Student Learning 

Visiting Author - Sally Heinrich

Magill School was delighted to have author and illustrator Sally Heinrich visit during week 8 (June 20-23) of Term 2. Sally has illustrated over forty books, as well as writing and illustrating her own picture books, non-fiction information and activity books, and novels. Sally is a renowned artist outside of the publishing world too, and has been commissioned to create artwork for many government departments, advertising and environmental agencies and design studios, ranging from wine labels to a mural in the Singapore Zoo.

Sally spoke to students about her life-long passion for writing and illustration, highlighting the importance of valuing their artwork, making mistakes, and developing their skills overtime through practise. Sally also mentioned the amount of research that she needs to do beforehand when she is illustrating, using books and the internet for inspiration. She also uses things that she has seen or experienced as ideas for writing her own books. She treats her art as a job and works on something every day.  

Sally inspired students with her beautiful hand-coloured lino-printing, showing the steps she took to create her illustrations in ‘One Step at a Time’ where she collaborated with author Jane Jolly. Sally also talked about her use of watercolour and pencil in her books such as ‘Papa Sky’ and ‘Mama Ocean’, which were also in collaboration with author Jane Jolly.

Sally taught us that it's ok to make mistakes when drawing or writing, the most important thing is to do it with love. - Georgie M2

I learnt that a sketch had to be done before lino printing so you have to plan things before you do it. - Elise M2

I learnt you need to do drawings and you don't print them off you make them yourself and it's called lino printing. – Isobel M2

Sally Heinrich was a very good author and illustrator and I really enjoyed reading her books. I liked ‘Mama Ocean’ and ‘One Step At A Time’. I loved how she used different techniques for each book. Sally said to never rub out anything so you know what mistakes you made and how to fix them. We came up with ways to get rid of writer's or drawer’s block, by just scribbling on some paper or taking a nice walk. She also showed us some of her paintings and drawings, which I thought looked really nice. Sally also told us about how long it took to complete a book, drawing and painting. I definitely want to read more of her books. - Nexis F1 

Sally Heinrich is a well-known illustrator (and sometimes an author) who works on lots of artworks. From drawing a book (drawing books is what she’s mostly known for), to painting a mural for zoos. She does anything with art!!! 

Sally uses lots of materials to draw, sketch and paint! From lino art, to paint and marker. From many different colours, to just black and white drawing. She uses lots of art materials just for colouring and drawing. Sally Heinrich partnered with lots of authors - with Jane Jolly, Shamini Flint, and just by herself! - Daniel F1

At first when I heard author visit I thought, an author but turned out it was an illustrator called Sally. When I first walked through the door I was intrigued and straight off she started with her life. It was nice how she engaged with the audience and in the first maybe 10 minutes I was just exploding with questions like - "Did you have inspiration?" or "what is your favourite book". At the end she opened my eyes to new types of art like line-o which I didn't even know was a thing. She read us one of her books called 'Mama Ocean' and showed us how it was made and showed us  a previous version like 'Papa Ocean' which was the original version but then it was changed. At the end I was so intrigued I probably asked over ten questions. That is how interested I was. - Thomas B F2