Marc McBride

He was amazing! The children were totally fascinated by him, both as a speaker and his fabulous dragon paintings. I had lots of feedback from teachers that their students were inspired by Marc. Marc gave up his break to talk to kids who couldn’t get enough.

Marc was very engaging and the audience responded very well to his presentation. The students continued to discus his incursion many days after the event. A very worthwhile, fun, engaging, entertaining and informative event.

Marc was a very entertaining and stimulating speaker who fully engaged the children and introduced them to a world full of imagination and possibilities (and his humorous asides managed to engage the adults present as well!).

I am sure he has inspired many of our students to want to write and illustrate stories and I know they certainly loved trying out their new found dragon drawing skills.

The students loved Marc, and responded to his visit with enthusiasm.

Marc was most engaging and entertaining. He is a very very talented illustrator, and while he was working he talked casually to the students. He held the students interest for the entire workshop, and stayed on for an extra 30 minutes for the second workshop as the students were so keen.

A number of students milled around him, and he was very chatty and interested in their stories, and even took the time to look at the illustrations they had brought in to show him. I felt he really earned his money! As well as him showing the students his illustrating style, he also conducted a dragon drawing workshop with them. All in all a great presenter.

Marc was absolutely fantastic.  I sat in all three sessions and thoroughly enjoyed all three.  We certainly had no problem with any discipline issues, as all of the students were spellbound.  Marc was engaging, funny and very giving of his time to the students and at the end of each session, he had a group of students milling around him wanting to chat to him about their drawing efforts and have a closer look at his artwork.  He was encouraging to them all.  Not once did he knock down any student who wanted to talk to him or show him their work.  I chatted to many of the students and teachers afterwards, including the Year 9 students and every single person I spoke to just loved his sessions.  He had a wonderful ability to engage all year levels, from our Prep students right up to us adults.  I even spoke to a parent who said their Grade 6 child was so excited when she came home and hadn’t stopped drawing since!  I personally loved how he made you feel that you too could produce the sort of drawings that he did and I think that he really inspired everyone to give it a go.

The sessions with Marc were A-MAZ-ING!
Although we didn’t have time for a hands on session for the students, so it was just Marc talking and airbrushing his incredible dragons, the students were still able to be included by answering lots of questions, and also making decisions about what to include in the backgrounds etc. I have had wonderful feedback from students who were there, as well as the teachers who were in attendance with their classes. I went to chat with a few teachers and discovered that most had already downloaded Marc’s free ebook (from his website) and the kids were devouring it!

How good was Marc McBride? Ask the children of Bland Shire and they will tell you “he was absolutely awesome!” While Marc’s talent for painting dragons is incomparable, his infectious enthusiasm and ability to engage children of all ages from Kinder up to Secondary is nothing short of awe-inspiring and his generosity humbling. Bland Shire Library would like to thank Marc for an amazing week and hope that he will return in the not too distant future.

Marc was awesome. The kids were in awe when he peeled away the stencil and could see what he had painted. He was friendly and very approachable and was great at answering questions and making sure that all the kids were heard. The sessions were just what we were hoping for and the feedback from teachers and students has been great.

His presentation was excellent and the students and teachers all enjoyed watching him create his amazing artwork. I would highly recommend Marc to any school looking for a guest speaker.

The Marc McBride visit was really fun and interesting. He taught us many techniques to draw properly. Marc shared with us that his favourite thing to draw was dragons because dragons can be different every time you draw them. He also told us that people were his least favourite thing to draw because they have to be exact and if you have an eyebrow a fraction higher than the other it looks absolutely ridiculous! The Deltora Quest series was Marc’s favourite book series to illustrate because it involves mythical creatures and animals. To fill in the wonderful dragons that he drew he used an air brush. An airbrush is sort of like a spray paint and makes the drawing look very shiny. I really enjoyed Marc McBride’s visit because he inspired many people to be an illustrator and an artist and to try new things.

Just a little feedback on James Phelan and Marc McBride. They were fantastic! The students really loved Jame’s humour and Marc’s illustrations and continual dialogue while working, really amazing. Marc barely took a breath, he was so popular and I often had to drag him away from the kids in order that he could have some lunch. He’s such a generous person, both with his time and his illustrations. In the hour after his session today he whipped up three dragon illustrations to give to some of the schools that attended. He also left his demonstration ones for us to keep. It was a very successful festival and the students were disappointed when it ended.