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Foreword by Dylan Calder
Foreword by Dylan Calder
“The Pathways Into Children’s Publishing programme is a dynamic new model for art education.”
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SALVATORE RUBBINO, Illustrator
The pilot Pathways Into Children’s Publishing programme, coproduced by Pop Up Projects and House of Illustration, was a crosssector, deeply collaborative venture to tackle the barriers that many artists from backgrounds that are under-represented in children’s publishing, especially artists of colour, face in accessing academic and industry routes into children’s illustration and publishing. In 2019 we recruited 26 mentees from across England and Scotland – aspiring and emerging illustrators, both with and without formal training in illustration, who had ambitions in the field. Over two years and 189 days of tutoring and mentoring from some of the greatest children’s illustrators, publishing editors and art directors, and university lecturers, these artists undertook an incredible journey to discover their potential. Working to briefs set and critiqued by publishers throughout, mentees learned about the craft of visual storytelling, but also about the entire business of publishing to prepare them for possible careers in the industry. The work on display in this very first group portfolio provides a small snapshot of some of the stories they told through illustration, and reveals a real breadth of talent – some at the very beginning of their creative story, all very much in the process of becoming professional practitioners, and some who truly are on the cusp of great success. We dedicate this portfolio, with enormous gratitude, to those at Arts Council England and the twelve publishers and nine universities who invested in and shaped this wonderful project with us – but most of all, to all the brave artists who trusted us to take them on this journey, and who have so many stories yet to tell.
“I feel very positive about the future of illustration!”
