Derek Anderson was speaking to school groups long before he was a published author and artist. While he was still in high school, his mother (who was a third grade teacher until she retired) began inviting Derek to speak to her students about art.

When Derek's first books were published and the speaking invitations began pouring in, it was natural for him to begin speaking to students about creating stories and pictures for books. Before long, he was speaking to professional groups as well.

Derek is a dynamic and energetic speaker. He has traveled all over the United States speaking to audiences from pre-school and kindergarten through high school and college.

He has delivered keynote addresses at conferences and spoken to professional groups on the subject of creativity and why failure is so critical to the creative process.

Because creativity is so central to his life as an author and artist, Derek enjoys speaking about all aspects of creativity and the effects it has on our world.

For younger students, Derek does a fun presentation discussing everything from his first drawings in kindergarten to where he gets his ideas today and how, exactly, he creates characters and books. Derek tells stories about his own life and how those experiences have influenced his work. Derek always enjoys doing drawing demonstrations and answering students' questions.

Derek speaks to a wide variety of age groups. When speaking to older students, he gives an in-depth look at the creative process. He shows how he makes books- from coming up with those very first rough sketches of a character to creating final paintings for his books. In addition, he shows early work and uses a variety of paintings as a spring board to discuss ideas and where they come from. Derek is very open with students about the endless rejections he received on the road to publication and why they never stopped him from chasing his dreams of becoming a published author and artist.

Derek’s goal is to not only give his audiences a glimpse behind the scenes of his award winning books, but to encourage and inspire them to go after their dreams- whatever those dreams might be.

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