Dapo Adeola: Making magic mistakes

Award-winning illustrator and author Dapo Adeola joins us on Authors Live to share his journey to becoming an acclaimed illustrator, how he went about creating some of his best-loved characters, and the power of embracing your mistakes.

Dapo treats us to a reading of Look Up, written by Nathan Bryon and illustrated by Dapo, and shows us step-by-step how to draw one of the characters from the book. Pencils at the ready for this inspiring broadcast!

If you only do one thing...

We know time is tight, so here is just one activity you can complete with your class before or after watching this broadcast.

Create your own "mistake" doodles (EXA 1-02a, EXA 1-03a, EXA 1-05a)

In the broadcast, Dapo talks about embracing your mistakes. Draw a wiggle or scribble on a piece of paper - no matter how big or small - then swap it with a partner! Now try and turn your partner's scribble into something. To see some examples, see this blog on Scribble Art(this link will open in a new window). Top tip: adding a face is always a great way to start if you're stuck!

For more expressive arts and drawing learning ideas, see our resource below: