The Society of Children's Books & Illustration lovers Volume 4 Nov 2013 | Page 9

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The Society of Children’s Books & Illustration Lovers – Newsletter #4 – November 2013

A few weeks later I tried again. This time one entrance to the enclosure
was closed, but another was open. I spotted a sleeping lion way in the
distance. I tried to draw it but it was too far away to get any detail. So I
decided to console myself with a hot bowl of soup in the cafe. Feeling
revived and full of optimism, I climbed the hill back to the lion enclosure,
only to find them still sleeping, just out of sight. A zoo keeper told me
that they feed the lions before the zoo opens, and then they sleep all day.
I gave up and went home.
Feeling very disgruntled I thought, if I can't draw a lion from life I might
need to give up on this whole Lion book idea.
It was a few weeks before I realised that that WAS the story. A hiding,
sleeping lion. And that's where the idea started... This is one of the first
sketches I did of a lion hiding (this idea didn't make the book in the end.
This often happens for me, a drawing can inspire a whole book, then not
make it to the final cut.)

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