Popular illustrator Craig Smith visited Dimboola and Nhill last week to showcase his drawing talents through workshops with primary school students.

Known for illustrating The Cabbage Patch Fib, Billy the Punk, What Will Baby Do, and the Toocool series, to name a few, Craig showed how to draw ideas from text and bring them to life on the page.

"I do a rough drawing first, get ideas down, find the body language, work out all the things I want to guide the way the reader sees the story," Craig said.

"Find the contrast between two characters, for example, start with simple shapes, add movement, detail, expression in the eyebrows, add similarities if the characters are related," Craig said, "consider viewpoint, background, perspective - act it out in front of a mirror."

Craig drew a picture inspired by a passage of text, leading the 20 grade three, four, five and six students from Dimboola Primary School.

"We draw a picture based on the middle of the text - Editors dont like it when you give the ending away on the page."

A freelance illustrator since 1976, Craigs name has appeared on book covers alongside those of authors such as Paul Jennings, Libby Gleeson, Emily Rodda, Nette Hilton, and Andrew Daddo. He has illustrated over 370 books.

Craig led an entertaining and interesting session; visit his website at www.craigsmithillustration.com to view a complete list of his work.