole session.
It was great to hear from both the children and the other teachers about how much they enjoyed the sessions and how impressed they were with what the children drew. The children came back to classes so enthused about the opportunity to turn their characters into a comic strip, and they have continued to be excited and engaged with it across the school this week. Thanks again for such a wonderful experience for the children.
Iain McGowan, Writing Lead, Pickhurst Infant Academy, West Wickham
Thank you so much for coming to Goldsworth and sharing your workshop. The children were so excited about dedicating time to comics, and they got an awful lot from the sessions – their comics were lovely and they were enthusiastic to continue with them in following lessons. They were keen to continue with this learning and could apply it to other lessons after. The children have said how inspired they felt and how much fun they had being creative. It was really wonderful to explore comics and illustration within Book Week, which normally sees us celebrate chapter-book authors in KS2, so I would be keen to do something similar in the future.
Laura Pether, Year 6 Teacher, Goldsworth Primary School, Woking
Emily’s visit was perfect for our pupils, they had a chance to learn about the life of an illustrator/author, as well as learning some top tips for drawing themselves. I have been asked by many when she is coming back as they really enjoyed the visit!
This was an absolutely fantastic session! The children were very engaged and I’ve never seen them so quiet. They all loved the content and the step-by-step approach worked well. Your modelling was brilliant and all of the children were able to create your character, as well as their own. Everyone loved the session, even children who think they can’t draw. I really like how you reinforced that you think that everyone can draw. Thank you so much.
Abbie Purcell, Teacher, Heathfield House School, Chiswick.
Emily delivered two picture book workshops to our KS1 children. She kept the children fully engaged throughout and every one of them was able to create a character for a picture book. AT KS2, she taught comic strip workshops and, once again, our children participated enthusiastically and produced some great work. Afterwards, our children were keen to spend more time on their creations and were pleased with their achievements. Thank you, Emily!
