Creating Ella Bella – part one

The process of creating Ella Bella was particularly enjoyable. To begin with, my publisher, Orchard Books in London, requested a ballet themed book. They approached me because they knew I had a knowledge of ballet and classical music and a particular interest in theatrical set design, especially the Russian school of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I went away and thought about ideas. My original name for a character was Bella Ballerina. But the name had been used already. So I stopped thinking about that. I went back to basics and drew…and drew and drew. I started with drawing at the ballet – not the performances for fear of distracting the audience. But I knew the story would take place in a beautiful dusty old theatre. So with help from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, where I teach and who offered a research grant, I began attending various performances in different theatres from London to Edinburgh. Here are two sketch-book drawings executed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, home of the Royal Ballet. I saw performances there of The Firebird…and Sleeping Beauty, who later provided the theme for the first story…