Marc McBride is the illustrator of the New York Times best-selling series Deltora Quest, which has sold over eighteen million copies around the world and has become an Anime TV show.

Marc has illustrated more than two hundred book covers including the Dragon Games series by Maddy Mara. He has illustrated ten picture books including The Glimme written by Emily Rodda (Honour Book in the 2020 CBCA awards), The Song of Lewis Carmichael (2021), The House on Pleasant Street (2022), The Glow (2023) and A Friend for Ruby (2023), all written by Sofie Laguna, and published by Allen and Unwin.

Marc has had work exhibited with the New York Society of Illustrators International Show and has won Aurealis Awards for the Deltora Quest series and World of Monsters, which he wrote and illustrated.

During the presentation Marc will talk about the relationship between pictures and words in a book. He will explain colour theory, light, shape, line and texture- the five elements of visual language as he paints a character from one of his books getting ideas from the audience.

Focusing on creativity and imagination, using simple shapes, Marc encourages the students to draw with him and to ‘not be afraid of making mistakes’- after-all it is often a mistake in a drawing that becomes the inspiration for something truly original!

Every student will create their own artwork and the school gets to keep the finished painting.