This afternoon we had the pleasure of working with the students of Mr. Cunneen’s class at Blessed Sacrament. We learned about the author and illustrator, Cressida Cowell who created, the How to Train Your Dragon book series.
Students used sharpies to draw their dragon eyes and scales. To create the colourful eye they used both chalk pastels and oil pastels and used blending techniques. Next up was a wash of yellow watercolour followed quickly by a wash of blue and a sprinkle of salt. We finished the details with black acrylic paint. The class did a tremendous job!
About the author:
Cressida Cowell was born on April 15, 1966 and is an English children’s author and illustrator.
Cowell grew up in London and on a “small uninhabited island off the West Coast of Scotland.” It was on this island that she first began to develop her writing and drawing talents. According to Cowell, “Each year we spent four weeks of the summer and two weeks of the spring on the island. By the time I was eight, my family had built a small stone house on the island and we could fish for enough food to feed the family for the whole summer. The house was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so I spent a lot of time drawing and writing stories.”
Cowell is most known for the novel series How to Train Your Dragon. It has become an award-winning film adapted for the screen by DreamWorks Animation. Cressida illustrates the Hiccup books herself. Cowell attended Keble College, Oxford where she studied English, and she also learned illustration at Saint Martin’s School of Art as well as, Brighton University.
Cressida Cowell presently resides in London.