Following a record year for successful finishers of the Year 8 Books and Beyond Challenge, 116 students were invited to attend a talk and workshops run by Sonia.

Sonia started the day by talking to all of the students, explaining lots of different things about her job. Students learnt about the meaning of the term ‘manga’ (irresponsible drawings), the different types of manga (with the Japanese terms and what they mean), how she goes about illustrating the scripts she is given, and how she got into being an artist and illustrating.

Throughout the day, students then attended workshops in smaller groups, during which Sonia gave step-by-step drawing lessons and encouraged students to think about how to script and storyboard information. The students produced some beautiful artwork and were particularly impressed with Sonia’s explanations of facial dimensions using Maths formulae.

Over the lunch break, Sonia discussed her art and her published works with students, signing books for the keen fans (not just the students!) and inspiring all she talked with.