Paul Collicutt

Type of Artist:

Talks, presentations, drawing and writing activities and workshops

I enjoy the interactivity in something like a Q & A session very much. I think I get as much from the sessions as the pupils do.

Details

It depends on the type of session.

Robot City workshops work best with Years 5 and 6 but can also extend to years 7, 8 & 9.

Graphic Novel workshops can start with years 5 and 6 taking Robot City Adventures as a starting point. A more involved Graphic Novel workshop works better with an older group who might have been selected for their particular interest in the genre. There is more flexibility within these workshops to accommodate different age groups.

I can manage up to 40 in a workshop ( 30 is ideal ) and have given talks to 150 and once to 200 pupils ( these were very well managed by teaching staff ). This worked well and then they were split into forms for workshops.

3 sessions in a day is the maximum.

Talk 45-60 minutes including some questions and answers plus 30-45 minutes for workshops.
The workshops can extend for half and full days. For a full day I would expand the workshops to include some story planning exercises and finish off with a more detailed and involved Q & A session.

Anywhere if overnight expenses are met. I am based in Brighton and Hove.

Car @ £0.45p per mile

I am also very happy to take the train but will not be able to carry as much in the way of visual resources ( original artwork banners etc ) with me.

Please email us for details

Yes to both PLI and a current enhanced DBS.

www.paulcollicutt.com
www.robotcity.co.uk

Just to say thank you for such a fantastic visit yesterday. We’ve had such good feedback from our students about the event (and from the teachers too). The Yr 7s you worked with have been begging their art teacher to get you back again! They even chose to work through their breaktime because they enjoyed the workshop so much! I’ve never known them to choose work over cake….

Librarian, Ardingly College

We were so impressed with the effort you went to to create 4 different talks and 3 different workshops- thank you so much for this. And thank you for our copy of The Murder Mile!

Laura Currie
St.Wilfrid’s School
Angmering

“The children absolutely loved Paul’s visit to school and were totally inspired by his illustration workshop.  He was really thorough in explaining to the children the steps he had taken in creating and writing his books, from coming up with ideas to editing and improving both the text and illustrations.  This was such a valuable experience and really opened the children’s eyes as to the role of the author; this supported them in becoming authors themselves to produce their own robot themed stories.  The highlight of their day was having an illustration lesson!  They were amazed by the quality of Paul’s drawing and loved seeing his pictures come to life; he then worked with all the children on their own drawings offering advice and support with some brilliant results.  It was fantastic that a local male author, who showed such passion for his work, was able to visit the school. It particularly motivated the boys with their writing.”

Beth Goodyear
Scottish Book Trust

I took Paul on a tour visiting a number of schools throughout Scotland in 2012. His events were brilliant, he had every pupil fully engaged and excited about creating their own robot characters. After each event every child without fail wanted to speak with Paul about their character, coming up with incredible stories without even realising. Paul took time with everyone making sure they felt their idea was valued and every child left with something special. His event was especially great for reluctant boy readers who hadn’t previously engaged with books, the feedback we received after the tour from the schools involved was brilliant. I would have no hesitation in recommending Paul’s event.  

David McKeown Webster
Deputy Head 
Harlands Primary School Haywards Heath

Paul has worked at our school for several years supporting our Literacy team with inspiring pupils to read and write.  

When he has visited he has followed a similar format, namely giving an introduction to his Robot City world and the fascinating robots that he has created.   Paul has also given the pupils an insight into how he brings the robots to life and how he develops his story ideas.   His presentation is  supported by original drawings and a talk through lots of the content (illustrations, explanations) contained in his  ‘Robot City: Guide to Robots’ book.  He then allows the pupils to look through this book whilst also creating their own robot characters.   Most of the workshops that we have run have been for 10-11 year old pupils (Year 6) and they have produced some excellent creative robot characters / drawings and then often followed this up with some descriptive writing.   We have also created a series of reading comprehension activities based around the text, developing pupil awareness of visual literacy skills.  In addition, we have used the ‘Guide to Robot’ books  as excellent examples of information texts and how information can be presented in a variety of ways to interest and engage readers.

The graphic novels that Paul has also written (e.g. Rust Attack) have also been used to motivate several pupils (particularly boys) to read - with several pupils really enjoying them and then wanting to write their own short robot story.

Sarah Hutchings , Queenspark Publishing, Young City Reads ,Literature Curator and Artistic Director, Collected Works CIC

When we employed Paul to work as Artists’ Mentor on QueenSpark Books’ Brighton: The
Graphic Novel, he was selected from over twenty five other applicants. All my colleagues
were in agreement that he had the qualities needed to be an excellent, compassionate and
inspirational teacher and mentor.

As a highly successful illustrator in his own right it is clear that all the students being
mentored by Paul have enormous respect for him and I have witnessed first hand the
rapport he has with students through his work with QueenSpark Books (Community
Publisher). 

He has a calm and well balanced energy, so important when dealing with students and has
incredible academic knowledge and expertise in the subject area.

Paul is an excellent communicator and teacher. I have also been impressed with his
exceptional administrative and organisational skills. He is a kind and friendly person and a
joy to have around the working environment.

I can’t recommend him highly enough.