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Can you draw a diagram of your school or home like the one on page 8 in Rocksy? Remember, it’s not an illustration, but a diagram, so you don’t have to draw trees, houses, hallways etc. exactly as they look but in symbols (maybe triangles for trees? rectangles for buildings?). Zigzag lines are good on maps for fences. It’s interesting to do one of your own neighborhood, labeling the important landmarks (candy store, vicious dog, hole in sidewalk). When I was a kid, I was always doing floor plan diagrams of people’s houses (sometimes I still do). I’d like to write a story one day about discovering a secret room in a house that no one knows about. See if this book is in your library: How To Draw by Barbara Soloff Levy, Dover, 0486415392 This site has masses of stuff for kids learning to draw. Here’s an excellent site about Young Children Using Drawing for Designing. Rocksy’s friends have to roll her to the Magic Wood so she can change back from rock to human-substance. These are some of the roughs and then the final artwork for that illustration. I like to show you examples of lot of roughs in this web site. Once you’re past being a little kid, working out your drawing in rough sketches first makes a much better illustration. First drafts—even second ones and third ones—do the same for your writing. It’s easy to forget this when you see a finished book, story or drawing that feels like it “just happened.” Working on roughs can be messy, frustrating, and full of trial-and-error, but that doesn’t mean you’re not good enough and should stop. Even if you have heaps of talent, this part at the start is absolutely normal. All writers and illustrators do it. Loris |